High Speed Two « The Anonymous Widower

Liverpool’s Forgotten Tunnel

The Wapping Tunnel in Liverpool was designed by George Stephenson and was the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a city.

It used to take goods trains between Liverpool Docks and the Liverpool and Manchester Line.

During the 1970s preparations were made to connect the Wapping Tunnel to Merseyrail’s Northern Line, so that trains could run between the Northern Line and the City Line, which would have connected the North and East of the City.

But the project was never completed.

It now appears, the project is on the agenda again.

This article on TransportExtra is entitled Liverpool CR Develops Plan To Boost City Centre Rail Capacity.

The plan outlined is as follows.

At present, as many as two thirds of trains on the Northern Line turn back as Liverpool Central station.
Between four and eight trains per hour (tph) could be diverted into the Wapping Tunnel to serve places like St. Helens, Warrington Central and Wigan.
This would free up platforms in Liverpool Lime Street station for Inter-City and Inter-Regional services.

It is also pointed out, that a 2016 study, didn’t find any serious technical problems with the project.

I do have my thoughts on this project.

Services That Could Be Connected

Local services running from Liverpool Lime Street station include.

Manchester Oxford Road Via Warrington Central

This service is run by Northern.

It has a frequency of two tph.
One service calls at Edge Hill, Mossley Hill, West Allerton, Liverpool South Parkway, Hunts Cross, Halewood, Hough Green, Widnes, Sankey For Penketh, Warrington West, Warrington Central, Birchwood, Irlam, Urmston and Deansgate.
The other service calls at Mossley Hill, West Allerton, Liverpool South Parkway, Hough Green, Widnes, Warrington Central, Padgate, Birchwood, Glazebrook, Irlam, Flixton, Chassen Road (1tp2h), Urmston, Humphrey Park, Trafford Park and Deansgate
Both trains appear to take the same route.
Some stations like Liverpool South Parkway, Warrington West and Deansgate have lifts, but disabled access is patchy.
The service has a dedicated terminal at Manchester Oxford Road, which is without doubt Manchester’s worst central station for location, access to the Metrolink, onward travel and step-free access.
It takes seventy-two minutes. which is an inconvenient time for train operators.
The route is electrified with 25 KVAC overhead electrification at both ends.

I’ve used this route several times and usually pick it up from Deansgate, as it has a convenient interchange to the Metrolink.

I am fairly certain that Merseyrail’s new Class 777 trains running on battery power in the middle could handle this route.

They would charge the batteries at the electrified ends of the route.
They would join the route at Edge Hill station.
They would offer step-free access between train and platform.
These trains are built for fast stops, so could all services call at all stations?
On Merseyrail’s principles, the service would probably be at least two tph, if not four tph.

I estimate that these trains are fast enough to do the return trip between the Wapping Tunnel portal at Edge Hill and Manchester Oxford Road in under two hours.

A two-four tph stopping service between Liverpool and Manchester City Centres, that took less than an hour, would be very convenient for passengers.
The service would be well-connected to local tram, train and bus services in both City Centres.
The service would also very easy for train schedulers to integrate with other services.

Liverpool and Manchester would have the world’s first battery-powered inter-city railway.

Other than the connection of the Wapping Tunnel no extra infrastructure works would be needed.

Wigan North Western Via St. Helens Central

This service is run by Northern.

It has a frequency of two tph.
The service calls at Edge Hill, Wavertree Technology Park, Broad Green, Roby, Huyton, Prescot, Eccleston Park, Thatto Heath, St Helens Central, Garswood and Bryn
The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
It takes fifty-one minutes. which is a very convenient time for train operators.

Merseyrail’s new Class 777 trains could handle this route, if fitted with pantographs for 25 KVAC overhead electrification.

They would join the route at Edge Hill station.
They would offer step-free access between train and platform.
On Merseyrail’s principles, the service would probably be at least two tph, if not four tph.

I estimate that these trains are fast enough to do the return trip between the Wapping Tunnel portal at Edge Hill and Wigan North Western in under two hours.

A two-four tph stopping service between Liverpool and Wigan, that took less than an hour, would be very convenient for passengers.
Wigan North Western has good connections using the West Coast Main Line.
The service would also very easy for train schedulers to integrate with other services.

Other than the connection of the Wapping Tunnel no extra infrastructure works would be needed.

Blackpool North

This service is run by Northern.

It has an hourly frequency.
The service calls at Huyton, St Helens Central, Wigan North Western, Euxton Balshaw Lane, Leyland, Preston, Kirkham & Wesham and Poulton-le-Fylde
The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
It takes seventy-seven minutes. which is a reasonable time for train operators.

This is a service that could continue as now, but would probably be timed to fit well with four Merseyrail trains between the Wapping Tunnel and Wigan North Western.

Manchester Airport Via Warrington Central And Manchester Piccadilly

This service is run by Northern.

It has an hourly frequency.
The service calls at Liverpool South Parkway, Warrington West, Warrington Central, Birchwood, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly and Mauldeth Road
The route is partially-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
The service is operated by diesel trains.
The service uses the overcrowded Castlefield Corridor.
It takes sixty-nine minutes, which is an inconvenient time for train operators.

This is one of those services, which I think will eventually be partially replaced by other much better services.

Northern Powerhouse Rail is planning six tph between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington South Parkway and Manchester Airport, which will take just twenty-six minutes.
Two-four tph on the route between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Oxford Road via Warrington Central would be a better service for the smaller stations. Passengers going to and from Manchester Airport would change at Liverpool Lime Street, Deansgate or Manchester Oxford Road.

Continuing as now, would definitely be possible.

Crewe And Manchester Airport Via Newton-le-Willows And Manchester Piccadilly

This service is run by Northern.

It has an hourly frequency.
The service calls at Edge Hill, Wavertree Technology Park, Broad Green, Roby, Huyton, Whiston, Rainhill, Lea Green, St Helens Junction, Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, Patricroft, Eccles, Deansgate, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly, Mauldeth Road, Burnage, East Didsbury, Gatley and Heald Green.
The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
The service uses the overcrowded Castlefield Corridor
It takes eighty-five minutes, which is an inconvenient time for train operators.

This is one of those services, which I think will eventually be partially replaced by other much better services.

Northern Powerhouse Rail is planning six tph between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington South Parkway and Manchester Airport, which will take just twenty-six minutes.
Two-four tph on the route between Liverpool Lime Street and Wigan North Western would be a better service for the smaller stations. Passengers going to and from Manchester Airport and Crewe would change at Liverpool Lime Street or Wigan North Western.

Continuing as now, would definitely be possible.

Warrington Bank Quay Via Earlstown

This service is run by Northern.

It has an hourly frequency.
The service calls at Edge Hill, Wavertree Technology Park, Broad Green, Roby, Huyton, Whiston, Rainhill, Lea Green, St Helens Junction and Earlestown.
The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
The service takes forty-three minute, which is a convenient time for train operators.

Merseyrail’s new Class 777 trains could handle this route, if fitted with pantographs for 25 KVAC overhead electrification.

They would join the route at Edge Hill station.
They would offer step-free access between train and platform.
On Merseyrail’s principles, the service would probably be at least two tph, if not four tph.

Other than the connection of the Wapping Tunnel no extra infrastructure works would be needed.

Three Possible Routes Through Wapping

Summing up this section, these are possible routes that could be replaced by services through the Wapping Tunnel.

Two tph – Manchester Oxford Road
Two tph – Warrington Bank Quay
One tph – Wigan North Western

Increasing the Wigan North Western service to two tph, would increase the frequency between Edge Hill and Huyton to a very passenger-friendly four tph.

If eight tph could be accommodated in the Wapping Tunnel, the frequency could also be doubled to Manchester Oxford Road.

This would give the following services through the Wapping Tunnel.

Four tph – Manchester Oxford Road
Two tph – Warrington Bank Quay
Two tph – Wigan North Western

The only local services that would need to run into Liverpool Lime Street would be.

One tph – Northern – Blackpool North via Wigan North Western.
One tph – Northern – Manchester Airport and Crewe via St. Helens and Newton-le-Willows.
One tph – Northern – Manchester Airport via Warrington Central.
One tph – Trains for Wales – Chester via Runcorn

I can understand, why so many seem to be enthusiastic about using the Wapping Tunnel to connect the Northern and City Lines.

Echoes Of The Brunels’ Thames Tunnel

George Stephenson’s Wapping Tunnel may be the first tunnel under a city, but the Brunels’ Thames Tunnel was the first under a navigable river.

The Brunels’ tunnel was built for horses and carts, but today it is an important rail artery of the London Overground, handling sixteen tph between Wapping and Rotherhithe.

I would expect that the Wapping Tunnel could do for Liverpool, what the Thames Tunnel has done for East London.

Modern signalling techniques probably mean that the theoretical capacity of the Wapping Tunnel is way in excess of the planned maximum frequency of eight tph.

High Speed Two Between Liverpool And London

The latest High Speed Two plans as laid out in the June 2020 Edition of Modern Railways, say that there will be two tph between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston.

Both trains will call at Old Oak Common, Crewe and Runcorn.
Both trains will be 200 metres long classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
One train will split and join with a similar service between London Euston and Lancaster.

Will these High Speed Two services replace the current Avanti West Coast services?

Northern Powerhouse Rail Between Liverpool And Manchester

In Changes Signalled For HS2 Route In North, I looked at Transport for the North’s report, which is entitled At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail.

This report says that Northern Powerhouse Rail between Liverpool and Manchester Piccadilly will be as follows.

Services will go via Manchester Airport.
There could be a new Warrington South Parkway station.
Six tph between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport and Warrington are planned.
Journey times will be 26 minutes.

I would assume that several of the six tph will continue across the Pennines to Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, York and Hull.

Will these Northern Powerhouse Rail services replace the current TransPennine and some of the Northern services?

Northern Powerhouse Rail Trains

Nothing has been said about the trains for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

I suspect they will be versions of the 200 metre long classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.

I do wonder, if Avanti West Coast have already ordered a prototype fleet of these trains,

Look at the specification of the Class 807 trains, they have ordered to boost services on the West Coast Main Line.

7 x 26 metre cars.
182 metres long. Shorter than an eleven-car Class 390 train.
All-electric, with no diesel engines or traction batteries. Are they lightweight trains with sparkling acceleration?
125 mph operating speed. All Class 80x trains can do this.
140 mph operating speed with ERTMS digital signalling. All Class 80x trains can do this.
Ability to work in pairs. All Class 80x trains can do this, up to a maximum length of twelve cars in normal mode and twenty-four cars in emergency mode. I doubt fourteen cars would be a problem!

To be classic-compatible High Speed Two trains, they would need to be able to cruise at 205 mph, whilst working on High Speed Two. I suspect that Hitachi have got some higher-capacity electrical gear and traction motors with lots more grunt in their extensive parts bin!

If these are a prototype fleet of classic-compatible High Speed Two trains, they will certainly get a lot of in-service testing even before the order is placed for the trains for High Speed Two.

Northern Powerhouse Rail will need trains with a slightly different specification.

As they won’t generally work on high speed lines, for most trains an operating speed of 140 mph will be sufficient.
For serving some destinations like Cleethorpes, Harrogate, Hull, Middlesbrough and Redcar an independently-powered capability would be desirable. Sixty miles on batteries would probably be sufficient!

Nothing would appear to be out of Hitachi’s current capabilities.

Liverpool Lime Street Station After Remodelling

Liverpool Lime Street station has two groups of platforms.

Platforms 1-5 on the Western side
Platforms 6-10 on the Eastern side.

These pictures show some views of the platforms at Liverpool Lime Street station after the remodelling of 2017-2019.

Note,

The platforms are not narrow!
It appears that the five platforms in the Eastern group are all long enough to take an eleven-car Class 390 train, which is 265.3 metres long.
TransPennine Express trains can use the Western group.

I have looked at a whole day’s traffic on Real Time Trains and it appears that the new track layout allows almost all services to use any available platform.

This flexibility must make operation of the station much easily than it was!

Liverpool Lime Street Station As A High Speed Station

It would appear that the Eastern Group of Platforms 6-10 will all be capable of the following.

Handling a 182 metre long Avanti West Coast Class 807 train.
Handling a 200 metres long classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
Handling a 130 metre long TransPennine Express Class 802 train.
In the future, handling a Northern Powerhouse Rail train, which will probably be less than 200 metres long.

But they won’t be able to handle High Speed Two’s full-size trains.

Currently, these services capable of over 125 mph are running or are planned from Liverpool Lime Street station.

2 tph – Avanti West Coast – Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston
1 tph – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle
1 tph – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough
3 trains per day(tpd) – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow

This totals to four tph.

High Speed Two will add two classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.

Will these replace the two Avanti West Coast services?

They will be run by the same company.
They will take different routes.
The current service takes 134 minutes.
The High Speed Two train will take 94 minutes.

I can see Avanti West Coast running a one tph slower train via stations with difficult connections to Liverpool Lime Street. Think Watford Junction, Milton Keynes, Rugby, Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent.

This would bring the total to five tph.

Northern Powerhouse Rail will run six high speed trains to Manchester and beyond.

If they replaced the two TransPennine Express services, that would bring the maximum number of 200 metre long high speed trains to nine tph.

Could Liverpool Lime Street station handle nine high-speed tph?

Comparison With Birmingham Curzon Street Station

Birmingham Curzon Street station on High Speed Two will handle high speed trains from three directions, as will Liverpool Lime Street station.

The Birmingham station will handle nine tph on seven platforms.

As Liverpool Lime Street station will have ten platforms and also need to handle nine tph, I think it will be able to handle the trains.

Will There Be A Station In The Wapping Tunnel?

Just as London has its clay, which makes excavating for the Underground easy, the Centre of Liverpool has its sandstone, which has been honeycombed with tunnels. In addition to the Wapping Tunnel, there are two other tunnels from Edge Hill station to the Docks; the Waterloo Tunnel and the Victoria Tunnel.

Liverpool has plans for a Knowledge Quarter based on the Universities on Brownlow Hill.

As part of the development, it is intended to develop an area called Paddington Village.

Wikipedia says this about the village.

Paddington Village is a site at the eastern gateway to the city centre and has been earmarked as 1.8m sq ft of science, technology, education and health space.

This is also another paragraph.

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson announced that the council were looking into a new Merseyrail station to serve the site. A mention of a station is made in the October 2017 Liverpool City Region Combined Authority update to the Long Term Rail Strategy. Merseytravel commissioned a feasibility report into re-opening the Wapping Tunnel in May 2016 which found that it was a valid proposal which would allow for a new station to be built that could serve the Knowledge Quarter.

Someone has thought up a proposal for a Lime Line, which would be a tram or bus system, linking the Knowledge Quarter and the City Centre.

This map shows how their proposal fits in with all the other rail systems in Liverpool City.

Note the Wapping Tunnel is shown on the map, as a dotted blue line.

It connects to the Northern Line to the South of Liverpool Central station.
It connects to the City Line to the West of Edge Hill station.
A station named University/KQ is shown.

A new St. James station is also shown

Conclusion

Using the Wapping Tunnel to increase capacity in Liverpool City Centre could be used if required to improve capacity for the high speed network in the city, by removing local trains from Liverpool Lime Street station.

August 8, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail, Avanti West Coast, Birmingham Curzon Street Station, Class 802 Train, Class 807 Train, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Liverpool Lime Street Station, TransPennine Express, Wapping Tunnel | 30 Comments

Midlands Rail Hub

On the Midlands Connect web site, they have a page, which is entitled Midlands Rail Hub.

This is the introductory paragraph.

The Midlands Rail Hub – our flagship project – is the biggest upgrade of our rail network for a generation.

The page contains this helpful map.

There is also a table of journeys and the improvements to be made.

Birmingham – Nottingham – +1 tph – 72 minutes – 59 minutes
Birmingham – Leicester – +2 tph – 66 minutes – 42 minutes
Birmingham – Hereford – +1 tph – 85 minutes – 65 minutes
Bitmingham – Worcester – +1 tph – 40 minutes – 35 minutes
Birmingham – Derby – +2 tph – 38 minutes – 38 minutes
Coventry – Leicester – +2 tph – 57 minutes – 38 minutes
Coventry – Nottingham -+2 tph – 99 minutes – 63 minutes
Birmingham – Bristol – +1 tph – 85 minutes – 80 minutes
Birmingham – Cardiff – +1 tph – 117 minutes – 112 minutes
Birmingham – Kings Norton – +2 tph – 18 minutes – 14 minutes

Note that the data by each route is the increase in frequency in trains per hour (tph), the current journey time and the future journey time.

I’ll now look at each route in more detail.

Birmingham And Bristol

Consider.

Birmingham New Street and Bristol Temple Meads stations are 90 miles apart.
Current service is two tph, which is provided by CrossCountry and goes via Worcestershire Parkway, Cheltenham Spa and Bristol Parkway.
There is to be an increase of one tph.
Current journey time is 85 minutes
Future journey time is 80 minutes

As CrossCrountry’s Birmingham and Bristol service goes through to Edinburgh, Glasgow or Manchester Piccadilly, would it not be convenient, if the service could use High Speed Two to the North of Birmingham?

Birmingham And Cardiff

Consider.

Birmingham New Street and Cardiff Central stations are 108 miles apart.
Current service is two tph, which is provided by CrossCountry and goes via Worcestershire Parkway, Cheltenham Spa. Gloucester and Newport.
There is to be an increase of one tph.
Current journey time is 85 minutes
Future journey time is 80 minutes

As CrossCrountry’s Birmingham and Cardiff service goes through to Nottingham, would it not be convenient, if the service could use High Speed Two between Birmingham and Nottingham?

It would appear that both Bristol and Cardiff services could benefit from a High Speed Two connection.

This map from High Speed Two shows the line’s route through the Water Orton area.

Note.

High Speed Two is shown in various colours.
High Speed Two splits at the Eastern edge of the map, with the Northern link going to Northern destinations and the Southern link going to Birmingham Interchange and London.
Curving across the map beneath it, is the M6 motorway, with Spaghetti Junction off the map to the West.
Water Orton station is in the North East corner of the map.
The Birmingham and Peterborough Line, which connects Leicester and Birmingham New Street stations via Water Orton runs just tom the North of the route of High Speed Two shown on the map.

This Google Map shows the area.

I wonder if it would be possible to provide links so that the following would be possible.

Trains running East from New Street station could join High Speed Two to run to East Midlands Hub, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.
Trains from the North could run into New Street station and then continue to Bristol, Cardiff and Cheltenham.

The trains would have to be classic-compatible High Speed Two trains. These would fit into New Street station, as they are shorter than Class 390 trains and will have a aimilar height and width.

Time savings could be as follows.

Bristol/Cardiff and Edinburgh – 110 minutes
Bristol/Cardiff and Manchester Piccadilly- 50 minutes
Bristol/Cardiff and Newcastle – 80 minutes
Bristol/Cardiff and Nottingham – 45 minutes

All trains would be direct.

Birmingham And Derby

Consider.

Birmingham New Street and Derby stations are 41 miles apart.
Current service is two tph, which is provided by CrossCountry and goes via Wilnecote, Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent
There is to be an increase of two tph.
Current journey time is 38 minutes
Future journey time is 38 minutes
High Speed Two will run three tph between Birmingham Curzon Street and East Midlands Hub station in 20 minutes.
Midlands Connect will run one tph between Birmingham Curzon Street and Nottingham Station in 30 minutes. See Classic-Compatible High Speed Two Trains At East Midlands Hub Station

Will passengers between Birmingham and Derby use High Speed Two services, which will be four tph or the current ones?

Birmingham And Hereford Via Worcester

Consider.

Birmingham New Street and Hereford stations are 55 miles apart.
Current service is one tph, which is provided by West Midlands Trains, and goes via Bromsgrove, Malvern Link and Great Malvern.
There is to be an increase of one tph.
Current journey time is 85 minutes
Future journey time is 65 minutes
The track between Bromsgrove and Birmingham is electrified.
Hereford and Bromsgrove are 41 miles apart.
Worcester and Bromsgrove are 13 miles apart.

With charging facilities at Worcester, this route would be an ideal one for battery electric trains.

Birmingham And Leicester

Consider.

Birmingham New Street and Leicester stations are 40 miles apart.
Current service is two tph, which is provided by CrossCountry and goes via Water Orton, Coleshill Parkway, Nuneaton, Hinckley and Narborough.
There is to be an increase of two tph.
Current journey time is 66 minutes
Future journey time is 42 minutes

Birmingham – Nottingham

Consider.

Birmingham New Street and Nottingham stations are 57 miles apart.
Current service is two tph, which is provided by CrossCountry and goes via Tamworth, Burton-on-Trent and Derby.
There is to be an increase of one tph.
Current journey time is 72 minutes
Future journey time is 59 minutes
High Speed Two will run three tph between Birmingham Curzon Street and East Midlands Hub station in 20 minutes.
Midlands Connect will run one tph between Birmingham Curzon Street and Nottingham Station in 30 minutes. See Classic-Compatible High Speed Two Trains At East Midlands Hub Station

Will passengers between Birmingham and Nottingham use High Speed Two services, which will be four tph or the current ones?

Coventry And Leicester

Consider.

Coventry and Leicester are 28 miles apart.
There is currently no direct train and a change is needed at Nuneaton
There is to be an increase of two tph.
Current journey time is 57 minutes
Future journey time is 38 minutes

I suspect that a direct Coventry and Leicester service is being provided that does one of the following.

Reverses in Nuneaton station.
Takes a new flyover to cross the West Coast Main Line.

Would the Southern terminus of the route be Coventry, Leamington Spa or Stratford-on-Avon?

Coventry And Nottingham

Consider.

Coventry and Nottingham are 55 miles apart.
There is currently no direct train and a change is needed at Birmingham New Street or at both Nuneaton and Leicester.
There is to be an increase of two tph.
Current journey time is 99 minutes
Future journey time is 63 minutes

Would this service be an extension of the Coventry and Leicester service?

As Leicester and Nottingham takes around thirty minutes, this could be the case.

Birmingham And Kings Norton Via The Camp Hill Line

The Midlands Rail Hub page, says this about the Bordesley Chords, which will connect Birmingham Moor Street station to the Camp Hill Line.

Construction of the Bordesley Chords, two viaducts creating new paths to the East Midlands and South West from Birmingham Moor Street Station.

This Google Map shows where they will be built.

Note.

The Football ground in the North-East corner of the map is St. Andrew’s, which is Birmingham City’s home ground.
The rail line going North South across the map and passing to the West side of the ground is the Camp Hill Line, which leads to Water Orton station in the North and Kings Norton station in the South.
The station in the middle of the map is Bordesley station.
The rail line going NW-SE across the map through the station is the Chiltern Main Line into Birmingham Moor Street station, which is a couple of miles to the North-West.

The two Bordesley chords will be double-track chords linking the following routes.

Moor Street station to the Camp Hill Line going South to Kings Norton via new stations at Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell.
Moor Street station to the Camp Hill Line going North to Water Orton station.

The initial service would appear to be two tph between Moor Street and Kings Norton stations.

CrossCountry Trains and Moor Street Station

Consider.

Birmingham New Street station is very busy.
Some CrossCountry trains take a Water Orton-Birmingham New Street-Kings Norton route across the city.

Could these trains go between Water Orton and Kings Norton, with a reverse in Moor Street station?

Plymouth and Edinburgh Waverley
Cardiff Central and Nottingham

And could these services terminate at Moor Street station?

Birmingham New Street and Nottingham
Birmingham New Street and Stansted Airport via Leicester
Birmingham New Street and Leicester

It would seem there must be scope improve the operation of New Street station, by using Moor Street station and the Bordesley chords.

If all these trains used Moor Street station it would be a very busy station.

In an hour it would handle these trains via the Bordesley chords.

CrossCountry – 1 tph – Cardiff Central
CrossCountry – 1 tph – Edinburgh Waverley
West Midlands Railway – 2 tph – Kings Norton
CrossCountry – 2 tph – Leicester
CrossCountry – 2 tph – Nottingham
CrossCountry – 1 tph – Plymouth
CrossCountry – 1 tph – Stansted Airport

That is a balanced five tph to the North and five tph to the South.

There would also be the existing services.

Chiltern Trains – 2 tph – London Marylebone and Birmingham
West Midlands Railway – 6 tph – Dorridge/Stratford-upon-Avon/Whittocks End and Stourbridge Junction

There would also be the proposed Moor Street and Oxford service.

Battery Electric Trains

If we assume that a battery electric train has a battery range equal to or longer than Hitachi’s quoted figure of 56 miles, these routes are possibilities for battery electric trains.

Birmingham and Leicester with either electrification or charging at Leicester.
Birmingham and Hereford with charging at Hereford
Birmingham and Kings Norton
Birmingham and Oxford with charging at Oxford and Banbury
Coventry and Leicester

If the Midland Main Line is electrified in the Nottingham Area, then all services to Nottingham could be added.

CrossCountry And High Speed Two

Consider.

There are up to half-a-dozen spare hourly paths on both the Northern legs of High Speed Two.
Using High Speed Two tracks to the North of Birmingham can speed up services considerably.
CrossCountry needs a new fleet of trains.
Services could be run using classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
The trains might be shorter and would certainly have independent power sources.

It could be a large improvement in quality and journey times, with all current destinations served.

The only extra infrastructure needed would be a connecting junction near Water Orton station. A junction there would work, whether services used Moor Street or New Street station in Birmingham.

Cnnclusion

The concept of a Midlands Rail Hub is very sound.

July 18, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Battery-Electric Trains, Birmingham Curzon Street Station, Birmingham New Street Station, Cardiff Central Station, Coventry Station, CrossCountry Trains, Derby Station, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Leicester Station, Midlands Connect, Midlands Rail Hub, Nottingham Station | 2 Comments

Birmingham Airport Connectivity

On the Midlands Connect web site, they have a page, which is entitled Birmingham Airport Connectivity.

This is the introductory paragraph.

By using capacity released by HS2 and investing in new track south of Birmingham Airport, we can improve connections from the south of England, East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East.

The page contains this helpful map.

It looks like Midlands Connect are thinking about improving the Reading and Newcastle service.

Points made on the page and related articles, like this one on Rail News include.

Birmingham Airport has plans to increase passenger numbers to 18 million by 2033.
Coventry and Leamington Spa via Kenilworth will be double-tracked.
High Speed Two will release capacity in the area.
It will open up rail capacity between Birmingham and Solihull.
There will be a new service between Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford via Solihull and Warwick Parkway.
It will improve local connections to Birmingham Airport.
Birmingham and Reading services will be increased to two trains per hour (tph)
The Government is being asked to chip in £20 million.

These are my thoughts.

Birmingham Airport

Birmingham Airport can become a true Heart of England Airport.

I feel that the future of aviation will be very different to the past.

COVID-19 and the future pandemics, that we will endure from the East and the Americas, will mean that flying will be a very different experience with hygiene and social distancing to the fore.
Smaller aircraft, for flights up to 500 miles, will be odd-looking zero-carbon machines with exotic power systems.
Larger aircraft will be energy efficient planes powered by aviation biofuels produced from household and industrial waste, and biomass.
Boeing 747s and Airbus A380s will only be talked about in tales from older people to the young.
Airports will be important rail hubs to more than just the local area.

Wikipedia also says this about expansion of Birmingham Airport.

Plans for a second runway (a third when demand requires) on the other side of the M42 and a new terminal complex and business park have been published, and they could help to create around 250,000 jobs. It has been estimated that if these plans went ahead, the airport could handle around 70,000,000 passengers annually, and around 500,000 aircraft movements.

This Google Map shows the Airport.

Note the M42 motorway passing North-South to the East of the Airport.

Could Birmingham Airport develop towards Birmingham Interchange and High Speed Two?

It is worth looking at the distance to other airports.

Aberdeen – 328 miles
Amsterdam – 280 miles
Dublin – 199 miles
Frankfurt – 478 miles
Geneva – 558 miles
Paris – 304 miles

All could be within range of an electric aircraft like the under-development Eviation Alice.

I believe that large airports will develop low-noise zero-carbon secondary runways.

Birmingham Airport is well-situated to take advantage.

Adding A Second Track Between Leamington Spa And Coventry

This section of track is about ten miles long, with probably under half only single-track.

This Google Map shows the single-track through the new Kenilworth station.

And these are pictures I took soon after the station opened.

It is certainly one of the best of the current crop of new small stations.

I don’t think that adding a second track will be the most challenging of projects.

It should be noted that the Leamington Spa and Nuneaton service could be a candidate for a battery electric train.

The route is twenty miles long
Nuneaton and Coventry stations are fully electrified.
There might be possibilities to extend this service at either or both ends.
Nuneaton and Leicester are nineteen miles apart and a new Nuneaton Parkway station is proposed for the route. I wrote about this station in New Railway Station Between Hinckley And Nuneaton Receives Backing.
Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon are fifteen miles apart and would need a reverse at Leamington Spa.

A battery electric train might give a faster and more passenger-friendly service, if the passenger numbers and forecasts would support an extended service.

A Birmingham Moor Street And Oxford Service

This Google Map shows Birmingham Moor Street station.

Note.

The two Northern through platforms on the Snow Hill Lines, that continue under Birmingham to Birmingham Snow Hill station.
At least two, but possibly three bay platforms, that can take Chiltern Railway’s longest trains.
There is more space for possibly another two bay platforms to be reinstated or built.

Birmingham Moor Street station will also be a short walk from High Speed Two’s Birmingham Curzon Street station.

This Google Map shows Oxford station.

Note.

Birmingham Moor Street station is to the North via Banbury and Warwick Parkway stations.
The two long through platforms capable of taking a nine-car train.
There are two bay platforms to the East of the two through platforms, at the Northern end of the station.
The bay platforms handle Chiltern’s services from London Marylebone and could also handle the proposed service to Birmingham Moor Street.

Consider this about the proposed Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford service.

The service could stop at Solihull, Warwick Parkway, Warwick, Leamington Spar and Banbury, as was thought necessary.
I estimate that Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford are 66 miles apart and that a 100 mph train would take around 66 minutes.
Birmingham Moor Street and Banbury are 43 miles apart.
Oxford and Banbury are 23 miles apart.

With these timings and a few minutes to reverse at each end of the route, I would estimate that a 2.5 hour round trip would be possible.

But, I also think, that with charging facilities or short lengths of electrification at Birmingham Moor Street, Banbury and Oxford stations, this service could be run by battery electric trains.

A three hour round trip should be possible.
Three trains would be needed to provide an hourly service.
Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Warwick would have a direct connection to High Speed Two.

It should also be noted

Birmingham Moor Street and Stratford-upon-Avon stations are only 25 miles apart and the journey rakes 46 minutes
Banbury and Stratford-upon-Avon are 35 miles apart. and the journey takes 57 minutes.
Leamington Spa and Nuneaton are 20 miles apart and the journey takes 36 minutes.

There would appear to be tremendous potential for battery electric services between Birmingham and Oxford.

How many tourists would a Birmingham and Oxford service via Stratford-upon-Avon attract?

Improving The Reading And Newcastle Service

Currently, this is a one tph service between Reading and Newcastle stations.

It is run by CrossCountry.
Intermediate stops include Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Sheffield, Doncaster, York, Darlington and Durham.
It appears that the full journey takes four-and-a-half hours.

It looks like to run a two tph service would need as many as twenty trains.

There is an alternative route after High Speed Two opens.

High Speed Two – Newcastle and Birmingham Curzon Street – 118 minutes
Walk – Curzon Street and New Street – 10 minutes
CrossCountry – Birmingham New Street and Reading – 90 minutes

This saves about forty-five minutes.

You could even do a double change.

High Speed Two – Newcastle and East Midlands Hub – 96 minutes
High Speed Two – East Midlands Hub and Birmingham Interchange – 17 minutes
Walk – Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham International – 10 minutes
CrossCountry – Birmingham International and Reading – 78 minutes

This gives a time of around three hours and twenty minutes.

High Speed Two certainly saves time.

But look at this map clipped from the High Speed Two web site.

Note.

The blue dot shows the location of Curzon Street station.
The West Coast Main Line running into New Street station, is just to the South of Curzon Street station.
New Street station can be picked out to the West of Curzon Street station.

This Google Map shows a close-up of the current Curzon Street station site.

The same pattern of rail lines going past the Curzon Street site into New Street station can be picked out.

Surely, a connection could be made to allow trains from a couple of platforms in Curzon Street station to terminate trains from the West Coast Main Line.

To improve services between Newcastle and Reading, trains would do the following.

Run on the current East Coast Main Line infrastructure between Newcastle and York. Station stops could be Durham, Darlington and York.
Switch to new High Speed Two infrastructure South of York.
Run on High Speed Two infrastructure to Birmingham Curzon Street station. Station stops could be Sheffield, Chesterfield and East Midlands Hub.
The train would reverse at Birmingham Curzon Street station.
Switch to the West Coast Main Line outside Birmingham Curzon Street station.
Run on the West Coast Main Line to Birmingham International station.
Take the route currently used by CrossCountry between Birmingham International and Reading. Station stops could be Leamington Spa, Warwick Parkway, Banbury and Oxford stations.

Timings would be as follows.

Newcastle and Birmingham Curzon Street – 118 minutes – From High Speed Two web site.
Birmingham Curzon Street and Reading – 90 minutes – Current CrossCountry timing.

Note.

This saves about an hour over the current CrossCountry timings.
It could use classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
Between Birmingham Curzon Street and Newcastle, it follows the same route as one of the current proposed High Speed Two services.
The service could be extended to Edinburgh from Newcastle.
The service could be extended to Southampton from Reading
As there are only twelve tph planned to be running on the Eastern leg of High Speed Two, against a total capacity of eighteen tph, it should be possible to accommodate the extra service or services.

This would surely be a very useful High Speed Two service.

Conclusion

It is a comprehensive package of measures, some of which could have a high cost benefit ratio.

July 17, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Banbury Station, Battery-Electric Trains, Birmingham Airport, Birmingham Curzon Street Station, Birmingham Interchange Station, Birmingham International Station, Birmingham Moor Street Station, Birmingham New Street Station, CrossCountry Trains, Eviation Alice, Flying, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Leicester Station, Midlands Connect, Oxford Station, Reading Station | 9 Comments

Should High Speed Two’s Macclesfield And London Service Call At Birmingham Interchange?

Connecting Manchester City Centre to the High Speed Two network will be a major undertaking.

It looks increasingly likely that High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail will have a shared line running from the main High Speed Two route through Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly via Manchester Airport.
Between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly will be in a high speed tunnel.
Northern Powerhouse Rail will connect Liverpool Lime Street and Warrington to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly.
There will be a major problem keeping train services running between Manchester and Birmingham, London and the South.

But just at Project Rio kept Manchester connected during the rebuilding of the West Coast Main Line in the early years of this century, I believe that a similar creditable alternative route may be starting to evolve.

Avanti’s Additional Class 807 Trains Will Be Delivered

These trains will allow additional services and release some Class 390 trains to reinforce other services.

Avanti West Coast’s Future West Coast Main Line Service

The small fleet of Class 807 trains are needed to provide extra services on the West Coast Main Line.

But if these trains are successful, will more be used as replacements for the nearly twenty-years-old Class 390 trains?
Will they also be given more traction power to double as the classic-compatible trains for High Speed Two.
Other operators might also like to purchase a high capacity 200 metre long high speed train, which would share routes used by High Speed Two.

In Thoughts On Class 807 Trains And High Speed Two’s Classic-Compatible Trains, I discuss the design of extra trains for High Speed Two and the West Coast Main Line.

Surely, though having similar trains handling both roles on the West Coast Main Line and High Speed Two, would be an advantage to Avanti West Coast?

London And Manchester Services

Currently, there are these services between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly stations.

Via Milton Keynes Central, Stoke-on-Trent and Stockport
Via Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield and Stockport
Via Stafford, Crewe, Wilmslow and Stockport

All services have a frequency of one train per hour (tph)

High Speed Two plans to run these services between the South and the Manchester area.

1 tph – 200 metres – London Euston and Wigan North Western via Old Oak Common, Crewe and Warrington Bank Quay
1 tph – 200 metres – London Euston and Macclesfield via Old Oak Common, Stafford and Stoke.
1 tph – 400 metres – London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly via Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange and Manchester Airport
2 tph – 400 metres – London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly via Old Oak Common and Manchester Airport
2 tph – 200 metres – Birmingham Curzon Street and Manchester Piccadilly via Manchester Airport
1 tph – 200 metres – Birmingham Curzon Street and Wigan North |Western

Note.

I have included Wigan North Western, as it has good connections to North Manchester.
Services can’t go via Manchester Airport until the tunnel is completed.
The 400 metre services will need to use dedicated High Speed Two tracks, so will need to use the tunnel via Manchester Airport.

Wigan and Macclesfield stations will not be requiring major rebuilding, during the construction of High Speed Two. That should mean the stations will not need to be closed for long periods.

Macclesfield station could probably handle up to three tph from the South.
Wigan North Western station could probably handle two tph from the South.
Work in the Manchester Piccadilly area, may well close the station at times.

I suspect Macclesfield and Wigan North Western could be very useful alternative stations for travelling to and from the South.

Manchester And Birmingham Via Macclesfield

I can see that there could be difficulties for some passengers, if they found themselves at Macclesfield wanting to go to the Birmingham area.

A solution would be for the Macclesfield and London service to stop at Birmingham Interchange, which will be extremely well-connected.

Birmingham Interchange

This map from High Speed Two, shows Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham International stations.

Note.

Birmingham Interchange station is marked by the blue dot.
Birmingham International station is to the West of the M42.

The two stations will be connected by an automatic people mover.

Destinations and their frequencies available from Birmingham Interchange, when High Speed Two is complete will include.

2 tph – Birmingham Curzon Street
1 tph – Carlisle
1 tph – East Midlands Hub
1 tph – Edinburgh Haymarket
1 tph – Edinburgh Waverley
1 tph – Glasgow Central
1 tph – Leeds
5 tph – London Euston
1 tph – Manchester Airport
1 tph – Manchester Piccadilly
5 tph – Old Oak Common
1 tph – Preston

It looks like if you miss your train to many important cities at Birmingham Interchange, it will be an hour to wait for the next train.

Destinations and their frequencies available from Birmingham International are currently.

8 tph – Birmingham New Street
1 tph – Bournemouth
1 tph – Crewe
0.5 tph to Edinburgh Waverley
0.5 tph to Glasgow Central
7 tph – London Euston
1 tph – Macclesfield
1 tph – Manchester Piccadilly
1 tph – Reading
1 tph – Shrewsbury
1 tph – Southampton
1 tph – Stafford
1 tph – Stoke-on-Trent
2 tph – Wolverhampton

Note that 0.5 tph is one train per two hours.

These two lists can be combined.

10 tph – Birmingham Curzon Street/New Street
1 tph – Bournemouth
2 tph – Carlisle
1 tph – Crewe
1 tph – East Midlands Hub
1.5 tph – Edinburgh Haymarket
1.5 tph – Edinburgh Waverley
1.5 tph – Glasgow Central
1 tph – Leeds
12 tph – London Euston
1 tph – Macclesfield
1 tph – Manchester Airport
2 tph – Manchester Piccadilly
5 tph – Old Oak Common
1 tph – Preston
1 tph – Reading
1 tph – Shrewsbury
1 tph – Southampton
1 tph – Stafford
1 tph – Stoke-on-Trent
2 tph – Wolverhampton

This list is surely missing Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle.

Conclusion

We should not underestimate the importance of Macclesfield and Wigan North Western stations in getting to and from Manchester during the building of High Speed Two.

July 15, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Avanti West Coast, Birmingham Interchange Station, Class 390 Train, Class 807 Train, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Macclesfield Station, Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Wigan North Western Station | Leave a comment

Thoughts On Class 807 Trains And High Speed Two’s Classic-Compatible Trains

Avanti West Coast’s New Class 807 Trains

Avanti West Coast have ordered a small fleet of Class 807 trains.

This article on Railnews, gives this short description.

There will be more seats, because a seven-car train will have 453 and five-car sets will have 301. First said the seven-car version will have about the same number of seats as a nine-car Pendolino, because each IET vehicle is longer, at 26m.

Adding standard details of other Hitachi trains in the family, the following seems to be known.

They are seven-car trains.
The cars are the standard twenty-six metres, so a seven-car train will be 182 metres.
Ten trains have been ordered.
I suspect that like all the other trains in the family, they will be 125 mph trains, that are capable of 140 mph, when the signalling and track allows.
They are pencilled in for services between London Euston and Birmingham New Street, Blackpool North and Liverpool Lime Street stations
They will not have batteries or diesel engines for emergency or hotel power. Could this mean, that the trains have been designed for high performance, by removing excess weight?
The trains don’t have a tilting capability. Does this save weight and increase acceleration?
The trains have 453 seats, as opposed to the nine-car Class 390 trains, which have 469 seats.

Could these trains be designed, to be able to better the Class 390 train schedules on the West Coast Main Line?

They have no tilting capability.
They can only work on electric power, like the Class 390 trains.
They could have very fast acceleration, due to the weight loss.
They only reduce capacity by 3.5 %, when compared to a nine-car Class 390 train.

In Will Avanti West Coast’s New Trains Be Able To Achieve London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street In Two Hours?, this was my conclusion.

I believe the following will be possible.

- A two hour service between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street will be possible with Avanti West Coast’s new Class 807 trains.
- The current Class 390 trains could go a bit faster.
- I estimate that a Class 807 train could save as much as two-and-a-half-minutes at each stop.
- Blackpool North and London times will be comfortably under three hours.
- Coventry and London times will be comfortably under an hour.

The performance of these Class 807 trains will improve the West Coast Main Line.

What will London in two hours, do for Liverpool?

Class 807 Trains With Different Car Lengths

It is possible to create a table showing car length, train length and capacity for Class 807 trains

26 metres – 182 metres – 453 seats
26.5 metres – 185.5 metres – 462 seats
27 metres – 189 metres – 470 seats
27.5 metres – 192.5 metres – 479 seats
28 metres – 196 metres – 488 seats
28.5 metres – 199.5 metres – 497 seats

It seems that by lengthening all cars by half a metre, just adds nine seats.

Does this point to the fact, that twenty-six metres was a carefully-chosen optimal car length?

Class 807 Trains With Different Numbers Of Cars

A similar table can also be created for different numbers of twenty-six metre cars.

7 cars – 182 metres – 453 seats
8 cars – 208 metres – 518 seats
9 cars – 234 metres – 582 seats
10 cars – 260 metres – 647 seats

Note that as an eleven-car Class 390 train is 265.3 metres, a ten-car Class 807 train will fit all platforms, currently used by eleven-car Class 390 trains.

Replacement Of Eleven-Car Class 390 Trains With Class 807 Trains

The eleven-car Class 390 trains are 265.3 metres long and seat 589 passengers.

Looking at the two tables, nine-car Class 807 trains would be almost direct replacements for an eleven-car Class 390 trains.

The performance of the Class 807 trains would be as good if not better.
The passenger capacity of both trains would be similar, with just seven seats less in the new trains.
The Class 807 trains would also be shorter and could fit any platform currently served by an eleven-car Class 390 train.

It should also be noted, that the Class 807 trains would have to run as singles, as platforms on the West Coast Main Line can’t handle a four hundred metre train.

I believe it is highly likely that the classic-compatible trains for High Speed Two and the trains that replace the Class 390 trains will be the same and based on the Class 807 trains, that are now being assembled at Hitachi’s factory at Newton Aycliffe.

Could A Class 807 Train Be Stretched To Become A High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Train?

The Classic-Compatible trains are described in this section in Wikipedia, by this sentence.

The classic-compatible trains, capable of high speed but built to a British loading gauge, permitting them to leave the high speed track to join conventional routes such as the West Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and East Coast Main Line. Such trains would allow running of HS2 services to the north of England and Scotland, although these non-tilting trains would run slower than existing tilting trains on conventional track. HS2 Ltd has stated that, because these trains must be specifically designed for the British network and cannot be bought “off-the-shelf”, these conventional trains were expected to be around 50% more expensive, costing around £40 million per train rather than £27 million for the captive stock.

The trains will have the same characteristics as the full-size trains.

Maximum speed of 225 mph.
Cruising speed of 205 mph on High Speed Two.
Length of 200 metres.
Ability to work in pairs.
A passenger capacity around 500-600 passengers.

A seven-car Class 807 train with twenty-six metre long cars would appear to be a partial match and tick all the boxes, except for the following.

The train’s maximum and cruising speeds are well below what is needed.
The train is only 182 metres long.
The train has a passenger capacity of 453.

Would a train with eight twenty-five metre long cars be a better fit?

The train length would be 200 metres.
I doubt twenty-five metre cars would cause a problem!
I estimate the passenger capacity would be 498 seats.

The trains or members of the same family have already shown.

They can run on the East Coast, Great Western, Midland and West Coast Main Lines.
They can run on High Speed One.
They can split and join automatically.
When needed they can run on local lines.

If I was Avanti West Coast’s train-Czar, I would be seriously interested in a Classic-Compatible High Speed Two train, that was very similar to one, that I already had in service. Provided, of course it did what it promised in the specification.

In Wikipedia, the car lengths for Class 800, Class 801, Class 802, Class 805 and Class 810 trains are all given and have been reported in the media.

But the car lengths of the Class 803 and Class 807 trains are not given. Is it just an omission or is it deliberate?

Both these trains are designed for demanding routes.

The Class 803 trains are designed for London and Edinburgh in four hours.
I believe that the Class 807 trains are designed for London and Liverpool in two hours.

To get these demanding times, have Hitachi changed the car lengths?

Trains with shorter cars might accelerate better.
A redesigned interior might get more passengers in the shorter length.

I shall await the launch of both these lightweight speedsters with interest!

Conclusion

I wouldn’t be surprised that Hitachi’s offering for more trains on the West Coast Main Line and the Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two are very similar to the Class 807 trains.

The classic-compatible trains for High Speed Two could be eight-car trains with twenty-five metre cars.
The replacements for the eleven-car Class 390 trains could be nine-car trains with twenty-six metre cars.

Both would be based on the Class 807 train.

July 15, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Avanti West Coast, Class 390 Train, Class 807 Train, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains | 6 Comments

Beeching Reversal – Stockport And Ashton Line

This is one of the Beeching Reversal projects that the Government and Network Rail are proposing to reverse some of the Beeching cuts.

I came across this railway, when I was writing Macclesfield Station And High Speed Two, as I felt the Stockport and Stalybridge Line could be a useful connection to the proposed High Speed Two terminus at Macclesfield station.

This article on the Quest Media Network is entitled Proposals For New Rail Link Between Ashton And Stockport.

This paragraph described the political backing.

The Labour politicians are backing a bid to the ‘Restoring Your Railway Fund’, which will distribute £500 million of funds to reinstate axed local services and restore stations.

The bid was put forward by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Stockport Council, but also has the backing of Tameside Council.

Not fans of Boris, I would presume!

These paragraphs describe the proposals

It proposes two options – a heavy rail service between Stockport and Manchester Victoria via Denton and Reddish South, and a light rail service connecting with the existing Manchester-Ashton Metrolink line at Ashton Moss in the north, and with the proposed Stockport-East Didsbury line in the south.

The proposals also open possibilities of new stations along the line at Audenshaw, Thornley Lane and Heaton Norris.

These are my thoughts.

Macclesfield As A Terminal

As I said in conjunction with High Speed Two, I believe that Macclesfield station would make a good terminal, where a Stockport-facing platform could be built, which would give step-free access to the hourly High Speed Two train to Stoke, Stafford and London.

Manchester Victoria And Stockport

This route map, which has been clipped from Wikipedia, shows the route between Manchester Victoria and Stockport stations.

Note.

The connection to Manchester Victoria station joins at Denton Junction.
There are possible stations at Denton, Reddish South and Heaton Norris.
Trains to Macclesfield station take the West Coast Main Line from Stockport station.
At Stalybridge there is a connection to the Huddersfield Line for Huddersfield and Leeds.

Realtimetrains devolves this extra information.

Manchester Victoria and Stockport are twelve miles apart via Denton.
It is a busy freight route with upwards of a couple of trains per hour (tph)
There used to be a station at Miles Platting.

It is a comprehensive route and deserves a lot more than a simple hourly service to Manchester Victoria station.

Battery Electric Trains

Consider.

Macclesfield, Manchester Victoria and Stockport stations are all fully electrified.
About twelve miles of track are not electrified.
Manchester Victoria and Macclesfield stations are twenty-four miles apart.
I estimate a four-car 100 mph battery electric train like a Class 350 train would do the trip in close to 25 minutes.

It looks like an ideal route for a battery electric train to me.

Two trains would be needed to run a two tph service, with no extra infrastructure.

Conclusion

Develop a service between Manchester Victoria and Macclesfield stations using battery electric trains, with at least a frequency of two tph.

July 15, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Battery-Electric Trains, Beeching Reversal, Class 350 Train, High Speed Two, Macclesfield Station, Manchester Victoria Station, Stalybridge Station, Stockport Station | 3 Comments

Dore And Totley Station – 13th July 2020

These pictures show Dore and Totley station.

These are my thoughts on the station and the tracks through it.

The Midland Main Line And High Speed Two

The two tracks, that are furthest away from the station platform are the Midland Main Line between Sheffield and Chesterfield, Derby and the South.

These tracks will be taken over by High Speed Two.
They will be electrified with 25 KVAC overhead electrification between Clay Cross North junction and Sheffield station.
The trains on the Midland Main Line will continue to use the electrified tracks.
East Midlands Railway have ordered bi-mode Class 810 trains, which will each be 120 metres long or 240 metres long, when running as a pair.
CrossCountry’s Class 220 trains are 187 metres long running as a pair.
I estimate that the faster trains were doing around 100 mph, as they passed Dore and Totley station. I shall measure it properly next time, I go to Sheffield on a train.

Note.

High Speed Two’s trains will probably be going through at the same speed as East Midlands Railway’s Class 810 trains.
High Speed Two will be running their 200 metre long classic-compatible trains to and from Sheffield, so except that there will be two more trains in every hour, there will be little difference.
Both the High Speed Two and the East Midlands Railway trains will be running on electric power between Sheffield and Chesterfield stations.
It is likely that other services will use electric power on the Midland Main Line.
There will be no platforms on the High Speed tracks at Dore and Totley station.

I would suspect that there will be little disruption to train services through the area, whilst the electrification is installed, judging by the disruption caused during electrification between Bedford and Corby.

Dore Junction

Dore Junction is a triangular junction, that connects the Hope Valley Line and the Midland Main Line to the South of Dore and Totley station.

This Google Map shows Dore Junction.

Note.

Dore and Junction station is at the North of the Map.
Dore West Junction is in the South West corner of the map and leads to the Hope Valley Line.
Dore South Junction is in the South East corner of the map and leads to Chesterfield on the Midland Main Line.

This second Google Map shows Dore South Junction.

Could this junction be improved to increase capacity and efficiency?

The Southern track of the triangular junction is only single track.
It is a major route for stone trains between Derbyshire and London and the South.

If Network Rail have any ideas for Dore Junction, then surely, when the works in the area are being carried out, is the time for them to be performed.

Platform Length At Dore And Totley Station

I took these two pictures when I arrived at Dore and Totley station.

As the train was formed of two two-car Class 150 trains and the train fits the platform, it would appear that the platform is about eighty metres long.

An Extra Platform At Dore And Totley Station

There may be no plans to put platforms on the Midland Main Line, but plans exist for an extra track through the station, that will connect to the Hope Valley Line.

This Google Map shows Dore and Totley station and the Midland Main Line.

The second platform wouldn’t be the widest platform,. but I’m sure a second track and a safe platform could be squeezed in.

A bridge with lifts would be needed.
The current single platform at the station is around eighty metres long, but as I said in Beeching Reversal – Sheaf Valley Stations, the platforms must be long enough to take a pair of Class 185 trains or a five-car Class 802 train, which is probably around 140 metres.

I wonder if more space is needed, the Midland Main Line could be realigned to give more space and better performance.

A Turnback At Dore And Totley Station

In Beeching Reversal – Sheaf Valley Stations, I said this about a possible turnback at Dore and Totley station.

This Google Map shows Dore & Totley station and the area to the South.

Note.

There would appear to be a lot of space between the Midland Main Line and the single track, that leads between Dore & Totley station and the Hope Valley Line.
Flying my helicopter, as low as I dare, it looks like the area is either a rubbish dump or very low grade businesses.
Crossrail has designed turnbacks at Abbey Wood and Paddington stations, that will handle twelve tph.
I believe that it would be possible to design a turnback at Dore & Totley station, that would handle eight trains per hour, if not twelve tph.

It might even be possible to squeeze in some overnight stabling.

Whilst I was at Dore and Totley station, I met a couple, who were perhaps a few years older than me, who had grown up in the area.

He could remember local steam services between Sheffield and Dore and Totley stations, where there had been a turntable to the South of the station to reverse the locomotive.

Conclusion

After what I saw on my visit to Dore and Totley station, I would suspect that the station can be updated to the standard required to allow four tph between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield stations.

It could also be a station that will attract passengers.

July 14, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Class 810 Train, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, Dore and Totley Station, Electrification, High Speed Two, Hope Valley Line, Midland Main Line, Sheffield Station | 2 Comments

Along The Hope Valley Line – 13th July 2020

These pictures show my return trip between Manchester Piccadilly and Dore & Totley stations.

There are an assorted set of stations.

Some stations appear to have new platforms.
Marple station has a impressive step-free bridge.
Some stations may be Listed or should be.
There are walking routes from some stations.
Some stations need improvements to the access.

I also have some thoughts on the service.

The Class 150 Trains

The Class 150 trains have these characteristics.

Installed Power – 426 kW
Weight – 35.8 tonnes
Operating Speed – 75 mph.

This compares with these for a Class 195 train.

Installed Power – 780 kW
Weight – 40 tonnes
Operating Speed – 100 mph.
Acceleration – 0.83 m/sec/sec

Unfortunately, I can’t find the acceleration for a Class 150 train, but I suspect that it’s not as good as the Class 195 train.

I was in a Class 150 train, for both journeys.
IThe train was on time both ways.
The engine under my carriage wasn’t working that hard.
The train was trundling around at around 60 mph.
The operating speed of the line is 90 mph.

So I suspect, that a well-driven Class 195 train will shave a few minutes from the journey time.

Transport For The North’s Plan For Manchester And Sheffield

Transportbfor the North objective for Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield stations can be summed up as follows.

Four tph in forty minutes.

As current trains take over anhour, it could be a tough ask!

The Timetable

The timetable isn’t very passenger-friendly with no easy-to-remember clock-face timetable.

This must be sorted.

Hopefully, it will increase the number of passengers riding on the route.

Battery Electric Trains

Consider.

Sheffield station will be electrified for High Speed Two.
It is likely that the route between Dore & Totley and Sheffield station will be electrified.
There is electrification at the Manchester end of the route.
The distance without electrification in the middle is probably about thirty-six miles.
Fifty-sixty miles seems a typical range quoted for a battery electric train by train manufacturers.

As electric trains generally accelerate faster than their diesel equivalent, these could run the route reliably and save time on the journey.

Conclusion

I’m coming round to the opinion, that Transport for the North’s objectives for the route can be met without electrification.

July 14, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Battery-Electric Trains, Class 150 Train, Class 195 Train, Dore and Totley Station, Electrification, High Speed Two, Hope Valley Line, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Sheffield Station, Transport for the North | 2 Comments

Macclesfield Station And High Speed Two

Today, I went to Macclesfield station.

In the latest iteration of High Speed Two, two new destinations were added to the High Speed Two Network; Macclesfield and Lancaster.

These pictures show Macclesfield station.

It is a modern station, with three through platforms, two bridges and some Modernist architecture from the 1970s, that could be improved.

This Google Map shows the layout of the station.

Note.

Platform 1 is in the West and is used by trains to Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly.
Platform 2 is in the middle and is used by trains going to Stoke, London and the South.
Platform 3 is in the East and appears to be used a couple of times per day.
It also appears there might have been a fourth platform.

All platforms appear capable of handling an eleven-car Class 390 train, which are over two hundred and sixty metres in length.

Is the plan to use Macclesfield as a High Speed Two terminal feasible?

Which Trains Will High Speed Two Use On Macclesfield Services?

It appears that High Speed Two will have two types of trains.

Trains built to the European loading gauge, that will only be able to work on high lines like High Speed One and High Speed Two. Examples would be Eurostar’s Class 373 and Class 374 trains.
Trains built to the UK loading gauge, that could also work on existing UK 125 mph routes like the East Coast, Great Western, Midland and West Coast Main Lines. Examples would be Class 800. Class 801, Class 802, Class 390 and Class 745 trains.

The second type, which are referred to, as class-compatible trains will be used to Macclesfield, as these services will share track with Class 390 and other trains, that have been or will be built to the smaller UK loading gauge.

Will Classic-Compatible High Speed Two Trains Fit Into Macclesfield Station?

Currently, every hour, one eleven-car Class 390 train calls in Macclesfield station in both directions, as they provide one of Avanti \west Coast’s three trains per hour (tph) between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly stations.

The current trains are sixty metres longer than the proposed classic-compatible High Speed Two trains, that could be terminating in Macclesfield station.

How Would Passengers Who Started And Finished Their Journeys In Macclesfield, Connect to Manchester?

Currently, these hourly services connect Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke stations.

Avanti West Cost – Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston.
CrossCountry – Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth
CrossCountry – Manchester Piccadilly and Bristol
Northern – Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke, which stops at all stations.

The characteristics would be common to all these four trains.

Services call at Stockport, Macclesfield and Stoke stations.
As services share tracks with a High Speed Two service, they must be reasonably fast.
All except the Northern service are 125 mph trains.
The Northern service is run by a 90 mph Class 323 electric train.
As Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke via Stockport is a fully-electrified route, the trains should probably be able to take advantage.

In an ideal world should the frequency be six tph or one train every ten minutes in each direction?

Which Platforms Would Be Used To Terminate High Speed Two Services?

Trains built to the UK loading gauge could probably terminate in any of the three platforms.

But it might be advantageous to terminate all services in the same platform.

Platform 3 would be the obvious choice.

It shares an island platform with classic services going South between Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke.
Passengers starting their journeys in Manchester Piccadilly or Stockport could just walk across from their connecting train to the High Speed Two train.

It must surely be a possibility to make Platform 2 able to operate bi-directionally, so that all trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke stations in both directions, stop in Platform 2, alongside the High Speed Two train for London and the South, that is waiting in Platform 3. The combined frequency would be eight tph. All passengers would just walk across the island platform to change trains.

Could A North-Facing Bay Platform Be Fitted Into The Northern End Of The Island Platform 2/3?

If you are going to provide a High Speed Two service to and from Macclesfield station, it needs to have superb and comprehensive connections to as many places as possible.

The station currently has four tph to Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport and Stoke, but would a North-facing bay platform with level access to the High Speed Two platform make any of the following feasible?

Run a second local stopping service between Manchester Piccadilly and Macclesfield to give all intermediate stations two tph to High Speed Two.
Run hourly services to places that don’t have good connections to high speed services to London and the South.
The Stockport and Stalybridge Line could be used to connect Stalybridge and Huddersfield to High Speed Two.
There might even be a way of creating a link between Macclesfield and Manchester Airport.

Note.

Looking at the platform layout at Macclesfield station, fitting in a bay platform would appear to be feasible.
The important Stockport station, which seems to have been forgotten by High Speed Two would probably have at least six tph to High Speed Two at Macclesfield station.
The local train could be timed to arrive at Macclesfield station, a convenient time before the High Speed Two train is scheduled to depart.

The bay platform could even be part of Platform 3, if it was decided that trains stopping in Platform 3, never used the platform as a through platform. It would be Macclesfield’s version of the Clapham Kiss.

I suspect more space could be found, by moving the signal box at the end of the station.

\remember that these days most signalling is controlled from centralised Rail Operation Centres.

Could High Speed Two Trains Run Between Macclesfield And Manchester Piccadilly?

As I said earlier, High Speed Two’s classic-compatible trains will be the same cross-section and shorter, than an eleven-car Class 390 train.

So the answer to my question must be yes!

This would enable a stop at Stockport station.
No platform lengthening would be required at Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport stations.

High Speed Two must have good reasons for using Macclesfield as a terminal.

There are capacity issues between Macclesfield and Manchester Piccadilly stations.
Macclesfield offers opportunities to connect to places, that are difficult to reach from Manchester Piccadilly station.

But these problems could probably be overcome by digital signalling or extension of the Manchester Metrolink.

Could More High Speed Two Services Run Between Macclesfield Station and The South?

Consider.

I believe that Macclesfield station could handle more than an hourly High Speed Two train.
It is a general principle, that on a metro like the London Overground or Merseyrail, that a single platform can handle up to four or even six tph.
Four tph would surely be too high, but Macclesfield could easily handle a second classic-compatible train to and from Birmingham Curzon Street via Stoke and Stafford.
During the inevitable works at Manchester Piccadilly station to sccomodate High Speed Two, Macclesfield could offer an alternative route, between London and Manchester.

Using Macclesfield station, as an alternative terminal for Manchester Piccadilly, builds in extra capacity for the future and offers a valuable alternative route during construction and upgrade works.

Rationalisation Between Cross Country And High Speed Two

Consider.

In a lot of locations North of Birmingham, CrossCountry and High Speed Two seem to provide similar services between the same stations.
Using currently proposed connections between High Speed Two and the classic network, CrossCountry’s services could run faster.
CrossCountry’s new fleet of trains will probably be multi-mode trains, that will be very similar to the classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
Some of the routes used by CrossCountry’s services will have a substantial upgrade to allow higher speeds and more trains, to speed up High Speed Two services.

There must be a case for rationalisation of services.

Conclusion

The more I look at High Speed Two terminating at Macclesfield station, the more I like it.

I can see these services running from the station in the future.

High Speed Two – Macclesfield and London Euston – One tph – This service would additionally call at Birmingham Interchange to link up with CrossCountry to the South.
High Speed Two – Macclesfield and Birmingham Curzon Street – One tph
CrossCountry – Macclesfield and Bournemouth, Plymouth or Reading – One tph.
Northern and others – Macclesfield and Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport – Four-six tph
Northern – Macclesfield and Huddersfield via Stockport and Stalybridge – Two tph
Northern – Macclesfield and Manchester Airport – Two tph.

Obviously, this is all speculation, but Macclesfield will develop into an important rail hub to the South-East of Manchester.

July 14, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Avanti West Coast, Class 390 Train, CrossCountry Trains, Euston Station, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Macclesfield Station, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Stockport Station | 4 Comments

Beeching Reversal – Sheaf Valley Stations

This is one of the Beeching Reversal projects that the Government and Network Rail are proposing to reverse some of the Beeching cuts.

Stations To Be Rebuilt

As you approach Sheffield station, you pass four station sites, three of which are demolished and the fourth is just a shadow of its former self.

Dore & Totley

Dean & Totley station used to have four platforms and this Google Map, shows what is left after British Rail’s vandalism in the mid-1980s.

Note.

The station has only one platform.
The single track in the platform handles all trains to and from the Hope Valley Line.
At present it appears to be two trains per hour (tph) in both directions.
The two tracks at the right are the Midland Main Line.

Transport for the North wants to run four tph between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield through here, that will take forty minutes between the two cities.

Updates planned for the station include.

A second platform for Manchester-bound trains.
A new bridge with lifts.
Platforms long enough to take a pair of Class 185 trains or a five-car Class 802 train.
A full hourly service.

There certainly seems to be enough space for another platform and track through the middle of the station.

At some point in the near future, the two Midland Main Line tracks will be electrified, as part of the upgrade for High Speed Two.

Between Dore & Totley And Beauchief

This Google Map shows a typical section of the line between Dore & Totley and Beauchief stations.

Note the two Midland Main Line tracks on the right and single-track to the Hope Valley Line on the left.

It would appear that the fourth track can be squeezed in between the single track and the Midland Main Line.

Beauchief

Beauchief station used to have four platforms before it was demolished.

This Google Map shows the station’s former location.

Note.

The building with the red dot is the former Beauchief Hotel. which was by the station.
On a larger screen you can see three tracks going into Sheffield.

I’m fairly certain that four tracks and two platforms for a station can be fitted into this narrow trackbed.

Millhouses & Eccleshall

Millhouses and Eccleshall station used to have four platforms before it was demolished.

This Google Map shows the station’s former location.

Note.

Wikipedia says the station was accessed from the Archer Road bridge, which is in the South East corner of the map.
It looks like there are three tracks with space for four.
The road to the North-West of the railway is called Old Station Road.

As at Beauchief, it will be tight.

Heeley

Heeley station used to have four platforms before it was demolished.

This Google Map shows the station’s former location.

Note.

The red arrow indicates Heeley Bridge, which Wikipedia says is near the station site.
There appears to be only two tracks through here.

It is easy to follow the tracks from here to Sheffield station.

Could A Four Track Railway Be Rebuilt Between Dore & Totley And Sheffield Stations?

I’ve not seen anything that says that building a four-track railway through here is not possible.

In a few years, there could be the following tracks and platforms, on this section.

Two fast tracks for High Speed Two, Midland Main Line and CrossCountry trains, that will be electrified with 25 KVAC overhead electrification, between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station.
The High Speed Two trains will be classic-compatible and up to 200 metres long.
The two fast tracks will not have any platforms.
Two slow tracks for local services, that will be appropriately electrified.
The slow tracks will have step-free platforms, that will be long enough to take a five-car Class 802 train or a pair of Class 185 trains.

I can’t for the life of me understand, why this stretch of four-track main line between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations was ever simplified, as at other places on the UK network, extra tracks were being added to the main lines, at the same time.

Future Services On The Fast Lines

Currently, the following services take the fast lines between Sheffield and Chesterfield stations via Dore & Totley station.

East Midlands Railway – Sheffield and London St. Pancras – 2 tph
East Midlands Railway – Sheffield and Norwich via Nottingham – 1 tph
CrossCountry – Edinburgh/Newcastle and Derby/Birmingham and the South – 2 tph
Northern – Sheffield and Nottingham – 1 tph

That is a very modest six tph.

High Speed Two are currently planning to run two tph between Sheffield and London Euston.

There may or may not be other changes.

As Birmingham Curzon Street and Sheffield will be just forty-seven minutes by High Speed Two all the way, will these destinations have a direct high speed classic-compatible service? There’s plenty of space capacity on High Speed Two.
I don’t think the Sheffield and St. Pancras services will be dropped, but they might be.
CrossCountry will probably be running intelligent multi-mode trains capable of 125 mph running and up to 140 mph in places.
Northern’s service between Sheffield and Nottingham might go via a reopened Barrow Hill Line.

But the biggest change will be that these two fast lines will be to High Speed Two standards.

Sheffield and Chesterfield will be electrified.
There will in-cab digital signalling, which theoretically could probably allow eighteen tph on the route.
High Speed Two Trains between Sheffield and Chesterfield will take twelve minutes.
Sheffield station will have been modified as required, to be able to handle all trains very efficiently.

But it would still be carrying a modest eight tph.

If required Sheffield would have the capacity to accept more trains from the South.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see, the following trains added.

An extra tph to and from London Euston via High Speed Two.
Two tph to and from Birmingham Curzon Street via High Speed Two.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see CrossCountry using classic-compatible High Speed Two trains and switching to High Speed Two between Birmingham New Street and Sheffield. But these trains would still use the same tracks to access Sheffield station.

But I am led to the conclusion, that Sheffield will have more than enough capacity linking the City to Chesterfield and the South.

Future Services On The Slow Lines

Or should I use lines connecting to the Hope Valley Line rather than slow lines?

Currently, the following services take the slow lines between Sheffield and Dore & Totley stations.

East Midlands Railway – Liverpool Lime Street and Sheffield – via Manchester Piccadilly – 1 tph
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Cleethorpes via Manchester Piccadilly – 1 tph
Northern – Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly – 1 tph

Transport for the North aims to run a four tph service with a forty minute journey time between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield.

Consider.

100 mph TransPennine Express trains take fifty-three minutes between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly without a stop.
Classic-compatible trains with a battery capability could easily handle the route.
Northern’s services on the Hope Valley Line are timed for 75 mph trains.
Dore & Totley and Hazel Grove stations are twenty-nine miles apart.

If between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations were to be electrified and track improvements like passing loops were to be made to the Hope Valley Line, I believe that to achieve a forty minute all-stops timing between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly, would need a train with the following specification.

Electric train with batteries.
Four cars
100 mph or faster operating speed.
Step-free access between platform and train.
Sparkling acceleration and deceleration.
Ability to run under in-cab digital signalling to keep out of the way of freight services.

Looking at Crossrail between London Paddington and Maidenhead stations, the London route is probably as difficult as the Hope Valley Line and it has been designed as a forty minute service with ten stops, using a modern electric train.

If TransPennine fitted batteries to their Class 802 trains, these trains would fit the Northern Powerhouse Rail requirements.

East Midlands Railway and Northern would find that the following trains could be used.

Bombardier – Aventra with batteries
Bombardier – Class 377 train with batteries
Bombardier – Class 379 train with batteries
CAF – Class 331 train with batteries
Hitachi – Class 385 train with batteries
Porterbrook – Battery/FLEX train based on Class 350 train
Stadler – Flirt with batteries

All would need that between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations be electrified.

After the upgrades and the new or refurbished trains are running, this would mean that between Dean & Totley and Sheffield would be handling four tph, which would be semi-fast trains between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly. Although to current passengers on the line, they would seem to be fast services of a much higher standard.

It would not be very different to how the slow lines into Paddington also handle about four tph of other services, including GWR services and freight.

I believe that to provide an adequate service to the reopened and rebuilt stations of Dore & Totley, Beauchief, Millhouses & Eccleshall and Heeley, that a Turn-Up-And-Go service of at least four tph should be run between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations.

A Turnback At Dore & Totley

This Google Map shows Dore & Totley station and the area to the South.

Note.

There would appear to be a lot of space between the Midland Main Line and the single track, that leads between Dore & Totley station and the Hope Valley Line.
Flying my helicopter, as low as I dare, it looks like the area is either a rubbish dump or very low grade businesses.
Crossrail has designed turnbacks at Abbey Wood and Paddington stations, that will handle twelve tph.

I believe that it would be possible to design a turnback at Dore & Totley station, that would handle eight trains per hour, if not twelve tph.

It might even be possible to squeeze in some overnight stabling.

Trains Or Tram-Trains Between Dore & Totley And Sheffield Stations

In my view, it doesn’t matter.

Crossrail’s 12 tph turnbacks can handle a 205 metre long Class 345 train, so I’m sure a well-designed turnback at Dore & Totley could handle a mixture of any trams or tram-trains below a defined maximum length of say 140 metres, which would be defined by a pair of Class 185 trains, which might have to be turned back during service disruption.

Where Would The Services Terminate in The East?

It is my view that cross-city services like Birmingham’s Cross-City Line, Liverpool’s Northern Line, London’s Crossrail and Thameslink, Newcastle’s Metro and Paris’s RER are efficient for both passengers and train operators.

So Dore & Totley station could be one end of a Sheffield cross-city line, with a frequency of at least eight tph through Beauchief, Millhouses & Eccleshall, Heeley and Sheffield stations.

So where would services go on the other side of Sheffield? Wikipedia gives these as services to the East of Sheffield.

Leeds via Barnsley and Wakefield (fast) – 2 tph
Leeds via Meadowhall, Barnsley, Wakefield and Castleford (stopping). – 1 tph
Leeds via Meadowhall, Moorthorpe and Wakefield. – 1 tph
Scarborough via Meadowhall, Doncaster, Hull and Bridlington. – 1 tph
Lincoln Central via Worksop and Retford – 1 tph
Gainsborough Central via Worksop, three trains per week continue to Cleethorpes via Brigg. – 1 tph
Huddersfield via Meadowhall, Barnsley and Penistone – 1 tph
Doncaster via Meadowhall and Rotherham, with one train per hour continuing to Adwick – 2 tph
York via Moorthorpe and Sherburn-in-Elmet. – 3 trains per day (tpd)

For much of the day, that is a frequency of 10 tph, with 5 tph calling at Meadowhall, 2 tph calling at Worksop and two fast tph passing Meadowhall without stopping.

But there are other rail projects under development.

High Speed Two will enable a new fast service between Sheffield and Leeds via Meadowhall and a new station in the Dearne Valley.
The Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 envisages a new station at Barnsley Dearne Valley. See Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley.
The Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 envisages tram-trains running between Sheffield and Doncaster-Sheffield Airport See Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – Tram-Trains Between Sheffield And Doncaster-Sheffield Airport.
The Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 envisages a new Station at Waverley. See Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Tram-Train Route To A New station At Waverley.
High Speed Two might enable a fast classic-compatible service between Sheffield and Scarborough via York.
The possible opening of the South Yorkshire Joint Railway to passenger traffic, may open up further opportunities. See Beeching Reversal – South Yorkshire Joint Railway.
The possible reinstatement of the Barrow Hill Line. See Reinstatement Of The Barrow Hill Line Between Sheffield And Chesterfield.
The development of the Stocksbridge Railway for passenger services.

I can see classic-compatible High Speed Two trains serving the following places to the East of Sheffield.

Leeds
Hull via Doncaster
Scarborough via York
Cleethorpes via Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Grimsby.

A train like a five-car Class 802 train would probably be enough for most routes except Leeds.

I can see the following terminals for tram-trains to the East of Sheffield.

Doncaster and Doncaster-Sheffield Airport
Waverley station, which could be on a loop from the Sheffield and Lincoln Line.
Barnsley Dearne Valley

There may well be others.

If Sheffield were Karlsruhe in Germany, the tram-trains would probably serve the following routes.

Huddersfield via Penistone.
Lincoln via Worksop and Gainsborough.
Manchester via the Hope Valley Line.

But the Germans have a much larger electrified core, than Sheffield will have, even if High Speed Two electrifies between Dore & Totley and Thurnscoe stations via Sheffield.

I can make a table of destinations and distances and how they could be served.

Barnsley – 16 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train.
Barnsley Dearne Valley – 8 miles from Rotherham Parkgate – Possible return trip from Sheffield via Rotherham Parkgate for a battery electric tram-train.
Doncaster – 11 miles from Rotherham Parkgate – Possible return trip from Sheffield via Rotherham Parkgate for a battery electric tram-train.
Chesterfield via Barrow Hill – 17 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric tram-train.
Doncaster Sheffield Airport – 10 miles from Doncaster – Possible return trip from Sheffield via Rotherham Parkgate and Doncaster for a battery electric tram-train.
Gainsborough Lea Road. – 32 miles – See Lincoln Central.
Huddersfield – 36 miles – Possible battery electric train with charging at Huddersfield.
Hull – 59 miles – Possible battery electric train with charging at Doncaster and Hull.
Lincoln Central – 48 miles – Possible battery electric train with charging at Lincoln and/or Gainsborough Lea Road. Otherwise diesel.
Penistone – 23 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train, using Newton’s friend on the way back.
Retford – 23 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train.
Waverley – About 6 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric tram-train.
Worksop – 16 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train.

It looks to me like a mix of battery electric trains and tram-trains could run most of the services from Sheffield, if services that used new High Speed Two infrastructure used classic-compatible trains or trains like the existing Class 802 trains, that have been converted to battery electric operation.

Note.

I am assuming, that a battery electric train has a range of 56 miles on a single charge.
Rotherham Parkgate station is changed to a through station.
Tram-trains passing through Doncaster can recharge on the station’s 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
Charging can be provided as required at other stations.

There are lots of possibilities.

Consider, this for tram-train extensions to Barnsley Dearne Valley, Doncaster and Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Extend the tram-train service at Rotherham Parkgate to either Doncaster and Doncaster Airport or Barnsley Dearne Valley stations.
Run tram-trains between Dore & Totley and Rotherham Parkgate via Sheffield, Meadowhall and Rotherham Central.

This would give a double-ended route across Sheffield and Rotherham between Dore & Totley and the existing Supertram network in the West and Barnsley Dearne Valley, Doncaster and Doncaster Sheffield Airport in the East.

Consider how to connect the branch to Waverley station to the Supertram network.

Waverley station will be either on or on a loop from the Sheffield and Lincoln Line.
The Sheffield and Lincoln Line has no obvious connection with the Supertram network.
The Sheffield and Lincoln Line goes straight in to Sheffield station.
Trains to Lincoln always appear to use Platform 4 in Sheffield station.
Sheffield station has four through platforms.

This Google Map shows where the Sheffield and Lincoln Line passes behind the Supertram Depot at Nunnery.

Note.

The Nunnery Square Park and Ride is in the South West corner of the map.
The Supertram depot is to the East of the Park-and-Ride, with the Nunnery Square tram stop to the South.
The Woodbourn Road tram stop is in the North East corner of the map.

This second Google Map shows the lines around the Park-and-Ride.

I suspect that a connection between the Supertram system and the Sheffield and Lincoln Line, could be built to the North of the Nunnery Depot.

But would it be easier to continue to Sheffield station or pass through the station and terminate at Dore & Totley station?

I can’t be sure looking at the maps, but it could be logical that trains to and from Lincoln use the Southern pair of tracks past the Nunnery Depot, as they would be on the right side of the tracks for Lincoln.

This would make it easier to do the following.

Create a connection between the Nunnery Depot and the Sheffield and Lincoln Line, which would surely be needed for efficient maintenance and operation of tram-trains running to and from Waverley.
Allow tram-trains used to serve the proposed Waverley station to return to the Depot every night.
Allow tram-trains working between Sheffield and Meadowhall to use the Lincoln and Sheffield Line to enter the Nunnery Depot.
Build a tram stop/station by the Park-and-Ride.

There would also be less need to build another depot.

Looking at the maps, could there be space to extend the Nunnery Depot?

Conclusion

This could be a very good project.

It fits in well with the plans and needs of High Speed Two.
It connects the new Waverley station to Sheffield station.
It fits well with the Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019.
It connects Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster to Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
It opens up the Hope Valley Line to improve services between Manchester and Sheffield.

I also don’t think, there’s any great risk!

July 12, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Beauchief Station, Beeching Reversal, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, Dore and Totley Station, Heeley Station, High Speed Two, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Midland Main Line, Millhouses & Eccleshall Station, Sheaf Valley Stations, Sheffield, Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019, Sheffield Station, Sheffield Supertram, Sheffield Tram-Train, Sheffield Waverley Station, South Yorkshire Joint Railway, Transport for the North | 3 Comments

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Should High Speed Two’s Macclesfield And London Service Call At Birmingham Interchange?

Thoughts On Class 807 Trains And High Speed Two’s Classic-Compatible Trains

Beeching Reversal – Stockport And Ashton Line

Dore And Totley Station – 13th July 2020

Along The Hope Valley Line – 13th July 2020

Macclesfield Station And High Speed Two

Beeching Reversal – Sheaf Valley Stations

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