The Anonymous Widower

Cameron Bridge Station – 15th May 2025

I took these pictures yesterday at the new Cameron Bridge station yesterday on the Levenmouth Rail Link.

Note.

  1. The station has a car-park on the coming-home-from Edinburgh platform.
  2. There is a bridge over the River Leven, that appears to lead to new housing.
  3. The step-free bridge appears to be used by local residents to cross the railway.
  4. There appears to be a walking route for the nearby factory, which distills Scotland’s national spirit.

But as the pictures show the station has some unusual features for a small station with one train per hour (tph).

Parking

This extract from the Internet describes the parking.

A car park is available for customers with 125 spaces, including Electric Vehicle (EV) charging and blue badge spaces, as well as a drop off/pick up area and motorcycle parking.

They certainly seem to be expecting lots of commuters to Edinburgh, which is 34.5 miles away over the river.

Long Platforms

As the pictures with the three-car Class 170 train show the platforms are long.

I estimate that the platforms could take a pair of four-car Class 385 trains and almost take a nine-car Class 800 or 802 train.

Is this wishful thinking or prudent future-proofing as extending platforms can be a much more difficult exercise, than building them in the first place.

Perhaps, plans include a lot of housing, a major educational establishment, a sports stadium or some large factories to add to the distillery and long trains will be needed to serve the station.

Electrification Foundations

What surprised me, is that the station has been fitted out with the foundations for electrification gantries. There are five pairs all with four strong bolts to support the gantries over the track. This gallery shows some of the foundations.

 

But what also surprised me was that at no other place on the route between Edinburgh and Leven, were any electrification works visible, except where the electrification is completed between Edinburgh and Edinburgh Gateway.

I estimate that the distance between Cameron Bridge and Edinburgh Gateway is about thirty-seven miles as the train travels, which should be in range of one of ScotRail’s Hitachi Class 385 trains, that had been fitted with batteries.

  • The trains would charge their batteries on the run between Edinburgh Waverley and Edinburgh Gateway stations.
  • The trains would run between Edinburgh Gateway and Cameron Bridge stations on battery power. The eight intermediate stations would not have to suffer diesel trains.
  • The trains would put up the pantograph at Cameron Bridge station and charge the batteries on a short length of overhead wires that will be erected there on both platforms.
  • The train would run to Leven station on battery power, where it would reverse, as it does now and then return to Cameron Bridge station.
  • At Cameron Bridge station, it could even pick up more charge if needed.

Note.

  1. The only new electrification needed would be to electrify both lines in Cameron Bridge station.
  2. Supposedly, Hitachi do a nice line in short lengths of electrification and all the electrical gubbins that support them.
  3. Because of the large distillery, Cameron Bridge is not short of electricity, with a large grid connection visible at the Edinburgh end of the station.
  4. No electrification will be needed over the Forth Rail Bridge, to the delight of the Heritage Taliban.

Whoever gets the contract to supply the battery-electric trains and the partial electrification, will be supplying trains that will cross one of most famous railway bridges in the world.

I also predict, that this short rail link between Edinburgh Waverley and Leven will become a tourist attraction and bring prosperity to the area.

Electrifying The Fife Circle

This OpenRailwayMap shows the whole Fife Circle Line.

Note.

  1. Lines shown in red are electrifield, whilst those shown in black are not and lines shown in dotted red-and-black are to be electrified.
  2. Cameron Bridge is marked by the blue arrow, with Leven to its East on the coast.
  3. The Forth Rail Bridge over the Forth of Forth is at the bottom of the map.
  4. To the North of the bridge, the line splits and connects to the large circular railway, which is the Fife Circle Line.
  5. Some trains after crossing the Forth Rail Bridge,come up the East coast via Kirkcaldy to terminate at Leven or Glenrothes with Thornton.
  6. Other trains from Edinburgh take the Western side of the Fife Circle  via Rosyth and Cowdenbeath to Glenrothes with Thornton.

This second Open RailwayMap shows the Fife Circle Line between Cameron Bridge and Glenrothes with Thornton.

Note.

  1. As before, lines shown in red are electrifield, whilst those shown in black are not and lines shown in dotted red-and-black are to be electrified.
  2. Cameron Bridge is marked by the blue arrow, with Leven to its East on the coast.
  3. Glenrothes with Thornton station is in the South-Western corner of the map.
  4. It might even be possible for all trains to terminate on the Levenmouth Rail Link as Leven station has two platforms.
  5. If that is the case, the four tph would make full use of the two long platforms at Leven and Cameron Bridge stations, with the only electrification on the Fife Circle Line at Cameron Bridge station.

This is partial electrification with none of the complexity of full electrication, but with all the power it needs from the electrical connection of a large distillery.

The Wikipedia entry for the Fife Circle Line says this about the electrification.

The £55 million first phase, to electrify 65 miles (104 km) of Fife Circle track, between Haymarket and Dalmeny, for use by battery electric multiple units, was begun by Scottish Powerlines in June 2022 and is due to be completed by December 2024, although this project has been delayed and is expected to completed by December 2025. Further phases will electrify the lines between Kinghorn, Thornton, Ladybank and Lochgelly. This will allow the Fife Circle services to be operated by battery electric multiple units whilst minimising capital expenditure on infrastructure, in particular avoiding the major expense of electrifying the Forth Bridge. Complete electrification would be possible at some future date. The partial electrification was due to be completed by December 2025 but there has been some slippage in these target dates.

This OpenRailwayMap shows Kinghorn, Thornton, Ladybank and Lochgelly.

Note.

  1. Lines shown in red are electrifield, whilst those shown in black are not and lines shown in dotted red-and-black are to be electrified.
  2. Ladybank is at the top of the map indicated by a blue arrow.
  3. Kinghorn is at the bottom of the map on the coast.
  4. Ladybank and Kinghorn are connected by a section of the Aberdeen and Edinburgh Line.
  5. Glenrothes and Thornton are to the West of this line.
  6. The Levenmouth Rail Link runs to the East.
  7. Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath are on the West side of the map.

From what I saw yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if the amount of electrification to be performed has been cut back and more reliance is to be placed on on-board batteries.

Class 385 Battery-Electric Trains

The Wikipedia entry for Class 385 trains, says this about battery-electric versions.

During early 2019, Hitachi held a series of discussions with the Scottish Government on the development of a variant of the Class 385, a battery electric multiple unit (BEMU) that would be capable of running on unelectrified sections of line along a route. The installation of batteries was reportedly described as being a relatively straightforward alteration to make; an underfloor battery unit, dependent upon size, would be able to power a trainset over distances of 20 to 60 miles (30 to 100 km). The proposal drew upon Hitachi’s existing experience with battery trains operated in Japan, and had been motivated by a recommendation from the rail decarbonisation task force which advocated that such measures be implemented.

A range on batteries of sixty miles would cover the less than forty miles between Edinburgh Gateway and Ladybank.

I suspect that a range of sixty miles would bridge the gap between Edinburgh Gateway and Perth or Dundee.

Does this mean, that I think it could?

If Hitachi’s testing of their battery-electric Class 802 trains have shown phenomenal distances, then this would fit with the distances shown by Stadler’s Class 777 trains in New Merseyrail Train Runs 135km On Battery.

This leads me to believe that battery-equipped ScotRail Class 385 trains and LNER Class 800 trains are able to electrify the North of Scotland, with a few strategic charging stations like the one at Cameron Bridge station.

 

 

 

May 16, 2025 Posted by | Energy, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Are LNER Going To Take On The Airlines?

Nine years ago, I wrote Edinburgh – Plane Or Train?, after a trip to Scotland, where I took easyJet up and came back in First Class by train.

  • Both trips were about five hours door-to-door.
  • The flight was about six quid more,
  • But I got free food and drink on the train.
  • Security on the plane was a pain.
  • I had to take my passport for identification at Stansted.

I haven’t flown internally in Great Britain since, although, I have flown to Belfast.

For shorter flights the market is going towards rail, as these posts seem to suggest.

The climate seems to be turning against flying short-haul.

This is a paragraph, in this press release from LNER, which is entitled First Tri-Mode Long Distance Trains For The East Coast Main Line.

This new fleet of trains will keep LNER on track to reduce its emissions by 67 per cent by 2035 and be net zero by 2045. LNER has already reduced carbon emissions by 50 per cent compared with 2018/19. Per mile, LNER trains produce 15 times less carbon emissions than a domestic flight.

Are LNER building a number of climate-based sticks, with which to beat the airlines on the routes, where they compete?

These are my thoughts on the various routes, where LNER compete with airlines.

Newcastle

Newcastle is an interesting one.

  • Newcastle station is in the city centre and is on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
  • London King’s Cross is one of London’s major Underground hubs.
  • There are lots of buses and local trains within walking distance of both stations.
  • There are three trains every two hours and an additional eight trains per day (tpd) between the two London King’s Cross and Newcastle stations.
  • Lumo also run five tpd on the route.
  • There are generally no security delays at rail stations.
  • London King’s Cross is laid out to maximise passenger flows. If it gets busy, everybody just walks out into King’s Cross Square.
  • I’ve never had a problem at Newcastle station with overcrowding.

Perhaps, if you live near one of the airports, flying is more convenient.

LNER’s weapons against the airlines between London King’s Cross and Newcastle will be convenience and journey times.

Convenience is all about the location of the stations, their excellent  local transport networks and good walking routes around the station.

Journey times will only get better, as the magic of digital in-cab signalling, allows the Azumas, the new CAF tri-mode long distance trains and the few remaining InterCity 225s to show what they were designed to do.

Dalton-on-Tees, where the first phase of the digitally signalling will end, is 39.8 miles South of Newcastle, so once the Newcastle train is passes Dalton-on-Tees on the East Coast Main Line, it will be a digital-signalled electrified railway all the way to Woolmer Green.

  • Dalton-on-Tees is 39.8 miles South of Newcastle
  • Woolmer Green is 244.8 miles South of Newcastle.
  • Dalton-on-Tees and Woolmer Green is 205 miles.
  • Newcastle and Dalton-on-Tees takes 37 minutes.
  • Woolmer Green and King’s Cross takes 18 minutes
  • Trains take typically an average three hours and nine minutes between London and Newcastle.
  • A typical train time by LNER between Dalton-on-Tees and Woolmer Green is two hours and 14 minutes.
  • This is an average speed of 91.8 mph between Dalton-on-Tees and Woolmer Green.
  • Between London King’s Cross and Newcastle is fully-electrified.

I can build a table of timings and savings at various average speeds.

  • 120 mph – 103 minutes – two hours and 38 minutes – 31 minutes
  • 125 mph – 98 minutes – two hours and 33 minutes – 36 minutes
  • 130 mph – 95 minutes – two hours and 30 minutes – 39 minutes
  • 135 mph – 91 minutes – two hours and 26 minutes – 43 minutes
  • 140 mph – 88 minutes – two hours and 23 minutes – 46 minutes

Note.

  1. The first field is the average speed between Dalton-on-Tees and Woolmer Green.
  2. The second field is the time between Dalton-on-Tees and Woolmer Green.
  3. The third field is the time between London and Newcastle.
  4. The fourth field is the saving over current timings.
  5. The London and Newcastle time is calculated by adding the times for the three sections together.

I have regularly timed trains at a very constant 125 mph, so with digital signalling, I suspect an average of 130 mph is possible.

This would mean, times of a few minutes under two hours and thirty minutes could be possible between London and Newcastle.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh builds on the improvements South of Newcastle.

Edinburgh station Waverley is a well-connected station.

  • There are lots of buses, local trains and the Edinburgh Tram within walking distance of Edinburgh Waverley station.
  • There are three trains every two hours and an additional seven tpd between the London King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley stations.
  • Lumo also run five tpd on the route.
  • Trains take typically an average four hours and thirty minutes between London and Edinburgh Waverley.
  • Any savings because of the digital in-cab signalling between London and Newcastle can be applied to London and Edinburgh Waverley services.

As my calculations showed that averaging 130 mph between Dalton-on-Tees and Woolmer Green could save 39 minutes on journey times, I am fairly sure than a sub-four hour journey time will be possible between London and Edinburgh Waverley.

It should also be noted that that the power supply has been improved between Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley.

  • The distance between Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley is 124.2 miles
  • Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley takes around one hour and 30 minutes.
  • This is an average speed of 82.8 mph between Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley.
  • Between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley is fully-electrified.

As the record time for between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley was set by an InterCity225 train in 1993 at three hours and twenty-nine minutes, I suspect that with more digital signalling and some track improvements, that there are more journey time improvements to be squeezed out.

I certainly believe that a time of three hours and fifty minutes between London and Edinburgh Waverley will be regularly achieved. This is a journey time saving of around forty minutes.

Dundee

Dundee has an airport and a station on the East Coast Main Line.

Trains between London  King’s Cross and Dundee take around five hours and 45 minutes.

LNER run three trains per day to and from London King’s Cross and one tpd to and from Leeds.

CrossCountry also run services.

Loganair has two flights per day to Heathrow.

Aberdeen

Aberdeen builds on the improvements South of Edinburgh.

The four direct tpd between London and Aberdeen take around seven hours and ten minutes.

This should come down to around six hours and thirty minutes with the journey time savings between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley.

Will this tempt travellers from the airlines?

Battery-Electric Trains To Dundee And Aberdeen

One thing that will help, is that Edinburgh and Aberdeen is to be partially electrified.

InPiling Work To Get Underway To Electrify Line To Fife, I included this Network Rail map of the electrification.

This map has been downloaded from the Network Rail web site.

The electrification is split into four phases.

  1. Haymarket and Dalmeny – 25 km
  2. Kirkcaldy and Thornton North – 25 km.
  3. Lochgelly and Thornton North – 20 km.
  4. Thornton North and Ladybank – 34 km.

Note.

  1. The last three phases of electrification connect to Thornton North.
  2. The new rail link to Leven will also be electrified. and connected to Thornton North.
  3. The Forth Bridge is not to be electrified.

As Ladybank station is just 91.4 miles from Aberdeen, I suspect LNER will use  Hitachi Intercity Battery Hybrid Trains to serve Aberdeen.

If these trains haven’t got the range, then I suspect LNER’s new CAF Tri-Mode Trains could handle the route.

Inverness

Inverness has a problem.

Zero-carbon trains will be unlikely to get to the city without  full electrification of the Highland Main Line.

  • Dunblane is the nearest electrified station to Inverness, but it is 146.2 miles away over a route with lots of steep climbs.
  • I doubt that a battery-electric train could handle that route.

One solution would be for LNER to run the new CAF Tri-Mode Trains to Inverness using HVO or biodiesel.

Glasgow

Glasgow is the only other Scottish city with an airport and good rail connections to the South.

I am sure that Avanti West Coast will target airline passengers, if LNER prove it is a successful policy.

Other Factors

These are other factors, that will come into a traveller’s choice.

First Class

Some travellers like a bit more comfort and service.

Ability To Work

Some travellers like to work on a train.

You Don’t Get Tables On a Plane

I like to open a paper or magazine flat, which is difficult on a plane.

Views Tend To Be Better On a Train

Providing you get a window!

Parking Tends To Be Better At An Airport

But it may be more expensive!

Security Is Less Hassle On A Train

At the moment!

You Don’t Need To Prove Your Identity On A Train

Not in the UK! Yet!

Conclusion

It looks like LNER can offer the airlines to four of our major Northern cities serious zero-carbon competition.

 

November 19, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Centrica To Build Largest Battery Storage Project To Date

The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.

These three paragraphs outline the news.

Centrica Business Solutions has secured the development rights to a 65MW two-hour battery storage plant in Perthshire, Scotland, its largest battery storage acquisition to date.

The site in Abernethy is located near a connection for North Sea offshore wind farms and will help manage grid capacity by charging when demand for power is low, and discharging when demand is at its highest.

Once connected to the grid in 2028, the 65MW two-hour battery will be able to store enough electricity to power 130,000 homes for an hour – the equivalent to a town the size of Aberdeen. The discharge could happen up to four times a day.

This map shows the site of the substation at Abernethy.

It seems a site with enough space for a 65 MW/130 MWh battery.

But is that a railway running past the site in the South-East corner of the map?

Yes! It is the single-track unelectrified railway that is used by trains to go between Edinburgh and Perth.

  • There are stations at both ends of the single-track section at Ladybank and Perth.
  • Abernethy substation looks like it is about halfway between the two end stations.

This page on Scotland’s Railway is entitled Fife Electrification and lists these four phases.

  1. Haymarket and Dalmeny
  2. Kinghorn and Thornton North
  3. Thornton and Lochgelly
  4. Thorton and Ladybank

The page also says that the electrification will support BEMUs (Battery Electric Multiple Units)

I feel that the electrification to Ladybank and Centrica’s battery could be linked.

  • If the electrification was extended a few miles to Abernethy substation, this would surely be a reliable way to power the electrification.
  • It would also be ideally placed, if Perth and Ladybank were to be electrified.
  • The new battery would surely smooth out any deviations in the power supply.

I certainly don’t expect that Centrica will object to a new customer.

Electrification Between Edinburgh And Ladybank

Consider.

  • Edinburgh and Ladybank is 39 miles and takes a couple of minutes over an hour.
  • Once, the four phases of the electrification are complete, only the 13.6 miles between Dalmeny and Kinghorn, will be without electrification.
  • I doubt that Dalmeny and Kinghorn will ever be electrified, as it includes the Forth Rail Bridge.
  • Dalmeny and Kinghorn is 13.6 miles and takes around twenty-four minutes.

It looks like the BEMUs will be under wires for 25.4 miles and nearly forty minutes, which will be more than enough to charge the trains.

Edinburgh And Aberdeen

In Thoughts On Batteries On A Hitachi Intercity Tri-Mode Battery Train, I said this about services between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Consider.

    • The gap in the electrification is 130 miles between Edinburgh Haymarket and Aberdeen.
    • There could be an intermediate charging station at Dundee.
    • Charging would be needed at Aberdeen.

I think Hitachi could design a train for this route.

The 25.4 miles of new Fife electrification between Haymarket and Ladybank will reduce gap in the electrification to 105 miles and ensure trains leaving Ladybank for Aberdeen had a full battery.

 

July 7, 2023 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | 4 Comments