Leeds Station « The Anonymous Widower

Is A Crossrail For Leeds On The Way?

This article on Insider Media is entitled Schemes Totalling More Than £140m Backed By Investment Committee.

This is introductory paragraph.

Schemes totalling more than £140m to support the region’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, have have been backed by West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee.

These are the two main schemes.

A £24.2m million (including £17m Combined Authority funding) rail station between Morley and Cotttingley on the Transpennine route at White Rose/

A 31.6m (including £13.9m of Combined Authority funding) parkway rail station at Thorpe Park on the Leeds to York section of the route.

There are also several other schemes for West Yorkshire.

White Rose Station

This Google Map shows the White Rose Centre.

The Huddersfield Line runs North-South alongside the Centre and there must be plenty of space for a new White Rose station.

From Wikipedia and other sources, the following seems to be on the agenda for the station.

Two platforms.
Ability to take six-car trains, with a possibility to extend to eight-cars.
Two trains per hour (tph) in both directions.
Up to 340,000 passengers per year.
Lots of parking.

The station would be about 3.5 miles to the South-West of Leeds station.

Thorpe Park Station

This Google Map shows the area where the station could be built.

Note.

The Selby Line curving across the Northern side of the map.
Cross Gates station is the next station to the West.
Going East on the Selby Line, you pass through Garforth, East Garforth and Micklefield stations before the line divides for York to the North and Selby and Hull to the East.
The M1 Motorway passing to the East of Leeds.

Other features of the proposed station and the area include.

Wikipedia says that the station will have two island platforms and the ability to handle inter-city trains.
The route through the station would be electrified.
High Speed Two could be routed to go close to the station.
Lots of parking.

The station would be about 4 miles to the East of Leeds station.

A Crossrail For Leeds

Could these two stations in the future become stations on a high-capacity route across Yorkshire centred on Leeds?

The Western end of the route could be Huddersfield.
The Eastern end of the route could be both York and Hull.
Plans exist and projects have started to fully electrify between Huddersfield and York.
Both stations will be Park-and-Ride stations with good connections to the motorway network.
Intermediate stations between Leeds and Huddersfield could include Cottingley, White Rose, Morley, Batley, Dewsbury, Ravensthorpe, Mirfield and Deighton
Intermediate stations between Leeds and York could include Cross Gates, Thorpe Park, Garforth, East Garforth, Micklefield, Church Fenton and Ulleskelf.
Intermediate stations between Leeds and Hull could include Cross Gates, Thorpe Park, Garforth, East Garforth, Micklefield, South Milford, Selby, Wrassle, Howden, Eastrington, Gilberdyke, Broomfleet, Brough, Ferriby and Hessle.

With the exception of the two new stations and the electrification, infrastructure needs would not appear to be large.

These are some thoughts.

Distances And Timings

These are some distances and estimated timings from Leeds.

Huddersfield – 27 miles – 32 minutes – 51 mph
Hull – 52 miles – 55 minutes – 57 mph
York – 15,5 miles – 23 minutes – 40 mph

Note.

With full electrification, timings could be improved.
York and Huddersfield would be under an hour.
Kull and Huddersfield could be under ninety minutes.

These timings would certainly be achievable by a 125 mph Class 802 train, but I suspect, that they could be achieved by a 110 mph electric train like a Class 730/1 train.

Current Services Through White Road, Leeds and Thorpe Park Stations

These services currents pass through the three stations or their proposed sites.

TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh
TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Newcastle
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Redcar Central
TransPennine Express – Manchester Piccadilly and Hull

Note.

All of these trains are one tph.
There could be five quality tph on the route, most of which would be five-car Class 802 trains.

In addition the following services would pass through Leeds and Thorpe Park stations.

CrossCountry – Plymouth and Edinburgh/Glasgow
Northern Trains – Blackpool North and York via Bradford Interchange
Northern Trains – Halifax and Hull via Bradford Interchange

Note.

All of these trains are one tph.
Two trains serve Bradford Interchange.

These services could mean eight tph between Thorpe Park and Leeds stations.

In addition the following services would pass through Leeds and White Rose stations.

Northern Trains – Wigan Wallgate and Leeds
TransPennine Express – Huddersfield and Leeds

Note.

All of these trains are one tph.

These services could mean seven tph between White Rose and Leeds stations.

A Possible Future Service

I believe that services across Leeds could be recast to give the City a network of railways that would satisfy the needs of the City.

Possible services could include.

Four tph – York and Huddersfield via Thorpe Park, Leeds and White Rose in under an hour.

Two tph – Hull and Huddersfield via Thorpe Park, Leeds and White Rose in under ninety minutes.

Two tph – Halifax and Thorpe Park via Leeds and Bradford

Note

There are a lot of possibilities.
Services would be timed to make interchange easy with other services at Leeds.

I would also arrange for East to West and West to East services to share the same island platform at Leeds.

Conclusion

Leeds will get the electrified local railway the city deserves.

February 14, 2021 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Huddersfield Station, Hull Station, Leeds, Leeds Station, Thorpe Park Station, White Rose Station, York Station | 3 Comments

WYCA To Discuss Latest Plans For £24.2m White Rose Rail Station

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.

I briefly commented on this proposed station in Is There Going To Be Full Electrification Between Leeds And Huddersfield?, where I said this.

White Rose Station

There are plans to build a new White Rose station in the next couple of years at the White Rose Centre..

This would be between Morley and Cottingley stations.

This station will surely increase the passenger numbers on the Huddersfield Line.

This Google Map shows the White Rose Centre.

The Huddersfield Line runs North-South alongside the Centre and there must be plenty of space for a new White Rose station.

From Wikipedia and other sources, the following seems to be on the agenda for the station.

Two platforms.
Ability to take six-car trains, with a possibility to extend to eight-cars.
Two trains per hour (tph) in both directions.
Up to 340,000 passengers per year.

These are my thoughts.

Will White Rose Station Be Electrified?

The Rail Technology Magazine article has a visualisation of the new White Road station and very swish it looks too!

But it doesn’t show any electrification through the station.

This document on the Network Rail web site is entitled Overhead Line Electrification – Huddersfield to Westtown (Dewsbury).

This is the first paragraph.

We’re proposing to electrify the railway between Huddersfield and Westtown (Dewsbury) – and right through to Leeds.

This will enable train operators to use electric – or bi-mode (hybrid) trains – along this section of the route.

I am pretty certain, this paragraph can be interpreted, as saying that Leeds and Huddersfield will be connected by a fully-electrified railway.

This Google Map shows the current Ravensthorpe station, where the line to and from Wakefield joins the Huddersfield and Leeds Line.

This document on the Network Rail web site is entitled Scheme Proposals – Huddersfield to Westtown (Dewsbury).

It indicates that the triangle of land between the two lines will be used for a sub-station to provide power for the electrification.

It says this.

We propose to build an electricity substation within the Ravensthorpe and Westtown area, to provide power for the electrification of the railway (known as traction power). To facilitate this work, a temporary construction compound which will provide essential welfare facilities for staff will be established in an area of land occupying the current landfill site to the east of Ravensthorpe Station. Access to the facilities will be made via Forge Lane or the existing Thornhill Power Station access road. In addition, Northern Powergrid will be undertaking extensive works to their overhead network within the Ravensthorpe area.

This looks like a convenient place to build a sub-station.

Northern Powergrid would be able to combine one of their projects, with one for Network Rail.
It looks like the location of the sub-station gives both good road and rail access.

It would also be ideal to provide power to the line to Wakefield Kirkgate station, which is only ten miles away.

Services At White Rose Station

Currently, the following services would appear to go through the site of White Rose station.

Northern Trains – Wigan Wallgate and Leeds
TransPennine Express – Huddersfield and Leeds
TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh
TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Newcastle
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Redcar Central
TransPennine Express – Manchester Piccadilly and Hull

Note.

All services are one tph.
The first two services are stopping services, that stop at the two stations, that will be either side of White Rose station; Cottingley and Morley.
Dewsbury station, which will be three stations away, has a service of three tph.

There may also be an LNER service between London and Huddersfield via Leeds, which might go through White Rose station.

When sources like Wikipedia, say the station will get two tph, they are probably basing this on the two stopping services.

Does White Rose Station Need A Direct Manchester Airport Service?

I think if the station becomes important, it will certainly need a direct service to Manchester Airport.

If one of TransPennine’s Manchester Airport services stopped at White Rose station it would give a direct fast hourly service to Manchester Airport.

It would take about eighty minutes on current timings.
In addition the service would call at Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and York.

In my view it would be a very useful service.

Does White Rose Station Need A Direct London Service?

The reasoning for Manchester Airport, would probably apply to London.

Consider.

Leeds currently has a two tph LNER service to London.
I believe that LNER’s Leeds and London service could be uprated to three tph.
Huddersfield should be getting a daily service or perhaps better to London.
White Rose station is only planned to have a two tph service to Leeds.

I think there is scope to improve the service between White Rose and London.

Stopping services between Leeds and Huddersfield should connect conveniently with the London trains at Leeds.
If a third tph between Leeds and Huddersfield stopped at White Rose, that might help.
Perhaps, some or all services between Huddersfield and London, should stop at White Rose.

It would all depend on the needs of passengers, once the station opened.

White Rose Station And Elland Road Stadium

This Google Map shows the distance between the White Rose Centre and Elland Road stadium.

Note.

Elland Road stadium is in the North-East of the map
The White Rose Shopping Centre is towards the South of the map.
The Huddersfield Line runs down the Western side of the White Rose shopping centre.
Cottingley station in North-West corner of the map is the nearest station to Elland Road stadium.
I estimate it is about a mile-and-a-half walk, which is typical for many football grounds.

Would it be sensible on match days to run longer trains to White Rose station?

I also feel, that thought be given to the walking route between White Rose Station and Elland Road Stadium.

Would it also be better, if the new station was towards the North of the shopping centre?

Platform Length At White Rose Station

Platform length at White Rose station is stated that it will initially take six-car trains, with a possibility to extend to eight-cars.

Consider the lengths of trains likely to call at White Rose station.

Three-car Class 185 trains are 71.3 metres.
Three-car Class 195 trains are 71.4 metres.
Three-car Class 331 trains are 71.4 metres.
Four-car Class 331 trains are 94.5 metres.
Five-car Class 802 trains are 130 metres.
A Class 68 locomotive and five Mark 5 coaches are 131 metres

To handle pairs of three-car Class 185, Class 195 and Class 331 trains, it looks like 150 metre long platforms will be needed.

But to handle pairs of four-car Class 195 and Class 331 trains, it looks like 200 metre long platforms will be needed.

I suspect that because of the proximity of Elland Road and there is a lot of shopping in the build up to Christmas, that a thorough analysis of platform length should be done, before White Rose station is built.

Will A Cross-Leeds Service Serve White Rose Station?

If you look at Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle, suburban lines fan out all around the city.

If you look at Leeds, you find the following routes.

Bradford – West – Electrified
Harrogate -North – No Electrification
Dewsbury and Huddersfield – South-West – Electrification planned
Ilkley – North – Electrified
Skipton – North-West – Electrified
Wakefield – South-East – Electrified
York and Selby – North-East and East – No Electrification

It appears to me, that the suburban routes are better on the Western side of the City, with more electrification in operation or planned.

The planned electrification between Leeds and Huddersfield via White Rose station can only make matters more uneven.

The Rail Technology Magazine article also says this.

The Investment Committee will also consider plans for a new £31.9m parkway rail station at Thorpe Park on the Leeds to York section of the Transpennine route.

Wikipedia says that proposed Thorpe Park station, will be built on the Selby Line to the East of Leeds, in the Thorpe Park are of the city. Wikipedia also says this about the operation of the station.

It would be served by trains from the west of Leeds which would normally terminate at Leeds station; by continuing eastwards to this station, it is hoped that extra capacity for through trains would be created at Leeds. The station would also form the first phase of electrifying the railway line to the east of Leeds. As a parkway station (an early name was East Leeds Parkway), the intention would be to allow for a park-and-ride service and the plans include parking for 500 cars.

This Google Map shows the area where the station could be built.

Note.

The Selby Line curving across the Northern side of the map.
Cross Gates station is the next station to the West.
Going East on the Selby Line, you pass through Garforth, East Garforth and Micklefield stations before the line divides for York to the North and Selby and Hull to the East.
The M1 Motorway passing to the East of Leeds.

Other features of the proposed station and the area include.

Wikipedia says that the station will have two island platforms and the ability to handle inter-city trains.
The route through the station would be electrified.
High Speed Two could be routed to go close to the station.

Currently, the following services would appear to go through the site of Thorpe Park station.

CrossCountry – Plymouth and Edinburgh/Glasgow
LNER – Leeds and Edinburgh
Northern Trains – Blackpool North and York
Northern Trains – Halifax and Hull
Northern Trains – Leeds and York
TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh
TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Newcastle
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Redcar Central
TransPennine Express – Manchester Piccadilly and Hull

Note.

Most of these trains are one tph.
I believe that LNER, when they get extra paths on the East Coast Main Line, could run a London, Leeds and Edinburgh service to increase frequency to the two Northern destinations to three tph.
All the TransPennine Express services will pass through White Rose, Leeds and Thorpe Park stations.

I can see a high-capacity Leeds Crossrail service emerging.

These could be some example frequencies.

Leeds and York – 6 tph
Leeds and Thorpe Park – 10 tph
Leeds and Hull – 2 tph
Leeds and Huddersfield – 6 tph
Leeds and Manchester Victoria/Piccadilly – 6 tph
Leeds and Manchester Airport – 2 tph
Leeds and White Rose – 4 tph

A four-track electrified route could be developed through Leeds station.

Are Two Platforms Enough At White Rose Station?

Superficially White Rose and Thorpe Park stations seem aimed at similar purposes in different parts of Leeds.

But White Rose station will only have two platforms and it appears that Thorpe Park could have four.

So does White Rose station need more platforms?

Conclusion

White Rose and Thorpe Park stations could be the start of something very big in Leeds.

February 2, 2021 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Class 185 Train, Class 195 Train, Class 331 Train, First TransPennine/TransPennine Express, Huddersfield Line, Leeds, Leeds Station, LNER, Thorpe Park Station, White Rose Station | 3 Comments

Is The Eastern Leg Of High Speed Two Under Threat?

This page on the High Speed Two web site is entitled HS2 Phase 2b Eastern Leg.

These are the opening three paragraphs.

Earlier this year the government made clear in its response to the Oakervee Review its commitment to Phase 2b of HS2, ensuring we boost capacity, improve connectivity between our regions and share prosperity.

As part of this, the government plans to present an Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands by the end of the year, informed by an assessment from the National Infrastructure Commission, which will look at how to deliver HS2 Phase 2b, Northern Powerhouse Rail, Midlands Rail Hub and other rail programmes better and more effectively.

In the meantime, the government has asked HS2 Ltd to pause work on the Eastern Leg. We recognise that this causes uncertainty and our Eastern Leg community engagement teams remain in place to support you.

The page then says that the work on the Western Leg should proceed, with the aim of a Western Leg Bill in early 2022.

In Northern Powerhouse Rail – Significant Upgrades Of The East Coast Main Line From Leeds To Newcastle (Via York And Darlington) And Restoration Of The Leamside Line, I showed that the current and future upgrades to the East Coast Main Line, required by the East Coast Main Line, Northern Powerhouse Rail and High Speed Two, will greatly reduce the times on services from London Kings Cross to Doncaster, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland.

I said this on timings on the East Coast Main Line.

London Kings Cross and Doncaster could be around an hour.
London Kings Cross and Leeds could be around one hour and thirty minutes, using the current Doncaster and Leeds time, as against the one hour and twenty-one minutes for High Speed Two.
London Kings Cross and York could be around one hour and twenty-three minutes, using the current Doncaster and York time, as against the one hour and twenty-four minutes for High Speed Two.
Timings between York and Newcastle would be the same fifty-two minutes as High Speed Two, as the track will be the limitation for both services.
High Speed Two’s timing for York and Newcastle is given as fifty-two minutes, with York and Darlington as twenty-five minutes.
London Kings Cross and Darlington could be around one hour and forty-nine minutes
London Kings Cross and Newcastle could be around two hours and sixteen minutes.
London Kings Cross and Edinburgh would be under three-and-a-half hours, as against the proposed three hours and forty-eight minutes for High Speed Two.

LNER’s Azuma cavalry will hold the fort for as long as is needed.

I’ll now look at how various stations, will be affected if the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two is not built, until a couple of decades in the future.

Leeds

Current Long Distance Services At Leeds Station

Leeds station has the following long distance services in trains per hour (tph)

CrossCountry – 1
LNER – 2
TransPennine Express – 5

It is a bit thin compared to say Birmingham or Manchester.

Northern Powerhouse Rail And Leeds

Northern Powerhouse Rail has plans for Leeds with these services to other Northern cities.

Hull – two tph in 38 minutes
Manchester – six tph in 25 minutes
Newcastle – four tph in 58 minutes
Sheffield – four tph in 28 minutes.

From what they have written, the following could also be possible.

Bradford – six tph in a few minutes
Liverpool – four or more tph in 51 minutes
Manchester Airport – four or more tph in 35 minutes

It is an ambitious plan.

High Speed Two And Leeds

High Speed Two is planning to run the following trains to Leeds in every hour.

Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds – 200 metre train
Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds via East Midlands Hub – 200 metre train
London Euston and Leeds via Old Oak Common and East Midlands Hub – 200 metre train
London Euston and Leeds via Old Oak Common and East Midlands Hub – 400 metre train
London Euston and Leeds via Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange and East Midlands Hub – 400 metre train

Timings will be as follows.

Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds – 49 minutes.
London Euston and Leeds – One hour and 21 minutes.

There will be about 1000 seats per hour between Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds and 2500 seats per hour Between London Euston and Leeds.

High Speed Two And Leeds Via Manchester

This report on the Transport for the North web site, is entitled At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail.

This map shows Transport for the North’s ideas for connections in the West linking Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Warrington and Wigan.

A black line goes East from Manchester to link it to Leeds via Huddersfield and Bradford.

This is proposed as a route shared between High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
High Speed Two are promising that London Euston and Manchester will be timed at one hour and eleven minutes.
London Euston and Manchester will have a frequency of three tph and will all be 400 metre High Speed Two Full Size trains, with about a thousand seats.
Northern Powerhouse Rail have an objective of a twenty-five minute journey time between Manchester and Leeds.

I would also build the Manchester and Leeds route with the following characteristics.

As a full-size tunnel capable of taking High Speed Two Full Size trains and the largest freight trains.
Intermediate and underground stations at Huddersfield and Bradford.
It could be built as a base tunnel, like the similarly-sized Gotthard base tunnel in Switzerland.
The Swiss tunnel has a maximum operating speed for passenger trains of 125 mph.

If it can be built for a reasonable cost and in a reasonable time-scale, it could be a way of doing the following.

Creating a straight 150 mph plus route across the Pennines, with a capacity of 18 tph.
Running high-capacity fast trains between London Euston and Leeds via Manchester Airport and Manchester.
Running freight trains between the two sides of the Pennines.
Creating a high frequency route between Liverpool and Hull via Manchester Airport, Manchester, Huddersfield and Bradford and Leeds.

The passenger service between Liverpool and Hull could be the world’s first high speed metro.

If the London Euston and Manchester trains, were to be extended to Leeds, London Euston and Leeds would take one hour and thirty-six minutes, which would only be fifteen minutes slower, than is promised for the route going via the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.

London Kings Cross And Leeds

When the in-cab digital signalling is complete between London Kings Cross and Leeds, I am fairly confident that with a few other improvements and more zoom from the Azumas, that a London Kings Cross and Leeds time of one hour and fifty minutes will be possible.

But will two nine-car or pairs of five-car trains per hour (tph), be enough capacity? Especially, as pairs of five-car trains will split and join to serve a wider catchment area, which will harvest more passengers.

LNER will in a couple of years have an extra path every hour into Kings Cross.

I would feel that best use of this path would be to run between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh via Leeds and Newcastle.

Leeds and Newcastle could be the only intermediate stops.
Leeds would be the ideal place to change to Northern Powerhouse Rail for anywhere in the North of England.
My estimates, say it could run between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh in around three-and-a-half hours.
It would run non-stop between London Kings Cross and Leeds, Leeds and Newcastle and Newcastle and Edinburgh.

It would increase capacity, between the four major destinations on the route; London Kings Cross, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

It could start running, once the digital signalling and current improvements to the East Coast Main Line are complete.

London St. Pancras And Leeds

I discussed, Northern Powerhouse Rail’s plan for Sheffield and Leeds in Northern Powerhouse Rail – Connecting Sheffield To HS2 And On To Leeds.

This could see the following new infrastructure.

Electrification between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station of the route shared by the Midland Main Line and High Speed Two.
Electrification through Sheffield and on to Leeds, via the Wakefield Line
New stations for High Speed trains at Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley.

I could see East Midlands Railway taking advantage of this route, with their new Class 810 trains and running a regular Leeds and St. Pancras service.

It would call at Wakefield Westgate, Barnsley Dearne Valley, Rotherham and Meadowhall. between Leeds and Sheffield stations.
It would take twenty-eight minutes between Leeds and Sheffield, if it met Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective.
Perhaps one of the two tph between London St. Pancras and Sheffield could be extended to Leeds.

As the current time between London St. Pancras and Sheffield, is a few minutes under two hours, I can see a time of comfortably under two-and-a-half hours between London St. Pancras and Leeds.

A Summary Of Journey Times Between London And Leeds

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Leeds.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – One hour and twenty-one minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester – One hour and thirty-six minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – One hour and thirty minutes.
Midland Main Line – via Derby and Sheffield – Two hours and twenty minutes.

The direct High Speed Two route is the fastest., but others could be viable alternatives for some passengers.

Bradford

Consider.

Under current plans Bradford won’t be getting any high speed service from High Speed Two.
The best it can get under current plans is several direct services per day, between Bradford Forster Square and London Kings Cross in perhaps two hours.
The layout of the city and its two stations doesn’t give good connectivity.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could probably be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

But if Northern Powerhouse Rail goes for a tunnel between Manchester and Leeds with Bradford as an underground station, it could be served by High Speed Two services going between London Euston and Leeds via Manchester.

I would estimate that if London Euston and Leeds via Manchester took around one hour and thirty-six minutes, London Euston and Bradford could take around an hour-and-a-half.

Darlington

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Darlington.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – One hour and forty-nine minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – Two hours and six minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – One hour and forty-nine minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Darlington.

Edinburgh

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Edinburgh.

High Speed Two – Direct via Western Leg – Three hours and Forty minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – Three hours and forty-eight minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – Three hours and thirty minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Newcastle.

Harrogate

Consider.

Under current plans Harrogate won’t be getting any high speed service from High Speed Two.
The best it can get under current plans is several direct services per day, between Harrogate and London Kings Cross in perhaps two hours.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could possibly be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

Huddersfield

If Huddersfield is served by underground platforms beneath the current Huddersfield station, a lot of what I said for Bradford would apply to Huddersfield.
The timings would probably be around an-hour-and-a-half from London Euston.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could possibly be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

Hull

Hull is an interesting destination.

Reaching Hull from the current High Speed Two network will need a change at Leeds or another station.
Using Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objectives on timings, London Euston and Hull via Manchester on High Speed Two, would be a few minutes under two-and-a-half hours.
I strongly feel, that London Kings Cross and Hull via Selby could be reduced to below two hours.

Hull would also make a superb Eastern terminal station for both Northern Powerhouse Rail and a High Speed Two service from London via Manchester and Leeds.

You pays your money and takes your choice.

Middlesbrough

Reaching Middlesbrough from the proposed High Speed Two network will need a change at York or another station.

But a time of two hours and twenty minutes, should be possible using the East Coast Main Line via Doncaster.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle, will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Middlesbrough.

Newcastle

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Newcastle.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – Two hours and seventeen minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – Two hours and thirty-four minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – Two hours and sixteen minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Newcastle.

Nottingham

I will compare average speeds on the Midland Main Line between London St. Pancras and Nottingham and on the East Coast Main Line, between London Kings Cross and Leeds.

Currently.

London St. Pancras and Nottingham services, over the 126 mile route, take one hour and fifty minutes. which is an average speed of 69 mph.
London Kings Cross and Leeds services, over the 186 mile route, take two hours and thirteen minutes, which is an average speed of 94 mph.

Note.

The two routes are of similar character and are fairly straight with large sections of 125 mph running and quadruple tracks.
The East Coast Main Line to Leeds is fully electrified, whereas the Midland Main Line is only partially electrified.
Both routes have a small number of stops.
In a few years time, services on both routes will be run by different members of the Hitachi AT-300 train family.

I don’t feel it would be unreasonable to assume that a London St. Pancras and Nottingham service could be run at an average speed of 94 mph, if the Midland Main Line were upgraded to the same standard as the East Coast Main Line.

This could mean a time of around one hour and twenty-one minutes between London St. Pancras and Nottingham, or a saving of twenty-nine minutes.

Is that possible?

The new Class 810 trains, will have four engines instead of the normal three for a five-car AT-300 train. Will they be able to be closer to the 125 mph line-speed on diesel power, where it is available on the Midland Main Line.
The trains will be able to use electrification between London St. Pancras and Market Harborough.
There have been hints, that more electrification may be installed on the Midland Main Line.
Hitachi have announced a battery electric version of the AT-300 train called a Regional Battery Train, where one or more of the diesel engines are replaced by battery packs.
The new trains will be ready to accept in-cab ERTMS digital signalling, so they could be able to run at up to 140 mph, if the track were to be upgraded.

I certainly feel, that substantial time savings could be possible between London St. Pancras and Nottingham.

Eighty-one minutes would be very convenient, as it would comfortably allow a three hour round trip, which would mean just six trains or more likely pairs of trains would be needed for the current two tph service.

Eighty-one minutes would not be the fifty-two minute service promised by High Speed Two!

But!

The new trains are planned to be introduced from 2023.
Who knows, when High Speed Two will arrive at the East Midlands Hub station?
They won’t need any new substantial infrastructure to replace the current trains.

I also suspect the new trains will have more seats, but, the capacity of the Class 810 train, has not been published.

Nottingham could also be served by a high speed service from London Kings Cross via Grantham, which I estimate would take about one hour and twenty minutes.

Sheffield

A lot of what I said for Nottingham can be applied to Sheffield.

Currently, London St. Pancras and Sheffield services, over the 165 mile route, take two hours, which is an average speed of 82.5 mph.
High Speed Two is promising a journey time of one hour and twenty-seven minutes.
An average speed of 90 mph, would mean a journey time of one hour and fifty minutes.
This would allow a four hour round trip, which would mean just eight trains or more likely pairs of trains would be needed for the current two tph service.

It would be very convenient for the operator.

It looks like if pairs of trains were to be run on both the Nottingham and Sheffield routes, that twenty-eight trains would be needed to run both services.

This fits well with a fleet size of thirty-three trains.

The only caveat, is that to get the required journey times, it might be necessary to rebuild and electrify the tracks, between Sheffield and Clay Cross North Junction.

These tracks will be shared with the future Sheffield Branch of High Speed Two.
It would only be 15.5 miles of double-track to rebuild and electrify.
It could be rebuilt to allow 140 mph running. Several minutes could be saved!

The electrification could allow Hitachi’s Regional Battery trains to be able to run the Sheffield service.

These trains would certainly be a way of avoiding the tricky electrification of the Derby and Clay Cross section of the route, which goes through the World Heritage Site of the Derwent Valley Mills.

Sheffield could also be served by a high speed service from London Kings Cross via Doncaster, which I estimate would take about one hour and thirty minutes.

Skipton

Consider.

Under current plans Skipton won’t be getting any high speed service from High Speed Two.
The best it can get under current plans is several direct services per day, between Skipton and London Kings Cross in perhaps two hours.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could possibly be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

Sunderland

Reaching Sunderland from the proposed High Speed Two network will need a change at York or another station.

But a time of two hours and thirty minutes, should be possible using the East Coast Main Line via Doncaster.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle, will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Sunderland.

York

I can summarise my estimates, between London and York.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – One hour and twenty-four minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – One hour and forty-two minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – One hour and twenty-four minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to York.

I believe strongly, that York would be about as fast from London, by either of the direct routes, but both would serve different intermediate destinations.

Conclusion

My first conclusion is a surprising one, but the promised timings from High Speed Two and the current timings in the timetable make it clear.

To achieve the required timings for High Speed Two, major improvements must be made to existing track and these improvements will mean that existing services will be competitive with High Speed Two on time.

These improvements fall into this category.

Improving the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle, will make East Coast Main Line services to York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle competitive with High Speed Two services.
Improving the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle, may also mean that London Kings Cross and Edinburgh will be faster than the High Speed Two service between London Euston and Edinburgh.
Electrifying the route shared between Sheffield and Clay Cross North Junction, will speed up London St. Pancras and Sheffield services and make them more competitive with High Speed Two.

I suspect there may be similar mutual improvements on the Western leg of High Speed Two.

Other smaller conclusions from my analysis of the improvements include.

These improvements will create some extra capacity on the East Coast and Midland Main Lines, by removing bottlenecks and improving line speeds.
Electrification, even if it is only partial or discontinuous, will improve services on the Midland Main Line.
Some places like Harrogate, Middlesbrough and Skipton will never be served directly by High Speed Two, but are easily served by East Coast Main Line services from London Kings Cross.
Northern Powerhouse Rail is very much part of the North-South capacity for England.
In-cab ERTMS signalling will play a large part in increasing capacity and line speeds.

Perhaps in our planning of High Speed Two, we should plan all the routes in the North and Midlands in a much more holistic way.

If we look at the capacity between London and the North, I feel that with the addition of Phase 1 of High Speed Two to Birmingham in 2029-2033 and hopefully Phase 2a soon afterwards, that Phase 2b will not be needed for reasons of speed and capacity until years later.

So, I would pause most construction of the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two until Phase 1 and Phase 2a are complete.

I would make exceptions for the following.

Improvements to the shared section of the East Coast Main Line and High Speed Two, between York and Newcastle.
Building a high speed connection between Leeds and York for the use of Northern Powerhouse Rail and the East Coast Main Line.
Rebuilding and electrification of the shared section of the Midland Main Line and High Speed Two, between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield.
Improve and electrify the route between Sheffield and Leeds.

But I would continue with the design, as I feel that East of Leeds is very much sub-optimal at the present time.

The route of the Eastern leg of High Speed Two would be safeguarded.

December 7, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Azuma Train, Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Class 810 Train, East Coast Main Line, East Midlands Hub Station, East Midlands Railway, Euston Station, High Speed Two, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Kings Cross Station, Leeds Station, Midland Main Line, Newcastle Station, Sheffield Station, St. Pancras Station, Trains, Wakefield Line | Leave a comment

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Significant Upgrades Of The East Coast Main Line From Leeds To Newcastle (Via York And Darlington) And Restoration Of The Leamside Line

In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is significant upgrades to the East Coast Main Line and reopening of the Leamside Line.

Northern Powerhouse Rail’s Objective For The Leeds and Newcastle Route

Wikipedia, other sources and my calculations say this about the trains between Leeds and Newcastle.

The distance between the two stations is 106 miles
The current service takes around 85 minutes and has a frequency of three trains per hour (tph)
This gives an average speed of 75 mph for the fastest journey.
The proposed service with Northern Powerhouse Rail will take 58 minutes and have a frequency of four tph.
This gives an average speed of 110 mph for the journey.

This last figure of 110 mph, indicates to me that a faster route will be needed.

These are example average speeds on the East Coast Main Line.

London Kings Cross and Doncaster – 156 miles – 98 minutes – 95.5 mph
London Kings Cross and Leeds – 186 miles – 133 minutes – 84 mph
London Kings Cross and York – 188.5 miles – 140 minutes – 81 mph
London Kings Cross and Hull – 205.3 miles – 176 minutes – 70 mph
York and Newcastle – 80 miles – 66 minutes – 73 mph

I also predicted in Thoughts On Digital Signalling On The East Coast Main Line, that with full digital in-cab ERTMS signalling and other improvements, that both London Kings Cross and Leeds and York would be two-hour services, with Hull a two-and-a-half service.

London Kings Cross and Leeds in two hours would be an average speed of 93 mph.
London Kings Cross and York in two hours would be an average speed of 94.2 mph.
London Kings Cross and Hull in two-and-a-half hours would be an average speed of 94.2 mph.

I am fairly certain, that to achieve the required 110 mph average between Leeds and Newcastle to meet Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of four tph in under an hour will need, at least the following.

Full digital in-cab ERTMS signalling
Completion of the electrification between Leeds and York.
Ability to run at up to 140 mph in places.
Significant track upgrades.

It could also eliminate diesel traction on passenger services on the route.

High Speed Two’s Objective For The York and Newcastle Route

At the present time, High Speed Two is not planning to run any direct trains between Leeds and Newcastle, so I’ll look at its proposed service between York and Newcastle instead.

Current Service – 80 miles – 66 minutes – 73 mph
High Speed Two – 80 miles – 52 minutes – 92 mph

Note.

High Speed Two will be running three tph between York and Newcastle.
Northern Powerhouse Rail have an objective of 58 minutes for Leeds and Newcastle.

High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail do not not have incompatible ambitions.

Current Direct Leeds And Newcastle Services

These are the current direct Leeds and Newcastle services.

TransPennine Express – 1 tph – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh
TransPennine Express – 1 tph – Manchester Airport and Newcastle.
CrossCountry – 1 tph – Plymouth and Edinburgh

Timings appear to be between 81 and 91 minutes.

What Would A Leeds And Newcastle In Under An Hour Do For London Kings Cross And Edinburgh Timings?

This question has to be asked, as a 58 minute time between Leeds and Newcastle will mean that timings between York and Newcastle must reduce.

York And Newcastle at various average speeds give the following times.

73 mph (current average) – 66 minutes
80 mph – 60 minutes
90 mph – 53 minutes
92 mph – 52 minutes (High Speed Two promise)
100 mph – 48 minutes
110 mph – 44 minutes

If any speed over 90 mph can be averaged between York and Newcastle, this means that with a London and York time of under two hours the following times are possible.

London Kings Cross and Newcastle in under three hours. – High Speed Two are promising two hours and seventeen minutes.
London Kings Cross and Edinburgh in under four hours. – High Speed Two are promising three hours and forty minutes.

Consider.

An InterCity 225 achieved a time of under three-and-a-half hours between London and Edinburgh. in 1991.
That record journey was at an average speed of 112 mph.
There must be opportunities for speed improvements North of Newcastle.
Train and signalling technology is improving.
High Speed Two is promising three hours and forty minutes between London and Edinburgh.

I can see a fascinating rivalry between trains on High Speed Two and the East Coast Main Line, developing, about who can be faster between London and Edinburgh.

Current Projects Between Leeds And Newcastle

These projects are in planning or under way on the section of the East Coast Main Line between Leeds and Newcastle.

Phase 2 Of The East Coast Main Line Power Supply Upgrade

Phase 1 between London and Doncaster should have been completed, if the covids allowed and now work can be concentrated on Phase 2 to the North of Doncaster.

This page on the Network Rail web site describes the project. These paragraphs are the introduction to Phase 2.

Phase 2 of the project will involve the installation of feeder and substations along the route, capacity upgrades, new 132kv connection at Hambleton junction and upgrades to existing power supply connections.

The second phase of the project is currently in design stages and dates for carrying out the work are still being finalised.

Phase 2 will be delivering upgraded power to the East Coast Mainline railway between Bawtry and Edinburgh.

This project may not improve speeds on the railway, but it will certainly improve reliability and reduce the use of diesel power.

I do wonder, that as the reliability of the East Coast Main Line increases, this will reduce the need for the electric Class 801 trains, to have diesel engines for when the power supply fails.

It is known, that the Class 803 trains, that are under construction for East Coast Trains, will have only a small battery for emergency use.

A sensible weight saving would surely improve the acceleration and deceleration of the trains.

York to Church Fenton Improvement Scheme

This page of the Network Rail web site, describes the project. These paragraphs introduce the project.

Our work between York and Church Fenton is in preparation for the Transpennine Upgrade, which will provide more capacity and faster journeys between Manchester Victoria and York, via Leeds and Huddersfield.

The five mile stretch between Church Fenton and Colton Junction – the major junction where trains from Leeds join the East Coast Main Line towards York – sees over 100 trains each day, with up to one freight or passenger train passing through every five minutes. This is one of the busiest stretches of railway in the North.

The work will include.

Modernising the signalling.
Replacing about five miles of track between Holgate (York) and Colton Junction.
Completing the eleven miles of electrification between York and Church Fenton stations.

I estimate that when the project is completed, there will be only around thirteen miles of track without electrification between Church Fenton station and Neville Hill TMD in Leeds.

The route between Church Fenton and Garforth stations, is shown in this map clipped from High Speed Two.

Note.

York is just off the North-East corner of the map.
Garforth is in the South-West corner of the map.
Shown in orange is the new route of High Speed Two from East of Leeds towards York.
Shown in blue is existing tracks, that will be used to take High Speed Two Trains to York and further North.
The rail line running North-South on the edge of the map is the Selby Diversion, which opened in 1983 and was built to avoid possible subsidence from the Selby coalfield.
The pre-Selby Diversion route of the East Coast Main Line goes South from the join of the blue and orange sections of High Speed Two.
At Church Fenton station, this route splits, with one route going West through Micklefield, East Garforth and Garforth stations to Neville Hill TMD and Leeds.
The main road going North-South is the A1 (M).

It seems to me, that High Speed Two’s and Northern Powerhouse Rail’s plans in this area, are still being developed.

There has been no decision on the electrification between Church Fenton and Neville Hill TMD.
How do Northern Powerhouse Rail trains go between Leeds and Hull?
How do Northern Powerhouse Rail trains go between Leeds and York?
How do High Speed Two trains go between Leeds and York?

I suspect, when the full plans are published, it will answer a lot of questions.

Darlington Station Remodelling

A remodelling of Darlington station is under consideration.

I outlined this in £100m Station Revamp Could Double Local Train Services.

This was my conclusion in the related article.

I think that this will happen.

- The Tees Valley Line trains will be greatly improved by this project.
- Trains will generally run at up to 140 mph on the East Coast Main Line, under full digital control, like a slower High Speed Two.
- There will be two high speed platforms to the East of the current station, where most if not all of the High Speed Two, LNER and other fast services will stop.
- There could be up to 15 tph on the high speed lines.

With full step-free access between the high speed and the local platforms in the current station, this will be a great improvement.

It will create a major interchange, where high speed trains from High Speed Two, LNER and Northern Powerhouse Rail will do the following.

Approach at 140 mph or more.
Perform a controlled stop in the station.
Drop and pick-up passengers.
Accelerate back up to linespeed.

The station stop will be highly-automated and monitored by the driver.

One of the objectives would be to save time for all fast trains.

Capacity And Other Problems Between Leeds And Newcastle Listed In Wikipedia

These problems are listed in a section called Capacity Problems in the Wikipedia entry for the East Coast Main Line.

The North Throat Of York Station Including Skelton Bridge Junction

On the thirty mile stretch of the East Coast Main Line, between York and Northallerton stations, the route is mainly four tracks.

But three miles North of York there is Skelton Bridge over the River Ouse, which is shown in this Google Map.

Zooming closer, I clipped this second Google Map.

Note.

There are actually two bridges over the River Ouse.
The East bridge is a double-track bridge and is the original stone arch bridge.
The West bridge was added later and I suspect has little architectural merit.
The tracks on both sides of the bridge are extremely complicated.

If you look at the timings, trains seem to take one of two timings between York and Northallerton.

17-18 minutes, which is almost an average speed of 100 mph.
27 minutes, which is 67 mph.

Incidentally, one of Drax’s long biomass trains managed a time of 27 minutes.

Would going faster save any minutes?

A 110 mph average would give a time of 16.4 minutes
A 120 mph average would give a time of 15 minutes
A 125 mph average would give a time of 14.4 minutes
A 140 mph average would give a time of 12.9 minutes

On the face of it, it doesn’t appear that there are very large time savings, to be achieved.

On the other hand, if all trains can pass through Skelton Bridge and its complicated junction, without slowing, delays will be minimised and timetables can be faster.

But there is an anomaly in all the express trains that pass through York station. All stop, except those planned for East Coast Trains. In fact, their trains won’t stop between Stevenage and Newcastle.

The obvious solution to the Skelton Bridge problem, is to do what British Rail didn’t have the courage to do, when they electrified the East Coast Main Line in the 1980s. And that is to demolish the bridge and build a stylish modern four-track bridge!

It would eliminate many of the things, that could go wrong and would surely improve reliability. This could help to maintain a higher operating speed.

But would it be allowed by the Planning Authorities and English Heritage?

Hopefully, it doesn’t matter!

I am a Control Engineer and mathematical modeller, who has programmed some immensely complex systems in the last fifty-five years.
I have also flown light aircraft on instruments for many hours, where you control the plane according to what Air Traffic Controllers and the instruments tell you.

My experience tells me that, it would be possible to control a busy junction, like Skelton Bridge safely, by a well-programmed computer system helping the driver, arrive at the junction at the right time to go straight through.

I also believe that if modern in-cab digital ERTMS signalling can handle twenty-four tph on Thameslink going to and from scores of stations, then it can handle Skelton Bridge Junction.

In Could ERTMS And ETCS Solve The Newark Crossing Problem?, I proposed a similar solution to the problem at Newark.

Use Of The Leamside Line

Wikipedia says this about capacity to the South of Newcastle.

South of Newcastle to Northallerton (which is also predominately double track), leading to proposals to reopen the Leamside line to passenger and freight traffic.

I could have included it in the previous section, but as it such a important topic, it probably deserves its own section.

Looking at maps, reopening is more than a a possibility. Especially, as reopening is proposed by Northern Powerhouse Rail and mentioned in the title of this post.

I discussed the Leamside Line in detail in Boris Johnson Backs Station Opening Which Could See Metro Link To County Durham, which I wrote in June this year.

These are some extra thoughts, that update the original post.

Ferryhill Station

I was prompted to write the related post, by something Boris Johnson said at PMQs and it was mainly about Ferryhill station.

In the latest copy of this document on the Government web site, which is entitled Restoring Your Railway: Successful Bids, a new station at Ferryhill has been successful. Another bid in the same area to restore rail services between Consett and Newcastle has also been successful.

This map shows the East Coast Main Line as it goes North South between Durham and Darlington.

Note.

Ferryhill is in the South-West of the map opposite the sand-pits in the South-East
The East Coast Main Line runs North-South between the village an d the sand-pits.
Follow the railway North and you come to Tursdale, where there is a junction between the East Coast Main Line and the Leamside Line.
The East Coast Main Line goes North-Westerly towards Durham and Newcastle.
The Leamside Line goes North to Washington and Newcastle.
There is also the Stillington Freight Line going South-Easterly to Sedgefield and Stockton from Ferryhill.

Could Ferryhill be a useful interchange to local services connecting to Newcastle, Sunderland and Washington in the North and Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton in the South?

The Leamside Line As An East Coast Main Line Diversion

I didn’t discuss using the line as a diversion for the East Coast Main Line in my original post, but if the infrastructure is to the required standard, I don’t see why it can’t take diverted traffic, even if it is also used for the Tyne and Wear Metro.

It should be remembered, that to create extra capacity on the East Coast Main Line between Peterborough and Doncaster, the route of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, was upgraded. I first wrote about this line six years ago in Project Managers Having Fun In The East and the route seems to be working well. It is now being augmented by the addition of the £200 million Werrington Dive Under. See Werrington Dive-Under – 8th November 2018, for more details of this project, which will speed up all trains on the East Coast Main Line.

After the undoubted success of the upgrade of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, surely the team responsible for it, should be given the task of devising a similar plan for the Leamside Line, to take pressure off the East Coast Main Line between Newcastle and Northallerton.

Sharing The Leamside Line

The Tyne and Wear Metro also has its eyes on the Leamside Line for an extension.

It should be noted that the Extension To Wearside, uses the Karlsruhe Model to allow the Metro trains to share with freight and other passenger trains.

The new Stadler trains will probably make this even easier, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a reopened Leamside Line handling a varied assortment of trains of all types.

The Sunderland Example

Sunderland station is a station, which has both Metro and mainline services from the same platforms.

Could a station at Washington be built to similar principles, so that some long distance services to Newcastle used this station?

A Terminal Station On The Leamside Line

Newcastle station may be a Grade One Listed station, but it is built on a curve and would be a nightmare to expand with more platforms.

Sunderland station is already used as a terminal for London trains, so would it be sensible to provide a terminal at somewhere like Washington?

My Final Thought On The Leamside Line

Reopen it!

A Few Random Final Thoughts

This post has got me thinking.

Newcastle Station Capacity

I have seen reports over the years that Newcastle station, is lacking in capacity.

There could be extra services, as High Speed Two is proposing two tph from London Euston stations and one tph from Birmingham Curzon Street station.
There may be extra services because of Northern Powerhouse Rail, which has an objective of four tph from Leeds station.
There may be extra services because of new services to Ashington and Blyth.
There may be extra services because of new services to Consett.

Note.

The first two services could use two hundred metre long trains.
Some platforms can accept 234 metre long Class 800 trains.
The last two services might use the Metro platforms.

As the station has twelve platforms, I feel with careful operation, that the station will have enough capacity.

This Google Map shows the station.

And this second Google Map shows the station, its position with relation to the Tyne and the lines rail routes to and from the station.

Note.

Trains from the South arrive over the King Edward VII Bridge and enter Newcastle station from the West.
Trains from England to Scotland go through the station from West to East and then go straight on and turn North for Berwick and Scotland.
Next to the King Edward VII Bridge is the blue-coloured Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which takes the Tyne and Wear Metro across the Tyne, where it uses two platforms underneath Newcastle station.
The next bridge is the High Level Bridge, which connects the East end of the station to the rail network, South of the Tyne. It connects to the Durham Coast Line to Teeside and the Leamside Line.

History has delivered Newcastle a comprehensive track layout through and around Newcastle station.

Services from the East can be run back-to-back with services from the West.
The Metro and its two underground platforms removes a lot of traffic from the main station.
There are seven through platforms, of which at least three are over two hundred metres long.
There are four West-facing bay platforms and one facing East.

But most intriguingly, it looks like it will be possible for trains to loop through the station from the South, by perhaps arriving over the King Edward VII bridge and leaving over the High Level bridge. Or they could go the other way.

Could this be why reoopening the Leamside Line is important?

LNER’s Extra Paths

The sentence, from an article entitled LNER Seeks 10 More Bi-Modes, in the December 2020 Edition of Modern Railways indicates that more capacity will be available to LNER.

Infrastructure upgrades are due to prompt a timetable recast in May 2022 (delayed from December 2021) from which point LNER will operate 6.5 trains per hour, out of Kings Cross, compared to five today.

I suspect that LNER could use the half path to run a one train per two hour (tp2h) service to Hull.

Currently, London Kings Cross and Hull takes a few minutes under three hours.
Currently, Doncaster and Hull takes around 55 minutes.
I have estimated that once full digital in-cab signalling is operational, that London Kings Cross and Hull could take a few minutes under two-and-a-half hours.

The full path to Hull could be shared with Hull Trains to provide an hourly service between London Kings Cross and Hull.

LNER could do something special with the full extra path.

Consider.

Some train operating companies have said, that they’ll be looking to attract customers from the budget airlines.
There could be a need for more capacity between London Kings Cross and all of Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle.
Faster services would be attractive to passengers.
York and Leeds will be fully electrified or trains could be fitted with batteries to bridge the thirteen mile gap in the electrification.

A limited-stop service between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh via Leeds could be an interesting addition.

The train would only stop at Leeds and possibly Newcastle.
One objective would be a time under three-and-a-half hours between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh.
What time could be achieved between London Kings Cross and Leeds?

It would certainly give High Speed Two a run for its money!

A New Elizabethan

In LNER Seeks 10 More Bi-Modes, I said this under a heading of A New Elizabethan.

I can remember The Elizabethan, which was a steam-hauled non-stop express between London and Edinburgh between 1953 and 1961.

- The steam-hauled train took six-hours-and-a-half.
- It used to be the longest non-stop railway service in the world.
- Today, the service could be run by the current or refurbished Azumas or perhaps a new flagship train, built for the service.
- It could be easily under four hours.

It could be an interesting concept, to increase capacity between London and Edinburgh.

As I indicated in the previous section, LNER certainly have a path, that could be used to their advantage.

High Speed Two

The East Coast Main Line and High Speed Two have a lot in common.

The two routes will share tracks between a junction near Ulleskelf station and Newcastle station.
High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains could be based on Hitachi AT-300 train technology.
High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains would probably be able to run on the East Coast Main Line between London Kings Cross And Edinburgh.
Trains from both routes will share platforms at York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle stations.
I would hope that the signalling systems on both routes are compatible.

From a project management point of view, this commonality means that in an ideal world the new route of both High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail, and the upgrades to the East Coast Main Line should be planned together.

I believe there are still details on the design of the joint route, that have not been disclosed, or perhaps not even decided.

Will between Church Fenton station and Neville Hill depot be electrified?
How will Northern Powerhouse Rail connect Leeds and Hull stations?
How will Northern Powerhouse Rail connect Leeds and York stations?
Will High Speed Two connect Leeds and York stations?
What will be the operating speed of the joint section of the East Coast Main Line?
What will be the capacity in trains per hour of the joint section of the East Coast Main Line?
Will Newcastle station need an extra platform to handle three High Speed Two tph from London Euston

Two projects have been discussed in this post.

The unlocking of the bottleneck at Skelton Bridge.
The reopening of the Leamside Line.

I feel that these projects are important and will probably be needed for efficient operation of High Speed Two.

Other early projects could include.

Upgrading and electrification of the chosen route between Leeds and Hull,
Installation of the chosen system of in-cab ERTMS digital signalling on the route.
Electrification between Church Fenton station and Neville Hill depot.

I would deliver these and other joint projects early, so that travellers see a positive benefit from High Speed Two before the main work has even started.

High Speed East Coast

I wonder what is the maximum speed of the Class 80x trains, that are the backbone of services on the East Coast Main Line.

Consider.

It is known, that with in-cab digital ERTMS signalling, these trains will be capable of 140 mph, but could they go even faster.
High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains will be capable of 225 mph.
Will Hitachi’s offering for these trains, be based on the Class 80x trains?

I would think, that it is fairly likely, that the existing Class 80x trains could be updated to an operating speed in the range of 150-160 mph.

In Thoughts On Digital Signalling On The East Coast Main Line, I said this.

The combined affect of both track and signalling improvements is illustrated by this simple calculation.

- As Dalton-on-Tees is North of Doncaster, the route between Woolmer Green and Doncaster should be possible to be run at 140 mph
- Woolmer Green and Doncaster stations are 132.1 miles apart.
- Non-stop York and London Kings Cross trains are currently timed at 70 minutes between Doncaster and Woolmer Green stations.
- This is an average speed of 113.2 mph.

If 140 mph could be maintained between Doncaster and Woolmer Green, the section of the journey would take 56.6 minutes, which is a saving of 13.4 minutes.

I can do this calculation for higher speeds.

150 mph would take 52.8 minutes
160 mph would take 49.5 minutes
170 mph would take 46.6 minutes
180 mph would take 44 minutes
200 mph would take 39.6 minutes

Note.

Eurostar’s latest Class 374 trains are capable of operating at 200 mph.
A Class 395 train, which is closely related to the Class 80x trains, has attained a record speed of 157 mph.

There may be worthwhile time savings to be made, on some of the straighter sections of the East Coast Main Line.

Other improvements will also be needed.

A solution to the Newark crossing problem, which could be solved by the use of in-cab ERTMS digital signalling. See Could ERTMS And ETCS Solve The Newark Crossing Problem?
Some extra four-tracking of the route.
Upgrading of Cambridge and Kings Lynn services for faster running. See Call For ETCS On King’s Lynn Route.

Note, that I am assuming, that the Digswell Viaduct section would not be updated, as it would cause too much disruption.

I also believe that by using selective joining and splitting at Edinburgh, Leeds and perhaps Doncaster, Grantham, Newark or York, that a very comprehensive network of direct trains to and from London can be built from Grantham Northwards.

Beverley, Bradford, Cleethorpes, Glasgow, Grimsby, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Lincoln, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Perth, Redcar, Sheffield, Skipton, Sunderland and Washington could all be served at an appropriate frequency.

Some like Bradford, Glasgow, Harrogate, Hull, Lincoln and Middlesbrough would have several trains per day.
Others might have a much more limited service.

What sort of timings will be possible.

London Kings Cross and Doncaster could be around an hour.
London Kings Cross and Leeds could be around one hour and thirty minutes, using the current Doncaster and Leeds time, as against the one hour and twenty-one minutes for High Speed Two.
London Kings Cross and York could be around one hour and twenty-three minutes, using the current Doncaster and York time, as against the one hour and twenty-four minutes for High Speed Two.
Timings between York and Newcastle would be the same fifty-two minutes as High Speed Two, as the track will be the limitation for both services.
High Speed Two’s timing for York and Newcastle is given as fifty-two minutes, with York and Darlington as twenty-five minutes.
London Kings Cross and Darlington could be around one hour and forty-nine minutes
London Kings Cross and Newcastle could be around two hours and sixteen minutes.
London Kings Cross and Edinburgh would be under three-and-a-half hours, as against the proposed three hours and forty-eight minutes for High Speed Two.

High Speed East Coast would be a serious and viable alternative to High Speed Two for the Eastern side of England and Scotland.

Conclusion

This is an important joint project for Northern Powerhouse Rail, High Speed Two and the East Coast Main Line.

Project Management Recommendations

This project divides neatly into several smaller projects..

Upgrade the power supply on the East Coast Main Line.
Finish the York to Church Fenton Improvement Scheme
Remodel Darlington station.
Install of in-cab ERTMS digital signalling.
Complete the electrification between Neville Hill TMD and York.
Solve the problem of Skelton Bridge and its complicated track layout.
Reopen the Leamside Line.

Most of these projects are independent of each other and all would give early benefits to the East Coast Main Line.

When complete, we’ll see the following timing improvements.

Leeds and Newcastle will drop from 85 minutes to 56 minutes, with an increase in frequency from three to four tph.
York and Newcastle will drop from 57-66 minutes to 52 minutes.
There could be ten minutes savings on Edinburgh services.

Passengers and operators would welcome this group of projects being started early.

November 30, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Class 801 Train, Class 803 Trains, Class AT-300 Train, Consett Station, Control Engineering, COVID-19, Darlington Station, East Coast Main Line, East Coast Trains, ERTMS, High Speed East Coast, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Leamside Line, Leeds Station, LNER, Newcastle Station, Northallerton Station, Northern Powerhouse Rail Recommendations - November 2020, Skelton Bridge Junction, Stillington Line, Trains, Tyne And Wear Metro, York Station | 3 Comments

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Significant Upgrades And Electrification Of The Rail Lines From Leeds And Sheffield To Hull

In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is significant upgrades and electrification of the rail lines from Leeds and Sheffield to Hull.

Northern Powerhouse Rail’s Objective For The Leeds and Hull Route

Wikipedia, other sources and my calculations say this about the trains between Leeds and Hull.

The distance between the two stations is 51.7 miles
The current service takes around 57 minutes and has a frequency of one train per hour (tph)
This gives an average speed of 54.4 mph for the fastest journey.
The proposed service with Northern Powerhouse Rail will take 38 minutes and have a frequency of two tph.
This gives an average speed of 81.6 mph for the journey.

This last figure of nearly 82 mph, indicates to me that a 100 mph train will be able to meet Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective.

Northern Powerhouse Rail’s Objective For The Sheffield and Hull Route

Wikipedia, other sources and my calculations say this about the trains between Sheffield and Hull.

The distance between the two stations is 59.4 miles
The current service takes around 80 minutes and has a frequency of one tph.
This gives an average speed of 44.6 mph for the fastest journey.
The proposed service with Northern Powerhouse Rail will take 50 minutes and have a frequency of two tph.
This gives an average speed of 71,3 mph for the journey.

This last figure of over 70 mph, indicates to me that a 90 mph train will be able to meet Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective.

Services From Hull Station

Hull station is a full interchange, which includes a large bus station.

Currently, the station has seven platforms.
There appears to be space for more platforms.
Some platforms are long enough to take nine-car Class 800 trains, which are 234 metres long.
There are some good architectural features.

If ever there was a station, that had basic infrastructure, that with appropriate care and refurbishment, could still be handling the needs of its passengers in a hundred years, it is Hull.

It would be able to handle a 200 metre long High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train, tomorrow.
It would probably be as no more difficult to electrify than Kings Cross, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly or Paddington.
It would not be difficult to install charging facilities for battery electric trains.

These are some pictures of the station.

Currently, these are the services at the station, that go between Hull and Leeds, Selby or Sheffield.

Hull Trains – 7 trains per day (tpd) – Hull and London via Brough, Selby and Doncaster.
LNER – 1 tpd – Hull and London via Brough, Selby and Doncaster.
Northern Trains – 1 tph – Hull and Halifax via Brough, Selby, Leeds and Bradford Interchange.
Northern Trains – 1 tph – Hull and Sheffield via Brough, Gilberdyke, Goole, Doncaster, Rotherham Central and Meadowhall.
Northern Trains – 1 tph – Hull and York via Brough and Selby.
Northern Trains – 1 tph – Bridlington and Sheffield via Hull, Brough, Goole, Doncaster and Meadowhall.
TransPennine Express – 1 tph – Hull and Manchester Piccadilly or Manchester Airport via Brough, Selby, Leeds, Huddersfield and Stalybridge.

Note.

I have included services through Selby, as the station is on the way to Leeds and is a notorious bottleneck.
All services go through Brough.
All trains work on diesel power to and from Hull.
Hull Trains and LNER use Hitachi bi-mode trains, that work most of the route to and from London, using the 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
Northern use a variety of diesel trains only some of which have a 100 mph operating speed.

There would also appear to be freight trains working some of the route between Hull and Brough stations.

Upgrading The Tracks

I very much believe that to meet Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objectives as to time, that the lines to Hull from Leeds and Sheffield must have a 100 mph operating speed.

Hull And Leeds And On To London

This Google Map shows a typical section of track.

Note.

Broomfleet station is in the North-West corner of the map.
Brough station is just to the East of the middle of the map.
Ferriby station is in the South-East corner of the map.

The Hull and Selby Line is fairly straight for most of its route.

The Selby Swing Bridge

The main problem is the Selby swing bridge, which is shown in this Google Map.

Note.

The bridge was opened in 1891.
It is a Grade II Listed structure.
It is a double-track bridge.
It swings through ninety degrees to allow ships to pass through.
It has a low speed limit of 25 mph.
The bridge regularly carries the biomass trains to Drax power station.

This page on the Fairfield Control Systems web site, describes the major refurbishment of the bridge.

The bridge structure has been fully refurbished.
A modern control system has been installed.
The page says the bridge glides to an exact stop.

Network Rail are claiming, it will be several decades before any more work needs to be done on parts of the bridge.

It looks to me, that Network Rail have decided to live with the problems caused by the bridge and automate their way round it, if possible.

Level Crossings

One general problem with the route between Hull and Selby is that it has around a dozen level crossing, some of which are just simple farm crossings.

The main route West from Selby goes to Leeds and it is double track, fairly straight with around a dozen level crossings.

West from Selby, the route to the East Coast Main Line to and from London is also double track and reasonably straight.

But it does have level crossings at Common Lane and Burn Lane.

The Google Map show Burn Lane level crossing, which is typical of many in the area.

Hull And Sheffield

The other route West from Hull goes via Goole and Doncaster.

This Google Map shows the Hull and Doncaster Branch between Goole and Saltmarshe stations.

Note.

The Hull and Doncaster Branch runs diagonally across the map.
Goole and its station is in the South West corner of the map.
The Hull and Doncaster Branch goes leaves the map at the North-East corner and then joins the Selby Line to the West of Gilberdyke station.

This Google Map shows that where the railway crosses the River Ouse there is another swing bridge.

This is the Goole Railway Swing Bridge.

The bridge was opened in 1869.
The maximum speed for any train is 60 mph, but some are slower.
It is a Grade II* Listed structure.
In the first decade of this century the bridge was strengthened.
It appears to carry a lesser number of freight trains than the Selby bridge

As with the Selby bridge, it appears to be working at a reasonable operational standard.

I’ve followed the line as far as Doncaster and it is fairly straight, mostly double-track with about a half-a-dozen level crossings.

Updating To 100 mph

It looks to my naïve eyes, that updating the lines to an operating speed of 100 mph, should be possible.

But possibly a much larger problem is the up to thirty level crossings on the triangle of lines between Hull, Leeds and Sheffield.

Full ERTMS In-Cab Digital Signalling

This is currently, being installed between London and Doncaster and will allow 140 mph running, which could save several minutes on the route.

The next phase could logically extend the digital signalling as far as York and Leeds.

Extending this signalling to Hull and Sheffield, and all the lines connecting the cities and towns of East Yorkshire could be a sensible development.

It might even help with swing bridges by controlling the speed of approaching trains, so that they arrive at the optimal times to cross.

Electrification

Eventually, all of these routes will be fully electrified.

Hull and Leeds via Brough, Selby and Garforth.
Hull and Scarborough via Beverley and Seamer.
Hull and Sheffield via Brough, Goole, Doncaster and Rotherham.
Hull and York via Brough and Selby.
York and Scarborough via Seamer.

But there are two problems which make the electrification of the routes to Hull challenging.

The Grade II Listed Selby swing bridge.
The Grade II* Listed Goole Railway swing bridge.

There will be diehard members of the Heritage Lobby, who will resist electrification of these bridges.

Consider.

Both bridges appear to work reliably.
Adding the complication of electrification may compromise this reliability.
Train manufacturers have developed alternative zero-carbon traction systems that don’t need continuous electrification.
Hitachi have developed battery electric versions of the Class 800 and Class 802 trains, that regularly run to and from Hull.
Other manufacturers are developing hydrogen-powered trains, that can use both hydrogen and overhead electrification for traction power.

My Project Management experience tells me, that electrification of these two bridges could be the major cost and the most likely cause of delay to the completion of the electrification.

It should also be noted that Network Rail are already planning to electrify these routes.

Huddersfield and Dewsbury on the TransPennine Route, which might be extended to between Huddersfield and Leeds.
York and Church Fenton

There is also electrification at Doncaster, Leeds and York on the East Coast Main Line, which would probably have enough power to feed the extra electrification.

Hitachi’s Regional Battery Trains

Hitachi and Hyperdrive Innovation are developing a Regional Battery Train.

This Hitachi infographic gives the specification.

Note.

The train has a range of 90 kilometres or 56 miles on battery power.
It has an operating speed of 100 mph on battery power.
Class 800 and Class 802 trains can be converted to Hitachi Regional Battery Trains, by swapping the diesel engines for battery packs.

When running on electrification, they retain the performance of the train, that was converted.

Discontinuous Electrification

I would propose using discontinuous electrification. by electrifying these sections.

Hull and Brough – 10.5 miles
Hull and Beverley – 13 miles
Doncaster and Sheffield – 20 miles
Selby and Leeds – 21 miles
Selby and Temple Hirst Junction – 5 miles
Seamer and Scarborough – 3 miles

This would leave these gaps in the electrification in East Yorkshire.

Brough and Doncaster – 30 miles
Brough and Selby – 21 miles
Brough and Church Fenton – 31 miles
Seamer and Beverley – 42 miles
Seamer and York – 39 miles

A battery electric train with a range of fifty miles would bridge these gaps easily.

This approach would have some advantages.

There would only need to be 72.5 miles of double-track electrification.
The swing bridges would be untouched.
TransPennine services terminating in Hull and Scarborough would be zero-carbon, once Huddersfield and Dewsbury is electrified.
LNER and Hull Trains services to London Kings Cross would be zero-carbon and a few minutes faster.
LNER could run a zero-carbon service between London Kings Cross and Scarborough.

But above all, it would cost less and could be delivered quicker.

Collateral Benefits Of Doncaster and Sheffield Electrication

The extra electrification between Doncaster and Sheffield, would enable other services.

A zero-carbon service between London Kings Cross and Sheffield.
Extension of Sheffield’s tram-train to Doncaster and Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
A possible electric service along the Dearne Valley.

As plans for Sheffield’s rail and tram system develop, this electrification could have a substantial enabling effect.

Hydrogen

This map shows the Zero Carbon Humber pipeline layout.

Note.

The orange line is a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline
The black line alongside it, is a proposed hydrogen pipeline.
Drax, Keadby and Saltend are power stations.
Easington gas terminal is connected to gas fields in the North Sea and also imports natural gas from Norway using the Langeled pipeline.
There are fourteen gas feels connected to Easington terminal. Some have been converted to gas storage.

I can see hydrogen being used to power trains and buses around the Humber.

Conclusion

Discontinuous electrification could be the key to fast provision of electric train services between Leeds and Sheffield and Hull.

If long journeys from Hull were run using battery electric trains, like the Hitachi Regional Battery Train, perhaps hydrogen trains could be used for the local services all over the area.

Project Management Recommendations

I have proposed six sections of electrification, to create a network to allow all services that serve Hull and Scarborough to be run by battery electric trains.

Obviously with discontinuous electrification each section or group of sections to be electrified is an independent project.

I proposed that these sections would need to be electrified.

Hull and Brough – 10.5 miles
Hull and Beverley – 13 miles
Doncaster and Sheffield – 20 miles
Selby and Leeds – 21 miles
Selby and Temple Hirst Junction – 5 miles
Seamer and Scarborough – 3 miles

They could be broken down down into four sections.

Hull station, Hull and Brough and Hull and Beverley
Doncaster and Sheffield
Selby station, Selby and Leeds and Selby and Temple Hirst Junction.
Scarborough station and Scarborough and Seamer.

I have split the electrification, so that hopefully none is challenging.

November 27, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Brough Station, Class 800 Train, Class 802 Train, Discontinuous Electrification, Drax, First TransPennine/TransPennine Express, Global Warming/Zero-Carbon, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Hull, Hull Station, Leeds Station, LNER, Network Rail, Northern Powerhouse Rail Recommendations - November 2020, Northern Rail, Sheffield Station, Zero Carbon Humber | 1 Comment

LNER Seeks 10 More Bi-Modes

The title of this post, is the same as that of an article in the December 2020 Edition of Modern Railways.

This is the opening paragraph.

LNER has launched the procurement of at least 10 new trains to supplement its Azuma fleet on East Coast Main Line services.

Some other points from the article.

It appears that LNER would like to eliminate diesel traction if possible.
On-board energy storage is mentioned.
No form of power appears to be ruled out, including hydrogen.
LNER have all 65 of their Azumas in service.

The last paragraph is very informative.

Infrastructure upgrades are due to prompt a timetable recast in May 2022 (delayed from December 2021) from which point LNER will operate 6.5 trains per hour, out of Kings Cross, compared to five today. As an interim measure, LNER is retaining seven rakes of Mk 4 coaches hauled by 12 Class 91 locomotives to supplement the Azuma fleet and support its timetable ambitions until the new trains are delivered.

These are my thoughts.

More Azumas?

Surely, It would require a very innovative train at perhaps a rock-bottom price from another manufacturer, for LNER to not acquire extra Azumas.

Classic-Compatible Trains For High Speed Two

Consider.

Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Hitachi, Siemens and Talgo are involved in the competition to design Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two.
As the York and Edinburgh section of the East Coast Main Line will eventually be upgraded and used by High Speed Two services,
Also in the December 2020 Edition of Modern Railways, is an article entitled 140 mph Plan For ECML North of York, which details improvements proposed by Northern Powerhouse Rail to improve services between Leeds and Edinburgh.

Would there be advantages to High Speed Two, LNER and Network Rail and Northern Powerhouse Rail, to have some commonality between the High Speed Two, LNER and Northern Powerhouse Rail fleets?

Hopefully, the various government-controlled companies are talking.

A Flagship Train For Aberdeen And Inverness

The InterCity 225s, which consist of a Class 91 locomotive and a rake of nine Mark 4 coaches, have given thirty years of top-quality service on the East Coast Main Line and appear to be being asked to handle services until the new trains are delivered.

Full-length InterCity 225s are 245 metres long and have 406 Standard and 129 First seats or a total of 535 seats.
Nine-car Azumas are 234 metres long and have 510 Standard and 101 First seats or a total of 611 seats.
Two five-car Azumas working as a pair are 260 metres long and have 604 seats. They can also be handled on most platforms, that are used by LNER.
The power of a Class 91 locomotive is 4.83 MW.
A Class 91 locomotive is 19.4 metres long and weighs 81.5 tonnes.
Both Azumas and InterCity 225s can maintain 125 mph with ease on the East Coast Main Line and both will be able to reach 140 mph with in-cab signalling.

There would appear to be nothing wrong with locomotive-hauled high speed services, in terms of capacity and performance.

In The Mathematics Of A Hydrogen-Powered Freight Locomotive, I laid out my thoughts on a high-powered railway locomotive fuelled by hydrogen, that used one or possibly two Rolls-Royce gas-turbine engines to generate electricity for traction.

With all the work done, by the companies bidding for Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two, into very high speed trains, I believe that at least one company could build a locomotive with this specification.

140 mph operation on 25 KVAC overhead electrification. As I said, that was done by British Rail almost forty years ago.
Ability to use full digital in-cab signalling. This is on its way and already working in some applications.
110 mph operation on hydrogen. Hitachi are planning 100 mph battery trains, so it should be possible.
400 mile range on one filling of hydrogen. This is working in Germany.
Ability to be upgraded to higher speeds on electric power, should the East Coast Main Line be upgraded for higher speeds in the future. The train manufacturers are probably ahead of track designers with this one.

Such a locomotive would be key to building a train with this specification.

Sub-four hour time between London and Edinburgh.
Sub-seven hour time between London and Aberdeen, which has 130 miles without wires.
Sub-eight hour time between London and Inverness, which has 146 miles without wires.
Hydrogen would be used, where there is no electrification.
Zero-carbon at all times.
A maximum length of 260 metres, which I estimate could give a passenger capacity of around 640 seats.
The last coach would include a driving van trailer.
They would not need the ability to split and join, except for the purpose of rescue, as there is no platform on the route, that could accommodate the resulting 520 metre long pair of trains.

I estimate that a fleet of around seven trains would be needed to run the current Aberdeen and Inverness services.

A few extra thoughts.

Could they have an up-market more spacious interior, as their main competition to the North of Scotland, would be the budget airlines?
Could they be slightly longer, with some platform work at Kings Cross and other stations?
Add a few extra trains to the order, so that extra services between London and Edinburgh could be added to the timetable.
Could the driving van trailer incorporate an observation car?
Hydrogen refuelling shouldn’t be a problem in Scotland, as the country is developing a hydrogen economy.
Hydrogen refuelling wouldn’t be needed in England, as they’d be using the electrification.
As an alternative to hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel could be used.

I suspect that Talgo, would be very happy to tender.

They are developing hydrogen-powered trains as I wrote in Talgo: Our Hydrogen Train Will Be Ready In 2023.
They are building a factory in Scotland, close to the Forth Bridge.
Because of the factory, Talgo probably have the ear of the Scottish Government, who would probably welcome a Scottish-built train.
A shorter version of these trains without the hydrogen, could be the design for a High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train, for which Talgo, are on the short list of suppliers.

What better way, would there be to sell your hydrogen-powered high speed trains, than to give prospective clients a ride up from London to the factory in the luxury version?

A New Elizabethan

I can remember The Elizabethan, which was a steam-hauled non-stop express between London and Edinburgh between 1953 and 1961.

The steam-hauled train took six-hours-and-a-half.
It used to be the longest non-stop railway service in the world.
Today, the service could be run by the current or refurbished Azumas or perhaps a new flagship train, built for the service.
It could be easily under four hours.

It could be an interesting concept, to increase capacity between London and Edinburgh.

Splitting And Joining

Some of LNER’s philosophy to serve places like Harrogate, Huddersfield and Middlesbrough, depends on the ability to split and join trains.

A pair of Azumas could leave London and go to Leeds, where they would split, with one train going to Harrogate and the other going to Huddersfield.

When returning to London, the two trains would join at Leeds.

The big advantage of splitting and joining, is that it increases the capacity on the main line, as services can be arranged, so that every path always carries a full-length train. I would expect that LNER would prefer never to run a single five-car Azuma into Kings Cross.

Currently LNER have these paths to and from Kings Cross.

2 tph between London Kings Cross and Leeds
1 tph between London Kings Cross and Lincoln and East Yorkshire
2 tph between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh

Note.

LNER have already started to extend services from Leeds, so will we see splitting and joining being used on one tph at Leeds to provide services to several destinations, throughout the day.
Splitting and joining at Edinburgh is surely another possibility, to serve Stirling and Glasgow, with the same train.
Splitting and joining at York could serve destinations like Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar, Scarborough and Sunderland.
In A Trip To Grantham Station – 4th November 2020, I advocated splitting at Grantham station to serve both Nottingham and Lincoln.

There are a lot of possibilities for splitting and joining.

As LNER has a fleet of twenty-two five-car Azumas, if the new trains are needed to split and join on certain services, this might mean more five-car Azumas are a better buy.

What Will Happen To Nine Car Azumas?

Hitachi have launched the Regional Battery Train concept, the specification of which is given in this Hitachi infographic.

The diesel engines in LNER’s Class 800 trains will be able to be replaced with batteries, making them all-electric trains.

Destinations like Cleethorpes, Dundee, Grimsby, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Lincoln, Middlesbrough Nottingham, Perth, Redcar, Scarborough, Sheffield and Sunderland will be within range of battery electric Azumas.
Some destinations would need the ability to charge the train before it returned, but I can see lots of places getting an appropriate service, even if it was just one or two trains per day.
Unfortunately, Aberdeen and Inverness would be too far for battery electric Azumas, so services will still need to be run by nine-car bi-mode Azumas.

Five-car battery electric Azumas working in pairs from London could be the key to increasing LNER services.

I can see that LNER may end up with too many nine-car Azumas, if nine-car trains are replaced by pairs of five-car trains to serve two destinations by splitting and joining.

Would it be possible to shorten nine-car Azumas to five-car trains?

These are the formations of the two trains.

nine-car: DPTS-MS-MS-TS-MS-TS-MC-MF-DPTF
five-car: DPTS-MS-MS-MC-DPTF

It is known, that the trains have a computer, that does a quick check on start-up to determine, what cars are present and correct in the train.

This means that if LNER needed twelve-car trains for say London and Edinburgh, they could create a sub-fleet by just buying the requisite number of extra TS (Trailer Standard) and MS (Motor Standard) cars and coupling them up.
This feature also means that operators running fleets of five-car Hitachi trains, like TransPennine Express and Hull Trains can increase capacity by just purchasing the extra cars.
It would also allow, cars to be shuffled to create viable trains, after say several cars were damaged by vandalism.

All trains these days seem to have this very operator-friendly feature.

With LNER’s trains, I suspect that all cars of the same type are identical.

This would mean, that a nine-car train can be converted to a five-car by removing two TS (Trailer Standard), one MS (Motor Standard) and one MF (Motor First) cars.

The four cars, that have been removed could be reconfigured to form the middle three cars of a new five-car train, which would be completed by adding new DPTS (Driver Pantograph Trailer Standard) and DPTF (Driver Pantograph Trailer First) cars.

An Increase In Paths From 5 To 6.5

This will certainly allow LNER to run more services.

The odd half path could be easy to explain.

Hull is a city, that is on the up.
I suspect that it could support a five-car direct service from London with a frequency of one tph.
But Hull Trains are also running a successful service on the route.

Perhaps a fair solution, would be to allow both LNER and Hull Trains to run a one train per two hour (tp2h) service.

If LNER didn’t want to use the path to just run a five-car train to Hull, there are several possibilities for a split and join.

With a Cleethorpes, Lincoln or Nottingham service at Grantham.
With a Cleethorpes or Lincoln service at Newark.
With a Cleethorpes, Middlesbrough, Sheffield or Sunderland service at Doncaster.

I can only see splitting and joining increasing, which surely means an Azuma order is more likely.

As someone, who spent a working life, writing software to schedule projects, I can’t resist speculating on what to do with the extra whole path, that LNER will be allocated, when the infrastructure allows.

Many travellers wouldn’t mind LNER providing more seats between the English and Scottish capitals.
Many would like an alternative to flying.
Others would like a faster service.
Leeds and York will soon be a route, that LNER’s Azumas will be able to use without diesel, because of extra electrification and Azumas with traction batteries.

This leads me to believe that LNER could use the extra path for a third London and Edinburgh service in every hour, that ran via Leeds.

Additionally, it might stop at stations like Peterborough, York, Darlington or Newcastle.
It could also provide a non-stop London and Leeds service.
Some services could go non-stop between London and Edinburgh.
The direct London and Edinburgh service would be under four hours.
Going via Leeds would add under an hour.

It would be run by a nine-car all-electric Azumas, of which there will be unlikely to be a shortage.

How Many Azumas Could Be Fitted With Batteries Instead Of Diesel Engines?

The Wikipedia entry for the Class 800 train, has a section called Powertrain, where this is said.

Despite being underfloor, the generator units (GU) have diesel engines of V12 formation. The Class 801 has one GU for a five to nine-car set. These provide emergency power for limited traction and auxiliaries if the power supply from the overhead line fails. The Class 800 and Class 802 bi-mode has three GU per five-car set and five GU per nine-car set. A five-car set has a GU situated under vehicles 2/3/4 and a nine-car set has a GU situated under vehicles 2/3/5/7/8.

Consider.

Class 807 trains for Aventi West Coast will have no batteries or diesel engines. Does this save weight?
Class 803 trains for East Coast Trains will only have a small battery for emergency hotel power, in case of catenary failure. Does this save weight?
Saving weight should improve acceleration and deceleration, which could reduce journey times.
Removal of diesel engines would reduce the trains carbon footprint.
Removal of diesel engines could reduce maintenance costs.
Diesel engines are only needed for services that run North of Edinburgh. Other sections without electrification are probably within battery range or could be easily made so.
It appears every Motor car (MC, MF and MS) can be fitted with a diesel engine, although in Class 801 trains, only one is fitted. Does that mean that every Motor car in the future, could have a battery?

I think this could lead to the following.

The Class 801 trains are fitted with sufficient batteries to enable handling of expected emergencies. These could be similar to those in the Class 803 trains.
Enough nine-car Class 800 trains would be kept with diesel engines to work the Aberdeen and Inverness services. These routes at 130 and 146 miles without wires are too long for battery trains, without a succession of chargers along the routes.
If a third Edinburgh service were to be introduced, could some of the remainder of the nine-car Class 800 trains be converted to Class 801 trains, by removing the diesel engines?
I would expect most of the five-car thirty-six Class 800 trains would be fitted with batteries to run services to destinations, that can be reached on battery power. In a few years time, these will probably mean splitting and joining at Edinburgh, Leeds and other places.
Could we even see the twelve five-car Class 801 trains converted to battery electric Class 800 trains, which would surely give maximum flexibility about their use?

If the software on the trains, is as intelligent as it could be and can accept cars with diesel engines, batteries or no extra power, then LNER will have an enormous amount of flexibility, to configure the trains as they need.

I could even see a nine-car Class 800 train with a mix of batteries and diesel engines, that can be used as range extenders, reaching further towards Aberdeen and Inverness.

Consider a five-car Class 800 train with two batteries and a single diesel engine!

If I assume that Hitachi’s specification for the Regional Battery Train, is for a five-car train with three diesel engines replaced with battery packs, then a two battery pack train could have a range of 60 km or 37 miles.
If the route wasn’t very challenging, and the computer made judicious use of the diesel engine, could the train’s range be extended to beyond the ninety kilometres of the three-battery pack train.
The diesel engine could also be used to charge the batteries, before returning to the electrification of the main line.

In Vivarail’s Plans For Zero-Emission Trains, I talked about Adrian Shooter and his concept of a Pop-Up Metro, run for perhaps a year, to test if a Metro service would be viable, instead of spending the money on consultants.

The two-battery pack/one diesel Class 800 train, could run a Pop-Up London Service to test the need for a London service. All it would need is a convenient platform long enough to take a 130 metre long Class 800 train.

Possible destinations to test could include Cleethorpes, Dundee, Glenrothes-with-Thornton, Grimsby, Nottingham, Norwich, Perth, Redcar, Sheffield and Sunderland

Conclusion

There is a lot of scope to develop LNER’s services.

I think it is likely that the order will go to Hitachi.

But as I indicated, I do believe that there is scope for a manufacturer to design a zero-carbon train, that was able to serve the Aberdeen and Inverness.

I suspect a fleet of ten trains would be sufficient.
Trains would use the 25 KVAC overhead electrification, where it exists and hydrogen or battery power North of the wires.

The trains would also be capable of being upgraded to high speeds, should the East Coast Main Line be turned into a High Speed Line.

I also think, that whatever trains are bought, there will be a large upgrading of the existing Hitachi fleet, which will add batteries to a lot of trains.

November 25, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Hydrogen, Transport | Aberdeen, Adrian Shooter, Automatic Splitting And Joining Of Trains, Battery/Electric Trains, East Coast Main Line, Edinburgh Station, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, Hull Station, Hull Trains, Hydrogen-Powered Trains, Inverness, Leeds Station, LNER, Scotland, Talgo, Vivarail Pop-Up Metro | 7 Comments

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Connecting Sheffield To HS2 And On To Leeds

In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is connecting Sheffield to High Speed Two and on to Leeds.

Northern Powerhouse Rail’s Objective For The Sheffield and Leeds Route

Wikipedia, other sources and my calculations say this about the trains between Leeds and Sheffield.

The distance between the two stations is 39 miles
The current service takes around 40 minutes and has a frequency of one train per hour (tph)
This gives an average speed of 58.5 mph for the fastest journey.
The proposed service with Northern Powerhouse Rail will take 28 minutes and have a frequency of four tph.
This gives an average speed of 84 mph for the journey.

This last figure of 84 mph, indicates to me that a fast route will be needed.

But given experience of 100 mph lines in other parts of the UK, 100 mph trains and infrastructure could make this demanding objective of twenty-eight minutes between Sheffield and Leeds a reality

Connecting Sheffield To High Speed Two

Sheffield is to be accessed from a branch off the Main High Speed Two route to Leeds.

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the route of the Sheffield Branch, from where it branches North West from the main Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.

Note.

Orange indicates new High Speed Two track.
Blue indicates track that High Speed Two will share with other services.
The orange route goes North to Leeds, along the M1
The blue route goes North to Chesterfield and Sheffield, after skirting to the East of Clay Cross.
The orange route goes South to East Midlands Hub station.

This second map, shows where the Erewash Valley Line joins the Sheffield Branch near the village of Stonebroom.

Note.

Red is an embankment.
Yellow is a cutting.
The Sheffield Branch goes North-West to Clay Cross, Chesterfield and Sheffield
The Sheffield Branch goes South-East to East Midlands Hub station.
The Sheffield Branch goes through Doe Hill Country Park.
The Sheffield Branch runs alongside the existing Erewash Valley Line, which goes South to Langley Mill, Ilkeston and the Derby-Nottingham area.

The Sheffield Branch and the Erewash Valley Line appear to share a route, which continues round Clay Cross and is shown in this third map.

Note

Doe Hill Country Park is in the South-East corner of the map.
The dark line running North-South is the A61.
Running to the West of the A61 is the Midland Main Line, which currently joins the Erewash Valley Line at Clay Cross North junction.

High Speed Two and the Midland Main Line will share a route and/or tracks from Clay Cross North junction to Sheffield.

This fourth map, shows where the combined route joins the Hope Valley Line to Manchester to the South West of Sheffield.

Note.

Sheffield is to the North East.
Chesterfield is to the South East,
Totley junction is a large triangular junction, that connects to the Hope Valley Line.

These are some timings for various sections of the route.

Clay Cross North Junction and Chesterfield (current) – 4 minutes
Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield (current) – 17 minutes
Chesterfield and Sheffield (current) – 13 minutes
Chesterfield and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 13 minutes
East Midlands Hub and Chesterfield (High Speed Two) – 16 minutes
East Midlands Hub and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 27 minutes

As Class Cross North Junction and Sheffield are 15.5 miles, this means the section is run at an average speed of 53 mph.

Can I draw any conclusions from the maps and timings?

There would appear to be similar current and High Speed Two timings between Chesterfield and Sheffield.
The various junctions appear to be built for speed.

The Midland Main Line will be electrified from Clay Cross North Junction to Sheffield, so that High Speed Two trains can use the route.

What will be the characteristics of the tracks between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield?

Will it be just two tracks as it mainly is now or will it be a multi-track railway to separate the freight trains from the high speed trains?
Will it have a high enough maximum speed, so that East Midland Railway’s new Class 810 trains can go at their maximum speed of 140 mph?
Will it be capable of handling a frequency of 18 tph, which is the maximum frequency of High Speed Two?

Surely, it will be built to a full High Speed Two standard to future-proof the line.

Before finishing this section, I will answer a few questions.

Would It Be Possible For Class 810 Trains Fitted With Batteries To Run Between London St. Pancras And Sheffield?

East Midlands Railway’s new Class 810 trains could be fitted with batteries to become Regional Battery Trains with the specification, given in this Hitachi infographic.

Note.

This would give the trains a range of 90 kilometres or 56 miles on batteries, if a number of diesel engines were exchanged for batteries.
The trains would only be a few mph slower on batteries, than the current Hitachi trains on diesel.
The Class 810 trains have four diesel engines. Is this to enable 125 mph running on diesel?

By perhaps replacing two diesel engines with batteries and using the remaining two diesel engines as range extenders or some other combination, I feel that Hitachi might be able to obtain a longer self-powered range for the train.

Consider.

Between Sheffield and Clay Cross North Junction will be fully-electrified and at 15.5 miles, it will be long enough to fully-charge the batteries on the train.
Between London St. Pancras and Market Harborough will be fully-electrified and at 83 miles, it will be long enough to fully-charge the batteries on the train.
The section between Market Harborough and Clay Cross North Junction is not electrified and is 66 miles.

I feel that Hitachi and their partner; Hyperdrive Innovation can design a battery electric Class 810 train, that can travel between London St. Pancras and Sheffield, without using a drop of diesel.

A great advantage of this approach, is that, as more electrification is added to the Midland Main Line, as it surely will be, the trains will be able to use the wires to reduce journey times.

I believe there are two sections on the Midland Main Line. where traditional electrification is less likely.

The bridge at the Southern end of Leicester station is low and would need to be rebuilt causing immense disruption to both road and rail in the city.
Between Derby and Alfreton is the World Heritage Site of the Derwent Valley Mills. Will electrification be fought by the heritage lobby?

Both sections may eventually be electrified at some far off date in the future.

Why Is There A Spur Of Electrification At Totley Junction?

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the Southern Leg of Totley Junction, where the Hope Valley Line joins the Midland Main Line.

Note that a short length of electrification is shown, between the Midland Main Line and a tunnel on the Southern leg.

This Google Map shows the same area.

Note, that the line disappears into a tunnel.

In Northern Powerhouse Rail -Significant Upgrades And Journey Time Improvements To The Hope Valley Route Between Manchester And Sheffield, I indicated, that running battery electric trains between Manchester and Sheffield would be a possibility and could be a way of meeting Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objectives for the route.
A short length of electrification might help battery electric trains turn out to go South.
I don’t think any passenger trains ever go that way now, but I have seen articles and heard complaints from passengers, that want a better service between Derby and/or Nottingham and Manchester.
It might also help with the decarbonisation of freight trains to and from the quarries.

I also suspect, that if building High Speed Two in Manchester temporarily reduced the capacity of Manchester Piccadilly station, trains could use the Hope Valley Line to get to the city, as they have done previously, with Project Rio.

Accessing The Infrastructure Depot At Staveley

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the location of the infrastructure depot at Staveley.

Note.

Chesterfield is shown by the large blue dot.
High Speed Two’s Sheffield Branch runs North from Chesterfield station.
High Speed Two’s Eastern Leg runs down the Eastern side of the map.
Two spurs from East and West go towards each other and would meet to the North of the town of Staveley.

The infrastructure depot will be located where they meet.

The route from the Sheffield Branch uses the Barrow Hill Line, which might be reopened as another passenger route between Chesterfield and Sheffield.

I wrote about this idea in Reinstatement Of The Barrow Hill Line Between Sheffield And Chesterfield.

If the line is being upgraded and electrified as far as Barrow Hill for the Infrastructure Depot, would it be worthwhile to create a new electrified route into Sheffield?

I also wrote in Could East Midlands Railway’s Liverpool And Norwich Service Avoid A Reverse At Sheffield By Using the Barrow Hill Line?, that the Barrow Hill Line might be an alternative route for the Liverpool and Norwich service.

When the railway routes in the area of the Infrastructure Depot are developed, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some routes changed.

Between Sheffield And Meadowhall Stations

One of the original designs for High Speed Two had it calling at Meadowhall station.

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two running across Sheffield.

Note.

Sheffield station is the big Blue dot in the South-West corner of the map.
The M1 runs across the North-East corner of the map.
The railway between Sheffield and Meadowhall stations already exists.
Sheffield and Meadowhall stations are 3.5 miles apart and trains take seven minutes.

Is there any reason, why High Speed Two trains shouldn’t serve both Sheffield and Meadowhall stations, by just taking the existing line across the city?

Taking The Wakefield Line Towards Leeds

In extending to Meadowhall, High Speed Two’s route seems to be taking the current Wakefield Line.

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two passing through Sheffield and Rotherham and then going towards Leeds.

Note.

Orange indicates new High Speed Two track.
Blue indicates track that High Speed Two shares with other lines.
The Wakefield Line is shown in blue and has stations at Meadowhall, Swinton, Bolton-upon-Dearne, Goldthorpe and Thurscoe.
The main High Speed Two leg to Leeds is shown in orange.

It looks to me, that High Speed Two are aiming to provide a route, so that trains going to Sheffield can extend the journey to Leeds.

As Leeds will have three tph to and from London, why is this service being extended to Leeds?

I will explore a few reasons why in the next few sub-sections.

It’s Convenient For Running Trains

Consider.

High Speed Two are saying London and Sheffield will be one hour and twenty-seven minutes.
Northern Powerhouse Rail have an objective of Leeds and Sheffield in twenty-eight minutes.
One hour and fifty-five minutes could be a convenient time for a London and Leeds service, as it could be a four hour round trip.

But High Speed Two are saying London and Leeds will be one hour and twenty-one minutes.

It looks to me, that it is a convenient way to serve Meadowhall, Rotherham, Bolton-upon-Dearne, Goldthorpe and Thurscoe stations

High Speed Two Through Rotherham

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two passing through Rotherham to the North of the Parkgate Shopping Park.

Note.

High Speed Two is the bright blue line running North-East from the Western edge of the map.
The grey blocks are the stores in the Shopping Park.
The Rotherham Parkgate tram-train stop is marked.

This Google Map shows a similar area.

To the East of the Parkgate Shopping Park, is a large brownfield site, as this Google Map shows.

Could Rotherham have a station on the line North of this site?

The rail line running SW-NE across this map is drawn in blue on High Speed Two’s interactive map.
Rotherham Masborough station used to be in this area.

If High Speed Two is supposed to be a railway for all the people, or at least as many as possible, surely there should be a station in the town.

High Speed Two Through Bolton-upon-Dearne

In July 2019, I wrote a post called Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley.

So have High Speed Two taken on this feature of the Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019, to add another station to their list of destinations?

Approach To Leeds

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows route High Speed Two will take to approach Leeds from the South East.

Note.

Leeds station is the blue dot in the North West corner of the map.
High Speed Two is shown in orange and continues North to York, where it joins the East Coast Main Line.
Wakefield is in the middle at the bottom of the map and is on the Wakefield Line and the current route for LNER’s expresses from London.

It looks to me, that Leeds and Sheffield will eventually end up with two faster routes between the two cities.

An upgraded Wakefield Line
A route based on the Southern section of the Wakefield Line and the Eastern leg of High Speed Two route to Leeds.

If High Speed Two’s trains are to be able to get across Sheffield and call at Sheffield, Meadowhall, Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley stations, then these conditions must be met.

The trains must be High Speed Two’s Classic-Compatible trains or a train to a similar specification.
Some platform lengthening might be needed to allow the two hundred metre long trains to call.
The Wakefield Line must be electrified between Sheffield and just North of Goldthorpe station, where it will be able to join the link to the Eastern leg of High Speed Two.

It would probably be sensible to electrify the Wakefield Line all the way to Fitzwilliam station, from where the line is electrified all the way to Leeds.

This would enable the following.

Electric trains to run between Sheffield and Leeds via Wakefield Westgate station.
Would Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of a twenty-eight minute journey be achieved?
East Midlands Railway could run their Class 810 trains between London St. Pancras and Leeds under electric power.
High Speed Two could serve Leeds before the Northern infrastructure of the Eastern leg of High Speed Two is complete.
High Speed Two could offer services to Wakefield, Barnsley and Rotherham via Sheffield.

I can see reasons for early upgrading of the Wakefield Line.

Conclusion

It appears that High Speed Two are planning an electrified route through Sheffield between Clay Cross North Junction on the Midland Main Line and Goldthorpe station on the Wakefield Line.

Once complete it would enable the following.

Rotherham and Barnsley to have direct electric services to and from the capital.
When East Midlands Railway introduce their new Class 810 trains, the electrification North of Clay Cross North Junction would mean faster services and less running on diesel power.
I believe these Class 810 trains could run between London and Sheffield, if their four diesel engines are replaced with batteries, which would power the trains between Clay Cross North Junction and Market Harborough.
The electrification at Sheffield would allow battery electric trains to work between Manchester and Sheffield as I outlined in Northern Powerhouse Rail -Significant Upgrades And Journey Time Improvements To The Hope Valley Route Between Manchester And Sheffield.

I think it is a good plan.

Project Management Recommendations

It is my view that the following projects should be started as soon as possible.

Electrification between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station.
Electrification of the Wakefield Line between Sheffield and Fitzwilliam stations.
Provision of new stations at Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley on the Wakefield Line.

These projects could deliver worthwhile improvements in services in a couple of years, rather than the tens of years for High Speed Two.

November 24, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Chesterfield Station, Class 810 Train, Clay Cross North Junction, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, East Coast Main Line, East Midlands Hub Station, East Midlands Railway, Electrification, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Hope Valley Line, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Leeds Station, Meadowhall Station, Midland Main Line, Northern Powerhouse Rail Recommendations - November 2020, Rotherham, Rotherham Parkgate Tram Stop, Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019, Sheffield Station, Wakefield Line, Wakefield Westgate Station | 3 Comments

Northern Powerhouse Rail – A New Line Between Manchester And Leeds Via The Centre Of Bradford

In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is a new rail line between Manchester and Leeds via the centre of Bradford.

I shall look at a few of the possibilities for various sections of the route.

Current And Proposed Timings Between Manchester And Leeds

These are the current typical timings between Manchester Victoria and Leeds stations.

55 minutes for 43 miles, which is an average speed of 47 mph.

With Northern Powerhouse Rail, a time of 25 minutes is the objective, which is an average speed of 103.2 mph.

As my helicopter flies it is just 35.7 miles, so a 25 minutes journey time would require an average speed of 85.7 mph.

It is obvious that a new much straighter line is needed with an operating speed of at least 100 mph.

One of the best 100 mph lines in the UK is the Great Eastern Main Line between Liverpool Street and Norwich.

It is generally only double-track.
The fastest services take 90 minutes for the 115 miles, which is an average speed of 77 mph.
It is a busy line with lots of suburban services closer to London and freight trains to and from Felixstowe.

But even a line built to the standard of the Great Eastern Main Line wouldn’t be good enough for Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of 25 minutes.

The mathematics tell me, that a new line is needed, built as straight as possible between Manchester and Leeds.

High Speed Two’s Approach To Manchester

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the route of High Speed Two as it approaches Manchester Piccadilly station.

The colours of High Speed Two indicate the type of construction.

Black is a bored tunnel. Only in the South East corner, where it continues to Manchester Airport.
Purple is a tunnel portal.
Brown is a track between retaining walls. Used through Manchester Interchange or Airport station.
Red is a viaduct.
Orange is a box structure

This Google Map shows a similar area.

Are High Speed Two serious about demolishing a large area of Manchester to the North and East of Manchester Piccadilly station?

It will cause massive disruption all over the centre of Manchester.
How many businesses will be ruined by this plan?
How many residents are there in the area?
How will trains from the new platforms at Piccadilly station continue to Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds and Sheffield?
Mrs. Merton could have said “Let’s all have a reverse!” And she’d have been joking!
You can’t go through the new platforms, as that would mean demolishing most of Manchester City Centre.

What High Speed Two are proposing is complete and utter rubbish!

In Whither HS2 And HS3?, which I wrote in May 2015, I said this.

I do think though that our designs for HS2 are rather dated and don’t take things that are happening or have happened into account.

Crossrail in London has shown that putting a large twin rail tunnel under a major city, is not the problem it once was. Crossrail have also been very innovative in creating stations with the minimum disturbance to existing infrastructure. As an example, the new Whitechapel station for Crossrail has also used a technique called uphill excavation, where you create escalator and lift shafts upwards from the tunnels, rather than traditionally from the surface, which is much more disruptive.

These techniques can revolutionise the construction of HS2.

Take cities like Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield, which have developed and are continually developing extensive local rail, tram and bus networks. So why are we in Birmingham still talking about creating an HS2 station at Curzon Street? Surely, we just dig a very deep pair of HS2 tunnels under the city and then uphill excavate into not only New Street, but Moor Street and Snow Hill as well. The tunnels would be only made as long as necessary, although the underground station could be very large. But it probably wouldn’t be much bigger than the enormous double-ended Liverpool Street/Moorgate station being created for Crossrail.

The great advantage of this method of construction is that you can continue to develop your network of local trains, trams and other transport links, untroubled by the construction of the new station deep below. Anybody, who thinks this is not possible, should spend half-an-hour walking around Whitechapel station, where the Hammersmith and City, District and East London Lines are passing untroubled over the giant hole and through the building site for the new station.

To some the example of Crossrail in London, would not be a good one, as Crossrail is years late. But the tunnelling under London and the excavations for the stations have gone well and were delivered on time.

In the related post, I went on to propose a double-ended underground station in Manchester with connections to both Piccadilly and Victoria stations. It could even have other connections to locations in the City Centre like Piccadilly Gardens.

There’s certainly space for a stylish entrance at the busy tram and bus interchange.

By applying the lessons learned in the building of Crossrail and other projects like Stuttgart 21, which I wrote about in Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, I’m sure that a massive underground station in Manchester could be built successfully, on time and on budget.

I am not alone in thinking this way. In The Rival Plans For Piccadilly Station, That Architects Say Will ‘Save Millions’, I write about a plan from world-class architects Weston Williamson, who designed the superb new London Bridge station.

This visualisation from Weston Williamson, shows their proposed station.

Note.

In the visualisation, you are observing the station from the East.
The existing railway lines into Piccadilly station are shown in red.
Stockport and Manchester Airport are to the left, which is to the South.
Note the dreaded Castlefield Corridor in red going off into the distance to Oxford Road and Deansgate stations.
The new high speed lines are shown in blue.
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.
To the right, they go to Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, Hull and the North East, and Sheffield, Doncaster and the East.
Between it looks like a low-level High Speed station with at least four tracks and six platforms.
The Manchester Mretrolink 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.

This station would enable improvements to rail services in the North and Scotland.

It would be a through station, to allow East to West services, like Liverpool and Hull.
Fewer services would have to reverse.
All services using the underground station, that went to the West would serve Manchester Airport.
TransPennine services like Liverpool and Edinburgh and Liverpool and Scarborough, would use the station and also call at Manchester Airport.
TransPennine services like Glasgow and Manchester Airport could be extended to Leeds and Hull.
TransPennine services would not need to use the overcrowded Castlefield Corridor.
All existing services to the main section of the existing Piccadilly station, could continue operation as now, during the construction and operation of the underground station. Some would eventually be replaced by high speed services using the underground station.

Manchester Airport would have one of the best train services of any airport in the world. It would certainly be on a par with Schiphol.

Careful alignment of the tunnels under Manchester, could also ease the building of the new line between Manchester and Leeds.

Huddersfield And Westtown (Dewsbury)

The only part of an upgraded TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds, that is in the planning and design phase and visible to the public, is the upgrade between Huddersfield to Westtown (Dewsbury), which is described on this page of the Network Rail web site. This is the introductory paragraph.

We’re proposing an upgrade to a section of railway between Huddersfield and Westtown (Dewsbury) to deliver passenger benefits along the TransPennine railway.

Network Rail provide this very useful map.

This article on Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Network Rail Reveals Detailed £2.9bn Upgrade Plans For TransPennine Route, which gives the major details of the upgrade.

Improvement between Huddersfield and Westtown
Grade separation or a tunnel at Ravensthorpe
Rebuilding and electrification of eight miles of track.
Possible doubling the number of tracks from two to four.
Improved stations at Huddersfield, Deighton, Mirfield and Ravensthorpe.

This project would be a major improvement to the Huddersfield Line, but I have one problem with this project. – It doesn’t go anywhere near Bradford.

This Google Map shows Bradford, Leeds, Brighouse and Dewsbury.

Note.

Bradford is in the North-West corner of the map, with the red arrow marking Bradford Royal Infirmary.
Leeds is in the North-East corner of the map.
Brighouse is in the South-West corner of the map.
The red arrow at the bottom of the map marks Dewsbury and District Hospital, with the towns of Morley and Dewsbury to the East.

The route Network rail are improving goes South-Westerly from Leeds and through both Morley and Leeds, before turning to the West and then going South to Huddersfield.

I am left with the conclusion, that Network Rail’s plans may do wonders for travel between Leeds and Huddersfield, but they don’t do anything for Bradford.

But the plans will have positive effects on travellers between Leeds and Manchester.

Eight Miles Of Electrification

Eight miles of electrification may not seem much, but to a Hitachi Regional Battery train, travelling at speed it is a few minutes to add some charge to the batteries, especially if the train stops at Dewsbury and/or Huddersfield stations.

This Hitachi infographic gives the specification for the Hitachi Regional Battery train.

Note.

It has a range of 90 km or 56 miles on battery power.
It can travel at up to 100 mph on battery power.
TransPennine’s Class 802 trains can be converted to Regional Battery trains, by simply swapping the diesel engines for battery packs.

If these trains fully-charged their batteries on the eight miles of electrification, they could do the following.

Going East they could easily reach Leeds, which is under ten miles from Dewsbury station. At a pinch they could even reach York, which is thirty-five miles from Dewsbury.
Going West they could reach Manchester, which is twenty-six miles from Huddersfield station. At a pinch, they could just about reach Liverpool, which is fifty-seven miles from Huddersfield.

Note that North of York and West of Manchester are both fully electrified.

This eight miles of electrification would enable the following.

Several of TransPennine Express services run by Class 802 trains to become all-electric services.
Other operators like Northern could use battery electric trains for stopping services along the route.
It might even enable some freight trains to run through the area, with hybrid power.

It looks to me, that Network Rail have chosen this section to electrify, so that it gives a lot of benefit to battery electric trains.

Will Services Be Faster Between Huddersfield And Leeds?

I estimate the the straightened track, the better acceleration of electric trains and other improvements would save up to perhaps ten minutes.

Timings between Manchester and Leeds, would probably be around 45 minutes, which is nowhere near Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of 25 minutes

The Problem Of Bradford

Bradford has two central stations; Bradford Interchange and Bradford Forster Square. which have no connection between them.

This Google Map shows the two stations.

It is an area crowded with buildings between the two stations.

There is a Wikipedia entry called Bradford Crossrail, where this is said about the reasons for the two stations.

These stations were built in the nineteenth century by different railway companies with an individual, rather than a comprehensive plan for rail development in the city.

The Wikipedia entry also says this about Northern Powerhouse Rail and the city.

The Northern Powerhouse Rail project has also mooted a project to link Leeds and Manchester with a through route at Bradford. Whilst this would either involve a bypass line south of the city and a parkway station at Low Moor or a new route tunnelling through the city centre, neither option mentions connecting the lines from both north and south of the city together.

I will look at the two solutions to connect Northern Powerhouse Rail to the City.

Low Moor Station

The diagram shows the connections between Bradford Interchange, Bradford Low Moor, Huddersfield and Leeds stations.

It would appear that if a connection were to be made between Low Moor and New Pudsey stations. that could be a solution.

This Google Map shows where the lines to Huddersfield and Leeds join outside Bradford Interchange station.

Note,

Bradford Interchange station is to the North.
Bradford Low Moor station is to the South.
New Pudsey station is to the East.

I suspect it would be possible to create a curve that allowed trains to go between Bradford Low Moor and New Pudsey stations, but I doubt it would be a fast route.

A Bradford Tunnel

This would be the bold option, where all sorts of routes could be possible.

It could go under the City Centre in such a way, that it had pedestrian connections to both current stations and important places with a large number of visitors.
It could connect to Huddersfield in the West and Leeds in the East.
It might even loop under the City Centre, as the Wirral Line does under Liverpool.

A tunnel under the City, would be my preferred solution.

A Tunnel Between Manchester And Leeds

So far, various people or organisations have advocated the following tunnels on the route.

High Speed Two are proposing a tunnel between Manchester Airport and Manchester City Centre.
Weston Williamson are proposing a Manchester High Speed station underneath Manchester Piccadilly station.
A tunnel has been proposed to connect to Bradford City Centre.

I feel strongly, that a tunnel can be built under the Pennines to link Manchester and Leeds.

Rail Tunnels through the Pennines have been dug before, notably at Standedge, Totley and Woodhead.

I answered the question in detail in Will HS2 And Northern Powerhouse Rail Go For The Big Bore? and this was the conclusion of that post.

I believe that my naïve analysis in this post shows that a TransPennine tunnel is possible.

But I believe that the right tunnel could have one big advantage.

Suppose it was built to handle the following.

- A capacity of eighteen tph, which is the same as High Speed Two.
- An operating speed of 140 mph or more. The Gotthard Base Tunnel has a maximum operating speed of 160 mph.
- High Speed Two’s Full-Size trains.
- The largest freight trains

It would be future proofed for longer than anybody could envisage.

There are also other smaller advantages.

- It would by-pass a lot of difficult areas.
- It would cause very little aural and visual disruption.
- IIf it were designed with care, it would not affect the flora and fauna.
- As with the Swiss tunnel, it could be dug level, which would save energy and allow trains to run faster.
- It could be running twelve tph between Leeds and Manchester Airport via Bradford, Huddersfield and Manchester Piccadilly.
- Existing surface railways at the Eastern end could serve Cleethorpes, Darlington, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Hull, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Scarborough, Sheffield and York
- Existing surface railways at the Western end could serve Barrow, Blackpool, Carlisle, Chester, Glasgow, Liverpool. North Wales, Preston and Wigan.

It would be more like Thameslink for the North turned on its side, rather than Crossrail for the North.

Would such a TransPennine tunnel be realisable?

Consider.

3D design software has improved tremendously over the last decade.
The Swiss have shown that these long tunnels can be built through solid rock.
There is plenty of space to put the tunnel.
It doesn’t have to be one continuous tunnel.
It might be possible to built it as a base tunnel, which would be low down and level between two valleys on either side of the Pennines.

I think there could be a lot of flexibility on how the tunnel would be designed and built.

Conclusion

A Manchester and Leeds tunnel via Bradford, could be one of the boldest projects ever undertaken in the UK.

I believe that we have the capabilities to build it.

Project Management Recommendations

This is a large project that will take several years.

But the Swiss have dug the Gotthard Base Tunnel of a similar size through solid rock in recent years.
It would be a political symbol to the North, that Government is serious about levelling up.
In thirty years or so, it won’t be found to have been built with inadequate capacity.

Other projects, such as the Huddersfield and Westtown Improvement wukk old the fort, whilst the tunnel is built.

November 22, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Bradford, High Speed Two, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Huddersfield And Westtown Upgrade, Leeds Station, Liverpool Lime Street Station, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Northern Powerhouse Rail Recommendations - November 2020, Tunnels | 15 Comments

How Many Trains Are Needed To Run A Full Service On High Speed Two?

The latest High Speed Two schedule was published in the June 2020 Edition of Modern Railways.

The Two Train Classes

Two separate train classes have been proposed for High Speed Two.

Full-Size – Wider and taller trains built to a European loading gauge, which would be confined to the high-speed network (including HS1 and HS2) and other lines cleared to their loading gauge.

Classic-Compatible – Conventional trains, capable of high speed but built to a British loading gauge, permitting them to leave the high speed track to join conventional routes such as the West Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and East Coast Main Line.

The Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two has a section entitled Rolling Stock, where this is said about the design.

Both types of train would have a maximum speed of at least 360 km/h (225 mph) and a length of 200 metres (660 ft); two units could be joined together for a 400-metre (1,300 ft) train. It has been reported that these longer trains would have approximately 1,100 seats.

These are some of my thoughts.

Seating Density

I would assume that this means that a single 200 metre train, will have a capacity of approximately 550 seats or a density of 2.75 seats per metre. How does that compare with other trains?

9-car Class 801 train – 234 metres – 611 seats – 2.61 seats/metre
7-car Class 807 train – 182 metres – 453 seats – 2.49 seats/metre
9-car Class 390 train – 217.5 metres – 469 seats – 2.16 seats/metre
11-car Class 390 train – 265.3 metres – 589 seats – 2.22 seats/metre
12-car Class 745/1 train – 236.6 metres – 767 seats – 3.24 seats/metre
16-car Class 374 train – 390 metres – 902 seats – 2.31 seats/metre

What I find strange with these figures, is that I feel most crowded and cramped in a Class 390 train. Could this be because the Pendelino trains are eighteen years old and train interior design has moved on?

But I always prefer to travel in a Hitachi Class 80x train or a Stadler Class 745 train.

I very much feel that a seating density of 2.75 seats per metre, designed using some of the best modern practice, could create a train, where travelling is a very pleasant experience.

Step-Free Access

I have travelled in high speed trains all over Europe and have yet to travel in one with step-free access.

Surely, if Stadler can give their trains step-free access everybody can.

The pictures shows step-free access on Stadler Class 745 and Class 755 trains.

If I turned up pushing a friend in a wheelchair, would I be able to push them in easily? Or better still will they be able to wheel themselves in?

A Greater Anglia driver once said to me, that they never have to wait anymore for wheelchairs to be loaded.

So surely, it is in the train operator’s interest to have step-free access, if it means less train delays.

Double-Deck Trains

In my view double-deck trains only have one only good feature and that is the ability to see everything, if you have a well-designed window seat.

I may be seventy-three, but I am reasonably fit and only ever travel on trains with airline-sized hand baggage. So I don’t find any problem travelling upstairs on a double-deck bus or train!

But it could have been, so very different, if my stroke had been a bit worse and left me blind or in a wheelchair for life.

I have seen incidents on the Continent, which have been caused by double-deck trains.

A lady of about eighteen in trying to get down with a heavy case dropped it. Luckily it only caused the guy she was travelling with, to roll unhurt down the stairs.
Luggage is often a problem on Continental trains because of the step-up into the train and access is worse on double deck trains.
I also remember on a train at Leipzig, when several passengers helped me lift a guy and his wheelchair out of the lower deck of a double-deck train, which was lower than the platform, as they often are with double-deck trains.

I am not totally against double-deck trains, but they must be designed properly.

Consider.

High Speed Two’s Full-Size trains will only use London Euston, Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange, Birmingham Curzon Street, Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly, East Midlands Hub and Leeds stations.
All stations used by Full-Size trains will be brand-new or substantially rebuilt stations.
Someone sitting in a wheelchair surely has the same right to a view from the top-deck of a double-deck train as anybody else.
Jumbo jets seemed to do very well without a full-length top-deck.
The A 380 Superjumbo has been designed so that entry and exit on both decks is possible.

I feel if High Speed Two want to run double-deck trains, an elegant solution can surely be found.

A Crude Estimate On The Number Of Trains

This is my crude estimate to find out how many trains, High Speed Two will need.

Western Leg

These are the services for the Western Leg between London , Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Train 1 – London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street – 400 metre Full-Size – 45 minutes – 2 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 2 – London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street – 400 metre Full-Size – 45 minutes – 2 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 3 – London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street – 400 metre Full-Size – 45 minutes – 2 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 4 – London Euston and Lancaster – Classic Compatible – 2 hours 3 minutes – 5 hour Round Trip – 5 trains
Train 4 – London Euston and Liverpool – Classic Compatible – 1 hours 34 minutes – 4 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 5 – London Euston and Liverpool – Classic Compatible – 1 hours 34 minutes – 4 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 6 – London Euston and Macclesfield – Classic Compatible – 1 hours 30 minutes – 4 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 7 – London Euston and Manchester – 400 metre Full-Size – 1 hour and 11 minutes – 3 hour Round Trip – 6 trains
Train 8 – London Euston and Manchester – 400 metre Full-Size – 1 hour and 11 minutes – 3 hour Round Trip – 6 trains
Train 9 – London Euston and Manchester – 400 metre Full-Size – 1 hour and 11 minutes – 3 hour Round Trip – 6 trains
Train 10 – London Euston and Edinburgh – Classic Compatible – 3 hours 48 minutes – 8 hour Round Trip – 8 trains
Train 10 – London Euston and Glasgow – Classic Compatible – 3 hours 40 minutes – 8 hour Round Trip – 8 trains
Train 11 – London Euston and Edinburgh – Classic Compatible – 3 hours 48 minutes – 8 hour Round Trip – 8 trains
Train 11 – London Euston and Glasgow – Classic Compatible – 3 hours 40 minutes – 8 hour Round Trip – 8 trains
Train 12 – Birmingham Curzon Street and Edinburgh or Glasgow – Classic Compatible – 3 hours 20 minutes – 7 hour Round Trip – 7 trains
Train 13 – Birmingham Curzon Street and Manchester – 200 metre Full-Size – 41 minutes – 2 hour Round Trip – 2 trains
Train 14 – Birmingham Curzon Street and Manchester – 200 metre Full-Size – 41 minutes – 2 hour Round Trip – 2 trains

Note.

I have assumed 400 metre Full-Size trains will be a pair of 200 metre trains.
I think that trains 4 and 5 work an intricate dance with appropriate splitting and joining at Crewe.
The full schedule will need 34 Full-Size trains and 56 Classic-Compatible trains

According to Wikipedia, the first order will be for 54 Classic-Compatible trains, so I would assume, that more trains will be ordered.

Eastern Leg

These are the services for the Eastern Leg between London , Birmingham, East Midlands Hub, Leeds, Sheffield, York and Newcastle.

Train 15 – Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds – 200 metre Full-Size – 49 minutes – 2 hour Round Trip – 2 trains
Train 16 – Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds – 200 metre Full-Size – 49 minutes – 2 hour Round Trip – 2 trains
Train 17 – Birmingham Curzon Street and Newcastle – Classic Compatible – 1 hour 57 minutes – 5 hour Round Trip – 5 trains
Train 18 – London Euston and Sheffield – Classic Compatible – 1 hour 27 minutes – 4 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 18 – London Euston and Leeds – Classic Compatible – 1 hour 21 minutes – 3 hour Round Trip – 3 trains
Train 19 – London Euston and Leeds – 400 metre Full-Size – 1 hour and 21 minutes – 3 hour Round Trip – 6 trains
Train 20 – London Euston and Leeds – 400 metre Full-Size – 1 hour and 21 minutes – 3 hour Round Trip – 6 trains
Train 21 – London Euston and Sheffield – Classic Compatible – 1 hour 27 minutes – 4 hour Round Trip – 4 trains
Train 21 – London Euston and York – Classic Compatible – 1 hour 24 minutes – 3 hour Round Trip – 3 trains
Train 22 – London Euston and Newcastle – Classic Compatible – 2 hour 17 minutes – 5 hour Round Trip – 5 trains
Train 23 – London Euston and Newcastle – Classic Compatible – 2 hour 17 minutes – 5 hour Round Trip – 5 trains

Note.

I have assumed 400 metre Full-Size trains will be a pair of 200 metre trains.
Trains 15 and 16 work as a pair
I think that trains 18 and 21 work an intricate dance with appropriate splitting and joining at East Midlands Hub.
The full schedule will need 16 Full-Size trains and 29 Classic-Compatible trains

Adding the two legs together and I estimate that 50 Full-Size trains and 85 Classic-Compatible trains, will be needed to run a full schedule.

Trains Per Hour On Each Section

It is possible to make a table of how many trains run on each section of the High Speed Two network in trains per hour (tph)

London Euston (stops) – 1-11, 18-23 – 17 tph
London Euston and Old Oak Common – 1-11, 18-23 – 17 tph
Old Oak Common (stops) – 1-11, 18-23 – 17 tph
Old Oak Common and Birmingham Interchange – 1-11, 18-23 – 17 tph
Birmingham Interchange (stops) – 2, 3, 7, 11, 20 – 5 tph
Birmingham Curzon Street (stops) – 1-3, 12-14, 15-17 – 9 tph
Birmingham and Crewe – 4,5, 7-9, 10-14 – 10 tph
Crewe (stops) – 4,5 – 2 tph
Crewe and Liverpool – 4,5 – 2 tph
Crewe and Lancaster – 4, 10-12 – 4 tph
Crewe and Manchester – 7-9, 13, 14 – 5 tph
Crewe and Wigan via Warrington – 4 – 1 tph
Crewe and Wigan via High Speed Two (new route) – 10-12 – 3 tph
Lancaster (stops) 4 – 1 tph
Lancaster and Carlisle – 10-12 – 3 tph
Carlisle and Edinburgh – 10-12 – 2.5 tph
Carlisle and Glasgow – 10-12 – 2.5 tph
Birmingham and Stoke – 6 – 1 tph
Stoke (stops) – 6 – 1 tph
Stoke and Macclesfield – 6 – 1 tph
Macclesfield (stops) – 6 – 1 tph
Birmingham and East Midlands Hub – 15-17, 18-20, 21-23 – 9 tph
East Midlands Hub (stops) – 15-17, 18-20, 21 – 7 tph
East Midlands Hub and Sheffield – 18, 21 – 2 tph
Sheffield (stops) – 18, 21 – 2 tph
Midlands Hub and Leeds – 15, 16, 18-20 – 5 tph
Leeds (stops) – 15, 16, 18-20 – 5 tph
East Midlands Hub and York – 17, 21-23 – 4 tph
York (stops) – 17, 21-23 – 4 tph
York and Newcastle – 17, 22, 23 – 3 tph
Newcastle (stops) – 17, 22, 23 – 3 tph

These are a few thoughts.

Capacity Of The Southern Leg

The busiest section is between London Euston and Birmingham Interchange, which handles 17 tph.

As the maximum capacity of High Speed Two is laid down in the Phase One Act as 18 tph, this gives a path for recovery, according to the article.

Trains Serving Euston

The following train types serve London Euston station.

Full-Size – 8 tph
400 metre Classic-Compatible – 5 tph
200 metre Classic-Compatible – 4 tph

As a 200 metre long train needs the same track and platform resources as a 400 metre long train, by splitting and joining, it would appear that extra destinations could be served.

Platform Use At Euston

This page on the High Speed Two web site, gives details of Euston High Speed Two station.

HS2 will deliver eleven new 400m long platforms, a new concourse and improved connections to Euston and Euston Square Underground stations. Our design teams are also looking at the opportunity to create a new northerly entrance facing Camden Town as well as new east-west links across the whole station site.

So how will the eleven platforms be used?

Destinations served from London are planned to be as follows.

Birmingham Curzon Street – Full-Size – 3 tph
Edinburgh/Glasgow – Classic-Compatible – 2 tph
Lancaster – Classic-Compatible – 1 tph
Leeds – Full-Size – 2 tph – Classic-Compatible – 1 tph

Liverpool – Classic-Compatible – 2 tph

Macclesfield – Classic-Compatible – 1 tph
Manchester Piccadilly – Full-Size – 3 tph
Newcastle – Classic-Compatible – 2 tph
Sheffield – Classic-Compatible – 2 tph
York – Classic-Compatible – 1 tph

That is ten destinations and there will be eleven platforms.

I like it! Lack of resources is often the reason systems don’t work well and there are certainly enough platforms.

Could platforms be allocated something like this?

Birmingham Curzon Street – Full-Size
Edinburgh/Glasgow – Classic-Compatible
Leeds – Full-Size
Liverpool – Classic-Compatible – Also serves Lancaster
Macclesfield – Classic-Compatible
Manchester Piccadilly – Full-Size
Newcastle – Classic-Compatible
Sheffield – Classic-Compatible – Also serves Leeds and York

Note.

No platform handles more than three tph.
There are three spare platforms.
Each platform would only be normally used by one train type.
Only Birmingham Interchange, East Midlands Hub, Leeds, Preston and York are not always served from the same platform.

Platform arrangements could be very passenger- and operator-friendly.

Platform Use At Birmingham Curzon Street

Birmingham Curzon Street station has been designed to have seven platforms.

Destinations served from Birmingham Curzon Street station are planned to be as follows.

Edinburgh/Glasgow – Classic-Compatible – 1 tph
Leeds – Full-Size – 2 tph
London Euston – Full-Size – 3 tph
Manchester Piccadilly – Full-Size – 2 tph
Newcastle – Classic-Compatible – 1 tph
Nottingham – Classic-Compatible – 1 tph

Note.

The Nottingham service has been proposed by Midlands Engine Rail, but will be running High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains.
That is six destinations and there will be seven platforms.

I like it! For the same reason as London Euston.

Could platforms be allocated something like this?

Edinburgh/Glasgow – Classic-Compatible
Leeds – Full-Size
London Euston – Full-Size
Manchester Piccadilly – Full-Size
Newcastle/Nottingham – Classic-Compatible

Note.

No platform handles more than three tph.
There are two spare platforms.
Each platform would only be normally used by one train type.
Only East Midlands Hub is not always served from the same platform.

Platform arrangements could be very passenger- and operator-friendly.

Back-to-Back Services via Birmingham Curzon Street

The current plan for High Speed Two envisages the following services between the main terminals served by Full-Size trains.

London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street – 3 tph – 45 minutes
London Euston and Leeds – 2 tph – 81 minutes
London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly – 3 tph – 71 minutes
Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds – 2 tph – 40 minutes
Birmingham Curzon Street and Manchester Piccadilly – 2 tph – 41 minutes

Suppose a traveller wanted to go between East Midlands Hub and Manchester Airport stations.

Wouldn’t it be convenient if the Leeds to Birmingham Curzon Street train, stopped in Birmingham Curzon Street alongside the train to Manchester Airport and Piccadilly, so passengers could just walk across?

Or the two services could be run Back-to-Back with a reverse in Birmingham Curzon Street station?

Note.

The current fastest times between Nottingham and Manchester Airport stations are around two-and-a-half hours, with two changes.
With High Speed Two, it looks like the time could be under the hour, even allowing up to eight minutes for the change at Birmingham Curzon Street.

The design of the track and stations for High Speed Two, has some interesting features that will be exploited by the train operator, to provide better services.

Capacity Of The Western Leg Between Birmingham And Crewe

The section is between Birmingham and Crewe, will be running 10 tph.

As the maximum capacity of High Speed Two is laid down in the Phase One Act as 18 tph, this gives plenty of room for more trains.

But where will they come from?

High Speed One copes well with a few interlopers in the shape of Southeastern’s Class 395 trains, which run at 140 mph, between the Eurostars.

High Speed Two is faster, but what is to stop an operator running their own Classic-Compatible trains on the following routes.

Birmingham Curzon Street and Liverpool via Crewe, Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway.
Birmingham Curzon Street and Holyhead via Crewe, Chester and an electrified North Wales Coast Line.
Birmingham Curzon Street and Blackpool via Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western and Preston.
Birmingham Curzon Street and Blackburn and Burnley via Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western and Preston.

Note.

If these trains were say 130 metres long, they could call at all stations, without any platform lengthening.
I’m sure that the clever engineers at Hitachi and Hyperdrive Innovation could come up with battery electric Classic-Compatible train, that could run at 225 mph on High Speed Two and had a battery range to reach Holyhead, with a small amount of electrification.
A pair of trains, could work the last two services with a Split/Join at Preston.

The advantages of terminating these service in Birmingham Curzon Street would be as follows.

A lot more places get a fast connection to the High Speed Two network.
Passengers can reach London with an easy change at Birmingham Curzon Street station.
They can also walk easily between the three Birmingham stations.

But the big advantage is the trains don’t use valuable paths on High Speed Two between Birmingham Curzon Street and London Euston.

Crewe Station

In the current Avanti West Coast timetable, the following trains pass through Crewe.

London Euston and Blackpool – 4 trains per day (tpd)
London Euston and Chester – 1 tph
London Euston and Edinburgh/Glasgow – 2 tph
London Euston and Liverpool – 1 tph
London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly – 1 tph

Most trains stop at Crewe.

In the proposed High Speed Two timetable, the following trains will pass through Crewe.

London Euston and Edinburgh/Glasgow – 2 tph
London Euston and Lancaster/Liverpool – 2 tph
London Euston and Manchester – 3 tph
Birmingham Curzon Street and Edinburgh/Glasgow -1 tph
Birmingham Curzon Street and Manchester – 2 tph

Note.

Only the Lancaster and Liverpool trains stop at Crewe station.
North of Crewe there will be a three-way split of High Speed Two routes to Liverpool, Wigan and the North and Manchester Airport and Piccadilly.
High Speed Two will loop to the East and then join the West Coast Main Line to the South of Wigan.
High Speed Two trains will use the West Coast Main Line to the North of Wigan North Western station.

This map of High Speed Two in North West England was captured from the interactive map on the High Speed Two web site.

Note.

The current West Coast Main Line (WCML) and Phase 2a of High Speed Two are shown in blue.
Phase 2b of High Speed Two is shown in orange.
The main North-South route, which is shown in blue, is the WCML passing through Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western as it goes North.
The Western Branch, which is shown in blue, is the Liverpool Branch of the WCML, which serves Runcorn and Liverpool.
High Speed Two, which is shown in orange, takes a faster route between Crewe and Wigan North Western.
The Eastern Branch, which is shown in orange, is the Manchester Branch of High Speed Two, which serves Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly.
The route in the East, which is shown in blue, is the Macclesfield Branch of High Speed Two, which serves Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield.

The route of Northern Powerhouse Rail between Manchester Airport and Liverpool has still to be finalised.

Liverpool Branch

Consider.

The Liverpool Branch will take two tph between London Euston and Liverpool.
In the future it could take up to 6 tph on Northern Powerhouse Rail between Liverpool and Manchester Piccadilly via Manchester Airport.

I believe that Liverpool Lime Street station, after the recent updating can handle all these trains.

Manchester Branch

This document on the Government web site is entitled HS2 Phase 2b Western Leg Design Refinement Consultation.

It indicates two important recently-made changes to the design of the Manchester Branch of High Speed Two.

Manchester Airport station will have four High Speed platforms instead of two.
Manchester Piccadilly station will have six High Speed platforms instead of four.

These changes will help the use of these stations by Northern Powerhouse Rail..

Consider.

The Manchester Branch will be new high speed track, which will probably be built in a tunnel serving Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly stations.
The Manchester Branch will terminate in new platforms.
The Manchester Branch will take five tph between Birmingham Curzon Street or London Euston and Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly.
In the future it could take up to six tph on Northern Powerhouse Rail between Liverpool and Manchester Piccadilly via Manchester Airport.
London Euston and Old Oak Common will be new stations on a tunnelled approach to London and will handle 18 tph.

If London Euston and Old Oak Common can handle 18 tph, I can’t see why Manchester Airport and Piccadilly stations can’t handle somewhere near a similar number of trains.

At the moment eleven tph have been allocated to the Manchester Branch.

I believe that if infrastructure for Northern Powerhouse Rail was designed so that as well as connecting to Manchester and Liverpool, it connected Manchester and the West Coast Main Line running North to Preston, Carlisle and Scotland, services to the following destinations would be possible.

Barrow
Blackburn
Blackpool
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Windermere

Note.

Edinburgh and Glasgow would probably be a service that would alternate the destination, as it is proposed for High Speed Two’s Birmingham and Scotland service.
There would probably be a need for a North Wales and Manchester service via Chester.
All trains would be Classic-Compatible.

If the Manchester Branch were to be built to handle 18 tph, there would be more than enough capacity.

Crewe, Wigan And Manchester

My summing up earlier gave the number of trains between Crewe, Wigan and Manchester as follows.

Crewe and Manchester – 5 tph
Crewe and Wigan via Warrington – 1 tph
Crewe and Wigan via High Speed Two (new route) – 3 tph

This map of High Speed Two where the Manchester Branch leaves the new High Speed Two route between Crewe and Wigan was captured from the interactive map on the High Speed Two web site.

Note.

The Manchester Branch runs to the South of the M56,
The large blue dot indicates Manchester Airport station.
Wigan is to the North.
Crewe is to the South.
Manchester Piccadilly is to the North East.

I believe this junction will be turned into a full triangular junction, to connect Wigan directly to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly.

Barrow, Blackburn, Blackpool, Preston and Windermere could all have high speed connections to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly. Trains could be shorter Classic-Compatible trains.
A Manchester and Scotland service would take the same route.

Another pair of tracks could leave the junction to the West to create a direct route between Manchester Airport and Liverpool for Northern Powerhouse Rail, by sneaking along the M56.

Suppose extra services were as follows.

Manchester and Barrow – 1 tph
Manchester and Blackburn – 1 tph
Manchester and Blackpool – 1 tph
Manchester and Liverpool – 6 tph
Manchester and Scotland – 1 tph
Manchester and Windermere – 1 tph

The frequencies from the junction would be as follows.

To and from Crewe – High Speed Two (Manchester) – 5 tph – High Speed Two (North) – 3 tph = 8 tph
To and from Liverpool – Northern Powerhouse Rail – 6 tph = 6 tph
To and from Manchester – High Speed Two – 5 tph – Northern Powerhouse Rail – 6 tph – Local – 4 tph – Scotland – 1 tph = 16 tph
To and from Wigan – High Speed Two – 3 tph – Local – 4 tph – Scotland – 1 tph = 8 tph.

Only the Manchester Branch would be working hard.

The Liverpool Connection

I indicated that another pair of tracks would need to extend the Manchester Branch towards Liverpool in the West for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Would these tracks have a station at Warrington?
Would there be a connection to allow services between Liverpool and the North and Scotland?

It might even be possible to design a Liverpool connection, that avoided using the current Liverpool Branch and increased the capacity and efficiency of all trains to Liverpool.

Capacity Of The Western Leg Between Wigan And Scotland

The sections between Crewe and Carlisle, will be running at the following frequencies.

Wigan and Lancaster – 4 tph
Lancaster and Carlisle – 3 tph
Carlisle and Edinburgh – 2.5 tph
Carlisle and Glasgow – 2.5 tph

Note.

The unusual Scottish frequencies are caused by splitting and joining at Carlisle and alternate services to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Any local high speed services and a Scotland service from Manchester, will increase the frequencies.

Over this section the services will be running on an improved West Coast Main Line.

But in some cases the trains will be replacing current services, so the increase in total frequencies will be less than it first appears.

Avanti West Coast currently run the following Scottish services.

One tph – London Euston and Glasgow via the most direct route.
One tph – London Euston and alternately Edinburgh and Glasgow via Birmingham.

This means that effectively Glasgow has 1.5 tph and Edinburgh 0.5 tph from London Euston.

The capacity of the current eleven-car Class 390 trains is 145 First and 444 Standard Class seats, which compares closely with the 500-600 seats given in Wikipedia for High Speed Two trains. So the capacity of the two trains is not that different.

But High Speed Two will be running 2.5 tph Between London Euston and both Edinburgh and Glasgow.

I would expect, that Class 390 services to Scotland will be discontinued and replaced by High Speed Two services.

Capacity Of The Eastern Leg Between Birmingham And East Midlands Hub

The section is between Birmingham and East Midlands Hub, will be running 9 tph

As the maximum capacity of High Speed Two is laid down in the Phase One Act as 18 tph, this gives plenty of room for more trains.

But where will they come from?

Midlands Engine Rail is proposing a service between Birmingham Curzon Street and Nottingham.

It will have a frequency of one tph.
It will be run by High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains.
The journey will take 33 minutes.
It will run on High Speed Two infrastructure between Birmingham Curzon Street and East Midlands Hub.

If High Speed Two has been designed with this service in mind, I doubt it will be a difficult service to setup.

There might be enough capacity on High Speed Two for two tph on the route,
It could possibly be extended to Lincoln.

It will also depend on the service timing being consistent with an efficient use of trains and platforms.

Thirty-three minutes is not a good timing, as it means twenty-seven minutes wait in a platform to get a round trip time, that suits clock-face time-tabling.
The current Lincoln and Nottingham service takes 56 minutes for 34 miles.
LNER’s London Kings Cross and Lincoln service travels the 16 miles between Lincoln and Newark in 25 minutes.
I estimate that after track improvements, with a single stop at Newark Castle station, that Nottingham and Lincoln could be achieved in several minutes under fifty minutes.
This would enable a sub-ninety minute journey time between Birmingham Curzon Street and Lincoln, with enough time to properly turn the trains at both ends of the route.
The three hour round trip would mean that an hourly service would need three trains.

This is probably just one of several efficient time-tabling possibilities.

Are there any other similar services?

The obvious one is surely Cambridge and Birmingham

It would run via Peterborough, Grantham, Nottingham and East Midlands Hub.
It would connect the three big science, engineering and medical centres in the Midlands and the East.
It could be run by High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains.

It might even be a replacement for CrossCountry’s Stansted Airport and Birmingham service.

Capacity Of The Eastern Leg Between East Midlands Hub And Sheffield

The section between East Midlands Hub and Sheffield, will be running 2 tph

As the maximum capacity of High Speed Two is laid down in the Phase One Act as 18 tph, this gives plenty of room for more trains.

But where will they come from?

This map of High Speed Two where the Sheffield Branch leaves the new High Speed Two route between East Midlands Hub and Leeds was captured from the interactive map on the High Speed Two web site.

Note.

The main route of High Speed Two between East Midlands Hub, is shown in orange and follows the route of the M1 Motorway, towards the East of the map.
The Sheffield Branch is new track to Clay Cross North Junction, where is takes over the Midland Main Line to Sheffield, which is shown in blue.
The line going South in the middle of the map is the Erewash Valley Line, which goes through Langley Mill and Ilkeston stations.

I suspect Clay Cross to Sheffield will be an electrified high speed line, with a maximum speed of at least 140 mph.

Could the Erewash Valley Line have been used as an alternative route to Sheffield?

This map of High Speed Two captured from their interactive map, shows the connection of High Speed Two and the Erewash Valley Line to East Midlands Hub.

Note.

East Midlands Hub is shown by the big blue dot.
High Speed Two is shown in orange.
The route to Leeds vaguely follows the M1 Motorway.
The Erewash Valley Line goes North to the East of Ilkeston.

Would have been quicker and easier to electrify the Erewash Valley Line, as the High Speed Two route to Chesterfield and Sheffield?

Network Rail updated the route a few years ago.
It does not have the problems of electrification, through a World Heritage Site, as does the route through Derby.
It could surely handle two tph, even if they were High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains.
Sheffield will be just under ninety minutes from London by High Speed Two, as opposed to two hours now.

I suspect that it all comes down to saving a few minutes to Sheffield and the civic pride of having a High Speed Two connection.

So it looks like we’ll have the following capacity between East Midlands Hub and Sheffield.

Between East Midlands Hub and Clay Cross North Junction, there will be the High Speed Two capacity of 18 tph.
Between Clay Cross and Sheffield, there will probably be an upgraded capacity of perhaps 8-10 tph.

It seems a lot of capacity for just two tph.

Consider.

High Speed Two is planning to run three tph between Birmingham Curzon Street and East Midlands Hub
Midlands Rail Engine is planning to run one tph between Birmingham Curzon Street and East Midlands Hub
Four tph is considered a Turn-Up-And-Go service, and could exist between Birmingham Curzon Street and East Midlands Hub.
Sheffield and Leeds, both probably need a Turn-Up-And-Go service, to and from East Midlands Hub.
Semi-fast services between Sheffield and East Midlands Hub, calling at Chesterfield, Alfreton, Langley Mill and Ilkeston would be possible, by using the Erewash Valley Line.
The Maid Marian Line will join the Robin Hood Line in adding extra connectivity to East Midlands Hub Station.
Leeds and East Midlands Hub could have a six tph service courtesy of High Speed Two and Midlands Rail Engine.

Using High Speed Two’s web site, the following times should be possible.

Sheffield and East Midlands Hub – 27 minutes
Sheffield and Birmingham Curzon Street – 47 minutes.

Both services allow time for an efficient service.

There are certainly many options to create a Turn-Up-And-Go service between Sheffield and East Midlands Hub and also improve connections to other locations across the area.

Capacity Of The Eastern Leg Between East Midlands Hub And Leeds

The section is between East Midlands Hub and Leeds, will be running 5 tph

High Speed Two between Midlands Hub and Leeds is a totally new high speed line.

As the maximum capacity of High Speed Two is laid down in the Phase One Act as 18 tph, this gives plenty of room for more trains.
The Southern section of the leg closely follows the M1 Motorway.
Leeds, York and Newcastle will be 27, 36 and 93 minutes from East Midlands Hub, respectively.

This map of High Speed Two, which shows the route of the line in Yorkshire, was captured from the interactive map on the High Speed Two web site.

Note.

Sheffield is marked by the blue dot in the South.
Leeds is marked by the blue dot in the North West.
York is marked by the blue dot in the North East.
New routes are shown in orange.
Upgraded routes are shown in blue.

The route seems to open up several possibilities for extra routes.

Leeds and Sheffield will be used by Northern Powerhouse Rail and there will be four tph, taking 28 minutes.

Leeds and Bedford via East Midlands Hub has been proposed by Midlands Rail Engine.

Services between Sheffield and the North via York must be a possibility.

This map of High Speed Two, which shows the routes to the East of Leeds, was captured from High Speed Two’s interactive map.

I think that two things might be missing.

A full triangular junction would surely allow services between Leeds and the North via York.
A high speed connection to Hull.

We shall see in the future.

Capacity Of The Eastern Leg Between York And Newcastle

The section between York and Newcastle, will be running at a frequency of 3 tph.

Over this section the services will be running on an improved East Coast Main Line.

Conclusion

I shall split the conclusions into various sections.

Route And Track Layout

I think there may be places, where the route and track layout might need to be improved.

The Manchester Branch probably needs a triangular junction with the Western Leg of High Speed Two.
How Liverpool is served by Northern Powerhouse Rail needs to be decided.
The approach to Leeds probably needs a triangular junction with the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.
It is not clear how services will reach Hull.

Hopefully, these issues will become clear in the next year or so.

Capacity

The sections with the highest levels of capacity would appear to be the following.

London Euston and Birmingham Interchange.
The Manchester Branch
The section shared with the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle.
The section shared with the West Coast Main Line between Wigan and Scotland.

But on these sections extra trains can be run.

Birmingham and North West England
Birmingham and East Midlands Hub
East Midlands Hub and Leeds
East Midlands Hub and Sheffield
East Midlands Hub and York

I can see, this capacity being filled by high speed local services, like those proposed by Midlands Rail Engine.

Rolling Stock

The only comment, I will make, is that there could be a need for a shorter Classic-Compatible train to work local services.

October 22, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Design, Transport | Avanti West Coast, Clay Cross North Junction, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, Double-Deck Trains, East Coast Main Line, East Midlands Hub Station, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Hitachi, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Hyperdrive Innovation, Leeds Station, Liverpool Lime Street Station, Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Midlands Engine Rail, Sheffield Station, Step-Free, West Coast Main Line, York Station | 5 Comments

!40 mph Electric Trains At Kings Cross Station

This picture shows LNER’s old and new 140 mph electric trains at Kings Cross station.

On the left is a nine-car Class 801 train.

Introduced into service in 2019
234 metres long
Capacity – 510 Standard and 101 First
One diesel engine for emergency power.

On the right is an InterCity 225.

Introduced into service in 1988-1991.
Nine Mark 4 coaches
245 metres long
Capacity 406 Standard and 129 First
No emergency power
As I wrote in Overhauls for LNER’s Remaining Class 91s And Mk 4s, the InterCity 225s are being updated to offer electric services between London Kings Cross and Bradford, Leeds, Skipton and York.

Both trains are designed for 140 mph and will be able to attain this speed, when in-cab digital signalling is available.

It looks like LNER will have the following full-size electric fleet.

Thirty Class 801 trains
Seven InterCity 225 trains and spare coaches, driving van trailers and locomotives.

Both trains will be able to work any route with full electrification.

Changes In The Future To LNER Services

I predict that the following will happen.

140 mph Running Between Woolmer Green And Doncaster

This will happen and the following trains will take advantage.

LNER’s Class 800 and Class 801 trains
Hull Train’s Class 802 trains
East Coast Trains’s Class 803 trains

The odd ones out will be Grand Central’s Class 180 trains, which are diesel and only capable of 125 mph.

How long will the other train operating companies accept slow trains on the 140 mph railway?

Digital In-Cab Signalling And 140 mph Running Will Speed Up Services

In Thoughts On Digital Signalling On The East Coast Main Line, I said that following train times would be possible., in addition to a London Kings Cross and Leeds time of two hours.

London Kings Cross and Bradford Forster Square – two hours and thirty minutes
London Kings Cross and Harrogate – two hours and thirty minutes
London Kings Cross and Huddersfield – two hours and twenty minutes
London Kings Cross and Hull – two hours and thirty minutes
London Kings Cross and Middlesbrough – two hours and thirty minutes
London Kings Cross and Scarborough – two hours and thirty minutes
London Kings Cross and Skipton – two hours and thirty minutes
London Kings Cross and York – two hours

Note.

All timings would be possible with Hitachi Class 80x trains.
Timings on Fully-electrified routes would be possible with InterCity 225 trains.

It appears that Grand Central will be stuck in the slow lane.

Grand Central Will Acquire Hitachi Trains Or Give Up

Grand Central‘s destinations of Bradford Interchange and Sunderland can’t be reached by all-electric trains, so will either have to follow Hull Trains and purchase Hitachi bi-mode trains or give up their routes.

The Diesel Engines In The Class 801 Trains Will Be Replaced By Batteries

East Coast Trains’ Class 803 trains have a slightly different powertrain to LNER’s Class 801 trains, which is explained like this in Wikipedia.

Unlike the Class 801, another non-bi-mode AT300 variant which despite being designed only for electrified routes carries a diesel engine per unit for emergency use, the new units will not be fitted with any, and so would not be able to propel themselves in the event of a power failure. They will however be fitted with batteries to enable the train’s on-board services to be maintained, in case the primary electrical supplies would face a failure.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar battery system fitted to the Class 801 trains.

The Diesel Engines In Hull Trains Class 802 Trains Will Be Replaced By Batteries

In Hull Issues New Plea For Electrification, I showed how Hitachi’s Class 802 trains with batteries instead of diesel engines could work long-distance services to and from Hull.

This will happen, as electric trains to London, would be a dream for a marketing man or woman.

Will The InterCity 225 Trains Lose Some First Class Seats?

This may happen, so that the seating layout in both trains is almost identical.

I’m certain, that it could be arranged, that seat numbers in both trains could have a similar position.

This would mean that if an InterCity 225 train replaced a Class 801 train, there wouldn’t need to be a seat reallocation.

Could InterCity 225 Trains Be Fitted With Emergency Batteries?

If LNER thought they were needed, I’m sure that this would be possible and Hyperdrive Innovation would oblige!

Conclusion

British Rail last hurrah, is giving Hitachi’s latest trains, a run for their money!

September 17, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport | Class 801 Train, Digital Signalling, East Coast Main Line, ERTMS, InterCity 225, Kings Cross Station, Leeds Station, LNER | 8 Comments

« Previous Entries

About This Blog

What this blog will eventually be about I do not know.

But it will be about how I’m coping with the loss of my wife and son to cancer in recent years and how I manage with being a coeliac and recovering from a stroke. It will be about travel, sport, engineering, food, art, computers, large projects and London, that are some of the passions that fill my life.

And hopefully, it will get rid of the lonely times, from which I still suffer.

Why Anonymous? That’s how you feel at times.

Search for:
Charities
Useful Links
Top Posts
WordPress Admin
Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,757 other followers

Email Address:

The Anonymous Widower

Is A Crossrail For Leeds On The Way?

WYCA To Discuss Latest Plans For £24.2m White Rose Rail Station

Is The Eastern Leg Of High Speed Two Under Threat?

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Significant Upgrades Of The East Coast Main Line From Leeds To Newcastle (Via York And Darlington) And Restoration Of The Leamside Line

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Significant Upgrades And Electrification Of The Rail Lines From Leeds And Sheffield To Hull

LNER Seeks 10 More Bi-Modes

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Connecting Sheffield To HS2 And On To Leeds

Northern Powerhouse Rail – A New Line Between Manchester And Leeds Via The Centre Of Bradford

How Many Trains Are Needed To Run A Full Service On High Speed Two?

!40 mph Electric Trains At Kings Cross Station

About This Blog

Charities

Useful Links

Top Posts

WordPress Admin

Email Subscription

Archives

Categories

Tweets

Site info