Battery-Electric Trains And The TransPennine Upgrade
In Is There Going To Be Full Electrification Between Leeds And Huddersfield?, I showed this map of the TransPennine Upgrade between Huddersfield and Westtown near Dewsbury.
Note.
- There will be electrification between Dewsbury and Huddersfield.
- Tracks will be doubled from two to four.
- Ravensthorpe, Mirfield, Deighton and Huddersfield stations will be electrified and probably upgraded.
- Dewsbury and Huddersfield stations are eight miles apart.
This page on the Network Rail website gives more information.
Click on Huddersfield and Westtown (Dewsbury) and you get this information.
On 31 March 2021, we submitted a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) application to the Secretary of State for Transport for the Huddersfield to Westtown (Dewsbury) scheme.
Throughout this eight-mile section of the route, we’re proposing to double the number of tracks from two-to-four, electrify from Huddersfield to Dewsbury and make big improvements to the four stations in this section – Huddersfield, Deighton, Mirfield and Ravensthorpe; where we also need to separate the lines going to/from Leeds from the lines going to/from Wakefield, with either a bridge or a tunnel.
It is a much larger scheme than the one between Bolton and Wigan, which I wrote about in Bolton-Wigan £78m Rail Electrification Project Announced.
- Huddersfield-Westtown is eight miles, whereas Bolton-Wigan is 6.5 miles.
- Both involve upgrading four stations.
- Both involve full electrification.
- Huddersfield-Westtown involves doubling the number of tracks, whereas Bolton-Wigan needs little work to the track.
- Huddersfield-Westtown will need a bridge or a tunnel, whereas Bolton-Wigan might need minor work to a couple of flat junctions.
- Huddersfield station is Grade 1 Listed, whereas Wigan Wallgate station has some good features.
- The Huddersfield-Westtown scheme is costed at £2.9 billion, whereas Bolton-Wigan is just £78 million.
The Huddersfield-Westtown scheme is thirty-seven times larger in terms of money.
What Passenger Services Use The Route Between Huddersfield And Dewsbury?
These services use the route, all or in part.
- Northern Trains – Wigan Wallgate and Leeds via Manchester Victoria, Hebden Bridge, Brighouse, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe and Dewsbury – 1 tph
- Northern Trains – Huddersfield and Castleford via Deighton, Mirfield and Wakefield Kirkgate – 1 tph
- TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough via Manchester Victoria, Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Leeds – 1 tph
- TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Redcar Central via Manchester Victoria, Stalybridge, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Leeds – 1 tph
- TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh via Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield and Leeds – 1 tph
- TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Newcastle via Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Leeds – 1 tph
- TransPennine Express – Manchester Piccadilly and Hull via Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Leeds – 1 tph
- TransPennine Express – Huddersfield and Leeds via Deighton, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe and Dewsbury – 1 tph
Note.
- All trains are one train per hour (tph)
- Three tph run non-stop between Huddersfield and Leeds.
- Two tph stop at Deighton station, Mirfield and Ravensthorpe.
After completion of the Huddersfield and Westtown upgrade, there will be electrification at the following places.
- West of Manchester Victoria station
- Between Huddersfield and Westtown
- Between Leeds and York – Currently being electrified between York and Church Fenton.
And these routes will not be electrified.
- Dewsbury and Leeds – 9.2 miles
- Leeds and Hull – 51.5 miles
- Mirfield and Castleford – 16 miles
- Manchester Piccadilly and Stalybridge – Could be electrified – 7.5 miles
- Manchester Victoria and Heaton Lodge Junction via Hebden Bridge – 47.4 miles
- Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge – Could be electrified – 7.7 miles
- Redcar Central and Northallerton – 28.1 miles
- Stalybridge and Huddersfield – 18 miles
- York and Scarborough – 42.1 miles
Note that all routes except Mirfield and Castleford and Leeds and Hull have electrification at both ends.
Which Routes Between Huddersfield And Westtown Could Be Handled By Battery-Electric Trains?
I will assume that operators will have a battery-electric train capable of running 56 miles on batter ypower. This distance comes from Hitachi’s specification for the Hitachi Regional Battery Train, which is shown in this Hitachi infographic.
These are the routes and my answers.
Northern Trains – Wigan Wallgate and Leeds
The longest section without electrification is Manchester Victoria and Heaton Lodge Junction via Hebden Bridge, which is 47.4 miles.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
Northern Trains – Huddersfield and Castleford
The longest section without electrification is Mirfield and Castleford, which is 16 miles.
But it must be handled on both an out and back basis. So the train will cover 32 miles on battery power.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough
The longest section without electrification to the West of Leeds, is Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield, which is 25.7 miles.
At the Eastern end, as York and Scarborough is 42.1 miles without electrification, there would need to be some electrification or a charging system at Scarborough station.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Redcar Central
The longest section without electrification to the West of Leeds,is Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield, which is 25.7 miles.
At the Eastern end, as Northallerton and Redcar Central is 28.1 miles without electrification, there may need to be some electrification or a charging system at Redcar Central station.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh
The longest section without electrification is Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield, which is 25.7 miles.
Leeds and Edinburgh is fully electrified.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Newcastle
The longest section without electrification is Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield, which is 25.7 miles.
Leeds and Newcastle is fully electrified.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
TransPennine Express – Manchester Piccadilly and Hull
The longest section without electrification to the West of Leeds, is Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield, which is 25.5 miles.
At the Eastern end, as Leeds and Hull is 51.5 miles, there would need to be some electrification or a charging system at Hull station.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
TransPennine Express – Huddersfield and Leeds
The longest section without electrification is Dewsbury and Leeds, which is 9.2 miles.
I am sure this route is possible with battery-electric trains.
Handling The Eastern Ends
At Hull, Redcar Central and Scarborough stations, there will need to be some means to recharge the trains, so they can get back to the electrification on the East Coast Main Line.
There could either be a short length of 25 KVAC overhead electrification or a special-purpose charging station.
There would need to be an allowance in the turnback, of perhaps 10-15 minutes to make sure trains started back with full batteries.
Will Huddersfield And Westtown Be Long Enough To Charge A Battery-Electric Train?
I have looked at train times between Huddersfield And Westtown and typically trains take around 11-12 minutes to go between Huddersfield and Dewsbury stations.
That should probably be enough, especially, as the trains will probably be using regenerative braking to batteries at any station stops.
Conclusion
I am absolutely certain that by completing the TransPennine Upgrade with full electrification between Huddersfield and Westtown, that all passenger services through the section could be run by battery-electric trains with a range of ninety kilometres or fifty-six miles.
There would probably need to be some electrification or a charging system at Hull, Redcar Central and Scarborough stations.
A Thought On Short Sections Of Electrification
As with the Bolton-Wigan scheme to the West of the Pennines, a length of electrified track that is less than ten miles, allows several services to be run by battery-electric trains and decarbonised.
How many other sections of less than ten miles of electrification can transform train services and reduce the use of diesel around the UK, by the introduction of fleets of battery-electric trains?
Why Is There No Mention Of York Potash In The Discussion Of Redcar Steelworks?
This detailed article on the BBC entitled What is the outlook for Britain’s steel industry? starts like this.
It is being billed as a top level crisis summit. Government ministers, unions and steel company bosses are heading to South Yorkshire to discuss what can be done to help an industry hit by tough global market conditions.
UK steelmakers say it’s getting harder to compete because of high energy costs, green taxes, the strong pound and cheap Chinese imports flooding the market. Compared to foreign competitors, steel unions warn the cost of making steel in the UK is too high.
The recent closure of SSI’s steelworks at Redcar in Teeside, with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs, has brought into sharp focus the difficulties facing the industry. The Thai firm said a slump in demand for steel was behind its decision.
At other steelworks across the country, from South Wales to Scunthorpe to Rotherham, union leaders says thousands of jobs are hanging in the balance. So what’s next for the UK’s steelworkers?
But with regard to Sirius Metals and the creation of one of the world’s largest potash mines and processing facility; York Potash, there is not a word.
I’m afraid that in a few years there will be little steel-making in Europe, let alone the UK, as other countries with lower costs will undercut Europe on price.
On this page of the York Potash web site, there is an impressive video about the mine and its processing facility.
This must be one of the hopes for the future for Teeside.
I can remember the development of the earlier potash mine at Boulby, when I worked at ICI around 1970. This section is the history of the Boulby mine, and it would appear to have a future. The potash is removed to Teesport, using a reopened section of the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway, which used to connect Middlesbrough to Whitby, in addition to the still operating Esk Valley Line
In contrast the York Potash ,mine will use an underground conveyor to move potash from South of Whitby to its processing facility at Teesport.
There is still another railway in the area, which is the heritage North Yorkshire Railway, which connects Whitby and Pickering. According to this section in Wikipedia, it has ambitious plans to connect to the York to Scarborough Line, thus giving the possibility of steam services between Scarborough and Whitby.
I believe that the Tees Valley Metro can be developed.
Like many places in the UK, I believe that services on all the lines from Morpeth and Newcastle in the North to Middlesbrough, Darlington and Whitby in the South could be run using Aventra IPEMUs with a small amount of selected electrification.
Which brings me to the conclusion that Redcar steel works will be closed and Potash mining and a developed Tees Valley Metro will be better for the area, than pouring millions down the black hole of the steelworks.
Redcar And The Beacon
I deliberately went up early for the football at Middlesbrough, so that I could go and have a look at Redcar and its new attraction, the Redcar Beacon.
I first came across the Redcar Beacon, when it was nominated for the 2013 Carbuncle Cup.
I quite liked the idea of the Redcar Beacon, but some of the details had been rather poorly executed. The food seemed to be pretty good, with a good choice of cakes, including some gluten free ones, but many of the seats were set too low to see out.
Redcar scores highly for information with maps and liths everywhere.
To me though, the real problem it has for visitors like me is Redcar Central station and the Tees Valley line, that gets you to and from Darlington and Middlesbrough. Hopefully, it’ll get better trains in the future and someone will try to do something clever with some of the stations on the line.
The Anonymous Widower 