Electrification At Rotherham
These pictures show some of the electrification gantries around Rotherham Central station.
The overhead gantries would appear to be Network Rail’s standard for 25 KVAC, rather than the lighter-weight structures used on the Sheffield Supertram for their 1500 VDC.
So are Network Rail future-proofing the gantries for later conversion to 25 KVAC or are they being wired to that voltage, so that the tram-trains can be tested on the 25 KVAC as well?
The latter would be prudent, so that the problems and strengths of dual-voltage 25 KVAC/1500 VDC tram-trains can be assessed.
However, as I returned to Sheffield later, it appeared that the line connecting Rotherham and Sheffield had both heavy-weight and light-weight gantries in place.
Could there be a last minute change of project scope to include 25 KVAC running in the Sheffield tram-train trial, which also explains the timing of the rebuilding of the College Road Bridge?
This is said under Future in the Wikipedia entry for the Sheffield Supertram.
A tram-train extension to Rotherham is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in 2018, with a fleet of seven Vossloh Citylink Class 399 tram-trains in a UK first. This will involve trams operating on Network Rail’s Dearne Valley Line from Meadowhall Interchange to Rotherham station with a short extension to Rotherham Parkgate Shopping Centre. The proposed station will be a combined tram stop and railway station.[10] It is also planned that Rotherham Parkgate will be the hub for longer distance inter regional services,[11] while Central station will be the hub for local, Yorkshire based services. To cater for the tram train services, Rotherham Central will have a third platform built. It is thought that constructing the station will cost around £14 million (£53 million including the railway service to Leeds) and deliver economic benefits worth over £100 million. A study has concluded that it is not worth expanding Rotherham Central railway station because it would cost £161 million to expand the station but only deliver benefits worth £76 million. This is why constructing a new station is considered more viable.
That explains a lot, especially as it is a big change from what was being said perhaps a year ago.
There is an article in the Yorkshire Post, which is entitled Rotherham could get new rail station, which gives a lot more detail.
- Parkgate station could cost up to £53.2 million
- Parkgate would be the inter-regional station.
- Central would be more local
- Rotherham should have one train per hour (tph) to Leeds and Manchester, three tph to Doncaster and six tph to Sheffield.
As I came through the Rotherham Parkgate area on my train between Leeds and Rotherham earlier, I didn’t see any evidence of station construction.
I think that Network Rail by putting up gsntries that can accept 25 KVAC electrification have made sure that they can fit any future plans.
So long as they can get some sort of wiring along the route and a reversing facility somewhere in the Rotherham area, I can see tram-trains running next year.
If Parkgate station is built, then provided any tracks are in the right place, this shouldn’t be a problem.
But the interesting idea could be to use Class 319 Flex trains on the route to Leeds via the Wakefield Line. The gaps in the electrification would be initially covered by the trains onboard diesel power.
As electrification is installed, they would eventually be able to do Rotherham Central to Leeds under electric power.
Whilst, Network Rail were electrifying the tram-train route, would it not be prudent to put up the wires to Meadowhall Interchange station or even Sheffield station?
The other way they could also electrify the short Swinton to Doncaster Line, which would allow electric trains from London to reach Rotherham Parkgate, Meadowhall and Sheffield stations.
I can certainly see something like the following services through Rotherham when Parkgate station is open.
- 1 tph Sheffield to Leeds calling at Parkgate and Central
- 1 tph Doncaster to Manchester and Manchester Airport calling at Parkgate and Sheffield
- 2 tph Doncaster to Sheffield calling at Parkgate and Central
Add in three tram-trains per hour between Sheffield Cathedral and Parkway via Central and the required frequencies are achieved.
It will be interesting to see what finally happens.
Quiet Flows The Don
The tram-trains between Sheffield and Rotherham will join up to the Sheffield Supertram in the area of the Meadowhall South/Tinsley tram stop.
This Google Earth image shows the area.
Tinsley Area
Note the tram line marked by the blue symbol which shows the Meadowhall South/Tinsley stop, running down the map, with the single-track Tinsley/Masborough South Junction-Rotherham freight railway, splitting off to the right. Note the footbridge that rises from the tram stop and crosses the freight line, which you can see in the pictures. You can also see Meadowhall at the left and the M1 at the right and the various roads leading to and from Sheffield.
I took these pictures of the area.
Believe it or not, in the midst of all this chaos is a quiet area by the River Don.
For the eagerly awaited tram-train, a connection will need to be made between the tram line and the single-track freight line. There is little detail at present about how the connection will be made, but the freight line will have to be provided with some form of overhead electrification at either 750 V DC or 25kV AC. However, the Class 399 tram-trains will be able to use any handy voltage.
I’ve just found this page on the Network Rail web site, which is their home page for the creation of the Tinsley Chord which will connect the tram line to the freight line. I was able to create this map of the chord from one of their published documents, from the impressive and comprehensive site.
The Tinsley Chord
The new chord is shown in red and curves between the tram line at the left and the freight line, which goes off to the right.
Note that the Meadowhall South/Tinsley tram stop is the Sheffield side of the chord, so passengers going between Rotherham and Meadowhall could enter the Meadowhall Centre via Debenhams, as I did after my walk by the River Don.
Incidentally, Network Rail and their contractors will like working on this one, as sixty percent of the work is virtually indoors, as it is underneath the massive Tinsley Viaduct that carries the M1 over the area.
If you want to know how this chord underneath the M1 will effect the local bats, hedgehogs and newts it’s all laid out in this document.
Perhaps the best news of the project is contained in this recent report from the Sheffield Star, which is entitled Construction work planned for long-awaited £60m Sheffield to Rotherham tram-train scheme.
The article hopes that tram-trains will be running in 2017.
What Is Happening To The Sheffield-Rotherham Tram-Train?
The Sheffield-Rotherham Tram-Train is a pilot project to prove whether the technology can work on UK railways.
It’s a laudable aim, but I don’t like pilot projects as if they work, then you usually end up with an inadequately funded permanent one, that is lacking in certain areas and has to be upgraded. On the other hand, if they don’t work you have all the expense of ripping them out.
It is much better to take proven technology and phase the introduction of the system, funding and building every phase adequately.
This Google Earth map shows the area where the tram-train will run.
Sheffield Rotherham Tram Train
In the top right or north east corner of the image is the Rotherham Parkgate Retail Park, which will be the terminus of the route. In the bottom left hand corner is Meadowhall Shopping Centre, with the associated Interchange station, where the tram-train will join the Sheffield Supertram network. Tram-trains are proposed to run three times in an hour, which would be in saddition to the two or three trains per hour on the route.
This Google Map shows the layout of train tracks around Rotherham Central station.
Lines Through Rotherham
Note the New York stadium marked on the map, but not shown, as the image was taken before the stadium was built. Just after the stadium, the lines split with one going west to join other lines and go direct to the Meadowhall Interchange and the other, which is now a freight route, going more south-west over the river towards Sheffield.
This Google Map shows the layout of the railway lines and the tram tracks around Meadowhall Interchange.
Meadowhall Tram-Train Connection
Meadowhall Shopping Centre itself, is just off the bottom of this map and is connected to the station by a bridge over bus, tram and train stations, which can just be seen in the bottom-left corner.
Note how the railway to the east from Sheffield goes under the M1 motorway, with the Sheffield Supertram coming up parallel to the motorway and then turning into the interchange.
It will be difficult to get this connection right, as a direct tram-train from Rotherham will come under the motorway and then stop in the Meadowhall Interchange station. I would assume that it would stop in the Sheffield Supertram platforms and then reverse direction to go on to Sheffield.
This must be wrong, as it would be a difficult scheme to run efficiently with three tram-trains an hour in each direction reversing in the tram platforms and then Rotherham-bound trams sometimes waiting there to cross the westbound rail line to get on the right track for Rotherham.
So I would assume the second route that breaks off to the south-west from Rotherham would be used. This Google Earth map shows where the line meets the Sheffield Supertram around Meadowhall South station.
Medowhall South
This would be a much easier connection and I think this is the way the tram-trains will go to and from Rotherham.
The Sheffield-Rotherham tram-train has been a long time coming since the decision to start. I wonder if the reason is that the engineering of both track and signalling has been much more difficult than first thought. The first direct route is difficult if not impossible operationally, but sorting out the tracks for the second route may not be too easy, as looking at the image there is a lot of water about, that might need to be bridged, by the tight turn.
I think too, that as it’s only a trial, we might see a single track curve, as the tram-trains will be reversing at Meadowhall Interchange. That would at least cut costs and men less disruption to the Supertram, whilst the connection is being made.
One issue that has to be thrown into the pudding, is the electrification for the trams, which is 750 volts DC overhead. If at some future date the planned electrification of the Midland Main Line and trans-Pennine routes at Sheffield is extended to Meadowhall and Doncaster, then the new station at Rotherham Central would possibly be electrified at 25kV AC.
So it could be that extending the tram-train pilot scheme between Sheffield and Rotherham into the future, might be scuppered by electrification plans for the North.
It does strike me that the £60million or so being spent on the tram-train pilot, might be better spent on providing extra trams for the Sheffield Supertram and trains for more services through Rotherham.
Could it be that just as the great and good in the Department for Transport, forced Cambridge to have a guided busway, they are persuading Sheffield and Rotherham to have a tram-train?
Match Twenty-Nine – Rotherham 2 – Ipswich 0
This was the most disappointing match of the year so far in what was the best smaller stadium we’ve visited.
Town are going through a bad spell, but they have had a tough sequence of matches since before Christmas and it just doesn’t seem to go right.
At lest coming home on the train from Sheffield, we got a lot of best wishes from Palace fans after their win at Leicester.
The Anonymous Widower 