The Anonymous Widower

Northern Launches New Yorkshire Flyer Fast Service Between Leeds And Sheffield

The title of this post is the same as that of this news item from Northern Trains.

This is the sub-heading.

Northern is running a new fast service which allows customers to travel between Leeds and Sheffield in 47 minutes.

These three introductory paragraphs add more detail.

Known as the Yorkshire Flyer, as it provides a quick and convenient connection between the White Rose county’s two biggest cities, the service was officially launched during an event at Leeds station earlier today.

Cutting journey times and providing more than 30,000 extra seats a week, the service will support economic growth by making it easier for people to get to work and reach new opportunities.

It used to take all Northern customers around an hour or longer to make the journey, with trains calling at various stops along the way.

These further details come from Real Time Trains.

  1. The trains used appear to be two-car Class 158 trains.
  2. The total distance is 38.7 miles.
  3. Between Leeds station and South Kirkby junction is electrified and a distance of 20.6 miles.
  4. Trains appear to leave Leeds station at xx45.
  5. CrossCountry services Leeds station for Sheffield at xx15 and make a similar intermediate stop at Wakefield Westgate.
  6. Leeds trains for Sheffield seem to leave from Platform 12 or 12A.
  7. Trains appear to leave  Sheffield station at xx52.
  8. CrossCountry services leave Sheffield station for Leeds at xx22 and make a similar intermediate stop at Wakefield Westgate.
  9. Sheffield trains for Leeds don’t seem to have such a regular platform, as those in the other direction. But I suppose that will be improved.

Effectively, Northern and CrossCountry have paired up two services to give a two trains per hour, fast service between Leeds and Sheffield with one stop at Wakefield Westgate.

I have some further thoughts.

The Route Could Be Run By Battery-Electric Trains

Consider.

  • The only part of the route that is not electrified is the 18.1 miles between South Kirkby junction and Sheffield station.
  • From talking to engineers, who are working on developing battery-electric trains, a three-car train with a battery range of fifty miles is already a possibility.
  • In 2015, I actually rode on a four-car battery-electric Class 379 train, that ran reliably on the Harwich branch for three months.
  • Merseyrail’s battery-electric Class 777 trains probably have the performance and are working reliably on Merseyside. But they are probably a bit slow.

I believe that any number of train manufacturers would be very pleased to provide new battery-electric trains for the route.

But Siemens must be in the prime position.

  • The German company has built a £200 million train factory at Goole in East Yorkshire, which is currently building London’s Piccadilly Line trains, which have batteries.
  • Siemens have already delivered trains in Germany using the technology, they would use in the UK.
  • The battery charging technology they would use for other routes in the UK, is described in Technology Behind Siemens Mobility’s British Battery Trains Hits The Tracks.
  • Sheffield and Leeds, would make a superb test and demonstration route for battery-electric trains, as 50% of the route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC.
  • The Sheffield and Leeds route is just down the track from the Goole factory.
  • I wouldn’t be very surprised, if Siemens were very keen to get a few orders close to their factory, as they would surely be easy to support.

But the clincher must be Juergen Maier, who used to be CEO of Siemens UK, and is now Chair of Great British Energy. Maier holds both British and Austrian citizenship, and was educated in Leeds and Nottingham, so hopefully, he can give this clanger-prone government some excellent advice where they need it, from his position in Great British Energy.

Could A Stop Be Made At Meadowbank Station?

This would give access to other rail routes and the Sheffield Supertram, but most of this access could also be performed at Sheffield.

Looking at the timetable of the route, I feel that there is enough slack to fit in a stop at Meadowhall, but it would need for the route to be electrified, so that the trains had faster acceleration and deceleration.

However, battery-electric trains may have the required performance.

What Maximum Speed Would The Trains Need?

Consider.

  • The current Class 158 diesel trains used between Sheffield and Leeds and in many places in the UK are 90 mph trains.
  • There are also a large number of Class 170 trains in the UK, that will need to be replaced and these are 100 mph trains.
  • The Sheffield and Leeds route has some sections of 85 mph running.
  • Train speeds are all accurately computer-controlled.

As a Control Engineer for safety and route availability reasons, I believe the trains will have a 100 mph maximum speed, but train speed will be computer controlled.

Will The Trains Be Driver-Only Operated?

I asked Google AI if Hitachi IET trains are driver only operated (DOO) and received this reply.

Hitachi Intercity Express Trains (IETs, Class 800/802) are designed for versatile operation, capable of Driver-Only Operation (DOO) using in-cab CCTV monitors for door safety checks. While they can operate without a guard, many services, particularly on GWR, still retain a guard on board for passenger service duties, even if the driver controls the doors.

So Hitachi trains can be driver-only operated and these will surely share the tracks with the trains that work the Northern Flyer.

I asked Google AI if Thameslink trains are driver only operated (DOO) and received this reply.

Yes, all Thameslink train services are Driver Only Operated (DOO). This means the driver is solely responsible for operating the doors and ensuring the safe dispatch of the train, without a guard or conductor on board to manage the doors. Through the central London core, these trains often use Automatic Train Operation (ATO).

As I believe that Siemens would be likely to win the battery-electric train order, because of proven technology, factory location and influence of Juergen Maier, Siemens certainly have the ability to produce trains, that are driver-only operated.

I believe that, whoever builds the trains, they will be capable of driver-only operation.

But if driver-only operation is to be used will be down to politics.

  • Because of the situation on East West Rail, Heidi Alexander will probably be in favour.
  • The Tories and Liberal Democrats will also be in favour.
  • The rail unions, the left wing of the Labour Party and the Greens will be strongly against.
  • Farage and Reform UK will take a very hard line to enforce driver-only operation everywhere.

The average citizen on the Northern Flyer and all the other trains in the UK, will just want a reliable train service.

Conclusion

  • This would make a superb route for a battery electric train.
  • No chargers or extra electrification would need to be installed.
  • There wouldn’t be much work needed to be done to the platforms or the signalling.
  • The trains would use standard 25 KVAC overhead electrification for charging.
  • The trains would be running close to where they were built.

I believe the new service will give a large boost to the Yorkshire economy. Even before the arrival of battery-electric trains.

 

 

 

February 10, 2026 Posted by | Design, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My 78-Year-Old Legs Are More Reliable Than The New Chinese Buses On London’s 141 Bus Route

So we all know what we’re talking about, here’s a few pictures.

Note.

  1. The buses seem to have no serious faults from a passenger point of view.
  2. One middle-aged lady on the plump side, said she didn’t like the buses.
  3. The aisle between the front seats doesn’t seem to be built for large people.
  4. The seats are reasonably comfortable.
  5. One morning, I stood on a long journey and I felt the road-holding wasn’t as good as a New Routemaster.
  6. On several buses, the interior route display has not been working.
  7. As I don’t wear a watch, I find a non-working display annoying.
  8. I haven’t been upstairs yet.
  9. As picture numbers three and four show, the bus looks a bit pokey at the back downstairs.

But I am very suspicious about the buses’s  reliability or ability to handle the route, which is fairly long.

Take this morning, when I was coming home from London Bridge station.

  • There was only a 43 bus at the shared stop with the 141 bus.
  • As the routes are identical until Old Street station, I took the 43 bus to Moorgate station.
  • At Moorgate station, I took a 76 bus, which gets me within walking distance of where I live.
  • Someone said, that a 141 bus would mean a wait of ten minutes.
  • In the end my 78-year-old legs delivered be home.

I didn’t see a 141 bus going my way on my journey.

I have seen behaviour like this several times, since some Chinese electric buses were introduced on to the route.

As a graduate Electrical and Control Engineer, it looks to me, that there is one of two problems with these buses.

  • The batteries aren’t large enough for the route.
  • Not enough time is allowed for charging the batteries at the end of the route.

This page on the Wrightbus website is entitled Wrightbus Electroliner ‘Most Efficient Double-Deck Battery-Electric Bus’, and it contains this paragraph, which probably explains their philosophy and ambition.

We have already gained a strong reputation for our hydrogen double deck but we want to lead the world in zero-emissions full stop. Wrightbus has the best brains in the business when it comes to technology and our StreetDeck Electroliner puts us squarely at the front of the pack. We haven’t weighed the bus down with a high battery volume just so we can say it’s got the most power or range; instead, we’ve made it the most efficient vehicle on the road by combining optimum power with a class-leading rapid charge, meaning our electric bus spends more time on the road than any other.

It also probably sets a very high bar, which the Chinese can only achieve by adding battery volume and making their buses pokey.

To be fair to the buses, the 141 route is probably nearly 20 miles long.

In Sutton Station To Gatwick Airport By Hydrogen-Powered Bus, I wrote about what it says in the title.

In that post, I said this about hydrogen buses running on the 141 route.

Wrightbus Hydrogen Buses For My Local Bus Route 141

Consider.

  • The 141 bus route is my local bus, which gets me to Moorgate, Bank, London Bridge and Manor House.
  • The length of the full route is twenty miles and it takes about an hour to go from London Bridge station to Palmers Green.
  • The route is currently run by older Wrightbus hybrid diesel-electric buses.
  • I suspect that modern hydrogen buses could last almost all day on one fill of hydrogen, with perhaps a top-up at lunchtime.

They would have no difficulty handling the route  and would greatly increase the customers current rock-bottom satisfaction.

I am sure, they would improve the horrendous reliability of the route.

I also wonder, if Wrightbus have another solution.

In UK Among Tri-Axle Zero-Emission Wrightbus StreetDeck Prospects, I talk about Wrightbus’s new Tri-Axle Zero-Emission Wrightbus StreetDeck bus and how it would be ideal for the 141 bus route.

  • The 141 bus route is the old 641 trolleybus route, so all clearances are generous.
  • The tri-axle design can probably carry a better-optimised battery.
  • There used to be two bus routes on the route and now there is only one, so more capacity is needed.
  • The 141 bus route bridges the gap between the Northern section of the Piccadilly Line and the Elizabeth Line, Bank and London Bridge.
  • The new air-conditioned Piccadilly Line trains, will increase the passengers on the line.
  • There will be a lot more housing built in Enfield, at the Northern end of the Piccadilly Line and more bus capacity will be needed between Manor House and the City of London.

Some of TfL’s rerouting of buses in North London, was a crime against mathematics.

October 4, 2025 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

London Underground’s New Piccadilly Line Trains Delayed Until 2026

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

These are the first two paragraphs.

The new air-conditioned trains which Siemens Mobility is supplying for London Underground’s Piccadilly Line are now expected to enter service from the second half of 2026, Transport for London has confirmed.

When the order was signed in November 2018 it was envisaged that the trains would enter service from 2024.

The article also says this about the new CAF trains for the Docklands Light Railway.

The Docklands Light Railway is to implement ‘short-term timetable changes’ on less busy routes from July 21. The reduction in services aims to ensure that reliability can be maintained pending the delayed introduction of new CAF trainsets, which was originally planned for 2023 but is now expected later this year. TfL said the age of the existing trains meant some needed to be retired this summer.

It looks like has two sets of new trains, both being delivered two years late; one being German and the other Spanish.

The only factors I can think both trains being late would be.

  • Bad management of the contracts by Transport for London.
  • Bad documentation of the Piccadilly Line and the Docklands Light Railway, when they were built.
  • Bad project management generally throughout Europe.
  • All politicians will be blaming someone else.

Take your pick!

June 23, 2025 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 5 Comments

Did Plans For Crossrail Ever Include A Station At Holborn?

I have only one North-South bus route, where I live.

The 141 bus connects Palmers Green and London Bridge station.

  • The 141 bus was the replacement for the 641 trolley bus, which was the main link between Wood Green, Turnpike Lane and Harringay, and the City of London, when I was a child.
  • The vehicles are up to ten years old Wrightbus diesel hybrids.
  • The route suffers badly from overcrowding as it connects, Bank and Moorgate stations in the City of London, with the outer reaches of the Piccadilly Line.

The overcrowding on the 141 bus route has got worse in the last couple of years because of the following.

  • The rebuilding of London Bridge station brought more passengers to the 141 bus route.
  • The opening of the new London Bridge bus station at London Bridge station has improved access to the buses at London Bridge station.
  • The improvement of the connection of the buses to the Docklands Light Railway, Central Line and Northern Line at Bank station.
  • The opening of the Battersea branch of the Northern Line, which brings more passengers to Bank station.
  • The opening of the new Cannon Street entrance to Bank Underground station.
  • The opening of the Elizabeth Line through Moorgate station.
  • Recently, a new walking route between Moorgate and Liverpool Street was opened, which will bring more passengers to the buses on Moorgate.
  • The rebuilding of Old Street station brought more passengers to the 141 bus route.

So what was the response of the Mayor and Transport for London, to all this increase of passenger numbers?

The 21 bus, which shadowed the 141 route, and doubled the number of buses through where I live, was moved to serve Holloway.

It was a big crime against mathematics and the wishes of our long-serving Labour MP; Meg Hillier.

So to handle many more passengers between London Bridge station and Newington Green through the City of London, the number of buses was halved.

I believe that the overcrowding will get worse because of the improvements, that Transport for London have planned.

  • The Piccadilly Line will be getting new air-conditioned trains within a couple of years and these will inevitably attract more passengers to the line.
  • On the other hand the air-conditioning may persuade passengers to use the Piccadilly Line more than they do now. Instead of changing to the 141 bus at Manor House station, passengers could change at Finsbury Park, King’s Cross St. Pancras or Holborn stations for other routes to the City of London.
  • The third line to receive the new air-conditioned trains will probably be the Central Line, which would create another East-West air-conditioned line and bring more passengers to Bank station.
  • The Central Line could give some relief for the buses through Bank, if an extra station was built on the Central Line to interchange with Shoreditch High Street station on the East London Line of the London Overground.
  • The fourth line to receive the new air-conditioned trains will probably be the Waterloo and City Line, which would create another air-conditioned line and bring more passengers to Bank station.
  • It is likely, that more services will be added to the Elizabeth Line, which will bring more passengers to Moorgate station.
  • It is likely, that more services will be added to the Northern City Line, which will bring more passengers to Moorgate station.
  • The Mayor is also planning to pedestrianise Oxford Street, which may fill up the Central Line with extra passengers.

It looks to me, that there will be a need for a large increase of bus capacity through the City of London on a North-South axis.

On the other hand, the City of London  have stated that they will pedestrianise many of their streets.

So what can be done to avoid gridlock in the City of London?

Develop The Northern City Line At Moorgate

I use this route regularly to and from Moorgate station.

  • It already has new Class 717 air-conditioned trains.
  • The route is already  digitally signalled in conjunction with the East Coast Digital Programme.
  • It has two platforms at Moorgate station.
  • Highbury & Islington station has interchanges with the Victoria Line and the North and East London Lines of the London Overground.
  • Finsbury Park station has interchanges with the Victoria Line and National Rail services.
  • Bowes Park station has an out of station interchange with Bounds Green station on the Piccadilly Line.
  • Step-free access needs improving.
  • The Victorians had plans to extend the line to Lothbury near Bank station.

If the Northern City Line could handle more passengers, would passengers get to all parts of the City of London by changing at Finsbury Park and walking from Moorgate or Old Street stations?

I regularly go between my house and Moorgate, by taking a bus to Essex Road station and using the Northern City Line.

I believe that with improvements on the Northern City Line, the line could be turned into a very valuable part of London’s rail infrastructure.

Connect The Central Line And The East London Line At Shoreditch High Street Station

I wrote about this proposal in Will Shoreditch High Street Be Connected To The Central Line?

The Elizabeth Line needed to be completed before this could be started.

Build The Western Extension Of The Docklands Light Railway

I wrote about this proposal in The Bank Station Upgrade And The Western Extension Of The DLR.

Rebuild Holborn Station

The interchange between Piccadilly and Central Line at Holborn station is difficult to say the least.

Holborn station is being extended with a new entrance. As with Euston, I suspect it has been designed with a feasible place for DLR platforms to be added.

This document on the TfL web site, gives more details of what is proposed at Holborn station.

I extracted this visualisation of the proposed station.

This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the lines in the through and around the station.

.Note, the Elizabeth Line, which is shown by dotted lines passes to the North of the station.

Conclusion

Not all these improvements need to be done, but each would improve transport in the City of London.

 

June 4, 2025 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Could A Cross-City Underground Railway Be Run Using Battery-Electric Trains?

Consider.

  • Cross-city underground railways like London’s Bakerloo, Central, Jubilee,Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria Lines are usually powered by third-rail technology, which can be dangerous, if someone falls on the track.
  • Siemens new London Underground 2024 Stock, which is fully-described in this Wikipedia entry, has the following characteristics.
  • A train width of 2.648 metres.
  • A train height of 2.844 metres.
  • Walk-through carriages
  • Air-conditioning

They will also have batteries to support regenerative braking.

But say you were building a new underground line across a city like Birmingham, Leeds or Manchester.

Would the following be possible?

  • The tunnel would be built as small as possible, which would probably mean that it was built faster and more economically.
  • There would be no electrified rails or overhead wires to power the trains in the tunnel.
  • The trains would be powered by batteries.
  • Batteries would be charged by a pantograph, that erected to contact with an overhead line outside the tunnel.
  • The central tunnel would be bored straight.
  • When the train doors opened, passengers would be able to walk on a level surface into and out of the train.
  • I believe it would be possible to align the train doors with openings in the tunnel wall at stations to eliminate the need for platform edge doors.

I believe that to design a train and tunnel to literally fit like a glove, could save a lot of money on building a cross-city underground line.

The New Southbound Northern Line Platform At Bank Station

These pictures show the new Southbound Northern Line Platform at Bank Station.

Note.

  1. This is probably London Underground’s newest platform.
  2. The step into and out of the train is fairly level.
  3. This improvement has been achieved with new track and thirty-year-old rolling stock.

Have Siemens redesigned the platform/train interface in the London Underground 2024 Stock, so that the train/platform interface is even better?

  • Who’s to know what you can do with modern computer-aided design techniques?
  • If the train were to be battery-powered, so that conductor rails were not needed, would the extra space help fit everything in?
  • If there were no live rails under the train, would this increase safety, both real and perceived?

I believe it might be possible to design a train/platform interface, that would work with simpler and more affordable platform edge doors.

We probably find out what is possible until the London Underground 2024 Stock enter service later this year.

 

May 25, 2025 Posted by | Design, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

When Silvertown Opens, Blackwall Tolls Start Too

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

This is the sub-heading.

In under a month, tolls will be introduced for drivers at the new Silvertown Tunnel and the existing Blackwall Tunnel in east London.

These four paragraphs add detail to the story.

For car drivers it will cost £8 a day in peak. These are huge changes to London’s transport network and awareness seems to be low.

The new highly controversial Silvertown Tunnel opens on 7 April.

Critics have dubbed the crossing a huge polluting white elephant that will do nothing to cut congestion and pollution with little or no business case.

Supporters say it will reduce congestion on the old, existing Blackwall Tunnel and improve resilience on the crossing that closes between 600-700 times a year. It will also provide more cross river bus routes as well as a bus that can carry bikes.

As a very experienced mathematical modeller, my gut feeling is that four new tolled lanes under the River Thames is not the solution.

These are my thoughts.

Transport for London Are Not Good Mathematical Modellers

As a non-driver, I rely heavily on the 141 bus for transport.

  • It stops close to my house.
  • It takes me to and from Moorgate, where I also pick up the Elizabeth Line.
  • It takes me to and from Bank, where I also pick up the Central Line.
  • It takes me to and from River Thames, from where I pick up the Thames Clippers.
  • It takes me to and from London Bridge station, where I also pick up theThameslink.
  • It takes me to and from Manor House station, where I pick up the Piccadilly Line.
  • It takes me to and from Harringay Green Lanes station, where I pick up the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.

I must admit some of the reasons I like the bus route, are that it connects me to my childhood memories of WoodGreen, Southgate, Oakwood and Cockfosters.

When, I moved here, there were two North-South buses that ran within fifty metres of my house.

  • The 21 bus ran between Newington Green and Lewisham.
  • The 141 bus ran between Palmers Green and London Bridge station.

Then, two years ago the Elizabeth Line and the rebuilt Bank station both opened, followed a year later by an upgraded Old Street station.

These three improvements, added  a lot more passengers to the North-South corridor, between London Bridge station and Newington Green roundabout.

I suspect a quality modelling of bus passengers North-South, through the city of London, would have shown, that more buses were needed on the combined 21/141 route.

So what did Sir SadIQ and Transport for London do? They rerouted the 21 bus away from the busiest section through De Beauvoir Town.

In their modelling, I suspect.

  • They overestimated how many travellers used the Northern Line.
  • They ignored the fact, that the Piccadilly Line doesn’t serve the City of London.
  • They ignored the fact, that the Piccadilly Line doesn’t connect to the Elizabeth Line.
  • They ignored the fact, that the 141 bus, is the only direct way between Palmers Green, Wood Green, Turnpike Lane and Manor House to the City of London.
  • They felt De Beauvoir Town was a posh area and doesn’t need more buses, as residents can use their cars.

Halving the number of buses was a seriously bad decision.

I now have a damaged left knee due to constant standing on overcrowded buses.

It’s also got a lot worse lately due to constant bus diversions and cancellations, due to Islington’s LTNs and constant road works.

I’ve heard similar tales of bad bus planning from all over London.

So why should I trust Transport for London’s traffic modelling on the Silvertown and Blackwall Tunnels?

The Silvertown And Blackwall Tunnel Share Approach Routes

This map from the BBC article shows the layout of the two tunnels and their approach roads.

Note.

  1. The Blackwall Tunnel is two, two lane tunnels, one in each direction.
  2. The Silvertown Tunnel is one four lane tunnel, with two lanes in each direction.
  3. The O2 lies between the two tunnels.

The map shows the shared approach road for both tunnels.

What happens if there is an accident on the approach to the tunnels?

Tolling Problems

I feel that the tolling regime is overly complicated.

Hopefully, any problems this causes will lessen, as drivers know what to do.

The Sat-Nav Route Between The Tunnels And The M1

I’ve just looked one recommended route up, not that I have a Sat-Nav and I’ve never used one and the route is straightforward.

  • Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach to Hackney Wick.
  • Wick Lane to Hackney Central.
  • Graham Road and Dalston Lane to Dalston Junction
  • Balls Pond Road to Southgate Road/Mildmay Park
  • St. Paul’s Road to Highbury & Islington station.
  • Holloway Road to Archway.
  • Archway Road, Aylmer Road and Falloden Way to Henly’s Corner.
  • North Circular Road and Great North Way to the M1.

I live just South of the Southgate Road/Mildmay Park junction and often these days it is jammed solid.

But there is another route from Hackney Wick.

  • A12 to Redbridge Roundabout on the North Circular Road.
  • North Circular Road to the M1.

I dread to see what happens, when the Dartford Crossing is closed and heavy trucks from the Channel Tunnel to the M1, decide to take the Silvertown Tunnel as an alternative route.

 

 

March 13, 2025 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jurgen Maier To Chair Great British Energy

This article in The Times is entitled Pylons Are The Price Of Lower Bills, Keir Starmer Tells Rural Britain.

 These are two paragraphs from the article.

Starmer confirmed that Jürgen Maier, the former UK chief executive of the Siemens conglomerate, would chair the energy company.

Maier has advised Labour on rail and transport since December. He was openly critical of the party’s decision to drop a pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green investment, saying the figure was an “absolute minimum” and that scrapping the promise was “not good for climate change or for the growth of our economy”.

Note.

  1. His Wikipedia entry is impressive.
  2. He has dual Austrian and British citizenship.
  3. He went to school in Leeds and is a graduate of Nottingham Trent University.
  4. He rose to be Chief Executive of Siemens UK and retired in 2019 at 55.
  5. I have heard him several times on the radio and he seems to talk a lot of sense.

In my view he could be an excellent choice as Chair of Great British Energy.

I also have some further thoughts.

Jürgen Maier And Peter Hendy

Jürgen Maier and Peter Hendy, who is Starmer’s Rail Minister, have remarkably similar backgrounds and I wouldn’t be surprised if they know each other well, through dealings around Siemens’ contract for Transport for London’s new trains for the Piccadilly Line.

When last, were two technological heavyweights, so close to the heart of a UK government?

RWE

German energy company; RWE are the UK’s largest power generator.

  • RWE have five gas-fired power stations with a total output of 6.56 GW.
  • RWE have two onshore wind farms in operation with a total output of 67 MW.
  • RWE have four offshore wind farms in operation with a total output of 1.88 GW.
  • RWE have eight offshore wind farms under development with a total output of 9.90 GW.
  • RWE also has other electrical gubbins, like an electrolyser in South Wales.

Would Jürgen Maier be an ideal person, to persuade RWE to keep investing in the UK?

When he was with Siemens, he certainly invested heavily in the UK.

The German Problem

Germany’s problem is how they generate electricity.

Sources are as follows for Germany and the UK.

  • Coal – 26 % – 1 %
  • Natural Gas – 10.5 % – 32 %
  • Wind – 32 % – 29.4 %
  • Solar 12.2 % – 4.9 %
  • Biomass – 9.7 % – 12.3 %
  • Nuclear – 1.5 % – 14.2 %
  • Hydro – 4.5 % – 1.8 %
  • Oil – 0.7 % – 0 %
  • Other – 2.9 % – 0 %
  • Storage – 0 % – 1 %
  • Imports – 0 % – 10.7 %

Note.

  1. Figures are for 2023.
  2. Germany is the first percentage.
  3. UK is the second percentage.
  4. Germany has pledged to end coal-fired electricity production by 2030.
  5. Both countries seem to generate similar amounts of electricity from wind, biomass and hydro.

To replace the coal and make up for lack of nuclear, Germany needs to find a new power source.

The German Solution

The Germans are going for hydrogen in a big way.

The title of this page of the RWE web site is Welcome To The Age Of Hydrogen.

The page starts with this paragraph.

RWE is actively involved in the development of innovative hydrogen projects. The H2 molecule is considered to be an important future building block of a successful energy transition. RWE is a partner in over 30 H2 projects and is working on solutions for decarbonising the industry with associations and corporations like Shell, BASF and OGE. Hydrogen projects are comprehensively supported in the separate Hydrogen department of the subsidiary RWE Generation.

I also suggest, that you read this page on the RWE web site called AquaVentus.

The page starts with this RWE graphic.

It appears that 10.3 GW of hydrogen will be created by wind farms and piped to North-West Germany.

These two paragraphs outline the AquaVentus initiative .

Hydrogen is considered the great hope of decarbonisation in all sectors that cannot be electrified, e.g. industrial manufacturing, aviation and shipping. Massive investments in the expansion of renewable energy are needed to enable carbon-neutral hydrogen production. After all, wind, solar and hydroelectric power form the basis of climate-friendly hydrogen.

In its quest for climate-friendly hydrogen production, the AquaVentus initiative has set its sights on one renewable energy generation technology: offshore wind. The initiative aims to use electricity from offshore wind farms to operate electrolysers also installed at sea on an industrial scale. Plans envisage setting up electrolysis units in the North Sea with a total capacity of 10 gigawatts, enough to produce 1 million metric tons of green hydrogen.

The page also gives these numbers.

  • Total Capacity – 10 GW
  • Tonnes Of Green Hydrogen – 1 million
  • Members – 100 +

The web site says this about commissioning.

Commissioning is currently scheduled for early/mid 2030s.

The Germans can’t be accused of lacking ambition.

AquaVentus And The UK

This video shows the structure of AquaVentus.

I clipped this map from the video.

Note.

  1. There is a link to Denmark.
  2. There appears to be a undeveloped link to Norway.
  3. There appears to be a  link to Peterhead in Scotland.
  4. There appears to be a link to just North of the Humber in England.
  5. Just North of the Humber are the two massive gas storage sites of Aldbrough owned by SSE and Brough owned by Centrica.
  6. There appear to be small ships sailing up and down the East Coast of the UK. Are these small coastal tankers distributing the hydrogen to where it is needed?

In the last century, the oil industry, built a substantial oil and gas network in the North Sea. It appears now the Germans are leading the building of a substantial hydrogen network.

AquaVentus And Aldbrough And Rough Gas Storage

Consider.

It looks like the East Riding Hydrogen Bank, will be playing a large part in ensuring the continuity and reliability of AquaVentus.

Dogger Bank South And AquaVentus

This Google Map shows the North Sea South of Sunderland and the Danish/German border.

Note.

  1. Sunderland is in the top-left hand corner of the map.
  2. A white line in the top-right corner of the map is the Danish/German border.
  3. Hamburg and Bremen are in the bottom-right hand corner of the map.

If you lay the AquaVentus map over this map, I believe that RWE’s Dogger Bank South wind farm could be one of the three 2 GW wind farms on the South-Western side of the AquaVentus main pipeline.

  • Two GW would be converted to hydrogen and fed into the AquaVentus main pipeline.
  • Two GW of hydrogen will be a nice little earner for UK plc.
  • One GW of electricity would be sent to the UK.

But this is only one of many possibilities.

Conclusion

Could Jürgen Maier, be the man to develop British links to AquaVentus for the benefit of both the UK and Germany?

  • The UK’s wind farms could provide a lot of hydrogen for AquaVentus.
  • Aldbrough And Rough Gas Storage are conveniently places to add the hydrogen storage, that AquaVentus needs.
  • AquaVentus can certainly be expanded to Norway, and possibly Orkney and Shetland.

He certainly has a lot of relevant experience.

 

 

 

July 30, 2024 Posted by | Energy, Hydrogen | , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Heat-Related Hospital Admissions And Deaths In London

I never saw my father ride on a deep Underground line, like the Northern or the Piccadilly, as he always said the air was terrible.

That was despite we lived within walking distance of Oakwood station and his print works was just a hundred metres from Wood Green Underground station.

But then he was a man, who always had a car, when I knew him, so I suppose he felt he better use it.

On one occasion, he took me to the Printing Industries Fair at Earl’s Court, which is just seventeen stops on the Piccadilly Line from Wood Green Underground station, as it still is today.

His route was as follows.

He left his MG Magnette outside the print works on Station Road.

As this picture I took in 2012 shows, parking wasn’t too difficult.

We then walked up the hill to Wood Green station, which is now called Alexandra Palace, from where we took a steam-hauled local train into King’s Cross.

From King’s Cross, we took a Metropolitan Line train to Hammersmith station.

At Hammersmith, we changed stations and then took a train to Baron’s Court station for Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre.

Today, the route between Alexandra Palace and Earl’s Court stations is very different.

  • You can change trains at Moorgate, Farringdon or King’s Cross.
  • The oldest trains, that you’ll travel on would have been built in 2008.
  • All trains will be fully air-conditioned.

I feel, that I could probably get my father to use this route. Although, I doubt it would happen, as he would have turned 120, at the start of this year.

The Growth Of Air Conditioning

Many cars since the 1980s have been airconditioned and now trains are following that route.

In London these are some dates, when trains were air-conditioned.

  • Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan from 2008.
  • Elisabeth Line from 2017.
  • Gospel Oak and Barking from 2019.
  • Greater Anglia from 2019/20.
  • Lee Valley Lines from 2019.
  • London Midland from 2023.
  • London Overground from 2009.
  • Southern from 2003.
  • Southeastern from 2003.
  • Thameslink from 2014.

Each year, more and more trains will be air-conditioned.

Conclusion

Has this growth of air-conditioning reduced the number of cases of heatstroke and other heat related admissions to hospitals?

 

 

June 27, 2024 Posted by | Health, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Improvements To Oakwood Station

This post on IanVisits is entitled Enfield Council Outlines Possible Rail Station Upgrades.

By reading Enfield Council documents, Ian has found possible station improvements that might happen.

Ian says this about  Oakwood station.

Building around 50 homes on the station car park should contribute to street improvements around the station.

This Google Map shows the station and its two car parks.

Note.

  1. The Piccadilly Line runs North-West-South-East diagonally across the map.
  2. Cockfosters station is to the North-West.
  3. Southgate station is to the South-East.
  4. Oakwood station is in the middle of the map and marked by a London Underground roundel.
  5. The car park to be developed is to the North-East of the station.

I took these pictures.

Note.

  1. The car-park was full.
  2. The station is step-free.
  3. Barnard Cook was there, when I lived in Oakwood in the early 1960s.

I can’t see any problems building a few houses on the car-park, but what will happen to the cars?

To me though Oakwood station is defined by this post; The Place Where The Bottom Fell Out Of A Drawer.

February 2, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are Londoners The Tunnel Kings?

I was born in 1947 and it was in the early 1960s, that I started to develop an interest in engineering, which eventually led me to study Electrical Engineering and Electronics at Liverpool University.

Like most Londoners, I was a frequent user of the Underground and for six or seven years, I took the Piccadilly Line many days between Oakwood and Southgate to go to Minchenden Grammar School. Often, after school, I would go on to my father’s print works near Word Green tube station.

But not memories of London’s tunnels were so memorable at that time. One day, we were driving to see my Uncle Bert in Broadstairs and we were held in the Blackwall Tunnel for an hour or so because of an accident.

Perhaps, this is why I can remember a black-and-white video of digging the Western Tunnel of the Dartford Crossing so vividly. But as Raymond Baxter probably explained to BBC viewers at the time, it dug using a Greathead shield under pressure to keep the water out. It was probably the last tunnel dug under the Thames using methods, that would have been familiar to Victorian engineers.

This British Pathe video shows some of the construction of the Western tunnel.

This paragraph from the Wikipedia entry for the Eastern Tunnel describes its construction.

Construction was approved in April 1971, with an initial expected opening date in 1976. Work was delayed due to a lack of funds, which was resolved by EEC funding granted in 1974. The second tunnel opened in May 1980, allowing each tunnel to handle one direction of traffic, by which time the joint capacity of the two tunnels had increased to 65,000 vehicles per day. Connection of the crossing to the M25 was completed on the northerly Essex side in September 1982 (Junction 31), and to the southerly Kent side in September 1986 (Junction 1a)

The tunnels may be inadequate in terms of capacity, but they have certainly done a reliable job for sixty and forty-three years respectively.

There are other tunnels under the Thames, that have been built in my lifetime.

There are also these tunnels, which don’t go under the Thames

Bank Station Expansion And New Southbound Northern Line Tunnel – 2022

Note.

  1. The date is the opening date.
  2. I am pleased to see that at least some projects were planned, with the software, I wrote in a Suffolk attic.

In my lifetime, at least 27 substantial tunnels have been completed, a very large proportion of which have been on time and on budget, with the possible exception of the Heathrow Rail Tunnels, which collapsed.

So Why Has London Got A Good Record On Tunnelling?

In Millicent And Ursula Prepare To Go Tunnelling, I describe my visit to the Tideway Open Day today to see the tunnel boring machines; Millicent and Ursula before they went tunnelling.

On that Sunday morning, I also chatted with the engineers and tunnelers.

  • All had worked on at least one of London’s previous tunnels.
  • One had worked on the Second Dartford Tunnel, the Channel Tunnel and Crossrail.
  • A couple said, that after the Tideway finished, they would be off to High Speed Two.

Is London’s good record on delivering tunnels safely and on time and on budget, a case of lots of experience and practice makes perfect?

If it is, we should definitely think hard about how we handle large projects.

Wind Farms

Many have been constructed this way.

  • The grid substation and connection to the grid is built.
  • The foundations of the turbines are installed.
  • The turbines are erected.
  • All the turbines are commissioned.

This sequence or something like it can be applied to onshore and offshore wind farms.

  • Most jobs are repeated many times by specialist teams using purpose-built cranes, ships and other equipment.
  • Bigger wind farms, just need more repeated operations.
  • All operations are generally in a small geographical area.
  • I suspect specialist software has been built to project manage, the building of wind farms. If it hasn’t, I have my ideas.

Project management should be relatively easy.

 

 

January 31, 2024 Posted by | Energy, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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