How Not To Handle An Environmental Issue In A Large Project
On my holiday in Poland, I met someone, who lives on the route of HS2.
They told me that a million tons of tunnel spoil will be dumped on farmland in the Chilterns.
I was rather surprised to say the least, as having followed major projects for the best part of forty years, I know that project managers, engineers, architects and construction companies, don’t want hassle from what are collectively termed Nimbys, so they do their utmost to design projects, so that disruption and damage to the environment is minimised.
Crossrail had its problems early on, as Mayfair didn’t want the rsailway or the disruption of ten years of construction. So they devised a strategy based on openness and archaeology, which sold the project to Londoners, as something more than a railway. They have also been very helpful in giving access to the general public in events like Open House.
So I typed “HS2 tunnel spoil” into Google and found this article in the Bucks Free Press, which is entitled HS2 tunnel spoil to be dumped in Chilterns AONB. This is an extract from the article.
The announcement was made by HS2 Ltd’s Country South Area Manager Neil Cowie at a community forum in Little Kingshill on Tuesday.
He said it would be placed within a ‘sizeable area’ within two or three miles of the planned tunnel portal at Mantles Wood near Amersham – but he added HS2 Ltd did not want the location to be made public yet.
Mr Cowie said: “Rather than taking it longer distance along highways, we’ve taken some additional land alongside the route which we will landscape.
“When it’s finished it will be properly landscaped and will look very nice.”
I’m no diplomat, but it does seem a rather poor statement, which probably came out of a forum, where things were not up to scratch.
I’ve been to several Transport for London foums about projects like Camden Town station, Crossrail 2 and Hackney station and at each one, there has been an architect, engineer or project planner, who understands in detail what is proposed.
A later statement in the article says this.
In a later statement, HS2 Ltd said: “We will not being be depositing spoil/excavated materials from tunnelling in the AONB – it will be excavated materials from the cuttings going through the AONB. All tunnelling excavated materials from that part of the line will be taken out via the Colne Valley construction site.”
When dealing with any sensitive project from a children’s playground upwards, you must get your facts right! Once errors are in the local culture, they can only be eradicated with great difficulty and tremendous expense.
With respect to HS2, my project management and engineering instincts lead me to the conclusion, that HS2 will probably come up with an innovative and non-disruptive way to remove the tunnel spoil from the area.
If they don’t, then they don’t deserve to be building the line.
Puzzled Over Streatham Common Station
Transport for London’s proposal for the Bakerloo Line Extension comes with a very nice map of the various projects that will be carried out to improve rail services in South London.
Rail Improvements South Of The Thames
It is all good stuff and most is easily explained.
The black boxes are about more general and larger projects, whereas the yellow boxes are comments about specific stations.
The projects; large and small, fit together like a jigsaw. And not a particularly difficult one to understand!
Of the larger projects, the simple extension of the Bakerloo Line to Lewisham station via two new stations and New Cross Gate station is a masterstroke.
- It provides a thirty trains per hour rail link through the Old Kent Road Opportunity Area.
- It gives all those living on the East London Line, as I do, a much needed connection to the Bakerloo Line.
- Coupled with an upgraded Lewisham station, it gives South East London access to the Underground.
- The project can be opened without an expensive set of new trains.
- New Cross Gate and Lewisham stations have space for construction.
- The extension can be built with minimal closure of the Bakerloo Line.
- The project is almost a repeat of the Northern Line Extension.
- No-one’s current train service will be discontinued.
- There is no replacing heavy rail with smaller Underground trains.
- If in the future, the line needs to be extended, this will be no problem, if Lewisham station is designed correctely.
The only negative, is that the plan doesn’t provide a much-needed rail link in Camberwell.
But Transport for London have done there research and have concluded that reopening the disused Camberwell station on Thameslink could be a worthwhile alternative.
The TfL report gives this concise summary.
A new station at Camberwell would be a significantly lower cost option to a Tube extension, whilst serving the same catchment area. Investigations show significant journey time improvements could accrue to Camberwell passengers and that operationally there may be scope to integrate re-opening of the station into the launch of the completed Thameslink programme.
We will therefore undertake further planning work with Network Rail and the London Borough of Southwark to assess the proposal.
It is a second masterstroke.
Camberwell station will probably get a similar service to Loughborough Junction station. I’m not sure what it will be, but something like four eight-car trains an hour both ways. In around fifteen minutes, passengers could be at.
- Balham for the Northern Line and Crossrail 2
- Elephant and Castle for the Bakerloo and Northern Lines
- Blackfriars for the Circle and District Lines
- Farringdon for Crossrail and the Metropolitan Line.
- Kings Cross St Pancras for main line services and the Victoria Line.
Camberwell station could easily be double-ended, with entrances on both sides of Camberwell New Road.
Camberwell would get at least a high-capacity four trains per hour service to virtually everywhere, with just a single change.
And this could be delivered by 2020, if they get the turbo-charged engineering skates out.
On the South London map, there are some other stations mentioned.
- Brockley – Potential new interchange hub
- East Croydon – Extra platforms & grade separation
- Lewisham – Upgraded major hub for SE London
- Streatham Common – Potential new interchange hub
- Wimbledon – Crossrail 2 upgrade
All of these station upgrades are understandable, with the exception of Streatham Common station.
I can only believe that Transport for London have a cunning plan for this station and the tangle of lines to its North.
Streatham Common Station And The Tangle Of Lines
So what would an interchange hub be like?
In the simplest design, two platforms would be built across the lines through Streatham Common station alongside the Sutton Loop Line. They would be connected to extended platforms from the existing station, by stairs and lifts.
I think there would be space to build some bay platforms into the station, so that Streatham Common station could be used as a terminus.
This schematic of the rail lines is from carto.metro.free.fr
Lines At Streatham
Note how there are very few rail lines, south of Streatham towards Mitcham Eastfields station. Wikpedia says this about the station.
The station is located at Eastfields Road level crossing, in an area previously poorly served by public transport. The nearest station was Mitcham Junction, which along with Mitcham tram stop, was over 1 mile (1.6 km) from the district.
I wrote about the station in Mitcham Eastfields Station.
The lines that currently go or could go through the Dtreatham stations are set out in the following sections.
The Sutton Loop Line Of Thameslink
Streatham station is the last station on Thameslink before the Sutton Loop starts and finishes. Stations on the Sutton Loop include.
- Tooting
- Haydons Road
- Wimbledon
- Wimbledon Chase
- South Merton
- Morden South
- St. Helier
- Sutton Common
- West Sutton
- Sutton
- Carshalton
- Hackbridge
- Mitcham Junction
- Mitcham Eastfields
The fourteen stations have the following service.
- Currently, there are two trains per hour in each direction on the loop.
- Only Mitchan Junction and Wimbledon have connecions to Tramlink.
- I think Streatham to Streatham takes about forty-five minutes of travelling time.
- These trains eventually terminate and come back at St. Albans or Luton in the Peak.
- When the ongoing Thameslink Programme is finished, there will be two eight-car Class 700 trains in each direction every hour.
When the Thameslink Programme was planned, Network Rail intended to terminate these services at Blackfriars.
Residents and their politicians objected! Wikipedia says this.
Network Rail had planned to terminate Sutton Loop Thameslink trains at Blackfriars station, rather than have them continue through central London as at present. This upset many residents in South London and their local politicians, who saw it as a reduction in services rather than an improvement. In response to pressure, government has ordered Network Rail to reverse the decision.
I think this illustrates a certain sensitivity about train services in the area. Do they think that other places like Balham, Croydon and Wimbledon, get all the goodies?
So we have four trains an hour through the core section of Thameslink going on the Sutton Loop.
Although, this shouldn’t affect the services on the loop, could this cause problems for passengers on the trains through Wimbledon and Sutton, as long-distance trains are being used for short local journeys.
For example, you might have mothers with buggies taking babies and children to nurseries and schools, mixed up with commuters, who want to go north of the Thames.
A simple solution would be to have more trains going round the loop, so that instead of just two trains per hour each way, there were perhaps four or even more.
But where would they come from?
They could come a long way from somewhere like Orpington or Cannon Street, which would mean finding paths all over South East London and perhaps beyond.
Or perhaps they could just do the loop and start and finish at either Streatham or an expanded Streatham Common.
As Streatham is just a two platform station, with little space to expand, a bay platform in Streatham Common might be one solution.
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – The station could be the terminus of a two train per hour local service around the Sutton Loop.
The Brighton Main Line
The Brighton Main Line goes from Victoria to East Croydon with fast trains generally only stopping at Clapham Junction station en route. However services pass through several important stations like Balham and Streatham Common without stopping.
Could there be advantages in stopping some of these services at an upgraded Streatham Common?
I don’t know under normal circumstances, but there may be good operational reasons for services to be able to call at Streatham Common station.
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – The station could be a valuable interchange between Brighton Main Line and other services.
Tramlink
Although Tramlink doesn’t go anywhere near Streatham at present, it does have a main route, south of the area.
There is also a distinct lack of rail services in the area between Streatham and Mitcham, which led to the building of Micham Eastfields station.
In Wikipedia, it says that extensions to the Tramlink have been proposed North and South of Croydon. This is said about North of Croydon.
To the north of Croydon, it is proposed to use a highway alignment based on London Road. To the south of Thornton Heath Pond, the use of a shared carriageway is a possibility. North of this point the road becomes the A23 again, but there are likely to be some opportunities for trambaan type segregation to Norbury and between Norbury and Streatham, although Norbury is a pinch point. The proposal is to terminate the line at Streatham railway station, providing an interchange to the extended East London Line
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – The station could be a destination for Tramlink.
Tram-Trains
In areas of Germany, where there are both trains and trams, the Germans are getting very enthusiastic about tram-trains which can run on both networks.
If tram-trains, were to be used on a possible Tramlink Extension to Streatham, they could join the railway at a convenient station, like Norbury or Streatham Common and become trains to go round the Sutton Loop.
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – Tram-trains on Tramlink.
The East London Line
I use the East London Line a lot and it has the problem of success.
Trains have grown from three to five cars and some recent trips from Denmark Hill to Dalston Junction have shown, that at times standing is common.
Increased frequencies in 2018/2019, will ease the problems, but would another terminus in South London be a good idea for the East London Line?
The capacity of the core section of the East London Line is twenty-four trains per hour, so even from 2018/2019, there are four more paths available.
So could we see some services going to Streatham Common station perhaps via Peckham Rye, Tulse Hill and Streatham?
A factor that might apply here, is can Platform 1 at Clapham Junction cope with enough trains from Dalston Junction?
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – A terminus for a branch of the East London Line.
The West London Line
Southern’s hourly service between South Croydon and Milton Keynes calls at Streatham Common station.
London Overground has a service of around four trains per hour on the West London Line between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction, which Southern’s service augments for part of the route.
But there are problems with the West London Line.
- There are some extended service intervals at times.
- The Southern service doesn’t call at Willesden Junction.
- West London Line services call at different platforms at Clapham Junction.
- As with the East London Line, could platform space at Clapham Junction be a problem for the West London Line of the Overground
Unlike the East London Line, the West London Line is not a turn-up-and-go service.
So could there be advantages to use Streatham Common station, as a southern terminus for services through the West London Line?
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – A terminus for the West London Line.
HS2
When HS2 opens in 2026, getting to Euston station will not be easy, as it is unlikely that Crossrail 2 will have been started, let alone up and running.
Passengers will need to get to a Northern or Victoria Line station and have a deep and possibly tedious journey across Central London.
Thameslink will be of use to some, but there will be a walk or a short-but-difficult tube journey between St. Pancras and Euston.
But HS2 will stop at Old Oak Common station on the North London Line. If the West London and East London Lines were to be extended to Streatham Common station, either could be a good alternative route to HS2 and the West Coast Main Line.
I estimate that Streatham Common to Old Oak Common will take thirty three minutes, compared to Morden to Euston on the Northern Line, which can take forty-one minutes.
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – The station could be an important hub, collecting passengers for HS2 and the West Coast Main Line
Crossrail 2
Crossrail 2 is not planned to call at Streatham Common station, although it might go underneath in its route from Balham to Wimbledon.
Even so, I suspect that an expanded Streatham Common station will be to the advantage of Crossrail 2.
As I said earlier the station can help improve services on the Sutton Loop, which would have effects.
- Bring more passengers to Wimbledon for Crossrail 2.
- If extra stations were added to the Sutton Loop, these could help solve the Tooting Broadway/Balham wars.
- Could a new station be built at St. George’s Hospital, between Tooting and Haydons Road stations?
But the biggest benefit would be that Streatham Common station, would be an alternative hub, for those wanting to avoid Wimbledon during the building of Crossrail 2.
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – Crossrail 2
East Croydon
When East Croydon station is being extended or the grade separation at Windmill Bridge Junction is being built, surely a well-connected interchange at Streatham Common, could be an asset towards helping to maintain a service.
Even under normal circumstances with a decent tram and train connection to Croydon, Streatham Common station may take the pressure off public transport in Croydon.
Possible Reason for an expanded Streatham Common station – Alternative routes for Croydon
Conclusions
Build a Streatham Common interchange hub!
It is just a pity that Crossrail 2 can’t have a station at Streatham Common.
Is the Streatham Common interchange hub, a third masterstroke?
HS2 Does The Right Thing At Leeds
I don’t like the concept of most of the HS2 stations.
Euston, isn’t too bad, as the HS2 platforms are alongside those for the main station and I suspect that when and if I see it in reality, I will be able to arrive in the station on perhaps a London Midland train from Bletchley or Tring and just walk across to the HS2 platforms.
At some of our better interchange stations like Reading, to change trains, you go up escalators to a wide overbridge and then walk across to the escalator for the platform of your departing train. The design also allows seats and cafes in a totally non-claustrophobic environment. I have a feeling that the new London Bridge will raise the bar of this type of station even higher!
To my mind the designs for HS2 station at Birmingham is absolute rubbish and truly terrible. Birmingham is developing a local train, tram and bus network centred on New Street station, so instead of HS2 arriving into this hub, it arrives at a separate station some distance away and many passengers will have to get a tram to connect to their ongoing service.
As HS2 will run very large trains, imagine say a thousand Chelsea fans arriving on HS2 to go to a match at Villa Park and needing to get a train from New Street. You save masses of time by using HS2 and then waste it queuing for a tram.
But if HS2 arrived directly into New Street, a lot of the problems would be solved with a short walk.
In Birmingham there is no space in New Street itself, but why shouldn’t HS2 arrive in an underground station beneath New Street? Or in my preferred solution, in a giant double-ended station stretching right under the City Centre.
As they’ve got a redundant piece of Grade 1 Listed railway memorabilia, they’ll use that instead. The heritage lobby should crawl back into its hole!
But at Leeds, HS2 have put forward a new proposal, where HS2 meets the existing station in a giant version of the way trams met the train at Nottingham.
This is the only picture I can find of the proposal. It’s in an article in Global Rail News.
HS2 At Leeds Station
Passengers arriving in Leeds would just walk to the front of the train and then they’d be over the platforms of the existing Leeds station. If that is too difficult, then I’m sure we’ll see a few travalators.
It is a much better layout than that proposed for Birmingham.
Interchange between HS2 and local services must be a short walk, assisted by lifts, escalators or travalators as required.
HS2’s Interactive Map
For those who are worried, need to know or just plain curious, HS2 have put a very good quality interactive map on their web site on this page.
These are some images, I have captured.
Stations are shown by red dots
Euston, St. Pancras and Kings Cross Stations With HS2
Euston, St. Pancras and Kings Cross Stations With HS2
The map clearly shows the three stations and the route of HS2 into Euston.
Note the following.
- HS2 clearly arrives at Euston on the western side of the station.
- The pedestrian route to St. Pancras could be more difficult than planners think.
- The station would appear to be extended towards Euston Road.
- Whilst the station is built, I suspect, that a good connection to the Metroipolitan/Circle can be created.
I think we’ll see some plans in the next few years, that make the connection between the three stations a lot better.
Old Oak Common Station
Old Oak Common Station
The map shows the myriad of lines in the area.
I believe that for many people using HS2 to and from London, will use this station, as its connectivity is so much more comprehensive than Euston.
Birmingham Interchange Station
Birmingham Interchange Station
Birmingham Curzon Street Station
Birmingham Curzon Street Station
Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham New Street stations are to the south of the new station.
HS2 East Of Birmingham
HS2 East Of Birmingham
This map clearly shows how trains for the North via Birmingham will go into Birmingham and then reverse direction in Birmingham Curzon Street station.
Handsacre And HS2
Handsacre And HS2
This map shows where HS2 joins the West Coast Main Line at Handsacre.
Conclusion
The interactive map is a real credit to modern computing.
Every project that could benefit should have one.
Will we be seeing one for Crossrail 2?
Government “not pursuing” HS1-HS2 Rail Link
This is the title of an article on Global Rail News.
The report entitled High Speed Two: East and West The next steps to Crewe and beyond considers it is just too difficult.
Section twelve of the report entitled Connecting to High Speed 1, goes into details.
They suggest an enhanced pedestrian link and say this for rail.
For rail, we considered a range of direct link options. It was, however, not possible to identify a viable rail option capable of meeting the strategic aspirations whilst successfully addressing stakeholder concerns. This was because the options were complex and expensive to construct and would have delivered infrequent, less attractive train services for HS2 passenger travelling to European destinations. As a result we do not intend to take forward proposals for a direct rail between HS2 and HS1 or include active or passive provision to support the construction of such a link in the future.
In my view, the only direct rail link possible, without demolishing half of Camden, would be a totally tunnelled double-tracked route from a few miles north of Euston to somewhere like Barking to connect with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. It could also be used to get freight trains between the West Coast Main Line and the Channel Tunnel and the ports in the South East.
But it would have a cost of almost the level of the tunnels for Crossrail or Crossrail 2. Have we got a spare ten billion pounds?
The Pedestrian Link
From drawings of Euston station after HS2 is opened, it would appear that the HS2 platforms are on the western side of the station.
Does this make the pedestrian link difficult?
The Crossrail Alternative
When HS2 opens in2026, it will stop at Old Oak Common station, where it will interface with a myriad of lines including Crossrail.
Crossrail at present only goes as far as Abbey Wood, but the route is safeguarded to Gravesend. As I showed in Crossrail Extension To Gravesend, extending Crossrail to Ebbsfleet International station, would not be a multi-billion pound project.
As the HS2 station at Old Oak Common is not finalised yet, I do hope when it is, that it is simple interchange between HS2 and Crossrail.
With a simple interchange between Crossrail and HS1, the link between HS1 and HS2 via Crossrail would not be as simple as a direct link, but it could have other advantages, when you look at the using Crossrail as a preferred link.
Convenience For Passengers
If Crossrail served Ebbsfleet International, this would mean that passengers from many more places would have a direct or one-change link to Continental services.
But the biggest winners would be those wanting to go between Heathrow and the Continent. What the direct frequency would be between Heathrow and Ebbsfleet International would be up to the planners, but I can’t expect there would be less than four trains per hour
I live close to Dalston Junction and might prefer to use Crossrail from Whitechapel to Ebbsfleet, at certain times of the day, when my routes to St. Pancras are extremely busy!
I believe that Crossrail should go be exected to Ebbsfleet International as soon as is feasible!
St. Pancras Is Too Small
I believe that in a few years time, London to Paris and London to Brussels will be turn-up-and-go services.
Given too, that plans exist for direct services to Amsterdam/Rotterdam, Marseilles and Cologne, it strikes me that a four-platform St. Pancras station will be too small in perhaps ten years.
Also, what would happen if say easyRail or RyanRail wanted to run low-cost services to Europe, which is or will be allowed by European Union competition rules?
With Crossrail linked to Ebbsfleet International, where there is plenty of space for more platforms, it would be possible that services could terminate there and use Crossrail to and from Central London.
Customs And Immigration
Once Crossrail is a feasible route to Continental services and the travel statistics start to be reliable, it might be possible so sort out our archaic customs and immigration arrangements.
When I travel between say Brussels and Frankfurt, I just have to have a valid ticket, but how long before I need to show my passport and have my baggage scanned on a journey like this?
Incidentally, if you travel on some long-distance trains in Spain, your baggage is scanned.
I think that with all the problems of terrorism and illegal immigration, that cross-border trains within the Schengen area, will come under tighter security rules in the near future.
Will regulations like this mean, when I am travelling from say Cologne to London, that I would undergo the same checks as another passenger going from Cologne to Brussels?
I certainly hope so!
Modern Ticketing
Surely with e-passports and contactless bank cards, we should be able to do something a lot better than exists today.
Imagine turning up at any major station on either side of the Channel, where you can board a train for the other side.
You put your e-passport on the turn-up-and-go terminal, which checks you against the passport. You just indicate on a screen where you want to go, choose your train and, pay for it and then walk through to the waiting area.
If you have already bought your ticket, the terminal would recognise you and after checking the bar code on your ticket or your bank card, you would also be let through.
The only thing to do before boarding, who be the personal and baggage scan.
All the technology to create a ticketing system like this is available today.
On the other hand, I would hate to see a system that was so slow, that you had to spend an hour in a station before travelling.
Thoughts On The Camden HS1-HS2 Link
After writing the previous sections and reading this section on Wikipedia about the link, I had the following thoughts.
- Trains between the Continent and HS2 would not stop in Central London. This might cause logistical problems for groups of travellers.
- To call at St. Pancras, trains would need to reverse at St. Pancras. Would there be enough platforms?
- Would Customs and Immigration services have to be provided at every HS2 station?
I suspect others have had the same and other thoughts and have thus decided that a pedestrian route is the best way to change between Euston and St. Pancras.
Journey Times
I wouldn’t use Ebbsfleet if the total journey time was a lot longer.
The following assumptions and facts can be considered.
- Ticketing, boarding or disembarking at St. Pancras or Ebbsfleet shouldn’t take different times.
- From Eurostar’s timetable St. Pancras to Ebbsfleet takes twenty minutes.
- From Eurostar’s timetable St. Pancras to Paris by the fastest train takes two hours sixteen minutes.
- From Eurostar’s timetable Ebbsfleet to Paris by the fastest train takes two hours five minutes.
- From Crossrail’s predictions, Old Oak Common to Abbey Wood will take thirty two minutes.
- I estimate that Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet International would take perhaps fifteen minutes.
- I estimate that Old Oak Common to |St. Pancras via a direct HS1-HS2 link would take perhaps fifteen minutes or a bit more, if the train had to reverse at St. Pancras.
This would give the following estimated times.
- Old Oak Common to Paris via St. Pancras would take two hours thirty-one minutes.
- Old Oak Common to Paris via Crossrail would take two hours fifty-two minutes.
So not building a direct link means that passengers using HS2 to get to Paris take another twenty-one minutes.
On the other hand, how many would book separate trains with a generous connection time and whilst crossing central London would have a relaxing meal?
Conclusion
I think that to save twenty-one minutes in a journey from HS2 to Paris, but completely rebuild the lines North of Euston and St. Pancras is a trade-off not worth making.
Crossrail Are Uphill Excavating Again
In Coal Mining In Whitechapel, I described how the Crossrail contractors were using a technique called uphill excavation to connect the Crossrail tunnels to the existing Whitechapel station above.
In this document on the Crossrail web site, the company describes how the technique is being used again to connect the running tunnels to the Broadgate ticket hall above. This is said about the methods used.
This excavation will be carried out using an innovative method of uphill excavation. Traditional uphill excavation is considered unsafe due to the risk of excavated material falling onto the excavator and operatives, however the BBMV team realised that the ability to excavate upwards from existing tunnels at the base of the escalator shaft would generate significant time and cost savings. In response BBMV introduced a bespoke uphill excavator that is suspended from the ceiling of the construction tunnel and advances in line with the tunnel progression. A walkway along the side of the excavator provides the engineer with a safe working area and emergency egress for the operator. Once this excavation of this escalator shaft is complete we will begin to construct an access passage that will lead passengers from the Ticket Hall into the station tunnels, in early 2016.
There is also the first published picture I’ve found of an uphill excavator.
BBMV’s Uphill Excavator
I think we’ll find in the coming years that uphill excavation will be increasingly used in the construction of railways and other tunnels underneath towns and cities.
I’m sure, Crossrail 2 will use the technique to create stations at Angel, Chelsea and Tottenham Court Road. The biggest advantage is that it will silence the Militant Wing of the heritage lobby and all the luvvies, who are against London getting a better public transport system.
I also think, that we could build underground stations for HS2 at Euston, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, and use the technique to provide link tunnels to the existing stations above.
Tram-Trains To East Midlands Airport
I have a Google Alert looking for tram-trains and it found this article on the Nottingham Post entitled Could tram-trains link Nottingham to East Midlands Airport?
It’s a thought!
The article talks about a proposal to create a link between East Midlands Airport and the Midland Main Line, that would allow tram-trains to connect the airport to cities like Nottingham, Derby and Leicester and the proposed HS2 station at Toton.
This is a Google Map of the area between the Airport and the Midland Main Line.
East Midlands Airport, the M1 And The Midland Main Line
East Midlands Parkway station is at the top right of the map.
I think that properly designed this idea could have legs.
A few points.
- Some doubt the South East will ever get a new runway, so improving connections to East Midlands Airport would surely mean more passengers flew from their local airport, rather than a congested Heathrow.
- It would improve links between the major cities and population centres of the East Midlands and they probably need an improved turn-up-and-go four trains per hour service between each.
- There are a number of intermediate stations to the various destinations, which probably need better connections.
- The tram-line would also cross the M1. So would a pick-up/drop-off tram stop ease travel in the area?
- Once the tram-train technology is proven and approved and the Midland Main Line is electrified, I doubt that creating the link would be a difficult planning or engineering project.
I will be very surprised if at some point in the future, some form of light or heavy rail line doesn’t reach East Midlands Airport.
But then I think tram-trains would be best.
Rethinking HS2 And HS3
There is an article on the Rail News web site entitled Sheffield-Leeds HS2 route ‘to be shared with HS3’.
The article bases their article on a document called Rolling Stock Perspective, published by the Department of Transport and comes to the conclusion, that HS2 and HS3 may share tracks between Leeds and Sheffield.
In a post, which I called Whither HS2 and HS3?, I suggested HS2 and HS3 shared tracks between Manchester Interchange (Airport), Manchester and Leeds, and also said that both HS2 and HS3 should serve Leeds and Sheffield. So I might have got it right!
The one thing, I did get right in that post was the last statement.
The one thing we mustn’t do is build HS2 as it is currently designed, as we can do much better than is proposed.
Certainly, it appears that there is a lot of serious thinking going on in the design of HS2 and HS3. Today it was about linking HS2 and HS3, whereas yesterday it was about linking HS1 and HS2.
Who knows what idea will turn up next?
Should We Link HS2 And HS1?
According to this article on the Global Rail News web site, there has been speculation over the weekend in the Press that there will be a direct link between HS1 and HS2.
There are two main reasons why the HS1 and HS2 should be directly linked.
Obviously, in a decade or so, it would be very nice to get on a train in Birmingham and then be in Paris or Brussels without changing trains in under three hours.
Within a decade, the amount of freight going between the Midlands, North and Scotland, and the Channel Tunnel and the ports in the Thames Estuary is going to have grown substantially! So if HS1 was connected to HS2 and the West Coast Main Line by a full-size tunnel, the freight trains could be diverted deep under London. This would free-up the North London and the Gospel Oak to Barking Lines for much-needed passenger services.
A few years ago, digging a full size tunnel between HS1 under Islington to say Old Oak Common would have been an immensely difficult project, but Crossrail and other tunnelling projects around the world have changed all that.
My insight into the minds of those who create these big projects, makes me think, that if HS1 and HS2 are linked directly, it will be used for other purposes.
But above all we must boldly go!
Whither HS2 And HS3?
This morning there is an article in The Independent, which is entitled SNP fury as HS2 finds ‘no business case’ for taking fast train service to Scotland. Here’s the first paragraph.
The £50bn High Speed Two rail link will not be extended to Scotland, as the team behind the project has found there is “no business case” for the undertaking.
There may not be a conventional business case, as some of the reasons for developing a high speed railway up and down the country are emotional or for a country, where none of us will still be alive.
When HS2 is talked about in the media, freight is rarely mentioned outside of specialist magazines and web sites.
Although, HS2 will be built for the biggest freight trains, there are no plans for using it for this purpose at present. But, if the high speed line moves passengers away from the conventional East Coast, West Coast and Midland Main Lines, this will reduce the number of passenger trains and open up more paths for much needed freight trains to drive the economy.
The Electric Spine will take pressure off existing routes to the North and Scotland, but it does nothing to increase capacity north of Warrington and York, where both the East and West Coast Main Lines do not have the capacity of their southern ends. Some extra tracks and easier routes may be possible in places on these two Main Lines, but upgrading them will be difficult and politically sensitive.
The only other way to create more capacity between the North of England and Central Scotland is to electrify the Settle to Carlisle Line and complete and electrify the Waverley Route to Edinburgh.
I also mistrust all forecasts of passenger ridership on the railways. Two examples illustrate how bad they can be.
The estimate for traffic through the Channel Tunnel was very much on the high side and only now are the number of train passengers rising substantially towards that figure.
Locally, to me, the London Overground was started with three-car trains, which just five years later they are now converting to five cars. The original estimate ranks with some of the most spectacularly bad Treasury and Department of Transport predictions.
Add to this the usual mistakes, where they get the number of trains wrong and lumber places with unsuitable, inadequate or poorly designed trains, that are often unique one-offs to fit the budget. This means you can’t easily rustle up some more standard trains. At least with the Overground, Bombardier delivered the Class 378 trains, which can be cut and pasted into new formations and are still in production.
If you want to see an inadequate set of trains look at the Class 185 trains built for Trans Pennine services. Wikipedia has a whole section devoted to Overcrowding and Passenger Feedback. I have this feeling that some of the other trains ordered lately might be disasters, as the dead hand of the Treasury was too much on the decision.
So I can understand, why the SNP are angry that HS2 will not be extended to Scotland. More capacity is needed between England and Scotland for both freight and passengers, and if that is new capacity, it is likely that it would work well and in a reliable way, using standard trains that are just not UK-only specials, bought from the Treasury’s scraps and petty cash.
I do think though that our designs for HS2 are rather dated and don’t take things that are happening or have happened into account.
Crossrail in London has shown that putting a large twin rail tunnel under a major city, is not the problem it once was. Crossrail have also been very innovative in creating stations with the minimum disturbance to existing infrastructure. As an example, the new Whitechapel station for Crossrail has also used a technique called uphill excavation, where you create escalator and lift shafts upwards from the tunnels, rather than traditionally from the surface, which is much more disruptive.
These techniques can revolutionise the construction of HS2.
Take cities like Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield, which have developed and are continually developing extensive local rail, tram and bus networks. So why are we in Birmingham still talking about creating an HS2 station at Curzon Street? Surely, we just dig a very deep pair of HS2 tunnels under the city and then uphill excavate into not only New Street, but Moor Street and Snow Hill as well. The tunnels would be only made as long as necessary, although the underground station could be very large. But it probably wouldn’t be much bigger than the enormous double-ended Liverpool Street/Moorgate station being created for Crossrail.
The great advantage of this method of construction is that you can continue to develop your network of local trains, trams and other transport links, untroubled by the construction of the new station deep below. Anybody, who thinks this is not possible, should spend half-an-hour walking around Whitechapel station, where the Hammersmith and City, District and East London Lines are passing untroubled over the giant hole and through the building site for the new station.
I would have no idea as to the costs of this method of construction, but it surely must be more affordable, than creating a new station or modifying an old one, by traditional methods.
A station in Manchester could probably be created in a similar manner with a giant double-ended station linking into Manchester Piccadilly station at the Southern end and Manchester Victoria station at the Northern. This is a Google Earth image of Manchester city centre between the two main stations.
Manchester Piccadily And Victoria
Victoria is at the top and Piccadilly is at the bottom. The distance between the two stations is probably a couple of hundred metres more than between Moorgate and Liverpool Street, so designing a station deep beneath the city centre should be possible with a bit of help from long escalators and perhaps a travalator. If nothing else, it would be a wonderful way to transfer between the two stations in Manchester’s rain. It could also have entrances in places like Piccadilly Gardens
Leeds station could be a number of platforms for the high-speed lines under the current station.
Since HS2 has been proposed and still-born, the Northern Powerhouse and HS3 has arrived.
In my view we should plan HS2 and HS3 together and construct them together, as needs determine and budgets allow.
HS2 would start in London, possibly in an underground station which would be under one of the three stations on the Euston Road; Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Euston. It would probably be under Euston, but wherever it was it would be closely integrated into the Crossrail 2 station, which would be under Euston Road at right angles to the other lines and will serve the three current and the new HS2 stations.
I wouldn’t totally rebuild Euston station for HS2, as the station is so complicated and second-rate in its relationship with the Underground, that creating a decent connection between the current station would be so difficult to do without gumming up London’s transport system for umpteen years.
The approach used at Kings Cross to create the magnificent station we have today should be copied, where the main station was left virtually intact and new Underground entrances and subways were dug and tunnelled out to get the Underground connection working and then build a spacious station to give access to the platforms for the long-distance trains.
I also think that it would be better to build Crossrail 2 first and connect it to the three current stations on Euston Road, then tunnel HS2 accurately into the knitting.
The current Euston station would be kept fully operational throughout the construction of HS2 and only when that line is complete, would Euston station be given the sort of upgrade that has been so successfully done at Kings Cross, St. Pancras, Waterloo and Paddington.
HS2 would go North to a station at Old Oak Common, probably mostly in tunnel and it would then pass stations at Birmingham Interchange (Airport), Birmingham, Crewe, Manchester Interchange (Airport), Manchester and Leeds. I would put the stations in tunnels underneath the current transport hubs.
A branch off the main HS2, north of Birmingham, would go under Nottingham, Sheffield, finally rejoining the main HS2 at Leeds.
And why not balance the network, by having a branch off HS2 south of Birmingham going towards Bristol and Cardiff.
If the alignments were developed correctly, then loops under cities like Stoke might be possible.
HS3 could actually be integrated into HS2. Perhaps it would start under Liverpool Lime Street and then pass under Manchester Interchange, Manchester and Leeds.
From Leeds the HS2 and HS3 would split again, with one branch going North to Newcastle via York and the other going to Hull via Sheffield and Doncaster.
Obviously, this is only a back-of-an-envelop design and properly thought through it could be much better.
But I do feel that HS2 and HS3 will both benefit if they share a route between Manchester Interchange and Leeds, via perhaps Manchester and Huddersfield.
One of the aims of this design is to create a high-speed railway network, with as little demolition and disruption to the workings of our cities as possible.
What happens in Scotland is tricky, as in my view a lot of improvements are mainly Scottish solutions. For instance, as I said, the Waverley Route needs to be rebuilt to a high standard with electrification, Glasgow Crossrail needs to be created and Edinburgh to Glasgow needs to be fully electrified.
But when Newcastle gets a high speed connection to the south, the final piece in the jigsaw of high-speed lines would be to extend HS2 to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Hopefully, by the time that happens, we’ll have learned how to do it in a quick, affordable and non-disruptive way.
The one thing we mustn’t do is build HS2 as it is currently designed, as we can do much better than is proposed.
The Anonymous Widower 