Tales Of Woe And Opportunity On The West Of England
The title of this post, is the same as that of the Railtalk editorial in the September 2027 Edition of Modern Railways.
These is the opening four paragraphs.
The West of England Line from London Waterloo to Exeter was once an important main line, the London & South Western Railway’s great rival to Brunel’s ‘billiard’ table, but its role is much diminished since the glory days.
Largely singled west of Salisbury in the 1960s, and with many of its coastal branches closed, a casual onlooker might conclude it has rather lost its purpose.
Yet recent journeys on the route suggest otherwise. Travelling from Waterloo on the way West one late afternoon was instructive.
On a baking hot day in London, the six-car South Western Railway Class 159 departed on time, full and standing. More passengers joined at Clapham Junction, and Woking.
The two problems of the line are mentioned in the text from the article.
- The singling of the West of England Line, to the West of Salisbury was typical of many short-sighted acts of vandalism inflicted by the Treasury on British Rail.
- The Class 159 diesel trains date from the early 1990s and probably need replacing.
This OpenRailwayMap shows middle part of the route between Basingstoke and Salisbury.
Note.
- Tracks shown in black are not electrified.
- Tracks shown in red are electrified with 25 KVAC overhead,
- Tracks shown in dashed red and black are proposed to be electrified.
- Tracks shown in mauve are electrified with 750 VDC third rail.
- Reading station is in the North-East corner of the map.
- The Reading and Basingstoke Line runs South from Reading station and is shown dashed.
- Basingstoke station is on the third-rail electrified South West Main Line between London Waterloo and Southampton.
- Salisbury station is indicated by the blue arrow.
- Linking Basingstoke and Salisbury is the unelectrified West of England Main Line between London Waterloo and Exeter.
- The branch line going North from the West of England Main Line to the East of Salisbury is used by the Army to move tanks.
- Ludgershall Town Council want passenger trains on the branch line to support housing at Tidworth with trains to Andover on the West of England Main Line.
- I wrote about this branch line in A Branch Line For Ludgershall
- Across the top of the map is the Reading and Taunton Line, which is electrified as far as Newbury.
I will now look at replacing the Class 159 trains.
Consider.
- Between Exeter St. David’s and Basingstoke stations is not electrified and is 124.3 miles.
- I believe that both Hitachi and CAF have the capability to produce a zero-carbon train with a range of 125 miles.
- The Office of Rail and Road will not allow any more third-rail electrification.
- Trains could have a generous turnround time at Exeter St. David’s which could allow trains to be charged, before returning to London.
- Basingstoke and Salisbury is only 35.8 miles, so a train terminating at Salisbury from London, should be able to return to London.
- Trains could be charged using short length of overhead electrification.
- Five-car trains, which could run in pairs might be ideal.
- I believe several manufacturers could make trains capable of running the route.
I also believe that once the charging strategy is known and any infrastructure has been installed, the new trains can be introduced into service to run alongside the Class 159 trains.
This would hopefully avoid, the current problems of the Class 820 trains on the Midland Main Line.
The Anonymous Widower 