Should We Increase Rail Freight To Avoid Calais And The Migrants?
The BBC has quoted the French Police Chief at Calais as saying that the number of trucks trying to use the ferries and Eurotunnel has dropped.
Is this because it’s now the Summer holidays and the drivers have flown to their holidays or could it be that at last the needs of freight transport between the UK and Europe are being increasingly fulfilled by the obvious alternative, that hopefully would be totally useless to the migrants? – Direct freight trains between UK and Europe.
I wrote on this in December 2014 calling the post, Would Reorganising Cross-Channel Freight Cut Illegal Migration?
I stand by what I said then.
You have to remember, that a lot of freight flows between the UK and Europe are large and predicable. This is a few freight categories that I know go by rail over the channel.
- Car components including complete engines for Ford and BMW.
- Complete vehicles. Four years ago, you didn’t see car trains on the Gospel Oak to Barking and North London Lines, but now they are quite common.
- Fresh fruit from Spain to the UK.
- Steel products for Tata Group between Wales and The Netherlands
Are cargoes like Scottish fish and meat from all parts of the UK something that will be going on that list? These would only need refrigerated containers, that you see all over the railways. With meat too, there are no welfare issues and as a beef farmer once told me, dead carcasses pack three times better in a refrigerated truck, than livestock.
I have also found this informative article on the DB Schenker web site. It isn’t dated unfortunately, but it makes a lot of general points. This is the first two paragraphs.
When the Channel Tunnel between Calais in northern France and Folkstone on the southeastern coast of England opened in 1995, many forecasted a bright future for rail freight transport between Great Britain and continental Europe. An enormous amount of effort and money went into the construction of the two-track rail tunnel. The high hopes for the groundbreaking project have not yet been met, however. In fact, only 1.1 million metric tons of freight was transported by rail via the tunnel under the English Channel in 2010, less than before the 50-km tunnel opened.
High prices in particular have prevented rail freight transport from making greater use of the tunnel. Competition between freight forwarders that use the truck shuttle has kept prices in check. Eurotunnel charges a higher, constant price for block trains, however, and as a result, only a few providers can afford the transfer.
The last part in particular blames the high charges and the charging method of Eurotunnel. Governments should apply pressure here.
The article does talk about problems with the UK loading gauge, which hopefully are being fully addressed now.
At least thought freight trains between the UK and Europe can now get from Barking in East London to virtually anywhere in Europe.
Perhaps, the UK Government should use taxation and tax relief to encourage more freight flows across the Channel to go on freight trains.
The losers would be UK haulage firms and drivers, but they can’t find Cross-Channel trade very profitable and stress-free at the moment.
Should We Link HS2 And HS1?
According to this article on the Global Rail News web site, there has been speculation over the weekend in the Press that there will be a direct link between HS1 and HS2.
There are two main reasons why the HS1 and HS2 should be directly linked.
Obviously, in a decade or so, it would be very nice to get on a train in Birmingham and then be in Paris or Brussels without changing trains in under three hours.
Within a decade, the amount of freight going between the Midlands, North and Scotland, and the Channel Tunnel and the ports in the Thames Estuary is going to have grown substantially! So if HS1 was connected to HS2 and the West Coast Main Line by a full-size tunnel, the freight trains could be diverted deep under London. This would free-up the North London and the Gospel Oak to Barking Lines for much-needed passenger services.
A few years ago, digging a full size tunnel between HS1 under Islington to say Old Oak Common would have been an immensely difficult project, but Crossrail and other tunnelling projects around the world have changed all that.
My insight into the minds of those who create these big projects, makes me think, that if HS1 and HS2 are linked directly, it will be used for other purposes.
But above all we must boldly go!
Acton Dive-Under – 4th July 2015
-I took these pictures as I passed the Acton Dive Under.
On this page on the Crossrail site, this is said.
The start of excavation follows nearly two years of work to re-configure the freight yard. The work on the dive-under is being managed by Network Rail and is expected to last until 2016.
Progress would appear to be in line with that statement.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see this work finished earlier than expected, as surely when the Acton Dive Under is complete, this must make the operation of the railway easier, as freight trains crossing from the sidings at Acton will cause less disruption.
Freight At Maryland Station
I had to catch a train from that ruin in the East, Maryland, this afternoon. When I took pictures of all the stations before they are taken over by Crossrail, I gave Maryland a score of 2/10. As these pictures I took today, show of a freight train passing through, I think I was generous.
Sorting this dump out will need a real top quality architect with imagination. This Google Earth image shows the station and the roads around it.
Maryland Station
The following problems will challenge the design team.
1. The site is cramped and surrounded by busy roads.
2. The access to the station is along narrow pavements, even if they opened up the entrance on the South side.
3. The Crossrail platforms on the South side of the station are too short for the new trains and selective door opening will have to be used.
4. There would also appear to be few redeeming features in the current station. There isn’t any Victorian ironwork to preserve.
This is what is shown at present on the Crossrail web site.
Proposed Design
At least the number of trees has been increased!
I wish the architects the best of luck, but I sometimes feel that the only way to improve the station, would be to put a concrete raft over the whole area and build some tower blocks on top. At least they’d have good access to the rail system.
But then what do I know about architecture?
Freight At Hackney Wick Station
When I took the pictures, for the article about the redesign of that Hackney Wick station, two freight trains came through.
Is it just my feeling or are there more and longer freight trains on the North London Line?
The one that went west was particularly long. But at least it was electric hauled.
In all my searching for rail improvements in North and East London, I couldn’t find any plans for new freight routes to reduce the amount of freight traffic through the area.
The only positive thing is that the Gospel Oak to Barking Line is being electrified, which will mean that the trains will hopefully not be powered by noisy and smelly diesel locomotives.
So will we be seeing more freight trains going through in the middle of the night, as trains have to get past London on their way between. Felixstowe, Harwich, London Gateway and all the ports in the East to the West Coast Main Line and the Great Western?
The only partial solution is to electrify Felixstowe to Nuneaton via Peterborough and complete the East-West Rail Link to minimise traffic to and from Felixstowe going through London.
The only thing we can say about freight through North and East London, is that the problem will be get more and more difficult.
Imagine what would happen if the new Ultra Large Container Vessels started serving say Liverpool or Glasgow and then large numbers of containers were sent by rail through the Channel Tunnel to Europe. There have been plans to do this in the past as it saves time in getting goods from North America to Germany.
The High Meads Loop At Stratford
This piece started life as an investigation into a rail line connecting the North London and Lea Valley Lines at Stratford, but it ended up as more of an index to what is happening to trains around Stratford and up the Lea Valley.
If you travel on the North London Line from Hackney Wick station to Stratford station, you’ll see a rail line going off to the North side of the line under the Olympic Village.
High Meads Loop At Stratford Joins North London Line
If you travel up the Lea Valley Line, you’ll see the other end of the line.
High Meads Loop At Stratford Joins Lea Valley Line
This is the High Meads Loop and it is generally used to move freight trains. You can see it on this Google Earth image, as it curls round the western side of Stratford International station, starting from the triangular junction to the east of Hackney Wick station and the River Lea and eventually joining the Lea Valley Line between Stratford and the under-construction Lea Bridge station.
High Meads Loop
I walked around the area today starting from Stratford International DLR station and much of it is hidden under concrete in East Village.
What has always surprised me, is that this line doesn’t appear to have provision for a station, especially as it could connect to so many important places in the area.
But then it does seem to me that the design of the rail system in the area of the Olympic Park and Village didn’t put getting an efficient railway first. These questions must be answered.
1. Why was a fully-functional International station, built at Stratford International and has then never been used to run services to the Continent through the Channel Tunnel? This is answered partially in this section in Wikipedia about International services at the station. If Kent gets two stations at Ebbsfleet and Ashford International, then surely East London and Essex deserves one too!
2. Why too, is the link between the two Stratford stations, so much of an afterthought? Today, when I came back from my walk, there was the inevitable lost soul, who’d taken a train to Stratford International and needed to get a train to Romford. And his Narional Rail ticket wasn’t valid for the one-stop hop on the Docklands Light Railway. But this is East London and the Train Captain told him to ride Don’t get me wrong, I like the DLR, but surely for the Olympics we could have put a more spectacular or at least a better link between the two stations?
3. In some ways too, I often think that they used the high-speed service from St. Pancras to Stratford, just to give it something to do. For a start foreign day-trippers to the Olympics should have come straight into Stratford International on Eurostar. Why wasn’t this arranged?
4. I am pretty local to the Olympic Park and can get a train from Dalston Kingsland to Stratford. I went to the Olympic Park that way a couple of times, but to get home, the powers-that-be either sent you to Stratford International or West Ham. In one instance I walked to Clapton and got a bus home as everything was congested. The arrangements might have worked for getting to Central London, but they weren’t good for locals, who like me wanted to walk out of the Olympic Park and then probably get a bus home. One solution would have been to put more capacity on the North London Line, by extending the Class 378 trains to five cars, as is now being done. Why wasn’t this done on the North London Line in time for the Olympics? Especially, as the line has always been overcrowded compared to the East London Line.
5. Soon after the Olympics, I met a big cheese in the Docklands Light Railway on a train. He felt and I probably will agree with him, that the DLR overperformed in the Olympics and dear old Cinderella didn’t miss a beat. I suspect though that to many she has more than a touch of Minnie Mouse, but to East Londoners and knowledgeable visitors, she is the way to travel, where you get a grandstand view much of the time. So why wasn’t more use made of the DLR for the Olympics by designing it into the heart of the Olympic Park?
6. We also had the farce of if you went to the Olympics from St. Pancras, you had to go through the Eastfield shopping centre to get into the Olympic Park. Why? Was the Olympics about sport or shopping?
7. Look at this Google Earth image of the Eastfield shopping centre.
Eastfield
Notice how the DLR goes under the centre and emerges on the west side before curving round to get to the station at Stratford International. It has always puzzled me that no provision has been made for an extra station on this loop. It strikes me that the developers feel most shoppers will bring their cars or not buy anything heavy. I would use the centre more if it was easier to get home from say John Lewis with perhaps something weighing ten or twenty kilos. Why was this extension of the DLR designed to be never more than a timid link?
If I look at some of the rail designs of the last few years, I get the impression, that they are less timid and not designed to be easiest to construct. The London Overground in particular has been innovative in some of its infrastructure to design affordable and efficient railways. Look at the Clapham Kiss as just one example.
In any developments to improve Stratford, there is also a thundering herd of elephants in the room, which will probably have more effect on what happens than any politician.
And that is Crossrail!
What is planned now is only Phase 1 of Crossrail and future developments will give Crossrail a bigger share of London’s passengers and even more influence.
1. Crossrail has been designed to take slightly longer trains and with its massively long platforms, the capacity of the system is quite a bit bigger than what we’ll see when the line opens.
2. Crossrail can also take more trains through the core, so we’ll definitely see extra branches on the line. Ebbsfleet on HS1 is safeguarded and Tring on the West Coast Main Line is being seriously studied.
3. Crossrail lacks an easy and hopefully cross-platform interchange to high speed services to Europe and in the future to the North. An easy interchange to HS1 at St. Pancras and Stratford is impossible, but one at Ebbsfleet could be incorporated with the extension of Crossrail to the station.
So what do I think should be done to sort out the sins of the pre-Olympic rail system development in the Stratford area?
1. A Better Connection Between The Two Stratford Stations And To The Eastfield Shopping Centre.
Look at this Google Earth image of Stratford station.
Stratford Layout
The DLR branch between Stratford International and the core system passes underneath the rail lines, including Crossrail and the Overground , and the Central Line, at right angles.
The passenger connection between the DLR and the lines passing through above is not easy, although it is step-free. If you take the wrong tunnel from the rail lines, you end up on the wrong DLR platform.
As the two subways are one each side of the DLR lines, couldn’t something better be done to make this interchange easier? For a start how about a sign saying take these stairs from the through platform to get your DLR service to Stratford International?
I also think that there should have been a station on the DLR line underneath Eastfield. It would be interesting to know what the shopping centre thinks.
2. Will We Ever See International Services From The Station That Has The Word In Its Name?
If Crossrail extends to Ebbsfleet, this will take a big chunk out of High Speed passengers to Stratford and St. Pancras. If say you lived in East Kent and worked in the City or the West End of London, why would you not take a convenient service, High Speed or otherwise, to Ebbsfleet and then change to Crossrail for where you actually needed to go?
Stratford International also lacks an easy link to all of the other services at Stratford and especially to Crossrail, even if the DLR link is improved. But any cross-platform link is impossible!
Passengers will get increasingly fed up with second-rate stations, when they see some of the modern ones that work, like Reading and Kings Cross. St. Pancras may look spectacular, but it is A Fur Coat And No Knickers Station
So Stratford International, which I find an unwelcoming place, could become a massive white elephant, that had its brief moment of fame at the Olympics.
3. The Moans In North East London
Read the various Internet forums and web pages and some of the biggest complaints are about the poor transport links to and from places in North East London and the Lea Valley, like Walthamstow, Leyton and Tottenham.
Things are improving,
The transfer of the Lea Valley Lines to an operator who cares about passengers in London and the uprating of the Victoria Line later this year, can’t be anything but positive.
But more could be done!
4. A Shoreditch High Street Station On The Central Line?
After Crossrail has bedded in, will we finally see a connection between the Central Line and the East London Line at Shoreditch High Street? I think we will as because Crossrail is an effective by-pass for the Central Line from Stratford to Liverpool Street, the Central Line could probably be shut for several months under Shoreditch High Street, whilst the link is created without causing too much inconvenience to passengers, except for those using Bethnal Green. But even those would have the new Whitechapel Crossrail station a couple of bus stops away
5. Extending the DLR to Tottenham Hale
This was mooted a few years ago and a document called DLR Horizon 2020 talked about extending the system from Stratford International up alongside the Lea Valley Lines to Tottenham Hale station. This article on London Reconnections describes the proposal like this.
Extend the DLR from Stratford International to Tottenham Hale via the Lea Valley. The route would run alongside the current Lea Valley rail lines where possible and the line would serve the Olympic site and feature additional stops at Lea Bridge and Walthamstow Marshes.
It may be a worthy idea, but does it really make economic sense, when according to what you believe a lot of things may be happening in the area.
- A new Lea Bridge station and a new Hall Farm Curve are being created.
- A rebuilt Hackney Wick station is being planned.
- Crossrail 2 is being promoted and could serve the area.
- Transport for London will be taking their first bite out of the Lea Valley Lines in the very near future.
- There could be a a major upgrade in the Tottenham Hale area, which is described in this document on the Haringey Council web site.
- According to this Future section in Wikipedia for the Tottenham Hale station, funding is being sought to add extra tracks to the Lea Valley Line so that four trains per hour can be run on the line.
When the heavy rail expansion is sorted and the area between Tottenham and Walthamstow is developed as housing and a very large wetland and leisure area, the case for a Lea Valley Light Railway may be stronger.
6. Using The High Meads Loop For Passengers
Trains can use the High Meads Loop to pass across the northern side of Stratford Intergenerational station. This Google Earth image of the station, shows the lines passing round the North-Western corner.
Stratford International Station
Note also the Docklands Light Railway station on the northern side of the deep station box, virtually above the DLR logo.
I think with a will a station could be built on the High Meads Loop just to the north of the DLR station, which would allow trains to travel between the North London Line and the Lea Valley Line calling at a station close to the International station and possibly a station in the East Village.
But as with extending the DLR from Stratford International would it all be worthwhile?
Unless of course some developer wants to do a mega-development and pays for the trains and the infrastructure.
7. Conclusion
I think we should leave well enough alone and accept that Stratford International station is probably a shining white elephant.
In the meantime, we should make it easier to transfer between one station too many at Stratford.
The High Meads Loop is probably best left to sort out the freight that has to travel through the area until someone does the right thing and builds a proper freight line that avoids the North London and the Gospel Oak to Barking Lines.
Acton Dive-Under
On my way to West Drayton yesterday, I went past the site of the Acton Dive Under, where a short tunnel is being built so that freight trains can get into and out of Acton Yard. This Google Earth image shows the area.
Acton Dive Under
I think that the fenced off area by the bridge over the Great Western Main Line is the work site for the dive under.
This page on the Volkerrail web site gives full details. This links to an excellent pictorial brochure about this project. This page in the brochure shows the track layouts.
I took a few pictures yesterday as the train sped through.
But I didn’t see much! Today, I went to the bridge on Noel Road and poked my camera over the wall.
You can see the short tunnel in some of the pictures and it would be interesting to return with a camera on a stick or a very tall photographer.
I got there on a northbound 440 bus to Lynton Road, which is close to the bridge. Afterwards, I walked to West Acton station to get a Central Line back to London.
What didn’t help either was the fact that the 440 bus is a single-decker.
Up And Down The Lickey Incline
When I was growing up in the 1950s, books for boys, used to have pictures of massive steam or diesel locomotives working in twos and even threes to bring heavy freight and passenger trains up inclines in places like the Rocky Mountains and the Alps.
In the 1950s and 1960s, it was quite common to see two engines double-heading a freight train, but it is a practice you rarely see now, except in special circumstances. This video shows a single nuclear flask double-headed by two Class 57 locomotives.
Occasionally, in places in the world, where there are steep gradients, an extra banking engine will be added at the rear to help push the train up the incline. You can imagine it, whilst crossing serious mountains or possibly even on the the Highland Main Line, where I rode in the cab of an InterCity 125 from Edinburgh to Inverness.
But you wouldn’t think you’d see this technique on the south-west approach to Birmingham from Bromsgrove!
You would be wrong, as this video shows. It was uploaded in 2007.
It shows a Class 66 locomotive taking a coal train up the Lickey Incline, assisted by a similar locomotive at the rear. If you search YouTube for Lickey Incline, you’ll find some real engineering pornography, like massive steam locomotives being assisted by four smaller tank engines.
But in a few years time, the pictures will all be different, as the Cross-City Line from Lichfield via Birmingham is being electrified to Bromsgrove and Redditch. Bromsgrove will also be getting a new four-platform station, which should open in November according to this article in the Bromsgrove Advertiser. Three new Class 350 trains have been ordered to provide a much-improved service, of three trains an hour to each of the two southern termini.
It looks like the improvements to the southern end of the Cross-City line with come out at around £65 million and the new Bromsgrove station at £17.4 million according to various reports on the Internet.
I would think this investment is money well-spent, as the line is the busiest commuter railway outside London.
I think that if the next government devolves transport to local areas, then other projects like this will be undertaken in the West Midlands.
For example, the reinstatement of passenger services on the Camp Hill Line is a long term aspiration of the city.
To Dive Or Fly At Werrington
Network Rail are doing their bit to speed up trains on the East Coast Main Line. Over the last few years they have upgraded the Great Northern Great Eastern Joint Line from Werrington Junction, just north of Peterborough, to Doncaster via Spalding, Sleaford and Lincoln, so that the number of freight trains on the East Coast Main Line can be reduced and the passenger services can be speeded up. This page on Network Rail’s website describes the work.
But all these freight trains have started to get up the locals noses. This article in the Peterborough Telegraph is entitled Werrington And Peakirk Residents’ Plea On Rail Plans. It starts like this.
Two petitions signed by 752 people in Peterborough opposed to plans to increase freight services on the railway have been presented to Parliament.
Householders in Werrington and Peakirk have signed the petitions calling on the Government to start talks with rail operator Network Rail about the proposals.
The line is also noted for its numerous level crossings and proposals to shut them and according to this article in the Lincolnshire Echo, there is opposition to the closure of at least one crossing.
So now Network Rail want to create a flyover or a dive-under at Werrington Junction to speed northbound freight trains turning on to the line through Lincoln. This map from Network Rail, shows the two options.
Werrington Junction
The dive-under is shown in red and the flyover in blue.
I have a feeling that the decision for this much-needed junction and its construction will be a long-time coming.
I also think that it is complicated, by the fact that Peterborough is very much a city, where most people don’t use public transport, as they have their own cars, so any local vote would not be in favour of improving public transport or the railway, unless perhaps it improved commuting to London.
Perhaps the solution to these problems, could be a bit of bribery in the form of some strategically-located new stations and a very much improved rail service between Peterborough and Doncaster via Lincoln.
Oxford Station
Oxford station shares a lot of similarities and problems with the station at Cambridge.
Both were badly designed when they were built and although Cambridge now has new platforms and a lot of rebuilding, Oxford is still in need of expansion.
These pictures show the current station at Oxford.
Oxford though has one problem that is nowhere near as bad at Cambridge; freight trains.
All of the issues at Oxford are set out in this document on the City of Oxford web site. It pays particular attention to the following.
1. East West Rail Link
2. Noise and Vibration in the area.
3. Freight Lengthening Project that will allow longer freight trains to go through the station, which has been completed.
4. Electrification
It doesn’t deal with new platforms at Oxford station for both Chiltern Railways and First Great Western.
The work for Chiltern Railways is shown in this post, whereas that for FGW is probabably more extensive and is described in this section in Wikipedia.
Oxford station will be a very different and busier station in the next few years.
3.
The Anonymous Widower 