Grand Union Sets Out Stirling Ambitions
The title of this post, is the same as that of an article in the December 2022 Edition of Modern Railways.
This is the first paragraph.
Grand Union Trains has updated its plans to operate services between Stirling and London Euston. It is targeting a 10-year track access agreement with services starting in May 2025.
I have a few thoughts.
The Route
The route between Stirling and Euston is as follows.
- Trains will call at Larbert, Greenfauds, Whifflet, Motherwell, Lockerbie, Carlisle, Preston, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes.
- Station upgrades are proposed for Larbert, Greenfauds, Whifflet and Lockerbie.
- The route is fully-electrified.
- There will be four trains per day in both directions, with a slightly reduced service on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings.
This sentence from the article sums up the philosophy of Grand Union Trains.
The company says the aim is to link towns which have no or limited long-distance services and to improve connectivity for some station pairs on the West Coast Main Line.
Note.
Currently Larbert, Greenfauds and Whifflet don’t have services running past Stirling or Motherwell.
- Currently, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes have no Scottish services.
- Nuneaton is well connected to Peterborough and the East.
- Milton Keynes will be on the East-West Railway to Oxford and Cambridge.
It looks to be a service that has been well-planned and offers good possibilities for travel.
The Trains
The article says this about the trains.
New bi-mode rolling stock would be used and GUT says discussions with potential suppliers and manufacturers are ongoing.
Why Are Bi-Mode Trains Needed?
I can think of these reasons.
- Grand Union Trains want to run their South Wales services with the same trains.
- They might want to extend Scottish services from Stirling to perhaps Perth or Dundee.
- They want to offer a reliable service, when the electrification is damaged.
Bi-mode trains will certainly offer flexibility and reliability.
How Long Will The Trains Be?
Consider.
- An eleven-car Class 390/1 train is 265.3 metres long.
- A pair if five-car Class 802 trains is 260 metres long.
I suspect a train has a maximum length of 260 metres and these can be run between London Euston and Stirling.
Could it be that station upgrades are needed for Larbert, Greenfauds, Whifflet and Lockerbie, is that these stations have short platforms?
Could the trains and platforms start short and grow with the business?
The Trains Will Have Three Classes
These classes will be offered.
- First Class in compartments
- Standard in a 2+1 arrangement
- Standard Economy in a 2+2 arrangement
You pays your money and you make your choice.
Vanload Freight May Be Carried
Consider.
- There has been a lot of speculation and some serious train conversions, looking at the possibilities of high speed freight.
- Imagine a train of perhaps five passenger cars and one freight car for containerised freight.
- I suggested earlier, that the trains might grow with the business.
- As business develops, extra cars can be added as appropriate.
- If business booms, then it might be best to run separate passenger and freight services.
Modern trains and refurbished older ones, offer a multitude of solutions.
The Finance
The article says this about finance.
Grand Union Trains has linked with European independent investment firm Serena Industrial Partners to support its ambitions for its new Great Western service, and the project is supported by Spanish operator RENFE.
Serena Industrial Partners are Spanish, so does that mean, that the trains could be Spanish too?
‘Ryanair Of Rail’ Lights Up The East Coast On Fast Track To Profit
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the first paragraph.
A cut-price rail service between London and Edinburgh, dubbed the Ryanair of rail, is on track to turn a profit after a year in service and has helped to reverse the airlines’ previous dominance of the travel market between the capitals.
Other points from the article.
- Lumo will carry its millionth passenger in November.
- The average one-way fare has been less than £40.
- Rail is now claiming 63 % of the London and Scotland travel market.
Will this success lead to more trains attracting more rail travellers between England and Scotland?
Can Lumo Carry More Passengers?
Lumo use five-car Hitachi Class 803 trains for their services.
- Their fleet consists of five cars.
- Each five-car train can carry 402 passengers.
- Lumo run five trains per day (tpd) in both directions.
There are various ways that the number of passengers could be increased.
Could Lumo Run More Services?
This may seem to be a solution, but only a fixed number of trains can be run in every hour, between England and Scotland.
- Other train operators may also want to run more services.
- It would also mean Lumo would need to buy more trains.
On the other hand it may be possible to squeeze in perhaps one extra service.
Could Lumo Run Longer Trains?
Lumo’s Class 803 trains are unusual among the Hitachi AT 300 trains, that handle long distance services all over the UK, in that they have no diesel engines and rely on battery power for emergencies.
As the trains’ computer work out which cars are present, I wouldn’t be surprised that these trains can be lengthened or even run as a pair, as GWR’s and LNER’s five-car Hitachi trains often do.
Platforms at King’s Cross, Stevenage, Newcastle, Morpeth and Edinburgh are probably already longer than is needed for a five-car train.
I could even see Lumo adding coaches as required to satisfy the need of the day. On a day like the Calcutta Cup, they might even run ten or twelve car trains, which is the longest formation possible with the Hitachi trains. But they’d have to have enough coaches!
Lumo use a very simple catering option, which I suspect can be modified to serve a longer train.
I am fairly certain, that LUMO’s fleet has been designed for gradual lengthening to expand capacity.
Would The Lumo Model Work On The West Coast Main Line?
As the Lumo model seems to work to Edinburgh, would it work to Glasgow?
I don’t see why not! And it might improve the service from Avanti West Coast?
Grand Union have lodged an application to run four tpd between London and Stirling via at Milton Keynes Central, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet, Greenfaulds and Larbert with InterCity 225s.
This proposal seems to be stalled at the moment, but I do feel it is a good idea.
I would certainly use it, as the air-conditioning on the Class 390 trains, used by Avanti West Coast, makes me ill!
Are These Two Stories Related?
These are two stories recently published in Railway Gazette.
Deutsche Bahn Sells Arriva Businesses To Private Equity Holding Company, which starts with this paragraph.
Deutsche Bahn has reached agreement to sell its Arriva local transport activities in Denmark, Poland and Serbia to München-based private equity holding company Mutares SE & Co KGaA.
That is fairly clear and is probably related with the German government’s desire for DB to concentrate on its core business.seren
This article on Railway Gazette is entitled RENFE Looks At Entering UK Rail Market Through Open Access Partnership, which starts with this paragraph.
Open access passenger service developer Grand Union Trains is working with Spain’s national operator RENFE and private equity firm Serena Industrial Partners on a proposed service between London and Wales.
That also is fairly clear and would bring competition to services to and from South Wales.
It would also help in the financing of Grand Union Trains.
The article also says the following.
- RENFE seem to be expanding into partnerships to run services outside Spain.
- A parkway station at Felindre will be build to avoid the reverse at Swansea, that would save 20 mins.
- It will be a high quality service with new electro-diesel trains.
- Four trains will be needed.
- A 2025 start is envisaged.
Will this partnership with Grand Union Trains proceed with the development of Grand Union Trains’ London and Stirling service?
I have some thoughts and questions.
Will Deutsche Bahn Sell Other Arriva Businesses?
I think this is a reasonable question to ask, especially, as Deutsche Bahn owns two Open Access Operators in the UK; Chiltern Railways and Grand Central Trains.
- Both operators have a good reputation.
- Both operators need to decarbonise, either by updating their current stock or buying new trains.
- Both operators have solid niche markets, where they are often responsible for the stations.
- Both operators have expansion plans.
Would RENFE and Serena Industrial Partners be interested in taking over Arriva UK and developing the business?
The Talgo Factory At Longannet
I believe that there is reason to believe that one of Talgo’s reasons for a factory in Scotland, is that it could have been used to build Russian and dual-gauge trains for Eastern Europe. The trains would have been delivered by ferry from Rosyth.
There is also the not-small matter of the fleet for Rail Baltica, for which Talgo will surely be a bidder.
But Russia’s attack on Ukraine has scuppered that plan, or at least delayed it for a few years. But now, there could be a much larger market for trains in Eastern Europe and especially Ukraine.
If RENFE Acquire Open Access Operators In The UK, They Will Need New Trains
They will certainly need new trains for the South Wales operations, if they go ahead, but if they were to decarbonise Chiltern and Grand Central, the order could be substantial.
With one Spanish train factory in the UK and another a possibility, I would suspect any train order would go to a Spanish train-builder.
If the orders fell right, could we see Talgo’s factory at Longannet built after all?
Grand Union Plans ‘93s’ To Stirling
The title of this post, is the same as an article in the August 2021 Edition of Modern Railways.
This is the first paragraph.
Grand Union Trains hopes to use tri-mode Class 93 locomotives ordered by Rail Operations (UK) Ltd on its proposed Stirling to London Euston open access service – if it is approved by the Office of Rail and Road.
The article also says that they will be using nine-car rakes of Mark 4 coaches and a driving van trailer.
- Full-length InterCity 225 trains have the same formation.
- A full-length InterCity 125 can carry 406 Standard Class and 129 First Class passengers.
- InterCity 225 trains are hauled by a Class 91 locomotive, which is rated at 4.8 MW.
- A Class 93 locomotive has a rating of 4 MW on electricity.
As the Class 93 locomotive has a maximum speed of 110 mph, as opposed to the 125 mph of the Class 91 locomotive, the reduced power is probably enough.
Th following sections give more information from the article.
Planned Route
This sentence from the article gives the route.
If approved, trains will call at Greenfaulds, Whifflet and Motherwell on their way south from Stirling, then Lockerbie, Carlisle, Preston, Crewe and Nuneaton before arrival in London.
The route appears to be fully-electrified.
Planned Timetable
More details of the planned service are also revealed.
- Trains will be approximately every three hours.
- There will be four trains per day in each direction.
- The first train South will leave Stirling at 05:15
- The first train North will leave Euston at 07:30.
That will be a total of around 3,500 seats per day or over a million seats per year.
Planned Start Date
A start date around the end of 2022 is suggested, but it does say that delivery of the Class 93 locomotives could make this tight.
But it does appear that gauge clearance for the service is in hand.
Conclusion
I like this service proposal and I think the Class 93 locomotive improves it.
I do think if Grand Union’s service is an operational success, that we will see these locomotives replacing Class 68 locomotives on passenger services, where there is a proportion of electrification.
Could the almost brand-new Class 68 locomotives be converted to run on hydrogen, as surely they are too young for the scrapyard?
Stadler are not stupid and I suspect they could be converted to something with a smaller carbon footprint. My choice would be hydrogen.
The Anonymous Widower 