Unlocking Euston Station
I dread using Euston station.
The connections to the London Underground in the station, involve a long walk to or from your train and then outside the station to.
- The Northern and Victoria Lines just outside the station.
- The sub-surface lines at Euston Square station, which is a long walk.
There is no connection to the Lizzie Line.
I have probably written more project management software, than any other individual in the world.
Good project managers and probably a few bad ones too, talk about getting all your ducks in a row or doing everything in the right order.
If High Speed Two is going to terminate at Euston, then the first sub-project must be to connect Euston station properly to the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City or sub-surface lines of the Underground, which have new spacious air-conditioned trains and run on a line that is digitally signally, so the capacity can be easily increased.
The sub-surface lines also link, the National Rail stations of Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Farringdon, King’s Cross, St. Pancras, Euston, Paddington, Victoria, Charing Cross and Blackfriars, and could be connected to Fenchurch Street and Marylebone. It also has links to the Lizzie Line.
Improve the interchanges and this marvelous Victorian system could unlock London’s transport system like no other.
Five years ago, a similar arrangement to that at St. Pancras was proposed with subways under Euston Road that linked to extended platforms at Euston Square Underground station, by means of lifts and escalators.
Why has this new link between National Rail at Euston and sub-surface Underground not been built? I estimate that it would have taken a couple of years and have fitted in with all the work being done in front of Euston station.
The current Mayor never mentions the project, but then it is a North London project, so it doesn’t interest him and his supporters.
The Design Of The Updated Euston Underground Station
Ian showed this visualisation of the updated Euston Underground station.
At a first look, it appears to be a very similar concept to the entrance to the Underground in front of St. Pancras station.
Click on the image to show it large and you can pick out the following.
- West is to the left and East is right.
- Much of the construction appears to replace the original car park and taxi rank.
- The upper level looks like where passengers enter and leave the station.
- The subway to Euston Square station and the new Gordon Street entrance joins to the upper level towards the Eastern end.
- There is grade access between the upper level and the High Speed Two concourse.
- There are lots of escalators to travel between levels. The square orange columns could be lift towers.
- The lower level is the Interchange/Ticket Hall level.
- The lower level is not much higher than the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.
- The design seems to make clever use of levels to make changing easier.
- The access between the lower level and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line at the Western end of the station, appears to be comprehensive and step-free.
- The access between the lower level and the Victoria Line and the Bank branch of the Northern Line, appears to use the current route, which will probably be upgraded to be fully step-free.
This second image shows the design from above the platforms of the conventional section of Euston station.
Click on the image to show it large and you can pick out the following.
- The complicated passages, escalators and lifts of the existing four platforms serving the Bank branch of the Northern Line and the Victoria Line.
- The cross passage connecting these lines to the platforms of the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.
- The two up and two down escalators leading to the existing ticket hall.
- The Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line curving in and away from the station. See the earlier map of the Underground lines.
- The eleven High Speed platforms on the West side of the station.
- The thirteen Classic platforms on the East side of the station.
- The new Northern entrance to the Underground between the two sets of platforms. How convenient!
- There appears to be a wide passage between the Northern and Southern entrances, with connections to the lines branching off.
- The subway to the new Gordon Street entrance is shown at the top of the image.
The design seems to have separated access to the two branches of the Northern line, by creating a new high-capacity route to the Charing Cross branch.
I also think, that the design allows the station to be built without disrupting passengers using the Underground and the current Euston station.
- A large hole for the station can be excavated, without touching existing access.
- It could then be fitted out section by section.
- Once the new access to the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line is complete, the current access to the Northern and Victoria Lines can be refurbished.
Arriving At Euston
Imagine you are a passenger arriving from the North, who knows the Underground line, you need to take, you would then enter the Underground station using the new Northern entrance.
- For the Bank branch of the Northern Line or the Victoria Line, you would go through the existing ticket hall and down the escalators, much as you do now! Except that you’d enter the ticket hall on the other side from the East side of the passageway connecting the two entrances. New lifts appear to be shown.
- For the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, you would take the passages, lifts and escalators on the West side of the passageway connecting the two entrances.
- If you wanted the sub-surface lines, you would just keep going and take the new subway, which connects to the Eastern ends of the platforms at Euston Square station.
It will certainly do me fine, if I arrive at Euston, as I’ll walk through the subway and get in the front of any Eastbound train for Moorgate station, where being in the front is convenient for the exit and the nearby bus stop to my home.
This route will surely be one of the ways arriving passengers at Euston will get Crossrail to Abbey Wood, Canary Wharf and Shenfield stations. In Crossrail – Northern – Northern City Interchange At Moorgate Station, I show some visualisations of Moorgate station and the connectivity.
I’ve Just Been Microsofted
Without my permission, my computer changed itself to Windows 11.
I should be in charge not some nameless idiot in Trumpland.
I now can’t preview my pictures on the SD cards my Nikon camera uses.
Why is it, they never do upwards compatibility right?
The bastards!
Centrica Strikes 200MW Lithuanian Green Power Deal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
- Centrica Energy is set to take on the responsibility of managing and trading the renewable power generated from two wind farms and one solar farm in Lithuania for European Energy.
A couple of months ago, Centrica published this press release, which is entitled Centrica Acquires Owner Of Leading Digital Platform, Ignition.
The press release about the deal with European Energy has this quote from Kristian Gjerløv-Juel, Vice President of Renewable Energy Trading & Optimization at Centrica Energy.
We’re very pleased to continue building on our strong partnership with European Energy. We have set an incredibly ambitious target to expand our portfolio of third-party renewable assets to 30 GW by 2030.
Note that 30 GW, would more than power the UK,
Ir appears to me, that Centrica have decided that there is money to be made from good management of both electricity production and distribution.
Where’s The Windows Calculator Gone?
My current computer runs Windows 10.
I used to run the calculator by searching for it.
But it suddenly isn’t available.
How can M$ , do this to me, as I use a simple calculator all the time?
Rule one of software design, is never give customers any surprises.
They might just go elsewhere and never return.
At least the one in my phone seems to be still working!
Gluten Sensitivity And Epilepsy: A Systematic Review
Yesterday, The Times published this article, which was entitled ‘Game-Changing’ NHS Laser Therapy To Prevent Epileptic Seizures.
One reader had made this comment.
Be ace too if they can tweak to help migraine.
I used to suffer from something like migraine about thirty years ago. But after being found to be coeliac and going gluten-free, what ever it was seemed to disappear from my life.
Type “Coeliac Disease and Migraine” into Dr. Google and there are lots of references.
This indicates to me that serious scientists and doctors, must believe there could be a link.
There certainly is with me and going gluten-free eased my migraine-like symptoms.
I then typed “Coeliac Disease and Epilepsy” into Dr. Google and found this paper, which was entitled Gluten Sensitivity And Epilepsy: A Systematic Review.
This information is from the Abstract of the paper
Objective
The aim of this systematic review was to establish the prevalence of epilepsy in patients with coeliac disease (CD) or gluten sensitivity (GS) and vice versa and to characterise the phenomenology of the epileptic syndromes that these patients present with.
Methodology
A systematic computer-based literature search was conducted on the PubMed database. Information regarding prevalence, demographics and epilepsy phenomenology was extracted.
Results
Epilepsy is 1.8 times more prevalent in patients with CD, compared to the general population. CD is over 2 times more prevalent in patients with epilepsy compared to the general population. Further studies are necessary to assess the prevalence of GS in epilepsy. The data indicate that the prevalence of CD or GS is higher amongst particular epileptic presentations including in childhood partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysms, in adult patients with fixation off sensitivity (FOS) and in those with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with hippocampal sclerosis. A particularly interesting presentation of epilepsy in the context of gluten-related disorders is a syndrome of coeliac disease, epilepsy and cerebral calcification (CEC syndrome) which is frequently described in the literature. Gluten-free diet (GFD) is effective in the management of epilepsy in 53% of cases, either reducing seizure frequency, enabling reduced doses of antiepileptic drugs or even stopping antiepileptic drugs.
Conclusion
Patients with epilepsy of unknown aetiology should be investigated for serological markers of gluten sensitivity as such patients may benefit from a GFD.
My Thoughts
These are my thoughts.
Coeliacs Prior To 1960
Consider.
- Even if my excellent GP; Doctor Egerton White, felt I was coeliac, there was no test until 1960 for coeliac disease.
- And the test that was developed using endoscopy wasn’t anywhere near to the endoscopies of the present day.
- My late wife, who was a family barrister, likened the test to child abuse on a young child.
- I have heard some terrible horror stories of doctors looking for coeliac disease in young children in the 1950s.
- But there were some successes. A friend of mine, who is in her eighties, was successfully diagnosed by her parents using food elimination. But they were both GPs.
- Recently, I’ve met two elderly ladies, who only in the last couple of years have been diagnosed as coeliacs.
Luckily, I was never tested until 1997 and I was diagnosed in 48 hours, by gene testing.
Methodology
The methodology was based on a systematic computer-based literature search of the PubMed database.
This has these advantages.
- The rules for the search can be published and peer-reviewed.
- Its Wikipedia entry says PubMed is a free database including primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics.
- The technique can surely be applied repeatedly, to see how results are changing with time.
- The search can be modified to analyse any topic, drug or condition, that appears in the PubMed database.
- The analysis could surely be applied to other databases.
As a writer of data analysis software, developing this sort of software, would be really enjoyable.
I’ve Often Worked On Christmas Day!
My father was a workaholic and would often go down his print works in Wood Green on Christmas morning.
When I became about seven, I would go with him and I would do small jobs.
In those days of the 1950s, it was a bit of a tradition that Spurs used to play at home on Christmas Day in the morning.
So probably for at least three years, we saw Spurs play and then went home to a late Christmas Lunch.
In the ten years or so, that I was writing and supporting Artemis, I would often use the Christmas holidays to develop the software or fix bugs, as I was unlikely to be phoned up to answer a query.
Today, I’m going to lunch with my son and his partner.
Before that though, I am pleased to see that The Times has published a full set of Monday puzzles. So I’ll be busy.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.
Plans for Hydrogen Development At Dogger Bank D Gain Ground
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Dogger Bank D, the potential fourth phase of the world’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, Dogger Bank Wind Farm, has awarded contracts to engineering consultants to support the feasibility and optimization of a large-scale green hydrogen development option on the project
These three paragraphs outline the project.
SSE Renewables and Equinor, the developers of the Dogger Bank wind farm in the UK, awarded contracts for green hydrogen concept and engineering and optimization studies to Genesis, H2GO Power, and Fichtner.
If progressed for delivery, Dogger Bank D would be located in the North Sea around 210 kilometers off the northeast coast of England. Subject to the successful outcome of further technical studies, the project could be capable of generating up to around 2 GW of renewable power.
The 2 GW offshore wind farm is currently planned to comprise 128 wind turbines and up to six offshore platforms.
Note.
According to the article, this would be one of the UK’s largest green hydrogen production facilities.
The partners said, that the project could contribute to the UK Government’s electrolytic hydrogen ambitions for 5 GW by 2030.
This is said about the studies.
Using AI machine learning and robust modeling, these studies will investigate the multitude of interdependent variables required to optimize a potential green hydrogen production facility, such as offshore wind farm sizing, electrolysis capacity, transport and storage capacity, water availability, and offtake optionality.
I was using robust modelling on projects such as these fifty years ago, both with Artemis and bespoke software.
To my mind, SSE Renewables and Equinor are doing the right thing. If anybody has a similar project with lots of variables, I’d love to give my opinion.
I have some thoughts.
How Much Hydrogen Will Be Produced?
Ryze Hydrogen are building the Herne Bay electrolyser.
- It will consume 23 MW of solar and wind power.
- It will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen per day.
The electrolyser will consume 552 MWh to produce ten tonnes of hydrogen, so creating one tonne of hydrogen needs 55.2 MWh of electricity.
This would mean that if the Japanese built one Herne Bay-size electrolyser, then it would produce around three hundred tonnes of hydrogen in an average month.
Consider.
- Dogger Bank D is likely to be a 2 GW wind farm.
- This document on the OFGEM web site, says that the Dogger Bank wind farms will have a capacity factor of 45 %.
- This means that Dogger Bank D wind farm will produce an average of 900 MW over a year.
- This works out at 7,884 GWh of electricity in a year.
As each tonne of hydrogen needs 55.2 MWh to be produced, this means if all the electricity produced by Dogger Bank D, is used to create green hydrogen, then 142,826.1 tonnes will be produced.
How Will The Hydrogen Be Brought Ashore?
142,826.1 tonnes is a lot of green hydrogen and the easiest ways to transfer it to the shore would be by a pipeline or a tanker.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the use of tankers, as this would give more flexibility and allow the export of hydrogen to countries in need of hydrogen.
Will There Be Hydrogen Storage In The Dogger Bank D Wind Farm?
This would surely be a possibility, but there are security considerations.
Cost would also be a factor!
The Location Of The Dogger Bank D Wind Farm
I clipped this map of Dogger Bank A, B, C and D wind farms from this page of the Dogger Bank D web site.
Note.
- RWE’s Dogger Bank South wind farm is not shown on the map.
- Dogger Bank D wind farm is the most Easterly of the four wind farms being developed by SSE Renewables and Equinor.
- Dogger Bank D wind farm must be the closest of the Dogger Bank wind farms to the Eastern border of the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ.
Dogger Bank D wind farm would appear to be ideally placed to supply hydrogen to a number of places, by either pipeline or tanker.
Could Dogger Bank South Wind Farm Also Produce Hydrogen?
In RWE Partners With Masdar For 3 GW Dogger Bank South Offshore Wind Projects, I talked about the change of ownership of the Dogger Bank South wind farm.
I would assume that the Dogger Bank South wind farm will be located to the South of the Dogger Bank A,B, C and D wind farms.
Whether it will produce hydrogen will be a matter for the owners and market conditions.
I do believe though, that it could share some facilities with the those that might be built for Dogger Bank D wind farm.
Conclusion
After this brief look, Dogger Bank D could be an ideal place to build a large hydrogen production facility.
A Waste Of Valuable Resources Between Paddington And Heathrow
Much of my working life was spent in writing project management software.
I like to think, I was an expert at writing software to juggle resources.
I wrote my first piece of software in that field in ICI, to get my boss out of trouble, after he’d promised the department a program to allocate the department’s office space more efficiently.
Unfortunately, the student, who’d written the software, without leaving anything that worked or any decent instructions.
So I told my boss;Colin, that I’d have a go.
In my previous position at ICI in Runcorn, I’d worked out an algorithm to decode mass spectrometer traces, which started with a rough idea of what was there, which was entered by an operator and then used permutations and combinations to fit the output.
I used the algorithm in every resource scheduler, I ever wrote and it worked a treat.
So when I see a waste of resources, I get angry, as I know those who devised the system could have done a lot better.
Look at these pictures, I took of a Heathrow Express, that I took today.
It is barely ten percent full.
It has become a waste of resources; train, valuable paths in the Heathrow tunnel, and platform space at Paddington.
These are a few thoughts.
Capacity To And From Heathrow
Consider.
- Heathrow Express uses twelve-car Class 387 trains, with a capacity of 672 seats, that run at a frequency of four trains per hour (tph), which is 2,688 seats per hour.
- The Elizabeth Line uses nine-car Class 345 trains, with a capacity of 454 seats, that run at a frequency of six tph, which is 2,724 seats per hour.
- The Class 345 trains can also carry another 1046 standing passengers on each journey, which adds up to a maximum of 6276 standees per hour.
- The Piccadilly Line uses 73 Stock trains, with a capacity of 684 seats, that run at a frequency of twelve tph, which is 8,208 seats per hour.
This gives a capacity of 19,896 passengers, staff and visitors per hour, or which 13,620 get seats.
Expressed as percentages, the four modes of transport are as follows.
- Heathrow Express – 13.5 %
- Elizabeth Line – Sitting – 13.7 %
- Elizabeth Line – Standees – 33.8 %
- Piccadilly Line – 41.2 %
In Effects Of The ULEZ In West London, I said this about journeys to and from the airport.
Heathrow Airport is one of the world’s busiest airports and 76,000 people work at the airport, with many more employed nearby.
The airport handled 61.6 million passengers in 2022, which is a few short of 170,000 per day.
If you consider that those that work at the airport do two trips per day and passengers generally do one, that means there are 322,000 trips per day to or from the airport.
But as it now so easy to get to the Airport using the Elizabeth Line will more people use the new line to meet and greet and say goodbye to loved ones or business associates. Since the Elizabeth Line opened, I’ve met a couple of friends at Heathrow, who were passing through.
I wonder, if that daily journey total of 322,000 could be nearer to 350,000 or even 400,000.
If the ULEZ charge makes some passengers and staff switch from their car to using a bus or train, this probably means that public transport to and from the airport, will need to be boosted by a substantial amount.
322,000 trips per day is 13,416 per hour assuming a 24 hour day.
Consider.
- The ULEZ will drive employees and passengers to trains to Heathrow.
- A lot of would-be travellers to Heathrow have had a tough couple of years.
- Because of the Elizabeth Line more meeters and greeters will go to the airport.
- The Elizabeth Line is making it easy to get to Heathrow for a large proportion of those living in the South-East.
- There have been numerous car parking scandals at Heathrow and other airports.
- Are there enough charging points for electric cars in Heathrow’s parking?
- Parking at Heathrow is expensive.
- Taxis to the airport are very expensive.
- Passengers with large cases can use the Elizabeth Line.
- Good reports of the Elizabeth Line will push people to use it.
- The Elizabeth Line serves the City, Canary Wharf and the West End.
- The Elizabeth Line has a step-free connection with Thameslink.
- Passengers seem to travel with very large cases.
- Passengers seem to be deserting Heathrow Express, as I wrote in Elizabeth Line Takes Fliers Away From Heathrow Express.
Note.
- The train, I took back from Heathrow this morning was full with all seats taken and quite a few standees.
- And it was a Sunday morning!
- We won’t know the effect of the ULEZ until August, but I believe it will be significant.
Obviously, I’m only using rough figures, but they lead me to believe that in a few months, the Elizabeth Line will be at full capacity to and from Heathrow.
Heathrow Express’s Train Paths Should Be Re-Allocated To The Elizabeth Line
This would increase hourly passenger capacity from 19,896 to 23,208 or by seventeen percent.
Great Western Railway would get two extra platforms at Heathrow and the Class 387 trains could be reallocated.
Where Would Great Western Railway Run Trains From Two Extra Platforms?
Consider.
- Various government levelling up funding has been allocated to Wales and the West.
- I talk about the Mid-Cornwall Metro in Landmark Levelling Up Fund To Spark Transformational Change Across The UK.
- The Mid-Cornwall Metro could include direct trains between London and Newquay.
- There are also plans for a new station at Okehampton Parkway.
- Given all the wind farm development in the Celtic Sea, I can see more trains between London and Pembrokeshire.
- Cardiff and Bristol would probably welcome extra services.
I don’t think Great Western Railway will have problems finding destinations to serve from two extra platforms.
What Will Happen To The Class 387 Trains?
Currently, twelve Class 387 trains are used for Heathrow Express.
In The Future Of The Class 387 And Class 379 Trains, I said this.
The Battery-Electric Class 379 Train
I rode this prototype train in 2015.
An Outwardly Normal Class 379 Train
I think it is reasonable to assume, that as battery technology has improved in the seven years since I rode this train, that converting Class 379 trains to battery-electric operation would not be a challenging project.
Creating A Battery-Electric Class 387 Train
If the Class 387 train is as internally similar to the Class 379 train as it outwardly looks, I couldn’t believe that converting them to battery-electric operation would be that difficult.
I could see a lot of the Class 379 and Class 387 trains converted to 110 mph battery-electric trains.
Would Heathrow Express Completely Disappear?
If the Elizabeth Line trains are going between Heathrow Airport and Central London, at a frequency of 10 tph or one train every six minutes, I feel there may be scope for marketing and operational reasons to create a sub-fleet of the Class 345 trains.
The trains would be identical to the Elizabeth Line’s current fleet, except for livery, seating and some internal passenger features.
- Perhaps, they could be called the Heathrow Train boldly on the outside, so even the dimmest passenger didn’t get on a Reading train instead of a Heathrow one.
- All trains would have wi-fi and 4G connectivity. These features have been promised for the Class 345 trains.
- Some coaches would be fitted with luggage spaces for the outsize cases people carry.
I could envisage the Heathrow Trains terminating at a wide number of places in addition to Abbey Wood and Shenfield. Possibilities must include Beaulieu Park, Ebbsfleet, Gravesend, Northfleet and Southend Victoria
How Sideshore Technology Can Optimise The Layout Of Your Offshore Wind Farm By Applying State-Of-The-Art Algorithms
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Smarter offshore wind farm layouts will accelerate the energy transition
These paragraphs outline the problem.
Wind farm layout optimisation is the art of defining the optimal locations of wind turbines, infield cables and substation structures. It presents a golden opportunity to increase project value.
The academic community has done extensive research into numerical wind farm layout optimization, however, in real projects, it is hardly ever applied. Wind farm layout optimisation is complex because it is multidisciplinary. A wind farm development is typically split into work packages (turbine, foundations, cables, substation). The location of each turbine influences the project cost across the various work packages. While wake effects are important, other aspects need to be considered as well. For example, water depth affects the foundation size. Turbulence levels need to be restricted. And cables, seabed preparation, and soil conditions are often neglected, while they too can have a substantial impact on costs. Fully optimising the turbine positions requires not only insight into wake interactions and the cost drivers across all work packages but also a way of linking everything together.
My project management software writing experience would take a system like this further and use the output pf their system to create the project network for a project management system.
The possibilities then are endless.
Looking For A Job
There’s probably a lot like me these days, what with Putin’s war having depressed the financial markets and put up the cost of everything.
I’m now 75 and seem to regularly get good news about my health, which probably means that my pension will have to stretch further.
Before Christmas, I did a couple of weeks as a volunteer receptionist in a research institute and I enjoyed it.
Perhaps, I’m just lonely and feel a job would liven up my life.
I have a large number of skills and a wide range of knowledge about technical subjects.
I have programmed in many languages with the most useful probably being VB6, which I used for perhaps twenty years, so I might be the guy to update a VB6 system, that is vital to your business.
I am very much an algorithm person because of my background and have done a lot of work in project management.
I also live a few miles North of the City of London.
So if you have any ideas let me know!
The Anonymous Widower 