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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

I describe this problem and my solution in Improving The North Throat Of York Station Including Skelton Bridge Junction.

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

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

I have laid out my ideas for a modern express train of the same name in A New Elizabethan.

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/Travel | Class 801 Train, Class 803 Trains, Class AT-300 Train, Consett Station, Control Engineering, COVID-19, Darlington Station, East Coast Main Line, ERTMS, High Speed East Coast, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Leamside Line, Leeds Station, LNER, Lumo, Newcastle Station, Northallerton Station, Northern Powerhouse Rail Recommendations - November 2020, Skelton Bridge Junction, Stillington Line, The Elizabethan, Trains, Tyne And Wear Metro, York Station | 5 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/Travel | Brough Station, Class 800 Train, Class 802 Train, Discontinuous Electrification, Drax Power Station, Global Warming/Zero-Carbon, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Hull, Hull Station, HumberZero, Leeds Station, LNER, Network Rail, Northern Powerhouse Rail Recommendations - November 2020, Northern Rail, Sheffield Station, TransPennine Express | 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.

I have laid out my ideas for a modern express train of the same name in A New Elizabethan.

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 higher 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/Travel | Aberdeen, Adrian Shooter, Automatic Splitting And Joining Of Trains, Battery-Electric Trains, Driving Van Trailer, 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, The Elizabethan, Vivarail Pop-Up Metro | 17 Comments

High Speed Two And Scotland

In this post, I will only look at services and capacity.

I will leave the economics to others with the appropriate data.

Current Anglo-Scottish Services

Currently, these services run between England and Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central stations.

1 train per hour (tph) – Avanti West Coast – London Euston and Glasgow Central via Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle.
1 train per two hours (tp2h) – Avanti West Coast – London Euston and Glasgow Central via Milton Keynes Central, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell and Dudley, Wolverhampton, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle.
1 tp2h – CrossCountry – South-West England and Edinburgh Waverley via Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds, York and Newcastle.
1 tp2h – CrossCountry – South-West England and Glasgow Central via Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley.
1 tph – LNER – London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley via York, Darlington, Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed
1 tph – LNER – London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley via Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster, York, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
1 tph – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle and Morpeth
1 tp2h – TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Edinburgh Waverley via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Bolton, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle.
3 trains per day (tpd) – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central via St. Helen’s Central, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle.
1 tp2h – TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Glasgow Central via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Bolton, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle.

Note.

I’ve not included service extensions to Aberdeen and Inverness.
I’ve cut out a few smaller stations
Some services call at both Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Because of signalling and track improvements it is likely that London Kings Cross and Edinburgh timings will come down to four hours.

The services can be roughly summarised as follows.

Birmingham and Edinburgh – 0.5 tph
Birmingham and Glasgow – 1 tph
London and Edinburgh – 2 tph
London and Glasgow – 1.5 tph
Leeds and Edinburgh – 1.5 tph
Leeds and Glasgow – 0.5 tph
Liverpool and Edinburgh – 1 tph
Liverpool and Glasgow – 3 tpd
Manchester and Edinburgh – 1.5 tph
Manchester and Glasgow – 0.5 tph
Manchester Airport and Edinburgh – 0.5 tph
Manchester Airport and Glasgow – 0.5 tph

Note.

I have ignored the five tpd London Kings Cross and Edinburgh service, that starts next year, which will be run by East Coast Trains.
0.5 tph is equivalent to one tp2h.

It looks a fairly well-balanced and comprehensive service.

High Speed Two Anglo-Scottish Services

According to a table in the June 2020 Edition of Modern Railways, these High Speed Two services will run between England and Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central.

1 tph – London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley via Old Oak Common, Preston, Carlisle and Edinburgh Haymarket
1 tph – London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley via Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange, Preston, Carlisle and Edinburgh Haymarket
1 tph – London Euston and Glasgow Central via Old Oak Common, Preston and Carlisle
1 tph – London Euston and Glasgow Central via Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange, Preston and Carlisle
1 tp2h – Birmingham Curzon Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme or Penrith, Carlisle and Edinburgh Haymarket.
1 tp2h – Birmingham Curzon Street and Glasgow Central via Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme or Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie and Motherwell.

Note.

All trains will be High Speed Two’s 200 metre long Classic-Compatible trains.
The four one tph services will run as two pairs of trains and split and join at Carlisle.

The services can be roughly summarised as follows.

Birmingham and Edinburgh – 1.5 tph
Birmingham and Glasgow – 1.5 tph
London and Edinburgh – 2 tph
London and Glasgow – 2 tph

Note.

Passengers between Liverpool or Manchester and Scotland will have to change at Preston.
There is no connection between the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two and Edinburgh.
London and Edinburgh Waverley will take three hours and forty minutes, which saves twenty minutes on the likely four hours on the East Coast Main Line.
London and Glasgow Central will take three hours and forty minutes, which saves fifty minutes on the current time.

High Speed Two certainly provides good services between London, Birmingham and Scotland, but it leaves out travelling between the cities of the North and North of the Border.

High Speed Two Classic-Conventional Trains

In Thoughts On Class 807 Trains And High Speed Two’s Classic-Compatible Trains, I discussed a design of Classic-Compatible High Speed Two train based on the recently-ordered Class 807 trains for Avanti West Coast.

Except for the required speeds, the specifications of the trains are similar and this was my conclusion.

I wouldn’t be surprised that Hitachi’s offering for more trains on the West Coast Main Line and the Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two are very similar to the Class 807 trains.

- The Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two could be eight-car trains with twenty-five metre cars.
- The replacements for the eleven-car Class 390 trains could be nine-car trains with twenty-six metre cars.

Both would be based on the Class 807 train.

A common design would surely ease operation of the combined West Coast Partnership.

TransPennine Express Between Liverpool Lime Street And Edinburgh

Will this TransPennine Express service still be the primary connection between the North of England and Edinburgh?

It has a frequency of one tph.
It takes about four hours and fifty minutes.
It connects Liverpool, Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle to the Scottish capital.
According to Real Time Trains, it runs as far as York on diesel and then using the electrification.

Current plans envisage Northern Powerhouse Rail will create an electrified route across the Pennines.

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

It gives these times and frequencies for the various legs of the route.

Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport – 26 minutes – 6 tph
Manchester and Leeds – 25 minutes – 6 tph
Leeds and Newcastle – 58 minutes – 4 tph
Newcastle and Edinburgh – 90 minutes

This totals to three hours and nineteen minutes.

Note.

The Newcastle and Edinburgh time is that currently achievable today by Class 801 trains.
Liverpool and Manchester city centres have a six tph high speed service via Manchester Airport.
Manchester and Edinburgh will be under three hours.
Leeds and Edinburgh will be under two-and-a-half hours.
The Manchester and Manchester Airport leg could be shared with High Speed Two.

Most of this will be achievable with the current TransPennine Express Class 802 trains, which are capable of 140 mph.

In addition, I think that it is likely that the East Coast Main Line will be upgraded between York and Newcastle for High Speed Two.

Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh will unlikely be to High Speed Two standards, but it could match the standards of the East Coast Main Line.

Improvements To The East Coast Main Line Between Newcastle and Edinburgh

Consider

There have been reports that the power supply on the route is not very robust and Class 800 and Class 802 trains have to use diesel power.
The route is fairly straight and could probably be partially-upgraded for 140 mph running with appropriate signalling.
The route carries about five tph in both directions. Modern digital signalling could probably double this frequency.
The Scottish Government has suggested adding new stations at East Linton and Reston.
Edinburgh and Newcastle are 124.5 miles apart and trains typically take ninety minutes.

In addition, High Speed Two might like to extend some or all of their three Newcastle services to Edinburgh.

1 tph – Birmingham Curzon Street and Newcastle via East Midlands Hub, York, Darlington and Durham
1 tph – London Euston and Newcastle via Old Oak Common and York
1 tph – London Euston and Newcastle via Old Oak Common, York and Darlington.

High Speed Two will run between London Euston and Newcastle in two hours and seventeen minutes.

I think it could be possible, that an upgraded Newcastle and Edinburgh route could be covered in seventy minutes by either one of High Speed Two’s Classic Compatible trains or a Class 80x train.

This could mean these timings.

Under four hours for classic services between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh.
Around three hours for classic services between Liverpool and Edinburgh.
Under three-and-a-half hours for High Speed Two services between London Euston and Edinburgh.

This shows the importance of improving the East Coast Main Line to the North of Newcastle.

Improvements To The West Coast Main Line Between Carlisle and Glasgow/Edinburgh

If the frequency and speed of trains on the East Coast Main Line can be increased, what can be done on the West Coast Main Line?

Consider.

High Speed Two are showing Carlisle and Glasgow Central as a one hour and nineteen minute journey. Avanti West Coast do the journey in one hour and eleven minutes.
High Speed Two are showing Carlisle and Edinburgh as a one hour and eleven minute journey. Avanti West Coast do the journey in one hour and fifteen minutes.
Could the route be fully upgraded for 140 mph running with appropriate signalling?
In a typical hour, there are two Avanti West Coast trains and one TransPennine Express passing along all or part of the West Coast Main Line North of Carlisle.
The route carries a total of about four tph in both directions. Modern digital signalling could probably increase this frequency.
Hitachi and Avanti West Coast seem to be saying that their new Class 807 trains have similar performance to the Class 390 trains, but without using tilting technology.

There doesn’t appear to be the scope for such dramatic improvement in the West, as in the East, but I can still see a succession of 140 mph trains running between Carlisle and Glasgow or Edinburgh in no more than an hour and eleven minutes.

These passenger services could be running North of Carlisle, when High Speed Two is fully open.

2 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Edinburgh – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
2 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Glasgow Central – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
0.5 tph – High Speed Two – Birmingham Curzon Street and Edinburgh – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
0.5 tph – High Speed Two – Birmingham Curzon Street and Glasgow Central – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
0.5 tph – TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Edinburgh – Class 397 train
0.5 tph – TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Glasgow Central – Class 397 train
3 tpd – TransPennine Express – Liverpool and Glasgow Central – Class 397 train

Note.

I am assuming that Avanti West Coast’s services will be replaced by the High Speed Two services.
As the TransPennine Express services share a path, it would appear that six tph will be running between Carlisle and Edinburgh or Glasgow.

There would appear to be space for more trains on the West Coast Main Line, to the North of Carlisle.

A Few Random Thoughts

These are a few random thoughts and ideas.

Avanti West Coast And High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains

Avanti West Coast will have these fleets of high-speed trains.

11-car Class 390 electric trains, which are 265.3 metres long
9-car Class 390 electric trains, which are 217.5 metres long.
7-car Class 807 electric trains, which will be 182 metres long
5-car Class 805 bi-mode trains, which will be 130 metres long
High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains, which will be 200 metres long
Full-size High Speed Two trains, which will be 400 metres long.

It would appear that there could be some fleet simplification.

All Passenger Trains Between Newcastle Or Carlisle and Glasgow Central Or Edinburgh Should Be Capable Of Operating At 140 mph

Both the East and West Coast Main Lines between Carlisle and Newcastle in England and Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland are not far off being capable of running trains at 140 mph. Modern digital in-cab signalling and some track works will be needed.

Once 140 mph running is achieved, then all trains will need to be capable of making use of the speed, to maximise the capacity of the routes.

Freight Trains Between Newcastle Or Carlisle and Glasgow Central Or Edinburgh Should Be Capable Of Operating As Fast As Possible

Freight trains will need to be hauled by electric locomotives, at as high a speed as possible, to avoid slowing the express passenger trains.

More well-positioned freight loops may be needed.

Will TransPennine’s Manchester And Scotland Service Transfer To High Speed Two?

I think, that this is highly likely.

The service would be run by High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains.
Depending on track layout, the Liverpool and Scotland service on the West Coast Main Line could be upgraded to the High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains or discontinued.

This would mean, that all passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line North of Lancaster would be High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains.

2 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Edinburgh – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
2 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Glasgow Central – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
0.5 tph – High Speed Two – Birmingham Curzon Street and Edinburgh – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
0.5 tph – High Speed Two – Birmingham Curzon Street and Glasgow Central – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
0.5 tph – High Speed Two – Manchester Airport and Edinburgh – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
0.5 tph – High Speed Two – Manchester Airport and Glasgow Central – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train
3 tpd – High Speed Two – Liverpool and Glasgow Central – High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train

This must mean that if the operating speed on the West Coast Main Line were to be increased, all passenger services could take advantage, which would surely improve timings.

What About CrossCountry?

CrossCountry run a single hourly service between Plymouth and Edinburgh.

The route goes via Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds, York, Newcastle.
Some services are extended to Glasgow Central and Aberdeen.

Currently, this service is run by a diesel train, which surely will need to be replaced with a zero-carbon train.

Consider.

Scotland is keen to electrify or allow electric trains to run between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
High Speed Two will provide an electrified route between Birmingham and York via East Midlands Hub for Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield and Leeds.
The likes of Hitachi and Adrian Shooter of Vivarail are very bullish about battery electric trains.
Great Western Railway, Hitachi and Network Rail have probably hired Baldrick for a cunning plan to run battery electric trains between Bristol and Penzance.

Could it be possible for Hitachi or another manufacturer to design a High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train, with a battery capability?

A train with this specification, could be ideal for the Plymouth and Edinburgh service.

It might also be useful for these CrossCountry services.

Southampton and Newcastle
Bournemouth and Manchester Piccadilly
Exeter St. Davids/Bristol and Manchester Piccadilly
Cardiff Central and Nottingham
Birmingham and Nottingham
Birmingham and Stansted Airport

Note.

All could run on High Speed Two fpr part of the route.
Birmingham and Nottingham has already been proposed for running using High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train, by Midlands Engine Rail, as I wrote about in Classic-Compatible High Speed Two Trains At East Midlands Hub Station.
I proposed a Birmingham and Cambridge service using High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains in A Trip To Grantham Station – 4th November 2020.

High Speed Two could have a big positive effect on CrossCountry services.

Future Anglo-Scottish Services After High Speed Two Opens Fully

It is possible, that when High Speed Two fully opens, these services will run between England and Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central stations.

1 tp2h – CrossCountry – South-West England and Edinburgh Waverley via Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds, York and Newcastle.
1 tp2h – CrossCountry – South-West England and Glasgow Central via Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley.
1 tph – LNER – London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley via York, Darlington, Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed
1 tph – LNER – London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley via Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster, York, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
1 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley via Old Oak Common, Preston, Carlisle and Edinburgh Haymarket
1 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley via Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange, Preston, Carlisle and Edinburgh Haymarket
1 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Glasgow Central via Old Oak Common, Preston and Carlisle
1 tph – High Speed Two – London Euston and Glasgow Central via Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange, Preston and Carlisle
1 tp2h – High Speed Two – Birmingham Curzon Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme or Penrith, Carlisle and Edinburgh Haymarket.
1 tp2h – High Speed Two – Birmingham Curzon Street and Glasgow Central via Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme or Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie and Motherwell.
1 tph – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle and Morpeth
1 tp2h – High Speed Two – Manchester Airport and Edinburgh Waverley via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Bolton, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle.
3 trains per day (tpd) – High Speed Two – Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central via St. Helen’s Central, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle.
1 tp2h – High Speed Two – Manchester Airport and Glasgow Central via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Bolton, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle.

Note.

I have assumed that the Liverpool/Manchester services to Scotland via the West Coast Main Line have transferred to High Speed Two.
All trains would be run by High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains.

The services can be roughly summarised as follows.

Birmingham and Edinburgh – 1.5 tph (0.5 tph)
Birmingham and Glasgow – 1.5 tph (1 tph)
London and Edinburgh – 4 tph (2 tph)
London and Glasgow – 2 tph (1.5 tph)
Leeds and Edinburgh – 1.5 tph (1.5 tph)
Leeds and Glasgow – 0.5 tph (0.5 tph)
Liverpool and Edinburgh – 1 tph (1 tph)
Liverpool and Glasgow – 3 tpd (3 tpd)
Manchester and Edinburgh – 1.5 tph (1.5 tph)
Manchester and Glasgow – 0.5 tph (0.5 tph)
Manchester Airport and Edinburgh – 0.5 tph (0.5 tph)
Manchester Airport and Glasgow – 0.5 tph (0.5 tph)

Note.

My estimates for the number of trains in the future, are probably best described as minimum figures.
The figures in brackets are the current frequencies.
Currently, there are eleven express trains between England and Scotland and after High Speed Two is fully open there could be at least fifteen express trains.

I have a few final thoughts.

Capacity Between England And Scotland

Capacity of the current and future Anglo-Scottish trains is as follows.

High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train – 500-600
Eleven-car Class 390 train – 589
Nine-car Class 800 train – 611

It appears that the all the longer trains have roughly the same capacity.

As there are now eleven Anglo-Scottish long trains and these will be increased to fifteen, that indicates an minimum 36 % increase in capacity.

Will High Speed Two And Northern Powerhouse Rail Share A Route Across The Pennines?

Northern Powerhouse Rail have talked about extending High Speed Two services from Manchester to Huddersfield, Leeds, Hull, York and Newcastle.

I wrote about this in Changes Signalled For HS2 Route In North.

I like this plan for the following reasons.

It gives more places like Huddersfield and Hull access to High Speed Two.

It increases frequencies across the North.

But most importantly, as infrastructure is shared, it saves a lot of money.

It also opens up possibilities for services.

The Liverpool and Edinburgh service could be run on the High Speed Two route across the Pennines and up the East Coast Main Line.
London and Manchester services could be extends to Leeds, York, Newcastle and Scotland.

If Northern Powerhouse Rail were to be cleared for High Speed Two’s Full-Size trains, it opens up the possibility of running them further North.

Conclusion

High Speed Two will increase Anglo-Scottish capacity by more than a third.

November 13, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Adrian Shooter, At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail, Avanti West Coast, Class 390 Train, Class 802 Train, Class 805 Train, Class 807 Train, CrossCountry Trains, East Coast Main Line, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, LNER, Lumo, Midlands Engine Rail, TransPennine Express, West Coast Main Line | Leave a comment

A Trip To Grantham Station – 4th November 2020

I hadn’t intended to go to Grantham station, but that’s what I did on the last day before lockdown.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been talking to a guy in Lincolnshire, who read Energy In North-East Lincolnshire, on this blog.

Last week, we both realised that we’d worked together in the 1970s, when he worked at a bank in the City, and I did some data analysis for the section, where he worked.

He is unwell with cancer at the moment and suggested I come down and see him in Skegness, where he now lives with his wife.

So I arrived at Grantham and found that the connecting train was running nearly an hour late and even then it was terminating at Boston.

After a quick exchange of texts, I told him the bad news and he gave me the good news, that his condition had improved and would be able to see me after Christmas and/or lockdown.

Luckily, I was able to change my ticket and took the next train back to London, after taking these pictures of the station.

I just had time to have a last drink of Aspall cyder before lockdown, in the station bar.

These are some thoughts.

Platform Layout At Grantham

The Wikipedia entry for Grantham station says this about the platforms.

It is composed of four platforms; platforms 1 and 2 are on the East Coast Main Line and are responsible for express services between London and Scotland. Platform 1 serves exclusively London King’s Cross via Peterborough and Stevenage; Platform 2 serves cities of northern England and Edinburgh. Platform 2, 3 and 4 are formed from a large island platform structure. Platform 3 is a bay platform at the northern end of the station that is used to allow local trains to reverse, while Platform 4 is a two-way platform that is used by East Midlands Railway. Only Platform 1 has amenities, including toilets, refreshments and a buffet.

This Google Map shows the station.

Note.

Platforms are numbered 1 to 4 from East to West.
Platforms 1 and 2 are long enough to take two five-car Class 800 trains working as a pair.
Platform 4 may be long enough for these pairs of trains or could be made so.
All trains to and from Nottingham call in Platform 4.
Trains from Nottingham to Peterborough call in Platform 4 before crossing over to the down lines.
There would appear to be no easy way for a Southbound train on the East Coast Main Line to access Platform 4.
Platform 3 didn’t get much use on the day I visited.

There is also an avoiding line to allow freight and other passing trains to avoid going through the platforms.

Services Through Grantham Station

Services stopping at Grantham are as follows.

LNER – One tp2h – London Kings Cross and Harrogate via Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds
LNER – One tp2h – London Kings Cross and Bradford Forster Square via Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds
LNER – One tp2h – London Kings Cross and Lincoln via Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham and Newark North Gate
LNER – One tp2h – London Kings Cross and York via Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate, Retford and Doncaster.
Hull Trains – Five tpd – London Kings Cross and Hull via Stevenage, Grantham, Retford, Doncaster, Selby, Howden and Brough
Hull Trains – Two tpd – London Kings Cross and Beverley via Stevenage, Grantham, Retford, Doncaster, Selby, Howden, Brough, Hull and Cottingham.
East Midlands Railway – One tph – Liverpool Lime Street and Horwich via Peterborough and Nottingham
East Midlands Railway – One tph – Nottingham and Skegness

Note.

tph is trains per hour
tp2h is trains per two hours.
tpd is trains per day.

Adding the services together, there is a frequent service between Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham and Newark North Gate.

Train Timings Between London Kings Cross and Grantham

The fastest trains take 67 minutes between London Kings Cross and Grantham.

The distance is 105.5 miles
This would be an average speed of 94.5 mph.
The East Coast Main Line is being upgraded with in-cab digital ERTMS signalling, which will allow 140 mph running.
The works at Kings Cross station will have increased the station’s capacity.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a time between London Kings Cross and Grantham, of under an hour, time-tabled in the near future.

Could There Be A London Kings Cross and Nottingham Service Via Grantham?

On this page on UK Rail Forums, this was posted in 2010.

According to today’s East Midlands news on BBC1, Network Rail is considering inviting tenders to run a faster service from Nottingham to London King’s Cross via Grantham, from 2014. The present service of around 1hr 45m is considered too slow by passengers.

How would this new service be reconciled with the much-publicised capacity constraints at Welwyn and at King’s Cross itself? Will the proposed possible service be diesel-powered under the wires from Grantham, or will the Grantham-Nottingham stretch be electrified? Interesting times.

Technology has changed since 2010 and the East Coast Main Line has improved.

King;s Cross station is being sorted.
Digital ERMTS signalling is coming to the East Coast Main Line
Hatachi’s new Class 800 trains have arrived and could go between Grantham and Nottingham on diesel power.
Grantham and Nottingham takes 35 minutes on a service with three stops, that’s timed for a Class 153 train.
Grantham and Nottingham is just over twenty miles.

As I said earlier, that I believe Grantham and London could be inside an hour, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Nottingham and London Kings Cross service in under an-hour-and-a-half.

But it could be better than that?

Hitachi’s Regional Battery Train

This is the train that could unlock the potential of a London Kings Cross and Nottingham service.

This Hitachi infographic gives details of the train.

Note that the train has a range of 90 kilometres or 56 miles, at speeds of up to 100 mph.

The trains would be ideal for a London Kings Cross and Nottingham service.

They would charge the batteries, whilst using the electrification on the East Coast Main Line.
The battery range is such, that it would not need any charging between leaving Grantham and returning there from Nottingham.
They could travel at speeds of up to 140 mph on the East Coast Main Line, once the digital ERTMS signalling is installed.
Stops could be at Stevenage, Peterborough and Grantham.

LNER’s five-car Class 800 trains, which are branded Azumas can be turned into Regional Battery Trains, by replacing the three diesel engines with battery packs.

I would suspect that times of around eighty minutes, between London Kings Cross and Nottingham, could be in order.

A Park-And-Ride For Nottingham And London

Nottingham has several Park-and-Ride sites, that are served by the trams. of the Nottingham Express Transit, which already calls at Nottingham station.

Would another site on the rail line between Grantham and Nottingham be useful?

This map shows. where the rail line crosses the A46, near its junction with the A52.

Note the Grantham and Nottingham line running across the top of the map and the big junction between the A52 and the A46.

It looks to be a good place for a Park-and-Ride station, if it was decided one needed to be built.

There might also be sites further in towards Nottingham, close to the racecourse or the Holme Pierpoint National Watersports Centre.

A Combined Nottinghamshire And Lincolnshire Service

I originally called this section a Combined Nottingham And Lincoln Service, but I don’t see why it can’t serve most of both counties.

Consider.

Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Oxford and Southend get two services from the capital by different routes.
Hitachi’s Class 800 trains can Split/Join in around two minutes.
Running five-car Class 800 trains all the way between London Kings Cross and Lincoln is not a good use of a valuable train path on the East Coast Main Line.
Lincoln is just 16.5 miles and 24 minutes from the East Coast Main Line.
Nottingham is 22 miles and could be 20 minutes from the East Coast Main Line.
Both Lincoln and Nottingham would be in battery range for a return trip from the East Coast Main Line.
Platforms 1, 2 and 4, at Grantham are long enough to handle two Class 800 trains, running as a pair and regularly pairs call in Platforms 1 and 2.

I believe it would be possible for a pair of Regional Battery Trains to do the following.

Leave London Kings Cross and run to Grantham in an hour, stopping at Stevenage and Peterborough.
Stop in Platform 4 at Grantham station, where the trains would split.
One train would continue on the East Coast Main Line to Newark North Gate station, where it would leave the East Coast Main Line and go to Lincoln.
The other train would continue to Nottingham.

Note.

Coming back, the process would be reversed with trains joining in Platform 1 or Platform 4 at Grantham.
There may need to be some track and signalling modifications, but nothing too serious or challenging.

Connections to other parts of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire would be as follows.

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire would be connected using the Nottingham Express Transit and the Robin Hood and Maid Marian Lines from Nottingham station.
All stations between Grantham and Nottingham would be reached from either Grantham or Nottingham.
All stations to Boston and Skegness would be reached from Grantham.
All stations between Newark and Lincoln would be reached from either Lincoln or Newark.
All stations between Doncaster and Lincoln would be reached from either Doncaster or Lincoln.
All stations between Peterborough and Lincoln would be reached from either Lincoln or Peterborough.
All stations to Market Rasen, Grimsby Town and Cleethorpes would be reached from Lincoln.

Note.

I feel that some Lincoln services could be extended to Cleethorpes via Market Rasen and Grimsby Town.
Hopefully, a timetable could be developed, so that no connection was overly long.

Most of the distances are not unduly long and I would hope that most secondary services could be battery electric trains, which would be charged in the larger stations like Boston, Cleethorpes, Doncaster, Grantham, Lincoln, Mansfield, Nottingham, Peterborough, Sleaford, Spalding and Worksop.

Doncaster, Grantham and Peterborough already have 25 KVAC overhead electrification and this could be used to charge the trains, with possibly some small extensions.

The other stations will need a number of systems to charge the trains, as they pass through.

Some stations will be suitable for the installation of the standard 25 KVAC overhead electrification, but others will need specialised charging systems.

It appears that Adrian Shooter of Vivarail has just announced a One-Size-Fits-All Fast Charge system, that has been given interim approval by Network Rail.

I discuss this charger in Vivarail’s Plans For Zero-Emission Trains, which is based on a video on the Modern Railways web site.

There is more about Vivarail’s plans in the November 2020 Print Edition of the magazine, where this is said on page 69.

‘Network Rail has granted interim approval for the fast charge system and wants it to be the UK’s standard battery charging system’ says Mr. Shooter. ‘We believe it could have worldwide implications.’

Vivarail’s Fast Charge system must surely be a front-runner for installation.

What frequency of the Combined Nottinghamshire And Lincolnshire service would be needed and could be run?

Consider.

Currently, Lincoln is served with one tp2h with a five-car Class 800 train running the service.
The Lincoln service alternates with a one tp2h service to York, which also calls at Retford and Doncaster.
Work is progressing on increasing the number of high speed paths on the East Coast Main Line.

Obviously, an hourly service to both Nottingham and Lincoln would be ideal and would give most of the two counties an hourly service to and from London Kings Cross with a single change at either Doncaster, Grantham. Lincoln, Newark, Nottingham or Peterborough.

An hourly service might be difficult to timetable because of the York service.
But I don’t believe it would be impossible to setup.

Especially if after, the Eastern leg of High Speed Two opens, East Coast Main Line services from London Kings Cross to North of York are replaced in part, by High Speed Two services.

The Effect Of High Speed Two

High Speed Two will build a new station at Toton called East Midlands Hub station.

The station will be situated about halfway between Nottingham and Derby, with frequent connections to both cities.
There will be frequent services to Birmingham, Leeds, London, Newcastle and Sheffield.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a direct service to Edinburgh and Glasgow from the station.
There will be a lot of economic growth around the station.

I very much feel, that a lot of passengers were travel to East Midlands Hub station for both long distance trains and to access the Derby-Nottingham area.

A Cambridge And Birmingham Service

In How Many Trains Are Needed To Run A Full Service On High Speed Two?, I proposed a Cambridge and Birmingham Curzon Street service.

This is what I said.

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 would use High Speed Two between Birmingham Curzon Street and East Midlands Hub.
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.

Timings for the various legs could be.

Cambridge and Peterborough – CrossCountry – 49 minutes
Peterborough and Grantham – LNER – 19 minutes
Grantham and Nottingham -Best Estimate – 20 minutes
Nottingham and Birmingham Curzon Street – Midlands Rail Engine – 33 minutes

Note.

This totals to two hours and one minute.
The current service takes two hours and forty-four minutes.
The Ely and Peterborough and Grantham and Nottingham legs are not electrified.

If the route were to be fully electrified or the trains were to be fitted with batteries, the time via High Speed Two, would surely be several minutes under two hours.

Conclusion

These objectives are possible.

An hourly service between London Kings Cross and Grantham, Lincoln, Newark and Nottingham.
A very much more comprehensive train service for Nottingham and Lincolnshire.
A two hour service between Cambridge and Birmingham.

Most of the services would be zero carbon.

No major infrastructure would be needed, except possibly completing the electrification between Nottingham and Ely, some of which is probably needed for freight trains anyway.

Alternatively, the High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains could be fitted with batteries.

November 9, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Health, Transport/Travel | Adrian Shooter, Battery-Electric Trains, Cambridge Station, East Coast Main Line, East Midlands Hub Station, Global Warming/Zero-Carbon, Grantham Station, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, Hull Trains, Lincoln Station, LNER, Nottingham Express Transit, Nottingham Station, Vivarail, Vivarail/GWR Fast Charge | 6 Comments

Middlesbrough Station – 20th October 2020

I took These pictures at Middlesbrough station on my trip to Teesside.

These are my thoughts on the station.

Station Track Layout

This Google Map shows the layout of the station.

Note.

The pair of freight lines passing around the North side of the station.
Platform 1 is the Westbound platform on the South side of the tracks.
Platform 2 is the Eastbound platform on the North side of the tracks.

Both platforms would appear to be about 150 metres long, which is long enough for a five-car Class 80x train, but not for a 234 metre long nine-car train.

Period Features

The station has a lot of period features, like cast-iron columns and brackets, and good Victorian stonework.

Much seems to have received good TLC.

Northern Entrance

I have seen comments about improving the Northern entrance on various web sites.

It certainly, isn’t in bad condition.

Improving The Station

In £35m Station Transformation Launched By Tees Valley Mayor, I wrote about the current plans to transform the station. I started with these paragraphs.

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

This is the introductory paragraph.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has announced (June 9^th) a £35m transformation of Middlesbrough Station to transport more train services to the town, including the first direct rail link to London in decades.

The Rail Technology Magazine article indicates that Platform 2 at Middlesbrough station will be extended to handle Azuma trains. As the current platform looks to be around 150 metres long and this would be long enough for a five-car train, does this mean that in the future nine-car and ten-car Azumas will be able to run services to Middlesbrough?

Having seen since I wrote the related post, that Hull station has handled some nine-car Azumas, I feel that although five-car Azumas could probably use Middlesbrough station, it would seem prudent to make it possible for the longer trains to call.

Let’s suppose Middlesbrough, were playing a big London club in an important post-pandemic FA Cup match. LNER might want to run a nine-car Azuma to Middlesbrough to accommodate extra passengers.

Charging Battery Trains

LNER and TransPennine Express could be running battery electric Class 800 and Class 802 trains to Middlesbrough and/or Redcar Central stations.

This Hitachi infographic describes their Regional Battery Train, which can be created by adding batteries to the current trains.

With a range of 90 km. or 56 miles, these trains could be able to reach Middlesbrough from the electrification on the East Coast Main Line at Northallerton.

With most journeys, they should have sufficient energy in the battery to return without trouble.

But it would probably be prudent to have charging at Middlesbrough and/or Redcar Central to ensure a safe return.

These pictures were taken from the Eastern end of Platform 2, which is down to be lengthened.

Note.

The freight lines behind Platform 2.
There is plenty of space beyond the end of Platform 2.
There appears to be space for a reversing siding with a charger.

I am sure that a suitable form of charging can be provided on Platform 2 at Middlesbrough station.

Conclusion

Middlesbrough station could be turned into a big asset for the town.

October 30, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | Architecture, Charging Battery Trains, Class 800 Train, Class 802 Train, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, Hydrogen-Powered Trains, LNER, Middlesbrough Station, Teesside, TransPennine Express | Leave a comment

Hull Station

On my recent visit to Hull station I took these pictures.

This Google Map shows the station.

These are my thoughts on the station .

Platforms

Consider.

The station has seven platforms, which are numbers 1 to 7 from South to North.
My Hull Trains service from London arrived in the Northernmost platform, which is numbered 7.
Most Hull Trains services seem to use this platform.
LNER services also seem to use Platform 7.
Platforms 4, 5 and 6 seem to be the same length as Platform 7
A friendly station guy told me, that LNER have run nine-car Class 800 trains into the station. These trains are 234 metres long.
My pictures show that Platform 7 is more than adequate for Hull Train’s five-car Class 802 train, which is 130 metres long.
The platforms are wide.

This second Google Map shows the Western platform ends.

It looks to me, that the station should be capable of updating to have at least four platforms capable of taking trains, that are 200 metres long.

Current Long Distance Services To Hull Station

There are currently, two long distance services that terminate at Hull station.

One train per hour (tph) – Manchester Piccadilly – two hours
Eight trains per day (tpd) – London Kings Cross – two hours and forty-four minutes

Both services are run by modern trains.

Improvements To The Current London And Hull Service

I believe Hull Trains and LNER will run between London Kings Cross and Hull using battery-equipped versions of their Hitachi trains, within the next three years.

The trains will also be upgraded to make use of the digital in-cab signalling, that is being installed South of Doncaster, which will allow 140 mph running.

In Thoughts On Digital Signalling On The East Coast Main Line, I estimated that this could enable a two hours and thirty minute time between London Kings Cross and Hull.

It is very likely that the service will be hourly.

Hull Station As A High Speed Station

Plans for High Speed Two are still fluid, but as I said in Changes Signalled For HS2 Route In North, there is a possibility, that High Speed Two could be extended from Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly to Leeds and ultimately to Newcastle and Hull.

In that post, I felt that services across the Pennines could be something like.

High Speed Two – Two tph between London and Hull via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds
High Speed Two – One tph between London and Edinburgh via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, York and Newcastle.
Northern Powerhouse Rail – One tph between Liverpool and Edinburgh via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, York and Newcastle.
Northern Powerhouse Rail – Two tph between Liverpool and Sheffield via Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly
Northern Powerhouse Rail – Two tph between Liverpool and Hull via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds

There would be four tph between Manchester Airport and Hull via Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and other intermediate stations.

I estimate that the following timings would be possible.

London Euston and Hull – two hours and 10 minutes – Currently two hours and forty-four minutes to London Kings Cross
Liverpool and Hull – one hour and thirty minutes – No direct service
Manchester and Hull – one hour and three minutes – Currently two hours

As I said earlier London Kings Cross and Hull could be only twenty minutes longer by the classic route on the East Coast Main Line.

I think it will be likely, that both High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail will use similar High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains, which will have the following characteristics.

Two hundred metres long
Ability to run in pairs
225 mph on High Speed Two
125 mph and up to 140 mph on Classic High Speed Lines like East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and West Coast Main Line and sections of Northern Powerhouse Rail.

It would appear that as Hull station can already handle a nine-car Class 800 train, which is 234 metre long, it could probably handle the proposed High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains.

I could see the following numbers of high speed trains terminating at Hull in a typical hour would be as follows.

Two High Speed Two trains from London Euston
Two Northern Powerhouse Trains from Liverpool Lime Street
One Hull Trains/LNER train from London Kings Cross

As Hull already has four platforms, that can accept 200 metre long trains, I don’t think the station will have any capacity problems.

Charging Battery Trains At Hull Station

If Hull Trains, LNER and TransPennine Express, decide to convert their Class 800 and Class 802 trains, that run to and from Hull to Hitachi Regional Battery Trains, they will need charging at Hull station, to be able to reach the electrification of the East Coast Main Line at Temple Hirst Junction.

In Thoughts On The Design Of Hitachi’s Battery Electric Trains, I said this about having a simple charger in a station.

At stations like Hull and Scarborough, this charger could be as simple as perhaps forty metres of 25 KVAC overhead electrification.

- The train would stop in the station at the appropriate place.
- The driver would raise the pantograph.
- Charging would start.
- When the battery is fully-charged, the driver would lower the pantograph.

This procedure could be easily automated and the overhead wire could be made electrically dead, if no train is connected.

Platforms 4 to 7 could be fitted out in this manner, to obtain maximum operational flexibility.

Full Electrification Of Hull Station

Full electrification of Hull station would also allow charging of any battery electric trains.

I would hope, that any partial electrification carried out to be able to charge trains would be expandable to a full electrification for the station and the connecting rail lines.

A Full Refurbishment

The station would need a full refurbishment and a possible sorting out of the approaches to the station.

But this type of project has been performed at Kings Cross and Liverpool Lime Street in recent years, so the expertise is certainly available.

These pictures are of Liverpool Lime Street station.

I could see Hull station being refurbished to this standard.

Conclusion

It is my belief that Hull would make a superb terminal station for both High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail

In the interim, it could be quickly developed as a modern terminal for long-distance battery electric trains to make services across the Pennines and to London zero carbon.

The work could also be organised as a series of smaller work packages, without interrupting train services to and from Hull.

October 9, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Charging Battery Trains, Class 800 Train, Class 802 Train, Digital Signalling, East Coast Main Line, Electrification, Global Warming/Zero-Carbon, High Speed Two, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Hull Station, Hull Trains, LNER, TransPennine Express | 1 Comment

Greater Anglia Amends Class 720 Order From Bombardier To Increase Flexibility

The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Advent.

Greater Anglia is changing its order for Class 720 trains from a mixed fleet of 22 x ten-car and 89 x five-car to one of 133 x five-car.

The order is still 665 carriages in total.

In Why Do Some Train Operators Still Buy Half-Trains?, I tried to answer the question in the title of the post.

There have also been articles in railway magazines, questioning the practice of buying short trains and doubling them up.

In the UK, the following companies are running new trains in pairs.

Great Western Railway – Class 800 and Class 802
LNER – Class 800
London Overground – Class 710

The only creditable explanation I have heard was from a driver, who said that if one train in a pair fails, you can still run a short train.

Abd now Greater Anglia say it’s for increased flexibility!

October 8, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Class 710 Train, Class 720 Train, Class 800 Train, Class 802 Train, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, LNER, London Overground | 3 Comments

East Coast Main Line Northern Power Supply Works Funded

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

This is the introductory paragraph.

As part of its £1·2bn East Coast Upgrade programme, Network Rail has awarded a £216·2m contract to the Rail Electrification Alliance for the long-awaited strengthening of the 25 kV 50 Hz traction power supplies on the northern section of the East Coast Main Line between Doncaster and Edinburgh.

It is much-needed. if the planned extra electric services are to be run on the route.

These could include.

East Coast Train‘s new London and Edinburgh service.
Extra TransPennine Express services and some services converting from diesel traction.
Extra LNER services to Middlesbrough and other destinations.
Conversion of Grand Central services to electric or bi-mode traction.

Will Freightliner use some of its new fleet of thirteen Class 90 locomotives on the route?

Will News Of The Upgrade Bring Forth Train And Locomotive Orders?

I wonder if this could happen.

Freight operators need to decarbonise, but surely there’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation on the East Coast Main Line, as there’s no point in ordering electric locomotives for the route, until you have a date, from when they can be used.

Conclusion

This upgrade will have some very good xonsequences.

September 21, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Energy, Transport/Travel | East Coast Main Line, Freight, Grand Central Trains, LNER, Lumo, TransPennine Express | 1 Comment

Cleethorpes Station – 16th September 2020

On Wednesday, I took a trip on the South Humberside Main Line from Doncaster to Cleethorpes and back.

Cleethorpes station is a terminal station on the beach, with cafes not far away.

This Google Map shows the station and its position on the sea-front and the beach.

The station organisation was a bit shambolic at present, probably more to do with COVID-19 than anything else, but the station and the train services could be developed into something much better, when the good times return, as they surely will.

Improving The Station Facilities

The original station building is Grade II Listed and although it is only only a three-platform station, there used to be more platforms.

Five platforms or even six would be possible, if there were to be a need.

But as the station has wide platforms, is fully step-free and has most facilities passengers need, most of the improvements would involve restoring the original station building for a productive use.

The Current Train Service

The main train service is an hourly TransPennine Express service between Cleethorpes and Manchester Airport stations via Grimsby Town, Scunthorpe, Doncaster, Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly.

The trains are Class 185 trains, which are modern diesel multiple units, which entered service in 2006.

There is also a two-hourly service along the Barton Line to Barton-upon-Humber station.

It should be noted that all services to and from Cleethorpes, call at Grimsby Town station.

Could The TransPennine Service Be Run By Battery Electric Trains?

The route between Cleethorpes and Manchester Airport can be split into the following legs.

Cleethorpes and Grimsby Town – Not Electrified – 3,25 miles – 8 minutes
Grimsby Town and Habrough – Not Electrified – 8 miles – 12 minutes
Habrough and Doncaster – Not Electrified – 41 miles – 56 minutes
Doncaster and Sheffield – Not Electrified – 19 miles – 29 minutes
Sheffield and Stockport – Not Electrified – 37 miles – 41 minutes
Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly – Electrified – 6 miles – 10 minutes
Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport – Electrified – 11 miles – 12 minutes

Note.

At the Manchester end of the route, trains are connected to the electrification for at least 44 minutes.
The longest non-electrified leg is the 52 miles between Cleethorpes and Doncaster stations.
Doncaster is a fully-electrified station.

This infographic shows the specification of a Hitachi Regional Battery Train.

TransPennine Express has a fleet of nineteen Class 802 trains, which can have their diesel engines replaced with battery packs to have a train with the following performance.

125 mph operating speed, where electrification exists.
56 mile range at up to 100 mph on battery power.
15 minute battery charge time.
Regenerative braking to battery.
They are a true zero-carbon train.

What infrastructure would be needed, so they could travel between Cleethorpes and Manchester Airport stations?

If between Cleethorpes and Habrough stations were to be electrified, this would give at least 20 minutes of charging time, plus the time taken to turn the train at Cleethorpes. This would surely mean that a train would leave for Manchester, with a full load of electricity on board and sufficient range to get to Doncaster and full electrification.
If between Doncaster and Sheffield were to be electrified, this would give at least 25 minutes of charging time, which would be enough time to fully-charge the batteries, so that Grimsby Town in the East or Stockport in the West could be reached.

I suspect that Doncaster and Sheffield could be an early candidate for electrification for other reasons, like the extension of the Sheffield tram-train from Rotherham to Doncaster.

Could The Cleethorpes And Barton-on-Humber Service Be Run By Battery Electric Trains?

Cleethorpes And Barton-on-Humber stations are just 23 miles apart.

This is probably a short enough route to be handled on and out and back basis, with charging at one end by a battery electric train. Vivarail are claiming a sixty mile range for their battery electric Class 230 trains on this page of their web site.

If between Cleethorpes and Grimsby Town stations were to be electrified, this would mean that a range of only forty miles would be needed and the batteries would be charged by the electrification.

A full hourly service, which is surely needed, would need just two trains for the service and probably a spare.

Cleethorpes And London King’s Cross Via Grimsby Town, Market Rasen, Lincoln Central And Newark North Gate

The Wikipedia entry for Cleethorpes station has references to this service.

This is the historical perspective.

In the 1970s Cleethorpes had a twice daily return service to London King’s Cross, typically hauled by a Class 55 Deltic.

That must have been an impressive sight.

And this was National Express East Coast’s plan.

In August 2007, after National Express East Coast was awarded the InterCity East Coast franchise, it proposed to start services between Lincoln and London King’s Cross from December 2010 with one morning service and one evening service extending from Lincoln to Cleethorpes giving Cleethorpes a link to London and calling at Grimsby Town and Market Rasen. These services were to be operated using the Class 180s but was never introduced. These services were scrapped when East Coast took over the franchise.

It came to nothing, but LNER have been running up to five trains per day (tpd) between London King’s Cross and Lincoln.

I will split the route into legs.

London King’s Cross and Newark North Gate- Electrified – 120 miles
Newark North Gate and Lincoln Central – Not Electrified – 16,5 miles
Lincoln Central and Market Rasen – Not Electrified – 15 miles
Market Rasen and Habrough – Not Electrified – 21 miles
Habrough and Grimsby Town – Not Electrified – 8 miles
Grimsby Town and Cleethorpes – Not Electrified – 3.25 miles

Note that a round trip between Newark North Gate and Lincoln Central is thirty-three miles.

This means it would be possible for one of LNER’s Class 800 trains, that had been fitted with a battery pack and converted into one of Hitachi’s Regional Battery trains, would be able to run a London King’s Cross and Lincoln Central service without using a drop of diesel or needing a charge at Lincoln Central station.

Would it be possible to extend this service to Grimsby Town on battery power?

I suggested earlier that between Cleethorpes and Habrough should be electrified.

As Newark North Gate and Habrough stations are 52.5 miles apart, it would be rather tight for a battery electric train to cover the whole route without an extra charge somewhere.

Possible solutions could be.

Fit a bigger battery in the trains.
Extend the electrification at Newark North Gate station.
Extend the electrification at Habrough station.

I;m sure that there is a solution, that is easy to install.

Conclusion

If between Habrough and Cleethorpes station were to be electrified, these services could be run by battery electric trains.

Cleethorpes and Manchester Piccadilly
Cleethorpes and Barton-on-Humber
Cleethorpes and London King’s Cross

Note.

The Manchester and London services would be run by Hitachi Regional Battery Trains converted from Class 800 and Class 802 trains.
The Barton service could be run by a Vivarail Class 230 train or similar.

The first two services would be hourly, with the London service perhaps 1 or 2 tpd.

Cleethorpes would be well and truly on the rail network.

September 18, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Health, Transport/Travel | Battery-Electric Trains, Class 185 Train, Class 230 Train, Class 802 Train, Cleethorpes Station, Doncaster Station, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, King's Cross Station, LNER, TransPennine Express, Vivarail | 1 Comment

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What this blog will eventually be about I do not know.

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The Anonymous Widower

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

High Speed Two And Scotland

A Trip To Grantham Station – 4th November 2020

Middlesbrough Station – 20th October 2020

Hull Station

Greater Anglia Amends Class 720 Order From Bombardier To Increase Flexibility

East Coast Main Line Northern Power Supply Works Funded

Cleethorpes Station – 16th September 2020

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