The Anonymous Widower

The Ultimate Open Access Service

London and Windermere are 223 miles away by train with a single change at Oxenholme Lake District.

In a straight line the distance between Amsterdam and Hamburg is 227 miles.

I’ve done both journeys by train and the continental journey was a pain.

I’ve also tried splitting the route at Groningen.

  • The first leg was a train to Groningen, where I spent the night.
  • I spent the second day exploring and wrote about my experiences in The Train Station At The Northern End Of The Netherlands.
  • On the third day, I started by going between Groningen and Leer in Germany.
  • This section of the route at present is under repair after a ship destroyed the swing bridge over the River Ems.
  • I describe its rebuilding in From Groningen To Leer By Train.

Once at Leer, you’re on the German main line and the route is electrified all the way to Bremen and Hamburg.

I believe that the route would be within the scope of a battery-electric high speed train, such as both Hitachi and Siemens are developing.

Some thoughts on the route.

The Competition

The trains need a change at Osnabruck to go between Amsterdam and Hamburg.

I suspect many travellers fly, as there are thirty-nine flights per week.

The service could be better.

Why Would I Run It As An Open Access Route?

Consider.

  • If what I have experienced on the current Amsterdam and Hamburg via Osnabruckservice, then surely an experienced open access operator using trains designed for the route could do much better.
  • This service could be run almost as a shuttle between two terminal stations. Several open access services like Hull Trains, Lumo and Grand Central are run this way.
  • If a government service fails, governments get the blame, but if an open access service fails, the government gets no blame.

So would some governments, prefer open access operators to take the risk?

Would Any New Infrastructure Be Needed?

Very little if any!

Although, I do feel, that some of the level crossings and bridges could be improved or removed.

Where Is The Route Not Electrified?

The section without electrification is at the Dutch end.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the lines around Groningen station.

Note.

  1. Lines in black are not electrified.
  2. Lines in blue are electrified at 1.5 KVDC overhead.
  3. The mass of blue lines is Groningen station.
  4. Hamburg is to the East.
  5. Eemshaven us to the North.
  6. Harbinger is to the West.

Amsterdam trains use the electrified lines to the East.

This second OpenRailwayMap shows a wider view of the lines around Groningen.

Note.

  1. Lines in black are not electrified.
  2. Lines in blue are electrified at 1.5 KVDC overhead.
  3. Groningen is in the North-West corner of the map.
  4. Trains between Groningen and Amsterdam use the electrified line to the South via Zwolle.
  5. Trains between Groningen and Bremen and Hamburg use the unelectrified line to the East.
  6. There is a single track chord, that would allow trains to go between Amsterdam and Germany.

I suspect that a battery-electric high speed train could be fully recharged before leaving Groningen for Germany.

This third OpenRailwayMap shows between the chord to the East of Groningen and the German railway system at Leer.

Note.

  1. Lines in black are not electrified.
  2. Lines in blue are electrified at 1.5 KVDC overhead.
  3. Lines in green are electrified at 15 KVAC overhead.
  4. Groningen is off the Western side of the map.
  5. The chord connecting the Amsterdam and German lines from Groningen can be picked out.
  6. The unelectrified line East from Groningen seems to end in the middle of nowhere.
  7. The green lines in the East of the map are the electrified German railway system.
  8. Leer station, which is indicated by the tangle of lines in the North-East cornet of the map, has services to Bremen and Hamburg.

This forth OpenRailwayMap shows the Dutch and German railways at Leer.

Note.

  1. Lines in black are not electrified.
  2. Lines in green are electrified at 15 KVAC overhead.
  3. Leer station is in the North-East corner of the map.
  4. The green lines in the East of the map are the electrified German railway system.
  5. The River Ems runs down the middle of the map.

The unelectrified line East from Groningen seems to link up with the German railway system.

It used to link up until a German freighter called the Emsmoon demolished the Freisenbrücke over the River Ems.

In From Groningen To Leer By Train, I link to two videos and give the history of the accident.

The Freisenbrücke should be rebuilt in the next few months.

It looks like less than fifty miles of the route between Groningen and Leer is not electrified.

As all the other sections of Amsterdam and Hamburg are electrified, a battery-electric train with a range of less than fifty miles would be needed,

But the train would need to be compatible with both the Dutch and German electrification systems.

What Mode Of  Trains Would Be Needed?

Trains would need three methods of operation.

  • Using 15 KVAC overhead.
  •  Using 1.5 KVDC overhead.
  • On battery power.

Batteries would be charged using regenerative braking or overhead wires, where they exist.

Lumo’s recently ordered Hitachi trains will probably work the same way.

Conclusion

This could be an open access service that could work.

 

December 23, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Europe’s Next High-Speed Train Operator

I was alerted to Heuro Train, by this article in Railway Gazette International, which has this opening paragraph.

A proposal to launch high speed train services from Amsterdam to London and from Groningen to Paris has been announced by Dutch start-up Heuro, while Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson is also reported to be looking at competing with Eurostar on cross-Channel routes.

The Heuro Train web site was easily found and the title of this post, was part of their mission statement on the home page.

I have read the web site and have a few initial thoughts.

Technology-Driven Excellence

This is their first sub heading and this is the text.

In a world where technology defines possibilities, Heuro develops the latest innovations into every aspect of our service. From advanced train systems to intuitive in-seat features that cater to your needs, our technology is the driving force behind a seamless, state-of-the-art travel experience.

We’ve all written things like that in the past.

Meeting The Human Need

This is their second sub heading and this is the text.

Heuro emerged from human desires, informed by analyses from Marveltest.

There’s been a 32% annual increase in online interest for train travel over five years. High-Speed Trains are 98% full at peak times. Over half of Europeans prefer train travel under 2 hours as a greener option. Introducing High-Speed Operators in train monopolies boosts demand by 45%.

They appear to have done their research and those are interesting figures.

Lightning Speed Connectivity

This is their third sub heading and this is the text.

In our digital age, both work and leisure have found a substantial home on the internet for urban humans. Whether sealing a business deal, streaming a favorite show, or connecting with loved ones, online interactions have become integral to our daily lives. At Heuro, we don’t just commit—we guarantee the best internet experience.

This is actually irrelevant these days, as there will be a high standard of Internet experience on all modes of transport in a few years, although some will get it earlier than others.

Planned Routes

This is their sixth sub heading and this is the text.

We will connect Amsterdam with Brussels, Paris, and London with intermediate stops at Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam Central, Antwerp Central & complimentary services to Groningen, Assen, Zwolle and Almere (continuing to Paris, 2 times per day)

This route map is shown.

Note.

  1. It is not a large network.
  2. It makes a lot of use of the Dutch high speed line; HSL-Zuid, that runs between Amsterdam and the Belgian border.
  3. I suspect it has been designed to be extended.

The Railway Gazette Article has these two paragraphs, which give more information on services and Heuro’s thinking.

On November 15 Heuro told Railway Gazette International that it aims to launch in 2028, offering 16 Amsterdam – Paris and 15 Amsterdam – London trains each day with intermediate stops at Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam Centraal, Antwerpen Centraal and Brussels. Two of the Paris trains would run to and from Groningen via Assen, Zwolle and Almere. 

The company said ‘every day, 55 planes fly from Amsterdam to London, while only four trains make this journey. Heuro intends to change that, aiming for more trains to depart from Amsterdam than flights’.

With other train companies wanting to serve London, will St. Pancras International be able to incorporate another fifteen trains per day from Amsterdam?

Web Site Language

Everything is in English! It also appears to be English English.

Les français ne seront pas amusés.

Extensions From London

Much of Central and Eastern England, and Eastern Scotland can be reached from St. Pancras International station, by a hundred metre walk to change platforms.

There is even a signed walking route between St. Pancras International and Euston stations, that isn’t the most arduous of walks.

The St. Pancras International and Euston stations connection could also be handled by a frequent electric shuttle bus.

Extensions From Amsterdam

Heuro are already indicating their intention to extend to Almere, Zwolle, Assen and Groningen.

I have taken that route and extended it via Leer, Oldenburg and Bremen to Hamburg.

Could this be in Heuro’s long term thinking?

Extensions From Paris

The French probably have ideas.

Conclusion

I like Heuro’s philosophy and starter kit.

 

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

German Police Probe ‘Political Motive’ In Railway Fires

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on DW.com.

This is the sub-heading.

A series of fires hit rail infrastructure on the main line between Hamburg and Berlin overnight, leading to widespread train disruptions. Police say they suspect a politically motivated act of sabotage.

This is the first two paragraphs.

German police are investigating a suspected political motive behind an alleged act of sabotage targeting a major train route connecting the port city of Hamburg to the capital, Berlin.

Fire broke out overnight at three locations in the northern Hamburg region, affecting shafts holding railway cables.

This paragraph describes a claim for responsibility.

An anonymous letter published on the far-left website Indymedia claimed responsibility for the incident, describing it as an act of “sabotage.” The letter said it was a protest against “neo-colonial exploitation and earth destroying extraction of raw materials.”

I don’t think we want anything like this in the UK.

September 11, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Hydrogen Trains Are To Roll Between Stade And Bremervörde

The title of this post is the same as part of the title of this article on Hydrogen Central.

The original title mentions Switzerland, but Bremervörde is in Germany to the North-West of Hamburg.

This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the route.

Note.

  1. Stade is in the North-East corner of the map and marked with a blue arrow.
  2. Stade station is on the Hamburg S-Bahn and has an hourly fast train between Hamburg and Cuxhaven.
  3. Bremervörde is in the South-West corner of the map, where the various routes converge.
  4. Bremervörde station is on the Buxtehude-Cuxhaven Line which is run by the hydrogen-powered Alstom Coradia iLint trains.
  5. Bremervörde appears to be, where the hydrogen-powered trains are serviced and refuelled.
  6. Currently, there are no passenger trains between Stade and Bremervörde, except at the weekends, when a heritage service called the Moor Express runs between Bremen Hauptbahnhof and Stade via Bremervörde.
  7. Freight trains also operate between Stade and Bremervörde.

At first sight it looks like the  Stade and Bremervörde route, could be an ideal one to run with hydrogen-powered iLint trains.

  • Servicing and refuelling of the trains could be shared with the existing Buxtehude-Cuxhaven service.
  • The new service would probably need a few extra identical trains.
  • The track is already in use, so probably wouldn’t need too much work.
  • As some of the stations are in use by the Moor Express, there may not need to be too much work to bring them up to the required standard.

This re-opening, illustrates the advantage of having a fully-certified, independently-powered train, that can be deployed on non-electrified lines.

June 17, 2023 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

BP To Open Offshore Wind Office In Germany, Starts Recruitment Drive

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the first paragraph, which adds a bit more information.

Global energy major bp plans to open an office in Hamburg, Germany dedicated to the development of offshore wind projects and is in the process of seeking employees for the new office.

These are other points from the article.

  • The topic of wind power is being promoted particularly in Hamburg.
  • BP said that the company has already achieved a number of milestones in the field of wind energy.
  • In cooperation with EnBW, bp is currently developing several wind farms in the Irish and Scottish Seas.
  • Similar plans already exist for the Netherlands.
  • The energy major would also like to supply charging stations for electric vehicles with green electricity.
  • In Germany, wind and solar energy should account for 80 per cent of electricity generation by 2030, compared to today’s 42 per cent.
  • Offshore wind energy is planned to grow seven times by 2045.

I believe that BP’s project expertise and management, backed by billions of German euros could be a complimentary dream team.

October 31, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Finance | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alstom’s Coradia iLint Successfully Travels 1,175 km Without Refueling Its Hydrogen Tank

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Alstom.

This paragraph describes the trip.

Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, has demonstrated the effectiveness of its hydrogen powered solutions for long distance transportation. During a long-distance journey, an unmodified serially-produced Coradia iLint train covered 1,175 kilometres without refuelling the hydrogen tank, only emitting water and operating with very low levels of noise. The vehicle used for this journey comes from the fleet belonging to LNVG (Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen), the transport authority of Lower Saxony, and has been in regular passenger operation on the network of evb (Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser GmbH) since mid-August. For the project, Alstom also partnered with the gas and engineering company Linde.

The distance is around 730 miles.

This paragraph describes the detailed route.

Starting in Bremervörde, the route took the Coradia iLint across Germany. From Lower Saxony, where the hydrogen train was built and developed by Alstom, it travelled through Hesse to Bavaria, all the way to Burghausen near the German-Austrian border before coming to a stop in Munich. Following this remarkable journey, the train will now head for the German capital. Several trips through Berlin are on the agenda as part of InnoTrans 2022, the premier International Trade Fair for Transport Technology, to be held from 20 to 23 September.

It looks to be a good test of a hydrogen-powered train.

It looks like Alstom believe that hydrogen trains can replace diesel ones, providing there is a source of hydrogen.

September 17, 2022 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Exploring Germany Under The Latest Travel Rules

Because of the lack of travel brought about by the Covids, I’ve built up a list of places that I want to visit in Germany.

  • Hamburg to see the Siemens Gamesa ETES energy storage and see how the Alstom Coradia iLint hydrogen train is getting on.
  • Karlsruhe to see the newly-opened tram-tunnel in the city.
  • Stuttgart to see how the construction work for Stuttgart 21 is faring and Alstom’s new battery trains.
  • The Lake Constance Belt Railway.

The latest rules mean that travelling back to the UK is easy, so if I chose a route that allowed me to visit all the places I want from say a hotel in somewhere worth visiting like Stuttgart, would it be possible to book an appropriate stay there as a package?

Would this mean all the paperwork going to Germany would be handled by someone else, so if a mistake was made, it’s not my fault?

January 24, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 5 Comments

These New Sleeper Trains Are Basically Luxury Hotels On Wheels

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Time Out.

French startup; Midnight Trains, aims to update sleeper trains for the twenty-first century.

What Routes Are Being Offered?

The Time Out article says this.

Centred around Paris’s Gare du Nord train station, routes will stretch as far as 800km in a star shape across Europe, encompassing major destinations such as Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen and even Edinburgh.

A map on the Midnight Trains web site, shows these individual routes.

  • Paris and Barcelona
  • Paris and Edinburgh
  • Paris and Madrid
  • Paris and Porto
  • Paris, Brussels, Hamburg and Copenhagen
  • Paris, Brussels, Hamburg and Berlin
  • Paris, Milan and Venice
  • Paris, Florence and Rome

I’m sure this list will grow.

Some Detailed Looks At Routes

I shall give a few notes about some of the proposed routes.

Paris And Barcelona

Crows would fly 831 kilometres or 516 miles.

I have gone by train between Barcelona and Paris twice. One trip is described in From Barcelona To Paris.

It looks like it takes 06:40 in a TGV without a change.

The service leaves from Barcelona Sants and arrives at Paris Lyon.

Time Out says journeys are centred on Gare Nord, so could the train access that terminal from the South?

An eight or nine hour sleeper journey would probably be convenient for train operators and passengers.

But I suspect that this route may need trains that can take advantage of the high speed nature of much of the route.

Paris And Edinburgh

Crows would fly 873 kilometres or 543 miles.

  • I have gone by train between London and Edinburgh many times and four-and-a half hours would not be an unreasonable time.
  • I have also used  Eurostar between London and Paris many times and two-and-a-quarter-hours would not be an unreasonable time.

An eight or nine hour sleeper journey would probably be convenient for train operators and passengers.

The most efficient way could be for the Paris and Edinburgh service to operate would be with a reverse at St. Pancras.

  • It could be at between one and three in the morning, as sleeper trains run slower than high speed services.
  • It would take about ten-fifteen minutes for the driver to change ends.

Would they be allowed to pick up passengers on the way through London?

  • I doubt they would be able to do this universally, but there must be a market for passengers needing to get to Edinburgh or Paris early in the morning from London.
  • During the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, on one day, I used the Caledonian Sleeper to return to London. It was packed and a sleeper train leaving for Paris and Edinburgh might pick up a substantial number of passengers after sporting or cultural events or business that finished late in the evening.
  • Timings could be arranged, so that both the Edinburgh and Paris legs were sufficient for say four or five hours sleep.

Caledonian Sleeper would probably object. But competition of this nature is often mutually beneficial.

There is also an alternative fully-electrified route that avoids the reverse at St. Pancras.

It winds its way through East London between Barking and Holloway using the North London Line.

It is feasible, but wouldn’t have the commercial advantages of a reverse in St. Pancras.

Would the Paris and Edinburgh services call at other stations?

The Lowland Caledonian Sleeper to Edinburgh and Glasgow calls at the following other stations.

  • Watford Junction – Pick up Northbound – Set down Southbound
  • Carlisle – Pick up Southbound – Set down Northbound
  • Carstairs – Pick up Southbound – Set down Northbound
  • Motherwell – Pick up Southbound – Set down Northbound

Would the Midnight Trains do something similar. Perhaps they would call at the following stations.

  • Stevenage – Pick up Northbound – Set down Southbound
  • York – Pick up Southbound – Set down Northbound
  • Newcastle – Pick up Southbound – Set down Northbound

This would create three extra sleeper services.

  • Paris and Newcastle
  • Paris and York
  • Stevenage and Edinburgh

Commercially this must be attractive, as it would require no extra rolling stock.

I also suspect providing Customs and Immigration for outgoing passengers at York and Newcastle would not be an expense, that made the stops unviable.

Paris And Madrid

Crows would fly 1057 kilometres or 657 miles.

In 2014, I used trains from Madrid to Paris and on to London, which I wrote about in From Madrid To London.

That was a trip that I planned on the move, so it could have been done faster.

Looking at the timetables, I find the following.

  • Paris and Barcelona – 6:41
  • Barcelona and Madrid – 2:45

Note

  1. All times are given in hours:minutes.
  2. A direct service without a change at Barcelona must be possible.
  3. Would this service pick up and set down at Girona, Barcelona, Camp de Tarragona and Zaragoza?

A ten or eleven hour sleeper journey would probably be feasible and convenient for train operators and passengers.

But when I look at the route map on the Midnight Trains web site, their route between Paris and Madrid appears to go further to the West.

I have a strong feeling that they are proposing to use the currently closed route via the iconic Canfranc station.

But then Wikipedia says this about plans for the future of the route and the station.

The government of Aragon has long held various ambitions for the rehabilitation of the station. Plans have been mooted to redevelop the main station building into a hotel, which would involve the construction of a new station beside it to replace it. There have been explorations of options to reopen the through line as the “western trans-Pyrenean line”; this initiative would reportedly involve the assistance of the government of Aquitaine, the adjacent French region. In February 2020, it was announced that funding from the European Union had been made available for the purpose of reopening the through line and relaunching international services.

Note.

  1. A regular rail service between Pau in France and Zaragoza in Spain would tick a lot of boxes.
  2. On the French side the Pau-Canfranc railway is a fifty-eight mile electrified single-track, standard-gauge railway.
  3. On the Spanish side, the railway is Iberian gauge.
  4. It would probably be a useful freight route.
  5. If it could take a TGV, it would enable faster TGV links between France and the Iberian nations.

It looks to me, that if it was properly rebuilt, it could be a useful standard gauge line between the high speed networks of France and Spain.

Looking at the timetables, I find the following.

  • Paris and Pau – 4:24
  • Zaragoza and Madrid – 1:35

If Pau and Zaragoza could be achieved in three hours, times would be as good or better, than the Barcelona route.

Paris And Porto

Crows would fly 1213 kilometres or 753 miles.

This is a challenging one to find the route, but I did find a current time of just over fourteen hours with lots of changes.

But from Zaragoza, there does appear to be a route via Burgos and Vigo.

It could be up to sixteen hours, so would probably be the better part of a day.

Could the Madrid and Porto services, provide a service to and from Canfranc?

Consider.

  • Canfranc station is a spectacular station in the Pyrenees.
  • It has been blessed by St. Michael.
  • I suspect many people would like to visit.
  • The station might be converted into a hotel.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see innovative arrangements in the Madrid and Porto services, so that passengers could have a visit to Canfranc.

Paris, Brussels, Hamburg And Copenhagen

Crows would fly 1027 kilometres or 638 miles.

Looking at the timetables, I find the following.

  • Paris and Brussels – 1:32
  • Brussels and Hamburg- 6:49
  • Hamburg and Copenhagen- 5:06

Note

  1. All times are given in hours:minutes.
  2. When I went between Hamburg and Copenhagen by train, I used the Bird Flight Line which involved a train ferry, where passengers had to get on the ship for the crossing. I described that trip in From Copenhagen To Hamburg By Train.
  3. The ferry is being replaced by a tunnel by 2028.
  4. It looks like it might be possible to go between Hamburg and Copenhagen by a longer route further to the North.

An eleven or twelve hour sleeper journey would probably be feasible and convenient for train operators and passengers.

I was initially surprised that the service didn’t call at Amsterdam.

  • But then there are a lot of big cities between Brussels and Amsterdam; Antwerp, Rotterdam, Schipol Airport and The Hague.
  • There is generally one train per hour (tph) between Brussels and Amsterdam.
  • Paris and Amsterdam are only 3:20 apart by Thalys, so perhaps there wouldn’t be many takers for a sleeper train.
  • It would appear that the best route between Paris and Hamburg is via Brussels and Cologne.

From friends in the area, I also get the impression, that it would take forever for the Belgians and the Dutch to decide on the calling pattern.

Paris, Brussels, Hamburg And Berlin

Crows would fly 876 kilometres or 545 miles.

Looking at the timetables, I find the following.

  • Paris and Brussels – 1:32
  • Brussels and Hamburg- 6:49
  • Hamburg and Berlin – 1:36

Note that all times are given in hours:minutes.

A ten or eleven hour sleeper journey would probably be feasible and convenient for train operators and passengers.

I was initially surprised that the service didn’t call at Cologne.

  • Thalys runs a high speed service between Paris and Cologne.
  • DB runs a high speed service between Cologne and Hamburg.
  • NightJet runs a sleeper service from Brussels and Cologne to Austria.

It could be that the demand isn’t thought to be there.

Paris, Milan And Venice

Crows would fly 845 kilometres or 525 miles.

I have done much of this route before and wrote about it in From Novara To Paris.

Looking at the timetables, I find the following.

  • Paris and Milan – 7:22
  • Milan and Venice – 2:29

Note

  1. All times are given in hours:minutes.
  2. Would this service pick up and set down at Turin and Verona?

A ten or eleven hour sleeper journey would probably be feasible and convenient for train operators and passengers.

Paris, Florence And Rome

Crows would fly 1106 kilometres or 687 miles.

Looking at the timetables, I find the following.

  • Paris and Turin – 5:42
  • Turin and Florence – 3:00
  • Florence and Rome – 1:36

Note

  1. All times are given in hours:minutes.
  2. Would this service pick up and set down at Turin and Verona?

A ten or eleven hour sleeper journey would probably be feasible and convenient for train operators and passengers.

What Rolling Stock Will Be Used?

In recent years sleeper train sets have been ordered as follows.

  • Austrian Railways from Siemens.
  • Caledonian Sleepers from CAF of Spain.

But as Midnight Trains is a French Company, I suspect the train order could go to Alstom.

On the other hand because of European procurement rules and quality, the order could go to CAF.

The CAF Mark 5 Coaches are capable of running at 100 mph and there are pictures in On The Caledonian Sleeper To Glasgow.

I do wonder, though if we’ll see a radical design, which is different to current locomotive-hauled sleeper trains.

  • Electrical multiple unit rather than locomotive hauled.
  • 125 mph capability, which could be useful on some routes.
  • A fleet of identical train sets.
  • Ability to use all the voltages on the routes.
  • Ability to work in pairs or singly dependent on the needs of the route.
  • Ability to split and join automatically in a station.
  • Ability to use the signalling on all routes, including high speed ones.
  • The trains would be built to be suitable for all loading gauges on the routes served.

Note.

  1. Given that French-designed Class 373 trains used by Eurostar, could trundle all over South London into Waterloo, I don’t think it will be difficult to design a train, that fitted the Edinburgh service.
  2. Get the design right and there could be other customers.

They would be true Pan-European trains.

When Will The Trains Start Running?

2024 is the date given by Time Out and the Midnight Trains web site.

Conclusion

I like the proposed service.

These are reasons why.

The Proposed Level Of Service

When travelling for between eight and twelve hours, you need a quality train.

Over the years, I must have used sleeper trains run by Caledonian Sleeper at least twenty times,

When they have been good, they have been very good.

The new trains from CAF don’t need for anything more.

If Midnight Trains can match Caledonian Sleeper for quality on trains, service and food, they’ll attract passengers.

The Service Is Easy To Expand And Extend

Consider, these extra services could surely be added to the  proposed network.

  • Paris and Munich
  • Paris and Switzerland.
  • Paris, Nice and Genoa

If some of the plans to connect the UK and Irish railways come to fruition, there could even be a Paris and Dublin service in the distant future.

Consider, these extensions to the proposed services.

  • Edinburgh and Glasgow 1:12
  • Rome and Naples – 1:10
  • Barcelona and Valencia – 2:40

Note that all times are given in hours:minutes.

The Service Is Very UK-Friendly

Because of Eurostar, with its two-and-a-quarter hour journey between two of Europe’s largest cities, London and Paris can almost be considered twin cities with respect to long-distance transport.

Suppose a resident of Paris wants to go for a weeks holiday birdwatching in the North of Scotland, a late afternoon Eurostar to London and the Caledonian sleeper to Inverness is a very-feasible way to travel.

Suppose, I wanted to go from London to Berlin, in the future, I will be able to get a Eurostar to Paris and a Midnight Train to Berlin.

A Good Food Offering

I would hope that the food is of a quality nature.

I am coeliac and must have gluten-free food, like probably up to one percent of people.

I have found that the higher the quality of the food, the more likely it is, that the chef knows their allergies.

Before the pandemic, the best train food in Europe on a regular service was Great Western Railway’s Pullman Dining. But because of the restrictions, I’ve not tried it lately.

 

 

June 30, 2021 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bang Goes My Holiday!

There are various things I want to visit in Germany and I felt that the best thing to do would be go for a few days,

But the BBC are reporting these facts about travel to Germany.

  • From Sunday, people travelling from the UK will not be allowed to enter Germany
  • The decision is down to a rise in cases of the Indian variant in the UK
  • German citizens and residents, plus people with an exceptional reason, can still enter – but face a two-week quarantine

So bang goes my holiday!

I particularly wanted to go to Hamburg to take a few pictures of the Siemens Gamesa ETES trial installation in the city.

However I’ve been able to locate the installation on Google Maps.

Note.

  1. The wind-turbine towards the South-West corner of the map.
  2. Siemens Gamesa ETES trial installation is the prominent odd shaped building towards the South-East corner of the map, just below the shadow of the turbine.
  3. The installation seems to have lots of pipes connected to it.

This second map shows the installation from an angle.

This document on the Siemens Gamesa web site describes the installation.

  • The nominal power is 30 MW.
  • The capacity is 130 MWh.
  • 80 % of the technology is off the shelf.

The picture on the front says “Welcome To The New Stone Age”.

If anybody should find themselves in Hamburg with some time to waste, I’d be very grateful for a copyright-free image.

The installation appears to be just off the VollHöfner Weiden.

May 22, 2021 Posted by | Energy Storage, Health, Transport/Travel, World | , , | 3 Comments

Hydrogen Ambitions For The Port Of Hamburg

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Seatrade Maritime News.

This is the introductory paragraph.

In January Hamburg announced that Vattenfall, Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and municipal heat supplier Warme Hamburg had signed a Letter of Intent to develop a 100MW electrolyser to produce green hydrogen in the port area.

A few points from the article.

  • Hamburg believes that ships will be running on green hydrogen.
  • Buses and trucks will need the hydrogen.
  • They may build a terminal to import green hydrogen, as the Japanese are doing at Kobe.
  • The green hydrogen might be produced in places like Africa and Morocco.

100 MW strikes me as a large electrolyser.

February 4, 2021 Posted by | Hydrogen | , , | Leave a comment

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