The Anonymous Widower

A Walk Around High Speed Two Works In Birmingham – 19th July 2023

The plan was simple.

I intended to go to Birmingham Moor Street station and see what I could see of the High Speed Two works in a circular walk from the station.

I took these pictures.

Note.

  1. At the beginning and end of this gallery, there are some pictures taken from the train, that was entering or leaving Birmingham Moor Street station.
  2. The boxy building is the Grade I Listed Birmingham Curzon Street station, that will be incorporated into the High Speed Two station.
  3. I didn’t expect to see a memorial to the Katyn massacre.

I can see a very large amount of development happening in this area.

July 23, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | 2 Comments

High Speed Two Works From A Chiltern Train – 19th July 2023

I took these pictures returning from Birmingham on a Chiltern train.

O don’t think I’ve seen so many tunnel segments on a site.

July 23, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

Thoughts On Rail Capacity Between London And The North

This is just a rough calculation to see how many trains can be run between London and the North.

I shall do the calculation by station.

Euston

Trains are.

  • Avanti – Birmingham – 1 tph (trains per hour)
  • Avanti – Blackpool North – 1 tpd (trains per day)
  • Avanti – Blackpool North via Birmingham – 2 tpd
  • Avanti – Edinburgh via Birmingham – 1 tp2h – (trains per two hours)
  • Avanti – Glasgow – 1 tph
  • Avanti – Glasgow via Birmingham – 5 tpd
  • Avanti – Holyhead – 8 tpd
  • Avanti – Liverpool – 1 tph
  • Avanti – Manchester – 3 tph
  • WMT – Birmingham – 2 tph
  • WMT – Crewe – 1 tph

This gives totals of  9 tph, 1 tp2h and 16 tpd

King’s Cross

Trains are.

  • Grand Central – Bradford – 4 tpd
  • Grand Central – Sunderland – 6 tpd
  • Hull Trains – Beverley – 2 tpd
  • Hull Trains – Hull – 5 tpd
  • LNER – Bradford- 2 tpd
  • LNER – Edinburgh – 3 tp2h
  • LNER – Harrogate – 1 tp2h
  • LNER – Hull – 1 tpd
  • LNER – Leeds – 3 tp2h
  • LNER – Lincoln – 1 tp2h
  • LNER – Middlesbrough – 1 tpd
  • LNER – Skipton – 1 tpd
  • LNER – Sunderland – 1 tpd
  • LNER – York- 1 tp2h
  • Lumo – Edinburgh – 5 tpd

This gives totals of  9 tp2h and 28 tpd

Marylebone

Trains are.

  • Chiltern – Birmingham – 2 tph

This gives totals of  2 tph

St. Pancras

Trains are.

  • EMR – Corby – two tph
  • EMR – Nottingham – two tph
  • EMR – Sheffield- two tph

This gives totals of  6 tph

Grand Totals

Grand totals are  17 tph, 10 tp2h and 44 tpd

I will assume.

  • 10 tp2h is equivalent to 5 tph.
  • 44 tpd is equivalent to 3 tph if trains start journeys between 0600 and 2100.

This means that currently, there is the equivalent of 25 tph between London and the North.

The Effect Of High Speed Two

The capacity of High Speed Two is 17 tph, so, that appears to be a 68 % increase in paths to the North.

Consider.

  • Assume we need 25 tph between London and the North.
  • 17 tph will be on High Speed Two.
  • 8 tph will be on classic routes like the East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and West Coast Main Line.
  • High Speed Two trains are 400 metres long.
  • Current trains are about 240 metres long.

I have done a weighted calculation, which shows that passenger capacity between London and the North, will increase by around 45 %.

High Speed Two will surely release paths between London and the North on the classic routes, that could accommodate somewhere around 17 tph.

These could be used for.

  • Services not suitable for High Speed Two
  • New services
  • Freight services
  • Open access services

There is a lot of capacity that can be reused.

What Will Happen To Classic Routes Between London And The North?

Consider.

  • The East Coast Main Line between London and Doncaster, is being upgraded with full digital signalling to allow running at up to 140 mph and increased train frequencies.
  • Similar upgrades will be surely be applied to the other classic routes between London and the North.
  • Important destinations, that will not be served by High Speed Two, like Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes and Peterborough could be given high speed connections, to Birmingham, London and Manchester.
  • The East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and West Coast Main Line will all be electrified with some sections of quadruple track in a few years.
  • Currently, the East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and West Coast Main Line are mainly 125 mph lines and these could be upgraded to 140 mph with digital signalling.

I could envisage the East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and West Coast Main Line being developed into a secondary 140 mph network based on the existing  stations lines and services.

Conclusion

High Speed Two is going to have a lot of collateral benefits in Middle England.

 

July 21, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Are Arnos Grove And Northolt Tube Stations Going Step Free?

BBC London local news announced this morning some Underground stations would be made step-free.

  • It could have been two or ten stations, that would be made step-free.
  • Arnos Grove and Northolt were definitely mentioned.
  • A timescale of eighteen months was given.

The news story seems to have vanished without trace.

Arnos Grove Station

This Google Map shows Arnos Grove station.

Note.

  1. The cylindrical shape of Arnos Grove station.
  2. The bridge over the tracks, which gives access to the trains to the East of the cylinder.
  3. Car parks to the East and West of the station.
  4. In Go-Ahead For West London 460-Home Build To Rent Scheme, I described how houses were to be built in the two car parks.
  5. According to this article on Ian Visits, which is entitled Plans To Build Flats On Arnos Grove Tube Station Car Park, there will be 162 flats in four blocks.

These pictures show Arnos Grove station.

Note.

  1. Work on the flats on either side seems to have started.
  2. There are lots of period features.
  3. There will be a lot of work needed on the rather steep stairs.
  4. There will be a need for at least three lifts.

This page on Connected Living London, has a plan of the development.

  • Gardens are shown each side of the iconic station.
  • The gardens can be accessed from the pavement in front of the station.
  • Southbound buses draw up in front of the station.
  • A zebra crossing gives access to the Northbound buses on the other side of the road.

I suspect that there will be step-free access to the station bridge over the tracks from both gardens.

Northolt Station

This Google Map shows Northolt station.

Note.

  1. The station entrance in the South-East corner of the map on Mandeville Road.
  2. The long island platform stretching North-West from the station building.
  3. An eight-car 1992 Stock train is in the Southern platform going West.
  4. The land on the Northern side of the railway appears to be low-grade woodland, which is quite similar to that at Arnos Grove station.

This map from cartometro.com shows the lines through Northolt station.

Note.

  1. The Central Line is shown in red.
  2. The Central Line is laid out so that there are two ways of turning a train back to London.
  3. The single-track Acton-Northolt line is shown in black.
  4. The former second track if the Acton-Northolt line is shown dotted, as are the two former platforms.

These pictures show Northolt station.

Note.

  1. The station is showing signs of a sympathetic refurbishment.
  2. The steps down to the platform is a double set of steps separated by a handrail.
  3. There is a stylish glass shelter.
  4. There doesn’t seem much space for a lift to the station entrance.

It should also be noted that for eleven in the morning, the station seemed busy.

These are Underground passenger figures for 2021 in million for stations between Hanger Lane and West Ruislip.

  • Hanger Lane – 1.47
  • Perivale – 1.08
  • Greenford – 2.05
  • Northolt – 2.47
  • South Ruislip – 0.89
  • Ruislip Gardens – 0.48
  • West Ruislip – 0.71

Note.

  1. Greenford, South Ruislip and West Ruislip have some extra National Rail passengers.
  2. Greenford is the only station between Hanger Lane and West Ruislip, with full step-free access.
  3. Greenford station uses an inclined lift and I wrote about it in The Inclined Lift In An Improved Greenford Station.

As Northolt is the busiest station without step-free access, this is probably sufficient reason for step-free access to be installed.

Could Step-Free Access At Northolt Be Linked To Property Development?

This Google Map shows a close-up of the station building and Mandeville Road.

Note.

  1. The station building is marked by the London Transport roundel.
  2. To the North of the station, is Northolt Leisure Centre, which was opened in 2010.
  3. Mandeville Road runs across the map to the East of the station and the Leisure Centre.
  4. In the South-East corner of the map, thee looks what could be a High Speed Two site, marked out with red and white barriers.
  5. Between the station and the Leisure Centre, there appears to be a site used for parking trucks.

Could it be possible to develop step-free access from the site to the North of the station?

This second set of pictures show that site.

Note.

  1. The site is rather a dump.
  2. There is even a subway.

This third set of pictures, show the land on the other side of the Acton-Northolt line from the platform at Northolt station.

There are certainly possibilities! Especially if, housing were to be developed alongside the Northern side of the railway.

I suspect, that there could be a bridge across the railway, at this position in the station.

Certainly something would be possible.

Conclusion

Property development at both Arnos Grove and Northolt station would probably need step-free access at both stations.

If the BBC report was right, then to build the step-free access as the first part of the projects, is probably a good idea, as passengers get some early benefits.

I suspect though, that we’ll get a press release that says what is actually happening in a few days.

 

July 10, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

East-West Rail: Aylesbury Spur

This map from East West Rail shows the complete route of the East West Railway between Oxford and Cambridge.

Note the spur to Aylesbury, which is shown dotted, which the legend says means it is a Potential Future Section of the EWR.

The papers in the area have different views.

  • This article on Bucks Herald is entitled Aylesbury Spur Excluded From Government’s Latest East West Rail Route Outline.
  • This article on Buckinghamshire Live is entitled East West Rail Aylesbury ‘Spur’ Plans Remain On The Table As Route Announced For £5bn Project.

So what do I feel about the Aylesbury Spur?

Train Services

In the Wikipedia entry for the East West Railway, it is stated that there will be an hourly service between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes Central stations, that would call at Aylesbury Vale Parkway, Winslow and Bletchley.

Wikipedia also states that there will be no Marylebone and Milton Keynes or Aylesbury and Manchester Piccadilly services.

I am surprised that a Marylebone and Milton Keynes service is ruled out, for these reasons.

  • A Marylebone and Milton Keynes service would give Winslow a direct service to London.
  • Aylesbury Vale Parkway has an hourly service from Marylebone, which could be extended to Milton Keynes Central to create the service.
  • Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Marylebone have as many as three trains per hour (tph) in the Peak. Does this make timetabling of an hourly Marylebone and Milton Keynes  service difficult?

The Wikipedia entry for Aylesbury Vale Parkway, says this about a Marylebone and Aylesbury Vale Parkway service.

It was proposed that, if services are extended to the north, trains between Milton Keynes Central and Marylebone would run via High Wycombe and not Amersham.

This dates from 2012.

But.

  • There may be troubles with the timings of a Marylebone and Milton Keynes service between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Milton Keynes.
  • A separate Aylesbury and Milton Keynes service would give a half-hourly service between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Aylesbury, whereas an extended service only gives the current hourly service.

This Google Map shows Aylesbury Vale Parkway station.

Note.

  1. The station only has a single bay platform.
  2. It appears that there is a step-free walk between the car park and the platform.
  3. There is no bridge or need for one.
  4. There is a single through line at the station on the opposite side to the car park, which is mainly used by trains going to the landfill at Calvert.

It looks from this map, that if the single platform were widened to an island platform, that both terminating and through trains could call in the station.

Perhaps though the modifications at Aylesbury Vale Parkway are too complicated or expensive?

The ruling out of the Aylesbury and Manchester Piccadilly service is probably easier to understand.

Consider.

  • Milton Keynes Central will have a two tph service to Oxford and was planned to have an hourly service from Aylesbury.
  • Milton Keynes Central has an hourly Avanti West Coast service to Manchester Piccadilly via Rugby, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield and Stockport.
  • Milton Keynes Central has an hourly Avanti West Coast service to Liverpool Lime Street via Crewe and Runcorn.
  • Milton Keynes Central has a two-hourly Avanti West Coast service to Edinburgh Waverley via Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell and Dudley, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith, Carlisle, Haymarket
  • Milton Keynes Central has a two-hourly Avanti West Coast service to Preston via Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell and Dudley, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western. Five trains per day (tpd) are extended to Glasgow and two tpd are extended to Blackpool North.

Note.

  1. A train running between Aylesbury and Manchester Piccadilly would probably need to be a 125 mph electric train, which would mean electrifying the East West Railway.
  2. A change at Milton Keynes Central would give access to trains for nearly all North-West England and Southern Scotland.

But because of all the connectivity at Milton Keynes Central, it surely puts pressure on providing an Aylesbury and Milton Keynes Central service.

The Track

It is possible to follow the track North from Aylesbury Vale Parkway until it joins the East West Railway to the West of Winsford station.

This Google Map shows the junction, just North of the hamlet of Calvert..

Note.

  1. The East West Railway going across the top of the map.
  2. The single track railway to Aylesbury Vale Parkway coming North and then turning East to join the East West Railway.
  3. The railway from Aylesbury Vale Parkway is still used by trains taking landfill.

The Wikipedia entry for Calvert, says this about the landfill site.

Another of the clay pits is now a landfill site. Waste is collected from Bristol, Bath and London each day and transported using rail via Aylesbury to Calvert. The site has a power station capable of producing 14 MWe of electricity from landfill gas, coming from the decomposition of organic matter to convert it into renewable electricity MW.

Looking at the map and the traffic on Real Time Trains, it would appear that there would be enough capacity for both the freight and an hourly passenger train between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes.

There is also the slight problem, that High Speed Two will be going through the area, as this map shows.

Note.

  1. High Speed Two is shown in yellow (cutting) and embankment (red).
  2. High Speed Two appears to run either on the same route or alongside the route to Aylesbury.
  3. The East West Railway goes across the top of thye map.
  4. The chord that connects the Aylesbury Spur to the East West Railway can clearly be seen.
  5. The Aylesbury Spur will run along the same route as High Speed Two.
  6. Aylesbury Vale Parkway will be just off the South-East corner of the map.

This page on the High Speed Two web site is entitled Boost for Oxford-Cambridge Connections As HS2 Builds Key East West Rail Bridge, describes the installation of a bridge to take the East West Railway goes over High Speed Two.

This picture is from High Speed Two.

As the landfill at Calvert will still need to be filled, I suspect that High Speed Two will leave the route between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and the East West Railway as a fully-serviceable railway, when they tidy up and leave this section of their route.

It looks to me, that once these tasks are complete.

  • High Speed Two relay all the tracks between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and the East West Railway.
  • The junction between the Aylesbury Spur and the East West Railway is completed.
  • Aylesbury Vale Parkway station is updated.

The Aylesbury Spur as needed by the East West Railway to run passenger services between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes Central could be complete.

And all because of High Speed Two and a landfill site.

Conclusion

I am drawn to the conclusion, that the Aylesbury Spur would not be a difficult railway to build and because it links to the important interchange station at Milton Keynes Central, it could be delivered soon after High Speed Two are finished in the area.

It also appears that Avanti West Coast have already aligned their services with the East West Railway.

 

 

June 3, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Elizabeth Line Takes Fliers Away From Heathrow Express

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

These three paragraphs add details to the story.

The opening of the Elizabeth Line has eaten into the revenues of Heathrow Express, the country’s most expensive railway service per mile travelled.

Filings reveal that Heathrow Express, which offers a 15-minute service between London Paddington and Heathrow, has failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels despite flight volumes at the airport returning to near-normal. Heathrow said revenues from Heathrow Express in the first three months of the year were £22 million.

While that is 50 per cent more than in the same period last year, when Covid-19 travel restrictions were beginning to be relaxed, it is almost a third down on the £31 million of revenues in the first quarter of 2019.

Considering how air travel is on the upturn, Heathrow Express would not appear to be performing as the airport expects.

Remember, that First Group are paid by Heathrow Airport to run the service, which is owned by the airport.

In So Many Cases On A Train!, I wrote about a trip from West Ealing to Moorgate station. These were my opening sentences.

This afternoon about three, I went to West Ealing station to see what it was like to transfer between the Elizabeth Line Central Tunnel and the Western Branch at Paddington.

Coming back, I took an Elizabeth Line service that had started from Heathrow Airport and it was one of the busiest Lizzies, I’d ever ridden!

To get on the train at West Ealing station, I got in to probably coach 4 of 9, as that was in the dry and the back end of the train I needed for Moorgate station was certainly in the wet.

I then had to walk half the length of the train to get to the back of the train.

It was not easy, as the train was full of scores of passengers with large wheelie cases.

It certainly got me thinking about how passengers were getting to and from Heathrow and I came to this conclusion.

Lizzie will start a revolution in travel to and from Heathrow.

Judging by the title of the article in The Times, the revolution has already started.

Consider these reasons.

  • Heathrow Express is overpriced.
  • It doesn’t go where many passengers want to go.
  • It’s not the best way to get workers to and from the airport.
  • The ULEZ will discourage passengers and staff from driving to the airport.

In Effects Of The ULEZ In West London, I said this about journeys to and from the airport.

Heathrow Airport is one of the world’s busiest airports and 76,000 people work at the airport, with many more employed nearby.

The airport handled 61.6 million passengers in 2022, which is a few short of 170,000 per day.

If you consider that those that work at the airport do two trips per day and passengers generally do one, that means there are 322,000 trips per day to or from the airport.

But as it now so easy to get to the Airport using the Elizabeth Line will more people use the new line to meet and greet and say goodbye to loved ones or business associates. Since the Elizabeth Line opened, I’ve met a couple of friends at Heathrow, who were passing through.

I wonder, if that daily journey total of 322,000 could be nearer to 350,000 or even 400,000.

If the ULEZ charge makes some passengers and staff switch from their car to using a bus or train, this probably means that public transport to and from the airport, will need to be boosted by a substantial amount.

I can see airport workers lobbying for free tickets on Heathrow Express, but they probably live closer to the airport than Paddington or perhaps even in the Eastern areas of London served by the Elizabeth Line.

The Elizabeth Line Is Showing Signs Of Running Out Of Capacity

In the last few weeks, I’ve been on some very full Elizabeth Line trains.

Articles, like this one on Rail Advent, which is entitled Transport for London Looks Into Funding For Additional Elizabeth Line Trains, are also starting to appear.

These three paragraphs explain the problem.

Transport for London has announced that they are looking for confirmation from the Government regarding funding so that they can look into the possibility of purchasing additional Elizabeth Line trains.

The news from TfL comes after the recent announcement of delays to HS2 terminating at London Euston.

TfL says that without the extra trains, there is insufficient capacity on the Elizabeth Line (until HS2 is extended to Euston in the 2040s) for passengers looking to use HS2 and the Elizabeth Line to get into Central London.

Alstom also appear to want the space in the factory to build other trains.

So it appears that Transport for London must act soon.

Heathrow Express Needs To Be Repurposed

In Extending The Elizabeth Line – High Speed Trains On The Elizabeth Line, I talked about running faster trains through the Central Tunnel of the Elizabeth Line.

As any train would have to be compatible with the platform-edge doors in the central tunnel of the Elizabeth Line, the trains would have to be dimensionally identical to the current Class 345 trains.

  • Nine cars
  • Possibility of lengthening to ten cars.
  • 204.73 metres long.
  • 6 sets of doors per carriage
  • Ability to run under full digital signalling.
  • The trains would be designed for a higher speed of at least 110 or 125 mph, to enable running on the fast lines of the Great Western Main Line.
  • The trains would have Heathrow Express branding and interior.

Services could be as follows.

  • Heathrow Terminal 4 and Southend Victoria via Bond Street and Liverpool Street for the City and Stratford.
  • Heathrow Terminal 5 and Ebbsfleet International via Bond Street and Liverpool Street for the City and Canary Wharf.

Note.

  1. Both services would be two trains per hour (tph)
  2. Traffic would determine, which Eastern terminal is paired with which Western terminal.
  3. Each route would also have two Elizabeth Line tph on the same route.

The Heathrow Express services would run as follows.

  • Between Heathrow Airport and Paddington, they would run as now.
  • I believe that by using the power of the digital signalling, they could be slotted into the queue of Elizabeth Line trains taking the Central Tunnel.
  • They would run through the Central Tunnel, as just another Elizabeth Line train, stopping at all stations.
  • Southend Victoria trains would stop at Stratford, take the fast lines to Shenfield, after which they would stop at all stations to Southend Victoria.
  • Ebbsfleet International trains would stop at all stations from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet International.

Note.

  1. Trains would stop at Old Oak Common after it opened for High Speed Two and GWR.
  2. All ticketing would be contactless.
  3. Passengers using Heathrow Express to the West of Paddington, would pay an extra fee, but nothing like today’s price.

These Heathrow Express routes would have advantages.

  • Southend Airport and Southend Victoria would get a direct fast train to Central London and High Speed Two.
  • Heathrow would have a direct connection with Continental train services at Ebbsfleet International.
  • Capacity could be increased by going to ten-car trains.
  • Heathrow Express could release their platforms at Paddington.
  • There would be two fast tph between Heathrow and Stratford.
  • There would be two fast tph between Heathrow and Canary Wharf.
  • There would be four fast tph between Heathrow and Bond Street for the shopping and Liverpool Street for the City of London.
  • There would be four fast tph between Heathrow and Farringdon for Thameslink, Gatwick and Luton Airports.

Heathrow Express trains will be fifteen minutes faster to all destinations.

I don’t think there would be any major disadvantages.

 

 

May 1, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

World First As HS2 Trials Dual-Fuel Piling Rig On London Site

The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item on HS2.

This is the piling rig.

These are the two bullet points.

  • Four piles installed using a hydrogen dual-fuel piling rig, cutting the use of traditional fuel by 36%.
  • Trial is the first real world use of the technology on a construction site.

These three paragraphs outline the project.

HS2 has taken a further step forward in decarbonising the constructure sector, completing a world first by installing four 30-metre deep piles on a London site using a hydrogen dual-fuel piling rig.

The trial took place as part of work done in partnership by ULEMCo and Cementation Skanska, working with the world-leading Business Research Establishment (BRE), funded through the BEIS Phase 1 Red Diesel Replacement competition.

ULEMCo and Cementation Skanska successfully modified a medium sized CFA piling rig, converting it so that the machine component operated using energy from on-board hydrogen tanks. Using the dual-fuel system, both diesel and biofuels (HVO) can be mixed with hydrogen, displacing the fuel with hydrogen, resulting in a reduction in fuel use and lower CO2 emissions.

Note.

  1. We’re going to see a lot more large machines converted to dual-fuel and pure hydrogen.
  2. ULEMCo from Aintree, seem to be one of the leaders in the field of dual-fuel conversions.

You certainly see lots of these machines working around London and other big cities.

April 28, 2023 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 2 Comments

Could High Speed Two Have An Underground Station In London?

The Achievement Of The Bank Station Upgrade

This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the lines through Bank and Monument stations.

Note.

  1. All the pink lines are the lines of the London Underground.
  2. The line running alongside London Bridge is the Northern Line, which is deep under the Thames.
  3. The mauve lines are those with the slightly higher voltage of the UK National Rail network going into Cannon Street station.

In part of the Bank Station Upgrade, a new Southbound tunnel for the Northern Line was dug, so that the Northern Line platforms at Bank station could be farther apart.

This visualisation shows the station.

The project was an amazing demonstration of what is possible to be achieved in underground construction.

  • There is a moving walkway to move passengers between the Central and Northern Lines.
  • There are escalators and lifts everywhere.

It was also dug out from London’s helpful soils under scores of important buildings, many of which are listed.

These pictures give a flavour of the underground section of the completed upgrade.

These pictures show the buildings on top of the complex.

Note.

  1. There is no building of any great height above the station complex.
  2. There are a lot of quality buildings.
  3. During all the work underground, I didn’t see any reports of any problems with the buildings on top.
  4. In How Many Entrances And Exits Does A Station Need?, I counted that the complex now has twenty entries.

It is probably a project that could be repeated elsewhere.

Camden Town, Holborn and Bond Street/Oxford Circus are probably suitable cases for treatment.

Weston Williamson’s Plan For Manchester Piccadilly Station

In The Rival Plans For Piccadilly Station, That Architects Say Will ‘Save Millions’, I wrote about Weston Williamson’s plan for Manchester Piccadilly station.

This was their visualisation.

Note.

  1. In the visualisation, you are observing the station from the East.
  2. The existing railway lines into Piccadilly station are shown in red.
  3. Stockport and Manchester Airport are to the left, which is to the South.
  4. Note the dreaded Castlefield Corridor in red going off into the distance to Oxford Road and Deansgate stations.
  5. The new high speed lines are shown in blue.
  6. To the left they go to Manchester Airport and then on to London, Birmingham and the South, Warrington and Liverpool and Wigan, Preston, Blackpool, Barrow-in-Furness, the North and Scotland.
  7. To the right, they go to Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, Hull and the North East, and Sheffield, Doncaster and the East.
  8. Between it looks like  a low-level High Speed station with at least four tracks and six platforms.
  9. The Manchester Metrolink is shown in yellow.

The potential for over-site development is immense. If the Station Square Tower was residential, the penthouses would be some of the most desirable places to live in the North.

Londoners Are The Tunnel Kings

Bring On The Robots

Could High Speed Two Have An Underground Station In London?

Look at this map from OpenRailwayMap.

Note.

  1. Euston station is in the North-West corner of the map.
  2. St. Pancras and King’s Cross stations can just be seen at the top of the map.
  3. All lines shown in red have 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
  4. All lines shown in pink are the London Overground.
  5. The double track electrified railway meandering across the map from West to East is the Elizabeth Line.
  6. The pink line going down the middle of the map is the Piccadilly Line.
  7. The pink line going down the left of the map is the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.

There is a large square area to the South of Euston that doesn’t have any railways crossing it.

It is shown in this map from OpenRailwayMap.

Note.

  1. As before, red lines have 25 KVAC overhead electrification and pink lines are the Underground.
  2. The Western boundary of the area is the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, which runs between Euston in the North and Tottenham Court Road in the South.
  3. The Eastern boundary of the area is the Piccadilly Line, which runs between King’s Cross in the North and Holborn in the South.
  4. The Northern boundary of the area is the sub-surface Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines, which runs between Warren Street in the West and King’s Cross in the East.
  5. The Northern and Victoria Lines also run East-West to the North of the sub-surface lines.
  6. The Southern boundary of the area is the Central and Elizabeth Lines, which run between Tottenham Court Road in the West and Holborn in the East.

It is a substantial area.

So could it be hollowed out to create a below-ground London terminal for High Speed Two?

I got a bus from Tottenham Court Road to Euston station and then walked to Holborn, taking these pictures.

Note.

  1. There are only two buildings in the area with more than about six floors; University College Hospital and Senate House.
  2. There a lot of green spaces.
  3. Bloomsbury Square does have a car park beneath it.

I wonder if a terminal station could be build under the area?

  • I suspect if you went fifty metres down there could be plenty of space, that could be excavated.
  • Tunnels with moving walkway and escalators could link the station to the Central, Circle, Elizabeth, Hammersmith and City, Metropolitan, Northern and Piccadilly Lines.
  • There would be space to have 400 metre long platforms.
  • As all trains would be electric, there would be no fume problems.
  • There could be lifts and escalators to the green spaces on the top.

I have a feeling that most of people living or working inside the North and South Circular Roads could get to the station by public transport with at most a single change.

April 21, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Angus Peter Campbell: I’m In Two Minds About The Renewable Energy Revolution

The title of the post, is the same as that of this article in the Aberdeen Press and Journal.

This is the sub-heading.

The debate (argument) between development and environmentalism is as old as the hills.

In the article, Campbell puts all sides of the arguments over the Coire Glas pumped storage hydro-electric scheme, and the article is very much a must read.

I feel that this 1500 MW/30 GWh scheme should be built, as like Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C, it takes a large bite out of the new energy storage capacity that is needed.

But if we do build this large project, we should think very hard about how we do it.

These are a few thoughts.

Low Carbon, Disturbance And Noise During Construction

High Speed Two are doing this and I wrote about it in HS2 Smashes Carbon Target.

I do subject though, that increasingly large construction projects can go this way.

Electric Trucks, Cranes And Other Equipment

High Speed Two and big mining companies are increasingly using electric mining trucks, cranes and other equipment.

As this sort of equipment, also provides a better environment for workers, I suspect we’ll see more electric equipment.

Hydrogen Trucks And Construction Equipment

Hydrogen could play a big part and rightly so.

It is ideal for heavier equipment and one of its biggest advocates and developers is JCB.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decision about an onsite electrolyser being made soon.

Low Carbon Concrete

There are various methods of making low- and zero-carbon concrete, some of which incorporate carbon dioxide into the material.

Use Of Loch Lochy And The Caledonian Canal

I wouldn’t be surprised if just as the Thames in London was used in the construction of Crossrail and the Northern Line extension, Loch Lochy and The Caledonian Canal will be used to take out construction spoil.

There’s certainly a lot of ways to be innovative in the movement of men and materials.

Conclusion

The construction of Coire Glas will make an epic documentary.

 

April 6, 2023 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage, Hydrogen | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TfL Needs More Elizabeth Line Trains Because Of HS2 Delays At Euston

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.

This is the first paragraph.

Transport for London (TfL) is warning that delays to the HS2 railway may require it to buy more Elizabeth line trains to cope with the thousands of people dropped off at Old Oak Common needing to get into central London.

Given, the way they got the project management and the cost and schedule so wrong, I wonder if we can rely on this assertion.

I certainly find fault with this statement.

In an ideal world, TfL would be able to send some empty Elizabeth line trains stabled in a depot to the west of Old Oak Common station, but the location of the main depot rules that out.

The Wikipedia entry for the Elizabeth Line says this about the future service.

In May 2023, it is planned to allow trains to run from both eastern branches to west of Paddington. This will allow both more flexible, and higher frequency, services: 24 tph peak, 20 tph off-peak, and direct services between Shenfield and Heathrow. In the longer term, when Old Oak Common opens, all trains will serve Old Oak Common, with those not serving the Reading or Heathrow branches reversing there.

The service changes for 21 May 2023 were confirmed in February 2023. The peak timetable will increase to 24 trains per hour. Off-peak service level will remain at 16 trains per hour, with two Shenfield–Paddington trains extended to Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 and two Abbey Wood–Terminal 5 trains switching to Terminal 4.

Consider.

At present 8 trains per hour (tph), pass through the site of Old Oak Common station.

By reversing the trains at Old Oak Common, rather than Paddington, this will surely mean that after the 21st of May 2023,  24 tph in the Peak and 20 tph in the Off Peak will pass through Old Oak Common.

If eight tph, still go on to Heathrow, Maidenhead and Reading, 16 tph will be turned in the Prak and 8 tph in the Off Peak.

This would give more capacity, as more trains would be running between Old Oak Common and Whitechapel.

If TfL have collected the right statistics, I’m sure they can predict the number of trains needed.

It seems to me, that the most important thing that TfL can do is make sure they can turn all the trains they need to at Old Oak Common station.

How Are Trains Going To Be Reversed At Old Oak Common?

The Victoria Line can handle 33 tph between Brixton and Walthamstow Central and the Elizabeth Line could use a similar method to handle the 16 tph, it needs to turn at Old Oak Common.

A process called stepping-up is used on the Victoria Line.

  • On arrival in the terminal platform, the driver shuts the train down and leaves the cab.
  • A second driver gets in the cab at the other end of the train and readies the train for departure.
  • When instructed by the signalling, the new driver initiates the process by which the train leaves the station.

The original driver of the train, walks to the other end of the platform, to get themselves ready to be called to step-up to another train, at an appropriate time in the future.

I suspect to use stepping-up at Old Oak Common for the Elizabeth Line will need four platforms; two through platforms for services beyond Old Oak Common and two adjacent bay-platforms for services to be turned.

In Crossrail Trains Cleared To Use The Heathrow Tunnel, I gave this detailed description from Ian  of the Class 345 trains‘ Auto-Reverse feature.

Around half of westbound trains will terminate at Paddington, but to head back eastwards, once all the passengers are off, they carry on westwards to Westbourne Park, then return back to Paddington on the eastbound line.

Normally that means the train driver would drive to Westbourne Park, stop, walk through the train to the other end, then drive back. But with “auto-reverse”, as soon as the train leaves Paddington, the driver switches to automatic and starts walking through the train to the other end. By the time the train arrives at Westbourne Park sidings, the driver will be sitting in the drivers cab at the other end of the train ready to head back into Central London.

I suspect that the Elizabeth Line will use Auto-Reverse or some other nifty piece of automation at Old Oak Common.

March 29, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | 1 Comment

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