The Anonymous Widower

Reform ‘Would Scrap’ High-Speed Northern Rail Line

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

This is the sub-heading.

A Reform UK government would scrap plans to build the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) link, its deputy leader has said.

These two paragraphs add extra details.

In a report to the right-leaning Policy Exchange think tank, Richard Tice said companies considering bidding for contracts to build east-to-west high-speed rail links should “not bother”.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham rejected Tice’s comments and suggested Reform UK wanted a “second-class railway” for the north of England.

As I showed in I’ve Just Glimpsed The Future Of Train Travel Across The North Of England And I Like It, much of Northern Powerhouse Rail is complete or under construction to the East of Manchester and the only section of Northern Powerhouse Rail to be announced, designed and constructed is between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester via Manchester Airport. I discussed this section in Completing Northern Powerhouse Rail.

I also suspect that Reform UK, is the only party, that is against the building of Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Conclusion

How do you scrap a railway, that is half complete and only needs about twenty miles of new track for completion?

September 10, 2025 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Completing Northern Powerhouse Rail

The Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two Connection To Manchester Airport Station

This OpenRailwayMap shows the rail connections that terminate at Manchester Airport station.

Note.

  1. The two runways are clearly shown.
  2. Manchester Airport station is indicated by the blue arrow near the top of the map.
  3. The orange tracks are rail lines.
  4. The green lines are Manchester Metrolink tracks.
  5. Rail and tram services approach the airport station from the East.
  6. The red dotted line is the current proposed path of Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two
  7. The black dotted line appears to be an extension of the tram line to the airport.

This second OpenRailwayMap shows the lines around the airport station to a larger scale.

Note.

  1. Manchester Airport station is indicated by the blue arrow at the bottom of the map.
  2. The orange tracks are rail lines.
  3. The green lines are Manchester Metrolink tracks.
  4. The red dotted line is the current proposed path of Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two.
  5. The Manchester Metrolink now makes a loop around the Airport.

I think the following will happen.

  • A large proportion of passengers and staff travelling between Manchester Airport and Manchester City Centre will use Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two.
  • Passengers and staff, who live locally will use the Manchester Metro loop.
  • Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two will replace some of the current train services.
  • Some services on the Castlefield Corridor will migrate to Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two.

There could be as many as twelve trains per hour (tph) between Manchester Airport and Manchester City Centre on Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two. But a new urban line like that, which was mostly in a tunnel could probably handle 20 tph.

Manchester Airport And Crewe

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railways between Manchester Airport and Crewe stations.

Note.

  1. Manchester Airport station is indicated by the blue arrow at the top of the map.
  2. The orange tracks are rail lines.
  3. The red track going down the left hand side of the map is the West Coast Main Line.
  4. The green lines are Manchester Metrolink tracks.
  5. The red dotted line is the current proposed path of Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two.
  6. Crewe station is at the bottom of the map in the middle.

There could be as many as 12 tph between Manchester Airport and Crewe.

Manchester Airport And Manchester Piccadilly

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railways between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly stations.

Note.

  1. Manchester Airport station is in the South-West corner of the map.
  2. The orange tracks are existing rail lines.
  3. The green lines are Manchester Metrolink tracks.
  4. The red dotted line going up the middle of the map is the current proposed path of Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two.
  5. Manchester Piccadilly station is at the Northern end of Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the City Centre between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria stations.

Note.

  1. Manchester Piccadilly station is in the South-East corner of the map.
  2. The red dotted lines creeping into the map is the current proposed path of Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two.
  3. All the platforms in Manchester Piccadilly station can be picked out, with the Castlefield Corridor breaking away to the West.
  4. The current plans will need demolition of buildings to the North of Manchester Piccadilly station.
  5. Manchester Victoria station is in the North-West corner of the map.
  6. The green line of the Manchester Metrolink route picks out the walking route between Manchester’s two main stations.
  7. About halfway between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria stations is the open space of Piccadilly Gardens.

This Google Map shows Piccadilly Gardens.

Note.

  1. The Manchester Metrolink running through.
  2. There are two Metrolink stops ; Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens, in the area.
  3. It appears any stop on the Manchester Metrolink can be reached with no more than a single change from one of these two stops.

Looking at the map showing Victoria and Piccadilly stations, I wonder, if a Lizzie Line of the North could be built under Manchester City Centre.

  • There would be underground platforms at Piccadilly station, with two through platforms and two to terminate trains from the South.
  • Local services from Piccadilly station could continue as now, although services to Manchester Airport could be simplified.
  • There would be an underground station at Piccadilly Gardens with two through platforms , to connect with an expanded Manchester Metrolink, buses and walking routes.
  • There would be underground platforms at Victoria station, with two through platforms and two to terminate trains from the East.
  • Local services from Victoria could continue as now.
  • There could be as many as 12 tph between Manchester Victoria, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.

Just as the Lizzie Line was slotted into London, with the minimum of disruption, I am fairly certain, a similar but smaller construction process could be carried out in Manchester City Centre.

  • Manchester doesn’t have an Underground to avoid.
  • The stations could be very similar to each other and like Custom House station on the Lizzie Line, they could be built with giant concrete Lego.
  • There would only be four stations to create.
  • The tunnel would be about fifteen miles at most.
  • The tunnel would not need to be electrified as the trains could run on batteries.

As a Manchester Rail Tunnel has been talked about for decades, I suspect there is a big knowledge base of ground conditions, which would help with the design and construction.

Between Manchester Victoria And Leeds

Consider.

  • The electrification between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge stations has recently been switched on.
  • Part of the electrification between Leeds and York stations has been switched on.
  • Full electrification is being installed between Leeds and Manchester Victoria stations.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the Huddersfield Line between Manchester Victoria station and a few miles short of Huddersfield station.

Note.

  1. Manchester Victoria station is indicated by the blue arrow in the South-West corner of the map.
  2. Huddersfield station is just off the map in the North-East corner.
  3. Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge stations is fully electrified and shown in red.
  4. Stalybridge and Huddersfield stations is being electrified and is shown as black and red dotted.
  5. Electrification between Huddersfield and Leeds is underway under the TransPennine Upgrade.

This section will be completed, when the Manchester City Centre Rail Tunnel is connected to the Huddersfield Line.

Connecting The Manchester City Centre Rail Tunnel To The Huddersfield Line

This Google Map shows where the Huddersfield Line crosses the M60 Motorway to the West of Ashton-under-Lyme.

Note.

  1. The newly-electrified Huddersfield Line runs across the map.
  2. The M60 Motorway is on the left.
  3. There are facilities for athletics, cricket and football.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Eastern portal of the Manchester City Centre Rail Tunnel was in this area.

But looking at Google  Maps between this site and Manchester Victoria, there are other sites.

Conclusion

I now feel that it is possible to create a Northern Powerhouse Rail/High Speed Two route using a tunnel under Manchester.

Obviously, there is more work to be done.

August 15, 2025 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Could London And Central Scotland Air Passengers Be Persuaded To Use The Trains?

How Many Passengers Fly Between London And Edinburgh?

Wikipedia gives these figures for 2024 for passengers from Edinburgh to London

  • London City – 334,873
  • London Gatwick – 476,152
  • London Heathrow – 1,148,634
  • London Luton – 338, 729
  • London Stansted – 693,953

This gives a total of 2,992,341.

As Wikipedia doesn’t give complete figures for from London to Edinburgh, for the purpose of this analysis, I’ll assume they are the same.

How Many Passengers Fly Between London And Glasgow?

Wikipedia gives these figures for 2024 for passengers from Glasgow to London

  • London City – 208,405
  • London Gatwick – 456,002
  • London Heathrow – 954,027
  • London Luton – 255,095
  • London Stansted – 225,110

This gives a total of 2,098,639.

As Wikipedia doesn’t give complete figures for from London to Glasgow, for the purpose of this analysis, I’ll assume they are the same.

How Many Passengers Fly Between London And Scotland’s Central Belt?

Adding the two figures gives 5,090,980. in both directions.

Which is an average of 97,903 per week or 13,948 per day.

How Many Train Seats Run Between London And Scotland’s Central Belt?

These figures are for Friday the 1st of August.

  • Aventi West Coast – London Euston and Glasgow Central – 5 x 9-car Class 390 train – 2,345 seats
  • Aventi West Coast – London Euston and Glasgow Central – 16 x 11-car Class 390 train – 6,677 seats
  • LNER – London King’s Cross and Edinburgh – 26 x 9-car Class 801 train – 15,886 seats
  • Lumo – London King’s Cross and Edinburgh – 5 x 5-car Class 803 train – 2,010 seats

Note.

  1. All services are all-electric.
  2. All services are fairly new or have recently been refurbished,

This gives a total of 26,918 train seats.

Adding Lumo’s Service To Glasgow

In Lumo Will Extend Its King’s Cross And Edinburgh Service To Glasgow, I suggested that the Glasgow service would be run as follows from December 2025.

  • Two existing Lumo services will leave London as pairs of five-car trains.
  • The pairs will split at Edinburgh.
  • The leading train will go on to Glasgow Queen Street calling at Edinburgh Haymarket and Falkirk High stations.
  • The trailing train will return to London King’s Cross.
  • At the end of the day, the two trains in Glasgow will do a fast run back to London King’s Cross as a pair of 5-car trains.

This will add 804 seats per day between London and Glasgow Queen Street in both directions.

The daily total would now total 27,722 train seats, which compares with a daily average of 13,948 passengers per day, who travel by air.

Adding Lumo’s Service To Stirling

In Lumo To Expand Scotland’s Rail Network With New London-Stirling Rail Route From Spring 2026, I talk about Lumo’s new service to Stirling.

  • There will be five trains per day (tpd) in each direction.
  • Lumo’s new route will link London Euston directly to Stirling, also calling at Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet (serving Coatbridge), Greenfaulds (serving Cumbernauld) and Larbert.
  • The service will use 6-car Class 222 trains, which in the linked post, I estimate will have a similar one-class capacity to the Class 803 trains between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh.
  • If the capacity of the two train types is similar, this should give operational advantages and allow some more Class 803 trains to run the Euston and Stirling route.

This second Scottish route will add 2010 train seats per day between London Euston and Stirling in both directions.

The daily total would now total 29,732 train seats, which compares with a daily average of 13,948 passengers per day, who travel by air.

Could More Capacity Be Added Between London And Scotland’s Central Belt?

I believe some of the Lumo services between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh could be doubled up to a pair of trains.

There would have to be no platform length issues at London King’s Cross, Stevenage, Newcastle and Morpeth stations.

If three trains could be doubled up, that would add 1,206 train seats per day between London and Edinburgh in both directions.

The daily total would now total 30,938 train seats, which compares with a daily average of 13,948 passengers per day, who travel by air.

I also suspect, that some of the Stirling services could be doubled up.

Connectivity Of England’s Northern Airports To London And Central Scotland

Birmingham Airport

Consider.

  • There are easyJet flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow
  • There are 1.5 trains per hour (tph) between Birmingham New Street and Edinburgh.
  • There are 6 tpd between Birmingham New Street and Glasgow.

You would make your choice and pay the money.

East Midlands Airport

There are no flights or trains to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Leeds Airport

Consider.

  • There are no flights to Edinburgh or Glasgow.
  • There is one tph between Leeds and Edinburgh
  • There is one tpd between Leeds and Glasgow

Could Leeds and Glasgow get better connectivity?

Liverpool Airport

Consider.

  • There are no flights to Edinburgh or Glasgow.
  • There is one tph between Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh
  • There is three tpd between Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow

The Liverpool area is well connected to Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western and Preston stations on the West Coast Main Line for alternative services to Glasgow.

Manchester Airport

Consider.

  • There are no flights to Edinburgh or Glasgow.
  • There is one tph between Manchester Airport and Scotland via Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Oxford Road, which alternates between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The Manchester area is well connected to Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western and Preston stations on the West Coast Main Line for alternative services to Glasgow.

Omio gives this summary of flights between Heathrow and Manchester airports.

Flights from Manchester Airport to London Heathrow Airport depart on average 8 times per day, taking around 1h 6m. Cheap flight tickets for this journey start at £63 but you can travel from only £16 by coach.

Wrightbus and others will be producing mouse-quiet hydrogen-powered coaches in a couple of years. I suspect these will give short flights a good kicking.

Newcastle Airport

Consider.

  • There are no flights to Edinburgh or Glasgow.
  • There is three tph between Newcastle and Edinburgh with an additional 5 tpd from Lumo.
  • There is two tpd between Newcastle and Glasgow.
  • There is one tpd between Newcastle and Stirling.
  • From December 2025, Lumo will add two tpd from Newcastle to Glasgow and one tpd from Glasgow to Newcastle.
  • In Lumo Will Extend Its King’s Cross And Edinburgh Service To Glasgow, I stated that I believe that Lumo’s Glasgow to Newcastle service will be a late evening ten-car train, so travellers can have a long day in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle and still return to London.

Lumo would appear to fill in the gap between Newcastle and Glasgow.

Google AI gives this summary of flights between Heathrow and Newcastle airports.

There are usually 5-6 direct flights per day between Newcastle and Heathrow airports. These flights are operated by British Airways. The average flight time is around 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Note.

  1. In 2024, 497, 469 passengers flew between between Heathrow and Newcastle airports, which is an average of 681 passengers in each direction every day.
  2. This was an increase of 13.6 % on 2023.
  3. From December Lumo will be running extra London King’s Cross and Newcastle services, with each train having 402 seats.
  4. The improvements in rail services in and around Newcastle in recent months, will surely bring more passengers to use trains from Newcastle station.
  5. Will Lumo also target adverts at airline passengers?

London and Newcastle could be another route for mouse-quiet hydrogen-powered coaches.

Conclusion

These numbers summarise my calculations.

  • Currently an average of 13,948 passengers per day fly between London and Central Scotland.
  • Currently, there are 26,918 train seats available per day between London and Central Scotland.
  • In December 2025, Lumo will add another 804 low-cost train seats between London King’s Cross and Glasgow Queen Street.
  • In Spring 2026, Lumo will add 2010 low-cost train seats between London Euston and Stirling.
  • From Spring 2026, there will be 29,732 train seats available per day between London and Central Scotland.
  • This represents a 10 % increase of seats on the trains between London and Central Scotland.

How many passengers, who normally fly, will switch to using the train?

  • Lumo may only offer one class, but you get a trolley and can order food from M & S and others to be delivered to your seat.
  • Both LNER and Lumo accept dogs. I don’t know about Avanti.
  • All services will be all-electric, when Lumo gets its new electric trains for Stirling, in a few years.
  • It looks to me like Lumo could be offering a late train back to London from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
  • Digital signalling on the East Coast Main Line should speed up services.

If Lumo to Glasgow and Stirling works out, it could also cut the total carbon footprint of travel between London and Central Scotland.

August 4, 2025 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Airport Train Services Hit By £100k Cable Theft

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

This is the sub-heading.

Trains to Manchester Airport have been affected by the theft of more than £100,000 of power cable from a railway line.

These three paragraphs give more details.

The signalling cables were stolen from the railway line between Preston and Bolton over Christmas.

All lines between these stations will be closed “for most of the day” while repair work is carried out, a Network Rail spokesperson said.

Work is due to be completed by around 18:00 GMT, with limited rail replacement buses running to the airport from Blackpool and central Manchester.

In the last century, I was involved in the analysis of cable theft with British Rail.

I discussed it with a judge once, and she said that she felt it would be within sentencing policy to give an extra few months in prison for compromising safety.

December 30, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , | 1 Comment

Could Liverpool Develop A Massive Zero-Carbon Data Centre?

There is an article in The Sunday Times today, which is entitled Google Signs Nuclear Deal To Power AI Data Centres.

These are the first three paragraphs of the article.

Google has struck a deal with a nuclear power start-up to provide low-carbon energy for its data centres and AI operations, marking a world-first in the tech industry.

The California-based company said the agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors developed by Kairos Power could help spur a nuclear revival in America.

The first reactor is scheduled to come online in America by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.

I am not against nuclear-powered data centres, but could Liverpool build a massive zero-carbon data centre?

This Google Map shows Liverpool Bay, which is a vast expanse of water that stretches along the North Wales coast to Anglesey and all the way to the Isle of Man.

Note.

  1. The Isle of Man in the North-West corner.
  2. Liverpool, Birkenhead and the River Mersey in the South-East corner.
  3. Anglesey in the South-West corner.
  4. Blackpool with Morecambe Bay to its North in the North-East corner.

Liverpool Bay could be one of Europe’s zero-carbon energy powerhouses.

Wind Farms In Liverpool Bay

At the present time, these wind farms are producing electricity or planned in Liverpool Bay.

  • Barrow – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2006
  • Burbo Bank – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2007
  • Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW – Commissioned in 2017
  • Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW – Commissioned in 2015
  • North Hoyle – 60 MW – Commissioned in 2003
  • Ormonde – 150 MW – Commissioned in 2012
  • Rhyl Flats – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2009
  • Walney – 367 MW – Commissioned in 2010
  • Walney Extension – 659 MW – Commissioned in 2018
  • West if Duddon Sands – 389 MW – Commissioned in 2014
  • Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Planned
  • Morecambe – 480 MW – Planned
  • Mona – 1500 MW – Planned
  • Morgan – 1500 MW – Planned

Note.

  1. 2509 MW has been commissioned.
  2. 3980 MW is being planned.
  3. That is a total of 6489 MW

I suspect more space in Liverpool Bay could be developed with wind farms.

Mersey Tidal Power

The Mersey Tidal Power project has a web site.

If it is built, it will probably be built by the South Korean company; K-Water and use some of the design principles of the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station.

It will likely have an output of around 1 GW and take ten years to build.

In the 1970s, I did some project management consultancy for Frederick Snow and Partners, and they showed me their plans for a Severn Barrage.

Their futuristic vision for the Severn Estuary was never built, as the Prime Minister of the time; Harold Wilson, felt coal was the future. See Last Of The Many!

I suspect that the Mersey Tidal Power project will be another variation on a proven theme.

Morecambe Bay Bridge And Tidal Barrage Proposal

In the Wikipedia entry for Morecambe Bay, there is a proposal for a bridge and tidal barrage across the bay, where this is said.

In 2004, a proposal was made to build a bridge across the bay flanked by wind turbines and using tidal power. Proposals from Northern Tidal Power Gateways in 2019 outlined a tidal barrage with a road running along on top.

If the Mersey Tidal Power project is a success, then why wouldn’t one across Morecambe Bay, be one too?

500 MW of zero-carbon tidal power would do nicely!

Nuclear Sites At Calder Hall, Heysham And Wylfa

These three nuclear stations have supplied electricity to the North-West of England.

  • Calder Hall was the original Magnox site, which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 240 MW and was decommissioned in 2003, after running for 47 years.
  • Heysham is a powerful site which the Wikipedia entry says has a nameplate capacity of 2452 MW and will be decommissioned in 2028.
  • Wylfa is an older, smaller Magnox site which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 1190MW and was decommissioned in 2015.

As the sites are cleared, I am sure that we’ll see more nuclear power stations built on the sites.

How Much Electricity Does A Data Centre Use?

I found this paragraph in an NESO document.

Regardless of this, if we were to use existing market data and modelling projections, this could point to annual data centre electricity consumptions of between 3.6 TWh in 2020 to as much as 35 TWh by 2050.

Dividing by the hours in a year, indicates that an individual data centre could use between 0.4 and 4 GW of electricity.

Using my rough figures here from wind, tidal and nuclear, I suspect that the power on the Mersey will generate enough power for at least one data centre.

Liverpool Is On The Right Side Of The Country For Cables To North America

Cables will go straight out of Liverpool Bay, pass to the North of Ireland and across the Atlantic to somewhere like Puget Sound.

Liverpool has a superb location for a Transatlantic data centre, that connects to networks on both sides of the pond.

Could Underwater Data Centres Be Developed In Liverpool Bay?

This page on the Microsoft web site is entitled Microsoft Finds Underwater Datacenters Are Reliable, Practical And Use Energy Sustainably

These three paragraphs detail the research.

Earlier this summer, marine specialists reeled up a shipping-container-size datacenter coated in algae, barnacles and sea anemones from the seafloor off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

The retrieval launched the final phase of a years-long effort that proved the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible, as well as logistically, environmentally and economically practical.

Microsoft’s Project Natick team deployed the Northern Isles datacenter 117 feet deep to the seafloor in spring 2018. For the next two years, team members tested and monitored the performance and reliability of the datacenter’s servers.

I would assume that Microsoft have continued the research, as with something like this you can’t be too careful.

But it would appear, that data centres and their servers could be submerged under the waters of Liverpool Bay.

London And Liverpool Will Be Under Two Hours By Train Within A Year

New Class 807 trains, which will be delivered within a year, will improve the train service between the two cities.

  • Train times will be brought to around or even below two hours.
  • , The extra trains will allow a second hourly service to be added.
  • The extra service will additionally stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, for the airport.
  • High Speed Two is claiming one hour and fifty minutes, between London and Liverpool.

Liverpool already has one of the best rail terminals in the North of England, as these pictures show.

With these service improvements, it will have a service to London and the South, that will be second to no other Northern station.

Liverpool Has A Refurbished Partly-Underground Suburban Railway With New Trains

Liverpool’s Metro is one of the best in Europe for a medium-sized city.

The Metro is also expanding with new routes and stations.

These pictures show the new Headbolt Lane station, which is swerved by the UK’s first battery-electric trains.

Liverpool Has Easy Access To Two International Airports

There are two international airports close by; Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester International.

  • For Liverpool Airport, it’s a bus from Liverpool South Parkway station or an express bus from Liverpool city centre.
  • For Manchester Airport, it’s a train from Lime Street station.

I am fairly sure, that a hydrofoil could connect Liverpool’s Waterfront and the Tidal Barrier to the airport.

North-West England Has A Rich University Tradition

Liverpool, Manchester and the surrounding area has several world-class universities and research establishments.

Some like The Pandemic Institute would be able to find uses for all the computing power and artificial intelligence on offer at a powerful data centre.

Liverpool Is A World City

Liverpool is a World City, where there is plenty of sport, entertainment and things to do.

Conclusion

Liverpool is installing the power infrastructure for a very large data centre, that will be able to handle the world’s largest and most difficult problems.

 

October 21, 2024 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Energy | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Could Open Access Operators Use High Speed Two?

In Mayors Propose New Staffordshire To Manchester Rail Line, I suggested the Grand Union Trains might like to run their service between London Euston and Stirling via High Speed Two.

But would this be a feasible idea?

These are my thoughts.

What Is An Open Access Operator?

The Wikipedia entry for Open-Access Operator, provide this answer.

In rail transport, an open-access operator is an operator that takes full commercial risk, running on infrastructure owned by a third party and buying paths on a chosen route and, in countries where rail services run under franchises, are not subject to franchising.

It then lists fifty-four operators in fifteen countries.

As the companies, who provide the services take full commercial risk and don’t get a subsidy from the taxpayer, I don’t see why, that providing, the operator can get the paths, they should be allowed to operate.

If they fail, then that’s the operator’s problem.

Are Any Paths Available On High Speed Two?

These are High Speed Two services as originally planned.

Since the Eastern Leg was cancelled, the following has happened.

  • There are only eleven trains per hour (tph) between London Euston and Birmingham Interchange.
  • There are only ten tph between Birmingham and Crewe.
  • There is one tph between Birmingham and Macclesfield via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent.

Note.

The Trent Valley Line section between Stafford and Crewe is 24.3 miles.

The Trent Valley Line between Handsacre Junction and Crewe is nearly all four tracks.

Currently, this section carries these fast trains.

  • Avanti West Coast – 1 tph – London Euston to Blackpool North, Edinburgh or Glasgow via Birmingham New Street.
  • Avanti West Coast – 1 tph – London Euston to North Wales
  • Avanti West Coast – 1 tph – London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street
  • Avanti West Coast – 2 tph – London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly
  • Avanti West Coast – 1 tph – London Euston to Scotland
  • West Midlands Trains – 1 tph – London Euston to Crewe.
  • West Midlands Trains – 1 tph – Stafford to Crewe.
  • West Midlands Trains – 1 tph – Birmingham New Street to Liverpool Lime Street.

This totals nine tph and will be 10 tph, when a second London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street is added.

When High Speed Two opens between London Euston  and Birmingham Curzon  and Handsacre Junction, trains between London Euston and Liverpool, Manchester, the North and Scotland will switch to the Trent Valley Line at Handsacre Junction.

The Trent Valley Line section between Stafford and Crewe will carry these fast trains.

  • Avanti West Coast – 1 tph – London Euston to North Wales
  • High Speed Two – 2 tph – London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street
  • High Speed Two – 3 tph – London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly
  • High Speed Two – 2 tph – London Euston to Scotland
  • High Speed Two – 1 tph – Birmingham Curzon Street to Scotland
  • High Speed Two – 2 tph – Birmingham Curzon Street to Manchester Piccadilly
  • West Midlands Trains – 1 tph – London Euston to Crewe.
  • West Midlands Trains – 1 tph – Stafford to Crewe.
  • West Midlands Trains – 1 tph – Birmingham New Street to Liverpool Lime Street

Note.

  1. This totals to ten tph for High Speed Two, 1 tph for Avanti West Coast and the tph for West Midlands Trains.
  2. There is no service to Blackpool.
  3. It looks to me that the London Euston to North Wales should, as soon as the North Wales Coast Line is electrified become a High Speed Two service.
  4. Should the Birmingham New Street to Liverpool Lime Street service be replaced with a High Speed Two from Birmingham Curzon Street to Liverpool Lime Street?

There is plenty of paths South of Handsacre Junction on High Speed Two to accommodate a few services to Blackpool and an open access operator like Grand Union Trains, who have been given permission to run a service to Stirling.

Conclusion

My rough calculation says that open access services could be fitted in on the latest variant of High Speed Two.

In Mayors Propose New Staffordshire To Manchester Rail Line, the two Andies; Burnham and Street proposed that the Handsacre Junction and Manchester Airport section of High Speed Two should be built.

If this should happen, then it would open up several possibilities for open access services for the North.

 

March 24, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mayors Propose New Staffordshire To Manchester Rail Line

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.

These five paragraphs introduce the article.

The mayors of the West Midlands and Greater Manchester have set out proposals for a new railway line between Staffordshire and Manchester Airport in a bid to improve connections to the north.

Work commission by West Midlands mayor Andy Street and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has concluded the new line is the preferred option to tackle congestion on the West Coast Mainline, following the government’s decision to curtail HS2 beyond Birmingham.

A private sector group – chaired by infrastructure expert Sir David Higgins – had been looking at three potential options to improve connectivity between Birmingham and Manchester.

The options included undertaking significant engineering upgrades to the West Coast Main Line, building bypasses at the pinch points on the line and building a new railway between Handsacre and Manchester Airport.

The group, convened by the mayors, is led by global engineering firm Arup with input from over 60 partners from six other firms – Arcadis, Addleshaw Goddard, EY, Dragados, Mace and Skanska.

This paragraph gives the conclusion.

The group has provisionally concluded that a new line – running approximately 70 miles between HS2 at Handsacre and Northern Powerhouse Rail at High Legh – is likely to offer the best combination of costs and benefits.

It looks to me, that this professional approach has led to a sensible answer.

I will now look at the route.

This Open Railway Map shows the tracks to the South of Handsacre.

Note.

  1. The blue arrow in the North-West corner of the map, indicates the location of the former Armitage station, which had the village of Handsacre to its North-East.
  2. The red line through Armitage station is the Trent Valley Line.
  3. Lichfield Trent Valley station is at the bottom of the map.
  4. The line drawn with large dashes from the South-East corner of the map is the proposed line of High Speed Two. Red indicates under construction and black indicates proposed.

High Speed Two splits into two.

One branch goes North-West to join the Trent Valley Line, whilst the other just stops after about a kilometre.

  • All trains for Liverpool, Manchester, North Wales, The North and Scotland will take the Trent Valley Line, when High Speed Two opens.
  • Trains for Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield and some to Manchester will leave the Trent Valley Line at Colwich Junction.
  • All other trains, will take the same route as now and proceed to Crewe via Stafford.

The red dotted line leading from the cancelled branch of High Speed Two shows where the original fast line to Crewe was planned to go.

This Open Railway Map shows the tracks around Crewe.

Note.

  1. Crewe is the important junction station towards the North-West corner of the map.
  2. The orange line going South is the West Coast Main Line to The South and London.
  3. The red dotted line running along the West side of the West Coast Main Line was the proposed route of High Speed Two from Birmingham, London and the South.

This Open Railway Map shows the originally proposed direct route of High Speed Two between Crewe and Handsacre.

Note.

  1. Crewe is in the North-West corner of the map.
  2. The blue arrow in the South-East corner of the map, indicates the location of the former Armitage station, which had the village of Handsacre to its North-East.
  3. The dotted red line was the originally proposed route of High Speed Two.

I feel that this route between Handsacre and Crewe has advantages if it were to be chosen as part of a route between Handsacre and Northern Powerhouse Rail, as recommended by the Mayors and their consultants.

  • The route seems to stay well clear of large conurbations.
  • A lot of the design work has been at least started and major problems will be known.
  • Crewe is the only station on the route, which will need to be upgraded.
  • Services to Liverpool, Manchester, North Wales, The North and Scotland will be speeded up.
  • With Crewe, Liverpool and North Wales,  times could be as High Speed Two promised in the first place.

I feel that building the Handsacre and Crewe section, as originally envisaged, will score high in a benefit/cost analysis

This OpenRailwayMap shows the originally proposed route of High Speed Two between Crewe and Manchester Airport.

Note.

  1. Crewe is towards the South-West corner of the map.
  2. Manchester Airport is in the North-East corner of the map.
  3. The red line going North from Crewe is the West Coast Main Line.
  4. The dotted red line was the originally proposed route of High Speed Two, between the West Coast Main Line and Manchester Airport.

Northern Powerhouse Rail will go West from Manchester Airport towards Warrington and Liverpool and will join with High Speed Two at a junction at High Legh.

Northern Powerhouse Rail is currently being planned, but surely, if High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail share a line from High Legh to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly, this will be a more affordable project.

Services To Crewe

In Could The High Speed Two Link Between Lichfield And Crewe Still Be Built?, which I wrote after much of High Speed Two was chopped in 2023, I said this.

Currently, Avanti West Coast trains take around one hour and thirty minutes between London and Crewe.

The Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two gives these times between London and Crewe.

  • Fastest time before High Speed Two – one hour and thirty minutes.
  • Time after Phase 2a of High Speed Two opens – fifty-six minutes.

Note.

  1. That is a time saving of thirty-four minutes.
  2. High Speed Two Trains will use the direct line between Lichfield and Crewe.
  3. High Speed Two will also add eighteen tph to the capacity between London and Crewe.

This would seem to mean that any trains  going to or through Crewe will be thirty-four minutes faster, if they use High Speed Two between London and Crewe.

If the Handsacre and Crewe direct line is built, it looks like London and Crewe will be the full High Speed Two time of 56 minutes.

Services To Liverpool

Consider.

  • Liverpool Lime Street was originally planned to get two trains per hour (tph) to and from London using High Speed Two.
  • The approaches into Liverpool were improved a few years ago.
  • No more improvements are planned between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street stations.
  • Between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street stations currently takes 38 minutes.
  • There could be time savings on the 16.3 miles between Crewe and Weaver Junction, which currently takes 21 minutes.

It looks like a time of one hour and 34 minutes could be possible, with under one hour and 30 minutes not being impossible.

Services To Manchester

Consider.

  • Manchester was originally planned to get three tph to and from London using High Speed Two.
  • No improvements are planned between Crewe and the Manchester stations.
  • Between Crewe and Manchester Piccadilly stations currently takes 34 minutes.

It looks like a time of one hour and 30 minutes could be possible.

But there is still the option of building a new line between Crewe and Northern Powerhouse Rail at High Legh.

I showed this OpenRailwayMap earlier and it shows the originally proposed route of High Speed Two between Crewe and Manchester Airport.

Note.

  1. Crewe is towards the South-West corner of the map.
  2. Manchester Airport is in the North-East corner of the map.
  3. The red line going North from Crewe is the West Coast Main Line.
  4. The dotted red line was the originally proposed route of High Speed Two, between the West Coast Main Line and Manchester Airport.

Northern Powerhouse Rail is currently being planned. and will go West from Manchester Airport towards Warrington and Liverpool and will be built first.

A junction at High Legh will be built to link the West Coast Main Line to Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Services To North Wales

Why Not? With the cancellation of the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two, there must be a path available for North Wales.

Consider.

  • The North Wales Main Line has been promised electrification.
  • As Holyhead and Crewe is only 105.5 miles, it could even be in battery high speed train range in a few years.
  • All times to and from Crewe are assumed to be as Avanti West Coast achieve now.
  • As Crewe and Chester currently takes 23 minutes, London and Chester would take 1 hour and 19 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Llandudno Junction currently takes 1 hour and 22 minutes, London and Llandudno Junction would take 2 hours and 18 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Holyhead currently takes 2 hours and 7 minutes, London and Holyhead would take 3 hours and 3 minutes.

Could this open up a fast zero-carbon route between London and Dublin?

Services To Blackpool, Lancaster, Preston, Warrington And Wigan

Why Not, Blackpool? With the cancellation of the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two, there must be an extra path available, if it is needed.

Cpnsider.

  • All routes are electrified.
  • All times to and from Crewe are assumed to be as Avanti West Coast achieve now.
  • As Crewe and Blackpool currently takes 1 hour and 20 minutes, London and Blackpool would take 2 hour and 16 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Lancaster currently takes 60 minutes, London and Lancaster would take 1 hour and 56 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Preston currently takes 40 minutes, London and Preston would take 1 hour and 36 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Warrington Bank Quay currently takes 22 minutes, London and Warrington Bank Quay would take 1 hour and 18 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Wigan North Western currently takes 33 minutes, London and Wigan North Western would take 1 hour and 29 minutes.

Note.

  1. Lancaster in under two hours will help the Eden Project Morecambe.
  2. For some areas of the North West, it might be more convenient to change at Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western or Preston.

Improvements to track and signalling could probably bring benefits.

Services To Carlisle And Central Scotland

Cpnsider.

  • All routes are electrified.
  • All times to and from Crewe are assumed to be as Avanti West Coast achieve now.
  • As Crewe and Carlisle currently takes 1 hour and 55 minutes, London and Carlisle would take 2 hours and 51 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Lockerbie currently takes 2 hours and 6 minutes, London and Lockerbie would take 3 hours and 1 minute.
  • As Crewe and Motherwell currently takes 2 hours and 45 minutes, London and Motherwell would take 3 hours and 41 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Edinburgh currently takes 3 hours and 9 minutes, London and Edinburgh would take 4 hours and 5 minutes.
  • As Crewe and Glasgow Central currently takes 3 hours and 3 minutes, London and Glasgow Central would take 3 hours and 59 minutes.

Note.

  1. Just under four hours to Glasgow Central would please the Marketing Department.
  2. Selective splitting and joining could increase the number of destinations.

Improvements to track and signalling could probably bring benefits.

Services To Stirling

In ORR: Open Access Services Given Green Light Between London And Stirling, I wrote about Grand Union Trains’s new open access service to Stirling.

There has been good feedback on this service, so perhaps one of the spare paths on High Speed Two could be allocated to Open Access Operators, so that more of the country could have a high speed service to London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street stations.

In the related post, I showed that London Euston and Stirling takes forty five minutes longer than a London Euston and Motherwell service.

This would mean that a London Euston and Stirling service via High Speed Two would take four hours and 26 minutes.

Services Between Birmingham Curzon Street and the North West

Under the plans for High Speed Two, the following services would have run North from Birmingham Curzon Street.

  • One tph to Edinburgh or Motherwell and Glasgow via Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie and Carstairs.
  • Two tph to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly.

But there are now spare paths South of Crewe, so Could a one tph Birmingham Curzon Street and Liverpool Lime Street service be squeezed in?

Could The Line Be Privately Financed?

I suspect that building the section between Handsacre and Crewe could be financed in perhaps a similar way, to the Chiltern improvements or the M6 Toll Road were financed.

  • The Handsacre and Crewe section is just a simple stretch of rail, with a number of trains passing along it.
  • The number of trains passing through, is likely to increase.
  • Every train passing through would pay a track charge, just as they do to Network Rail.
  • Those with lots of money to lend, like simple projects like wind farms or road tunnels, but think very hard about anything complicated like nuclear power stations or High Speed Two’s station at Euston.

Certainly, my late and very good friend, David, who dealt with the finance of some of London’s largest projects and was on the top table of London’s bankers, would have found a way. It might though have been unorthodox.

But then David was a rogue. But a rogue on the side of the angels.

Conclusion

I have come to these conclusions.

  1. Building the direct route between Handsacre and Crewe could be good value as it improves all routes that will pass through Crewe.
  2. Combining High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail could substantially cut the costs of both routes to the centre of Manchester.
  3. London and Crewe times should be 56 minutes.
  4. London and Liverpool Lime Street times could be under one hour and thirty minutes.
  5. London and Manchester Piccadilly times could start at one hour and thirty minutes and reduce when Northern Powerhouse Rail is built and linked to the West Coast Main Line.
  6. London and Holyhead could be just over three hours and could open up a fast zero-carbon route between London and Dublin.
  7. London and Lancaster in under two hours could help the Eden Project Morecambe.

It’s certainly not a bad plan and it should be looked at in more detail.

March 22, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Could Manchester Airport Be Accessed From The West By A Tunnel Under The M56?

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railways of East London between Dalston Junction and Stratford International stations.

Note.

  1. Dalston Kingsland station is marked with an arrow in the West of the map.
  2. Stratford International station is marked by the blue lettering in the East of the map.
  3. The orange line between them is the North London Line.
  4. There are also two pink lines, which indicate High Speed One, which is dug several metres below the North London Line.

It can’t be much different to dig a high speed railway underneath a motorway. Has anybody done this?

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railways leading to Manchester Airport.

Note.

  1. Junctions 5 and 6 of the M56 motorway are on the Western edge of the Airport.
  2. The red tracks are the Styal Line.
  3. The mauve tracks are the Metrolink.
  4. It should be noted that railway lines pass under Heathrow Airport’s runways.

Point 4 makes me sure, that Manchester Airport can have a station connected to the West by a railway under the M56.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railways around Weaver Junction on the West Coast Main Line, where the trains branch off to Liverpool.

Note.

  1. The West Coast Main Line goes down the Eastern side of the map.
  2. Warrington Bank Quay is the next station to the North.
  3. The Liverpool Branch goes off to the West.
  4. The M56 tuns diagonally across the map from the North-East corner crossing both both branches of the West Coast Main Line.

This Google Map shows where the M56 crosses over the West Coast Main Line to Warrington Bank Quay.

Note.

  1. The M56 motorway is obvious.
  2. The Eastbound motorway goes to Manchester Airport and Manchester.
  3. The junction is numbered 11.
  4. The railway runs down the Western side of the map.

I believe that it would be possible to connect a railway running East under the motorway to the West Coast Main Line.

This Google Map shows where the M56 crosses over the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line.

Note.

  1. There is no motorway junction here.
  2. The North-East bound motorway goes to Manchester Airport and Manchester.
  3. The railway runs slightly diagonally across the bottom of the map.
  4. The Westbound railway goes to Runcorn and Liverpool.
  5. The Eastbound railway goes to Weaver Junction, Crewe and the South.

There would only need to be a connection between Liverpool and the railway under the motorway going to and from Manchester Airport.

I have some further thoughts and questions.

This Is Just My First Thought

I am happier about the connection to the Liverpool branch than the Northern connection.

But then I feel there are several routes at both junctions, some of which will take a wider route.

How Long Will The Tunnels Be?

Between Junctions 11 and 6 on the M56 is 16 miles.

At What Speed Would The Trains Run?

I suspect that once on the straight section between Junctions 11 and 6, speeds of up to 90 or 100 mph should be possible, but speeds would probably be lower at the junctions to the West Coast Main Line.

How Would It Connect To Manchester Piccadilly?

The tunnel would continue the other side of the Airport and it’s a further 9.4 miles to under Manchester Piccadilly.

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

This was their visualisation.

Note.

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

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

Onward From Manchester Piccadilly

I would hope that a connection could be made to the Huddersfield Line to the East of Manchester Piccadilly station, so that trains could use the TransPennine Upgrade all the way to Leeds.

 

 

October 6, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

ZeroAvia – Dornier228 – First Flight

Does Anyone Remember Suckling Airways?

They started by flying a Dornier 228 between Ipswich and Manchester airports.

But look at this Dornier 228 in a short flight from Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire.

This press release from ZeroAvia is entitled ZeroAvia Makes Aviation History, Flying World’s Largest Aircraft Powered With a Hydrogen-Electric Engine.

This paragraph describes the aircraft’s engines in this testbed configuration.

The twin-engine aircraft was retrofitted to incorporate ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric engine on its left wing, which then operated alongside a single Honeywell TPE-331 stock engine on the right. In this testing configuration, the hydrogen-electric powertrain comprises two fuel cell stacks, with lithium-ion battery packs providing peak power support during take-off and adding additional redundancy for safe testing. In this testbed configuration, hydrogen tanks and fuel cell power generation systems were housed inside the cabin. In a commercial configuration, external storage would be used and the seats restored.

As I suspect a Dornier 228 can fly on one Honeywell engine, this must be a very safe way to prove the concept of the hydrogen-electric powertrain.

This paragraph indicates their path to full certification and entry into service in 2025.

ZeroAvia will now work towards its certifiable configuration in order to deliver commercial routes using the technology by 2025. The Dornier 228 will conduct a series of test flights from Kemble and later demonstration flights from other airports. Almost exactly two years ago, ZeroAvia conducted the first of more than 30 flights of a six-seat Piper Malibu aircraft using a 250kW hydrogen-electric powertrain.

That is an ambitious date, but, they haven’t got to develop and certify a new airframe.

January 25, 2023 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 2 Comments

Alternative Rail Connections For Bradford After IRP Snub

The title of this post is the same as that of this article on New Civil Engineer.

This is the first paragraph.

Of all the losers from the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), Bradford is arguably the biggest.

I agree! But then Bradford is a very difficult problem.

The article talks about several solutions.

These are probably the best of a rather mixed and downright impractical bunch.

The big problem with Bradford Interchange station is that it is a terminal and not a through station. Through trains between say Leeds and Halifax or Huddersfield have to reverse in the station, which slows the services down by up to five minutes.

Currently the following local services call at Bradford Interchange station.

  • Blackpool North and York
  • Chester and Leeds
  • Halifax and Hull
  • Huddersfield and Leeds
  • Manchester Victoria and Leeds

Note.

  1. All services have a frequency of one tph.
  2. All trains are diesel-powered.
  3. All services reverse in Bradford Interchange station.
  4. Platforms 1 and 2 can accommodate five-car Class 180 trains, which are 120 metres long.

This Google Map shows Bradford Interchange station.

Note.

  1. Platforms 1 and 2 are the longer pair of platforms to the West.
  2. Platform 3 and 4 can probably handle a four-car train.
  3. I suspect that if necessary platforms could be lengthened so they could all take a five-car Class 802 train, which is 130 metres long.

In Would Automated Trains With The Ability To Run Backwards Improve Passenger Train Services?, I proposed providing sufficient automation and signalling improvements, so that drivers could drive the train from either cab.

This would make the reverse at Bradford Interchange station take as long as a normal stop, without any reduction in safety.

If this could be made to work efficiently, it must open up the possibility of a Leeds and Manchester Airport service.

  • It would call at Bradford Interchange, Low Moor, Halifax, Brighouse and Huddersfield.
  • It would satisfy Bradford’s need of a direct service to Manchester Airport.
  • It would improve getting to the airport for Low Moor, Halifax and Brighouse.

There would be no need for large amounts of new or modified infrastructure.

 

December 21, 2021 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

« Previous Entries