Could There Be A Class 321 Flex Train?
I took these pictures of a Class 321 train at Ipswich station.
Like the Class 319 train currently being updated to a bi-mode Class 319 Flex train, I wonder if the same bi-mode upgrade could be applied to a Class 321 train.
Look at this picture of a Class 319 train.
A Class 319 At Lime Street
Both trains do seem to have generous space underneath.
Consider.
- Both trains are 100 mph four-car trains based on Mark 3 coaches.
- Ten Class 321 trains are being given the Renatus treatment by Eversholt Leasing for Greater Anglia with air-conditioning and new interiors.
- The Class 321s were built after the Class 319s.
- The Class 321s are 25 KVAC overhead operation only.
- There are 117 Class 321 trains.
- As the two trains were launched within a year of each other, they can’t be that different under the skin.
It should also be remembers that train companies have a lot of experience about running both type of train.
Porterbrook Versus Eversholt
Could we be seeing a strong commercial battle, where the two leasing companies; Porterbrook and Eversholt, fight it out to sell the best four-car bi-mode train to the train operating companies?
This could only be of benefit to train companies and passengers.
The Electrical System Of a Possible Class 321 Flex
The only problem, I can envisage is that as I wrote in The Electrical System Of A Class 319 Flex, the DC electrical bus of the Class 319 train makes the design of the Class 319 Flex train easy. If the Class 321 Train doesn’t have a similar layout, then it might be more difficult to create a Class 321 Flex!
On the other hand Vossloh Keipe have received a contract to upgrade the traction systems of thirty Class 321 trains to give them.
- AC traction motors and the associated control systems.
- Regenerative braking.
This work is fully described onb this page of the Vossloh Keipe web site.
Probably, with a suitable alternator from ABB and some quality electrical engineering, I would think that a Class 321 Flex could be created.
Conclusions
Each train will have their own big advantages.
- The Class 319 Flex train will work third rail routes.
- The Class 321 Flex train will have regenerative braking on electrified routes.
But in the end, if two bi-mode fleets can be created, there will probably be a lot of conviviality in hostelries in Derby and York, where the probably long-retired engineers, who designed the Mark 3 coach and its various derivative multiple units, will be laughing loudly into their beer.
The Cost Of Tram Batteries
This article in Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Midland Metro tram shipped to Spain for battery fit-out ahead of OLE-free operation.
One Midland Metro tram has been sent back to the factory in Zaragoza to be fitted with two roof-mounted lithium-ion cells and after testing it will be returned to the West Midlands in the Autumn, where more testing will be performed, prior to starting running on the catenary-free streets of Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
After a successful completion of testing on the first tram, the other twenty trams will be converted.
This is said in the article about costs.
The total cost to the WMCA of fitting out the fleet will be £15.5m, but the authority says that it will save £9.24m on infrastructure costs on the first four extensions to the Metro network alone, with further infrastructure savings planned as future extensions take place.
So the savings can go a long way to help pay for the trams to run on the four extensions.
The cost of the modifications to each tram is £738,000, but if the infrastructure savings are factored in, the modifications cost just £298,000 per tram.
I also wonder if the layout of the Midland Metro, with a fairly long wired central section and a catenary-free section at either end is ideal for battery operation, as the trams will have a long section to fully charge the batteries.
But it looks like trams will reach Victoria Square and Wolverhampton station in 2019, Edgbaston in 2021 and the Eastside extension to Curzon Street will be completed in 2023.
Perhaps, the most interesting section in the article is this paragraph.
The WMCA is also evaluating a proposed Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension to identify the viability of catenary-free sections.
Could this mean that the South Staffordshire Line, which will be used for the extension will be without catenary? As the tram does small detours into Dudley and at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, then these sections could be wired to charge the batteries, leaving the South Staffordshire Line without any wires. I estimate that the distance the tram would travel would be about seven miles each way.
As Network Rail want to run both trams and freight trains on the South Staffordshire Line, this might allow both to share an unelectrified line, if they have the right wheel and track profiles.
There certainly seems to be some very innovative ideas around, when it comes to using trains and trams in City Centres.
The Globalisation Of Health Care
This article on the BBC is entitled World’s smallest MRI helps tiny babies.
It shows how healthcare is becoming an increasingly global collaboration.
The idea for the machine was developed in the University of Sheffield and the machine was built by the American company; GE Healthcare.
Medical research is like this, with often more than two companies and countries playing their parts in producing a successful breakthrough, often many years after the original idea.
I just wonder how Trump’s America First and tax policies will affect developments like this.
Will his new tax rules, mean that if an American company is involved in a development like this, that the device will have to be manufactured in the United States, when perhaps to manufacture it in the country, that owns the IPR might be better?
I can see researchers not wanting to get involved with American companies, when other countries can offer deals with no nasty strings attached.
There’s only going to be two winners with some of Trumps tax ideas; lawyers and accountants.
Government Focuses On New Stations And Trains
This is the title of an article in Rail Magazine.
This is the opening paragraph.
Passenger numbers rising fast, new stations, improved facilities and new trains are the result of policies followed by the current Government and not what Labour wants to follow, claims Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling.
As an example about what is needed Gayling talks about the Cleethorpres to Sheffield Line.
It is an interesting insight to some of Mr. Grayling’s thinking.
But I agree we need more stations and trains.
I also feel that wit the right innovation and design, we may be able to provide services in places that previously have been thought not to be viable..
A Personal Vitamin D Tester
I’ve thought that the ability to purchase one of these over-the-counter in your local Boots, Superdrug or any or the umpteen pharmacies, would be very worthwhile for some time. But I’ve nver found anything on the web.
Tonight I found this article on the Natural News web site, which is entitled Over-the-counter vitamin D tester would be a boon to public health, cancer prevention.
The writer makes some good points and would be very in favour of the sale of such a device.
Read the article and see what you think.
With my engineering hat on, I can only think that no-one has come up with a simple method akin to the one I use to test my INR.
I also believe there are a lot of doctors, who believe patients doing their own testing is a no-no! Possibly becuase it blows a hole in his staff needs and therefor reduces their budget. Nurses doing lots of testing gives the feel-good factor of a busy surgery.
But then the Healthcare Industry all over the World, is the last one to start using Twentieth Century managenment methods. In private medicine, it is a sensible way to inflate the bill and in the NHS, it means you don’t have to make unnecessary staff redundant.
Artemis Lives
I was listening to Wake Up To Money on BBC Radio 5 this morning and they interviewed someone from a company called Artemis Optical.
On their home page, their mission statement is.
Improve Vision: to be the Photonics industry’s most advanced manufacturer.
Their about page, says this.
Owned equally by the executive directors, Artemis, a world renowned company
employs 30+ talented staff, with an enviable history of 60 years in the design and
application of high precision, technically differentiated optical thin film coatings.
It sounds so very familiar.
In the interview, their spokesman disclosed that they banked with Lloyds, as did Metier!
And where did our bank manager come from? Plymouth, where Artemis; the company is based.
Very different industries, but same philosophy, same ambition, same bank and same name!
Railway Depots Are Boring Places
If you thought the title to this post was correct, then read this article in Rail Engineer, which is entitled In case you missed it – Cutting-edge equipment for tomorrow’s depots.
It’s about an innovative company in Sheffield called Mechan, who make specialist mechanical handling equipment for railway depots.
They are not a large company, but their orders include.
- Two large train traversers for Hitachi’s new factory at Newton Aycliffe, that is building the Class 800 trains.
- A mllion pound order for Crossrail’s Old Oak Common Depot.
- A 130-tonne traverser for Bombardier’s Ilford Depot.
Their website also details orders for Alstom, Port of Felixstowe, MTR and Siemens.
A lot of people think heavy engineering is boring. It isn’t, it’s just that the scale is bigger, but the problems remain the same.
Will We Be Seeing More Railway Stations?
I didn’t put any qualification like UK or London in the title of this post, as it is a question that applies to all railways.
The post was prompted by an article in the January 2017 Edition of Modern Railways, which is entitled Funding Buds For New South Wales Stations.
The article talks of two possible stations.
- A Cardiff Parkway station near St. Mellions.
- A Magor Walkway station between Newport and Severn Tunnel Junction stations.
Cardiff Parkway station seems the more conventional of the two and is proposed to support a proposed new business park, with car parking and a bus station,
This article on Wales Online is entitled Plans revealed for huge new development and train station in Cardiff that could create 15,000 jobs, gives more details.
On the other hand, according to The Magor And Undy Walkway Station Website, the second station at Magor Walkway appears to be less conventional.
But the two stations do illustrate two common reasons for developing new stations.
A New Station To Support Development
Cardiff Parkway station falls into this category and there are several for this reason in the pipeline.
- Barking Riverside
- Battersea Power Station
- Beaulieu
- Brent Cross Thameslink
- Meridian Water
- Old Oak Common
- Woolwich
We will see a lot more, as having a station at a new development, has many positive effects on the project.
A New Station To Provide Better Transport Opportunities
Magor Walkway station falls into this category and others include.
- Brinsford Parkway
- Camberwell
- Cambridge North
- Edinburgh Gateway
- Watford Vicarage Road
- Worcestershire Parkway
There are also schemes for airport links to Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds and Luton.
Why New Stations Don’t Get Built
Obviously, some stations don’t get built for reasons of practicality and cost.
The traffic may be there, but the proposed site is difficult, so a new station might be impossible to fit the space available.
When a re-opened station like Lea Bridge is reported to cost £11million, without car parking, new stations don’t come cheap.
So new stations need a good financial case to get built.
Another factor that is often ignored by campaigners for new stations, is the knock-on effects they will have on services through the station.
Stopping trains at a station on a single or double-track line will effectively block the line, thus slowing other traffic in the area.
But Innovation Is Making It Easier To Build New Stations
In the following sections, I shall detail some of the ideas and innovations that will make the building of stations easier.
The Rise Of The Single-Platform Station
Single-platform stations are not that common in the UK, and the first new one of this type I saw was James Cook station, which I wrote about in James Cook Station – The Reinvention Of The Halt .
Other recently built stations in this category include.
Note there is a parkway station on the list and Galashiels is a major train-bus interchange.
A good proportion of the list are also on newly opened lines.
Consider the advantages of a single-platform station.
- There is no need for an expensive footbridge., that is part of the station.
- Only one set of shelters, ticket machines and information displays are needed.
- Single platform stations can be easily made long enough for the largest trains that will call.
- Interchange to cars, buses and taxis is quick and easy.
- Modern signalling makes bi-directional operation safe.
There may also be advantages in fitting a station into a restricted space, like shopping centres, airports, sports grounds or an historic town centre.
I think we’ll see a lot more single platform stations in the future.
The Express Stop Train
Next time, you’re on a train, notice how long it takes to perform a stop at a typical station.
It is often not a quick process.
- Passengers have to lift children, buggies, bicycles and heavy cases over the step up or down between train and platform.
- Passengers coming on get in the way of passengers getting off.
- On a crowded train, that is not working under driver-only-operation (DOO) rules, the guard often has to struggle to get in position to open the doors.
- Older trains without information systems, often mean that passengers aren’t ready to get off, so cause delays at the stop.
But look at the new trains for Merseyrail, I wrote about in Thoughts On Merseyrail’s New Trains.
- They are designed to eliminate the gap between station and train and for passengers to step or roll across quickly.
- They will have wide doors and probably ample lobbies, to ease entry and exit.
- They will be information-rich trains, as are all modern trains.
- They will be DOO, which avoids guard delays on crowded trains.
- They will have high performance with respect to braking and acceleration.
I also wonder if braking and acceleration will be automated, so that they are fast, smooth and very safe in all weather and track conditions.
On Merseyrail, this will result in faster trains and a saving of nine minutes between Southport and Hunts Cross is quoted.
New trains on Greater Anglia, will also give substantial help in enabling a headline-grabbing Norwich in 90 and Ipswich in 60 service for all trains.
I suspect that as new trains improve their stop times, it will make it easier for a new station to be fitted into an intense schedule on a main line with extensive services.
Stations Without Electrification
Often electriofying stations is an expensive business, in planning, execution and in operation.
With the development of bi-mode and battery trains and especially ones that can switch mode automatically, I think we’ll see a lot more stations left without electrification, thus eliminating health and safety and heritage issues, whilst reducing costs.
The Station On A Train
Merseyrail’s new trains will be DOO and from the reports, it appears that all the CCTV needed for safe operation will be on the train, rather than the station.
So will this allow Merseyrail to simplify their stations, with the only CCTV needed on stations being only that for passenger and station security.
I wonder if the driver will have access to a station’s CCTV as he approaches. Being able to assess crowd density in a station on approach must be to the driver’s advantage.
Ticket Machines On A Train
Operators might even put a card-only ticket machine on the train, so the number of machines in stations can be cut to save costs.
I have seen this is in several places in Europe, but never in the UK.
Tram Style Operation Of Local Trains
There are two basic types of through platforms in the UK, served by local or regional passenger trains.
- Platforms where some freight and passenger trains pass through without stopping.
- Platforms where all trains stop.
Merseyrail’s Northern Line and some of the branches of the Wirral Line would be examples of the second.
What would be the implications for station design, if say a branch line worked exclusively by one type of train ran to say a tram speed limit and the visual rules a tram driver would obey in the centre of Birmingham, Manchester or Nottingham.
Could we see new two platform stations built like say this station on the Croydon Tramlink?
Passengers would just walk across the tracks to get to the other side.
I believe that Merseyrail’s new trains could work in this way.
Consider.
- Stadler have enormous experience of trams and tram-trains.
- Merseyrail’s new trains can be fitted with batteries, so for perhaps fifty metres either side of the station, the third rail can be removed.
- The new trains look like trams, although they are trains.
- There will always be a driver in the front of the train with a big horn, as the train enters the station.
- Trains would be restricted to tram speeds in the station area.
Imagine a station on a network like Merseyrail or perhaps a branch line like the Walton-on-the-Naze Branch of the Sunshine Coast Line.
A train stopping at the station would go through the following procedure.
- A safe distance from the station, after ascertaining, that the line in the station is clear, the driver initiates the automatic stop procedure or halts the train.
- The train slows automatically from line speed to the tram speed perhaps fifty metres from the station.
- The train proceeds automatically to the station at tram speed using onboard stored energy, as there is no electrification.
- The driver would open the doors, so that passengers and their belongings can be unloaded and loaded.
- Once everything is ready, the driver closes the doors and initiates the automatic leave sequence.
- The train leaves the station at tram speed.
- Once electrification starts and the train is connected, the train automatically accelerates back to line speed.
Note.
- The train is not at line speed anywhere near the station.
- The driver can take control at any time.
- The procedure is not very far removed from that used on the Victoria Line since 1967!
Effectively the operation of the train through the station is train-tram-train.
I wonder if Merseyrail have been thinking this way to create a tram-train link to Liverpool Airport.
Conclusion
Various innovations will mean that stations will cost less.
- Simpler design.
- Step-free without footbridges.
- Less expensive features.
- Equipment moved from station to train.
In addition, trains will find it easier to fit stops into busy timetables.
This will mean that the available station budget will go further and more stations will be built.
Porterbrook Launch A Tri-Mode Train
In Bi-Mode Ate My Electrification, I asked this question.
Could We See A Tri-Mode Train?
Little did I suspect that just a few hours later, one would arrive.
This article on Global Rail News is entitled Northern and Porterbrook to convert electric trains to bi-mode.
This is the opening paragraph.
Leasing company Porterbrook is developing a bi-mode variant of Northern’s Class 319 EMU.
But that is not all, as this is said later.
Porterbrook said the design requires minimal modifications to the train. Additional batteries could also be fitted to improve performance on non-electrified sections.
So Northern will have a Class 319 Flex train that can run from electric, diesel or battery power.
That sounds like tri-mode to me.
Is It A Quad-Mode?
Some might even think it a quad-mode, as it could also run using 750 VDC third-rail electrification. It would help the trains charge the batteries at Southport, Ormskirk and Kirkby stations, which are terminals of Merseyrail’s third-rail network.
Will A Class 319 Flex Work Like A Hybrid Bus?
Several types of hybrid buses work, by driving the wheels using electric motors powered from a battery, that is charged from a small diesel engine.
When the battery is full, the engine is switched off.
So could, the Class 319 Flex be using hybrid bus methods to power the train?
The power-packs would keep the battery charged and the train would be driven from the battery or the external electrification.
One advantage of doing this, is that say on arrival at Blackpool with batteries without much power, the power-packs could charge the batteries before the train left for Preston and the overhead wires.
The driver would drive the train as an electric train, using electrification or battery automatically. The control system would cut the power-packs in to charge the batteries as necessary.
If they do go this route, could they be raiding the parts bin of the UK’s hybrid-bus manufacturers?
The 4.5 litre diesel engine and a 75 kW-hour battery, used by London’s Routemaster would surely be certified for use in a rail application and their performance and reliability will be well-documented.
Why Convert A Class 319 Train?
Who’d have thought that they’d convert a Class 319 train.
Consider.
- The class was built in the late-1980s.
- They are not the most stylish of trains, with all the panache of a house built by a Local Authority in the 1950s.
But over the last year or so, Northern have been refurbishing the trains and have probably found that under the skin, there are no serious problems and they have solutions for the minor ones.
They also scrub up pretty well and I suspect that if a bit more was spent on the interior, they could probably be better.
In my travels to Liverpool over the last year, I have talked to several drivers of Class 319 trains.
- Generally, they seem to like them.
- One told me, that on the West Coast Main Line, they will still hold 100 mph, so they are no suburban trundler!
- I have heard lavish praise for the brakes.
The only complaint, was that because of the softish suspension, the first few trains didn’t ride too well over Chat Moss.
They also have other things in their favour.
- There are 86 of the four-car trains, of which Northern has 32.
- The creation of a prototype, shouldn’t be a long process, unless Network Rail take forever to certify the train.
It should also be noted, that some of the similar Class 321 trains are having their traction equipment updated. So there may be some lessons from each program that can be applied to the other, especially as Wabtec are involved in both projects.
Will The Class 319 Flex Have Regenerative Braking?
The one problem with the Class 319 is that the trains don’t have regenerative braking.
If they did and they had onboard energy storage then the braking energy could be stored when a train stops at a station and recycled to get the train started after passengers have left and joined the train.
This would improve the energy efficiency and extend the range of the train, when running on lines without electrification.
How Will A Class 319 Flex Perform On Inclines?
Some of Northern’s routes like the Ribble Valley Line, climb into the hills.
Will the performance of the trains be sufficient to work these lines?
How Much Automation Will There Be On A Class 319 Flex?
The trains aren’t particularly complex, but with at least three power sources, it would probably help the driver, if changeover from one system to another was an automatically controlled.
It would also probably help if pantograph raising and lowering was automatic and could be at line speed.
Could A Class 319 Flex Be Able To Run Under Tram Rules?
In Zwickau in Germany, diesel multiple units, run through the town at slow speed under rules similar to those used by trams.
A DMU at the train stop in the centre of Zwickau
From Zwickau HbF to the Zwickau Zentrum stop, the diesel multiple units run on a line designed to the following rules.
- Slow tram-like maximum speed.
- A track with electrification just for the trams with which the trains share the line.
- Rail signalling.
- Simple stations, designed to fit the trams and trains working the line.
- Passengers can walk across the lines, as they can on any tramway.
- There’s even a couple of level crossings.
Zwickau’s system is more complicated than would be needed in the UK, as the trams and trains are of different gauges, so there is an unusual three-rail track, to accommodate standard- and metre-gauge vehicles.
Note that the system in Zwickau does not use a purpose-built tram-train, as the trains are standard Deutsche Bahn diesel multiple units, which were built by Stadler. They are very much like Class 172 trains. They just behave like trams away from the main line.
They are best described as Train-trams!
Will a Class 319 Flex be certified to do the same?
In a simple example, a Class 319 Flex could go through the buffers at Blackpool South station and continue through the car parks to a stop by the football ground.
Where Will Northern Use A Class 319 Flex?
Windermere To Manchester
When the franchise responsible for Windermere station changed from TransPennine to Northern, there was talk of electrifying the Windermere Branch Line , so that it could have an electric train service to Manchester or Manchester Airport.
But Network Rail’s electrification performance, stopped that, so passengers between Windermere and Manchester have to change at somewhere like Oxenholme Lake District station.
From Windermere, there is one direct train per day to Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport, which takes two and a half hours and an hourly shuttle to Oxenholme.
I’m sure that Windermere to Manchester is the sort of route that Northern would like to cover with a direct hourly electric train. From December 2017 if Network Rail perform, the only part of the route from Windermere to Manchester Airport, that will not be electrified will be the ten miles of the Windermere Branch Line.
If Network Rail haven’t performed, the trains could use the electrified route via Nreton-le-Willows and the West Coast Main Line.
As it will take something like five hours to go from Windermere to Manchester Airport and back, it will need five trains yo provide an hourly service all day. Alternative power sources would only be used on the Windermere Branch.
Blackpool To Manchester And Liverpool
I would suspect that an early objective of the design of the Class 319 Flex, would be the ability to do a return trip between Preston and Blackpool, as this would enable services between Blackpool and Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester and Warrington.
The Blackpool Branch has the following characteristics.
- It is without electrification.
- It is only about fifteen miles long.
- It is has two current termini in Blackpool North and Blackpool South stations.
- There have been proposals in the last few years to reinstate services on the Fleetwood Branch Line to a new Fleetwood station.
The return trip would be about 30 miles on to each terminus, but trains could use their power-packs if needed to charge their on-board energy storage before returning to Preston.
Blackpool North to Liverpool Lime Street would only need a Class 319 Flex train to be delivered.
Blackpool to Manchester Victoria, Piccadilly or Airport, would need the Preston to Manchester electrification to be completed, unless they could sneak down the West Coast Main Line.
It looks to my simple mind, that as regards Liverpool, Manchester and Prestojn to Windermere and Blackpool, the Class 319 Flex is a very workable solution, whether Network Rail finish the electrification of Manchester to Preston or not!
As the residents and visitors of Blackpool should understand trams, I could see Class 319 Flex trains running to Blackpool South and Fleetwood through simplified stations without any electrification, under rules similar to trams.
If the Germans can do it in Zwickau, then surely Lancastraians can do it in Blackpool.
Being able to run four-car Class 319 Flex trains to Blackpool South would also help to increase services to the area, if the Open Championship were to be held at Royal Lytham. A simple station could even be built adjacent to the course.
Blackpool South To Colne
The East Lancashire Line spans the Preston between Blackpool South and Colne stations.
After a long chat with an off-duty conductor on a crowded train in Summer 2016 on this line, I’ve thought it was a line , that could do with an improved level of service and more capacity.
Since then I’ve experienced severe overcrowding after Ipswich played at Blackburn on the same day that Blackpool played at Accrington.
Consider.
- Blackpool South to Preston is about fifteen miles.
- Preston station is electrified.
- Blackburn station has recently been rebuilt.
- Trains going between the Manchester to Preston Line and the East Lancashire Line can bypass Preston station.
- Blackburn station has a West-facing bay platform.
- Preston to Blackburn is about ten miles.
- Preston to Burnley is about twenty-five miles
- Preston to Colne is about thirty miles.
It would certainly appear that the following services would be possible using Class 319 Flex trains.
- Blackburn to Blackpool South
- Blackburn to Blackpool North
- Blackburn to Manchester via Bolton
- Blackburn to Manchester via the West Coast Main Line
- Blackburn to Liverpool.
This opens up all sorts of possibilities for integrated services centred on Preston.
If Blackburn to Preston were to be electrified, this would probably bring Colne and Burnley into the operational range of Class 319 Flex trains.
Northern could have tremendous fun planning those services!
Colne To Skipton
This missing link in Northern’s network could be a worthwhile line to reinstate.
So why not create a single-track line without electrification between Colne and Skipton stations?
Consider.
- The missing track between the two stations is just 11.5 miles.
- The reinstatement would probably only need one expensive bridge, that would be North of Colne station.
- The line could be a valuable piece of tourist infrastructure.
- A Leeds to Blackpool service via Burnley and Blackburn through the Pennines would be possible.
It could be designed to be easily worked by Class 319 Flex trains.
I somehow like the concept of 1980s British Rail electric multiple units, built to bring commuters to and from London, being redeveloped as a tourist train, through some of the most beautiful parts of The North.
The Ribble Valley Line
The Ribble Valley Line could be an interesting challenge to run using Class 319 Flex trains.
Consider.
- The Southern section of the line is twelve miles between a hopefully electrified Bolton station and Blackburn.
- The Northern section is ten miles between Blackburn and Clitheroe stations.
- The Northern section is a climb into the hills.
- The Ribble Valley and East Lancashire Lines share tracks sround Blackburn station.
I think that if Preston to Blackburn were to be electrified, Class 319 Flex trains, might be able to reach Clitheroe.
Stalybridge
In the January 2017 Edition of Modern Railways, there is an article entitled Extra Platforms At Piccadilly Abandoned?.
In this article it suggests that electrification between Manchester Victoria and |Stalybridge might be late. This is also said.
However, any delay in wiring the section crates problems for Northern in that its plans for the move to additional electric services sees them terminating at Stalybridge rather than at Manchester Victoria, freeing up -platform capacity.
But Stalybridge is under nine miles to the East of Manchester Victoria, so a Class 319 Flex could be used to bridge the gap.
So do we have the bizarre result of obtaining some bi-mode trains freeing up platform space?
Manchester Victoria To Huddersfield
Once Network Rail get Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge electrified, Huddersfield is only another twenty miles, so could be in reach of a Class 319 Flex.
Southport And Kirkby To Manchester
North of Liverpool, there are two routes, which go between Wigan Wallgate station and Southport and Kirkby stations.
There are also three routes from Wigan Wallgate to Manchester.
The line between Bolton and Wigan Wallgate was supposed to be electrified by December 2017, but no work appears to be ongoing yet.
But when Manchester to Preston and Wigan to Bolton are electrified, there will be an electric route to Manchester Victoria, Piccadilly and Airport stations from Wigan Wallgate.
So could Wigan Wallgate to Southport (20 miles) and Wigan Wallgate to Kirkby (16m iles) be bridged by a Class 319 Flex?
One great advantage at Southport and Kirkby is that 750 CDC third-rail electrification is available. So could the batteries be charged using this electrification, whilst the train is turned back..
A Train Designed For A Specific Route
It seems that one of the great features of the Class 319 Flex trains, is that the number of different power sources will mean that trains can be designed for a particular route.
So if say on a route, like the Ribble Valley Line to Clitheroe, more power might be needed, then an extra battery might be added, as has been stated in some of the various Press Releases for the train.
Routes In The East
I have only looked at the routes I know in the West of the Northern franchise.
But as it is an extensive franchise providing services over a wide area, there could be routes in the East, where the Class 319 Flex could provide an increase in capacity and quality of service.
Porterbrook
I must say something about Porterbrook’s involvement in this development.
Porterbrook are a leasing company and they are not participating in this venture out of charity.
By financing the increase in the capabilities of this train, they are doing themselves a big favour by turning a Class 319 train of limited use and value into a more desirable asset for a train operating company, that they can lease for a higher price.
- Northern get a train they need to increase capacity and expand electric services.
- Passengers travel in a refurbished faster four-car electric train instead of a two-car diesel train of possibly dubious quality.
- Hopefully, the better train service will create economic activity and jobs.
Porterbrook will of course expect to make a return on their investment.
Other Customers
This article on the European Railway Review is entitled Porterbrook and Northern to jointly develop bi-mode Class 319 Flex trains. It says the following.
The first Bi-mode Class 319 Flex trains will be in Northern passenger service by 2018. The units will then become available to operators who wish to make full use of electrically powered rolling stock on partially electrified routes.
It will be interesting to see, who leases the trains.
Conclusions
I am drawn to the following conclusions.
- Nothing about the technicalities of the Class 319 Train is difficult and with my limited experience of project management in railway engineering , if Wabtec give a delivery date, it will likely be achieved.
- There are lots of ways to run these trains, especially if modes can be switched automatically.
- The trains would be more efficient and have a longer range, if they had regenerative braking.
- The trains will be incredibly useful in providing electric services across the Northern franchise.
- I believe that used on a line like Harrogate Line, they will also show whether a line should be electrified.
I think the concept is very sound and good for Porterbrook, Northern and their passengers. It will also create economic ctivity and jobs.
If the Class 319 Flex proves to be a success, I feel that other trains will be upgraded in this way.
Feltham Station
I hadn’t intended to go to Feltham station, but whilst talking to a South West Trains driver, he suggested I go to look at the improvements there and the level crossing.
Location
This Google Map shows the station’s location to the South-East of the Airport.
Heathrow Airport And Feltham Station
Feltham station is the station in the South East corner of the map.
A Modern Station
Feltham station is a modern station, as these pictures show.
If it has one problem it is the level crossing at the Western end of the station.
Services
The station is well-connected with six trains per hour (tph) to and from Waterloo on weekdays and 5 tph on Sundays.
But there are a long list of stations, who have in excess of 2 tph connections to the station on weekdays and good connections on Sundays. The list includes.
- Clapham Junction
- Putney
- Reading
- Richmond
- Staines
- Twickenham
- Weybridge
- Windsor and Eton Riverside
It is an impressive level of connectivity to the buses that serve Heathrow’s terminals.
I was at Feltham station for about twenty minutes and saw several newish buses drive off towards Heathrow.
A railway called Heathrow Airtrack was proposed, but abandoned to link Waterloo to Heathrow, via Feltham.
It doesn’t seem to be mentioned much these days.
I just think, that because the services through Feltham are at a level of one train every ten minutes and because the line has several level crossings, that trying to squeeze an airport service into the mix, although probably not impossible, was difficult and would give rise to too many objections to fight off.
An Alternative Link
But Heathrow may have the solution in their hands and that would be to use an enlarged version of the Heathrow Pod system, that I wrote about in A Visit To Heathrow Terminal 5.
Or they could use some other charismatic system, that flew people at helicoptor-height over the route to and from Heathrow.
Several systems come to mind; cable-car, tram, monorail, a modern Schwebebahn or MAGLev.
The Schwebebahn in Wuppertal, was built over the River Wupper in the early Twentieth Century and it still running today. I wrote about it in The Wuppertal Schwebebahn. You wouldn’t build anything like this, but the construction of the Schwebebahn shows that you can put a lightweight railway over a river.
This Google Map shows Feltham station in greater detail.
Feltham Station And The Longford River
Note the Longford River, which passes under the station.
This Google Map shows Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport.
Heathrow Terminal 4 And The Longford River
Again note the Longford River.
So could some form of lightweight aerial railway be created to run at perhaps fifteen metres above the river and some of the roads in the area. This picture shows the Heathrow Pod that connects some car parks to Terminal 5.
The Heathrow Pod Crosses To Terminal 5
The Terminal 5 system is described here in Wikipedia and is 3.9 km long. I estimate that Feltham to Terminal 4 would be about 6 km.
As Heathrow are thinking of using the Heathrow Pod system to go all the way to Kingston, I would suspect that Feltham would be in range.
My big worry would be, that the number of pods required to transfer passengers to and from Feltham might be too large for the system.
So I think that even if the Heathrow Pod system couldn’t be used for the link, within a few years, someone will devise a system that would create the ultimate airport link between Feltham and Heathrow Airport.
The Anonymous Widower 