UK And Welsh Governments To Explore New Rail Links Between South Wales And England
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the UK Government.
These are the three bullet points.
- UK and Welsh governments today (2 February 2023) announce a new study to improve transport connectivity between south-east Wales and west of England
- the study, backed by £2.7 million of UK government funding, will look at options for new railway stations and rail services on the South Wales Main Line
- this project will focus on relieving congestion on the M4, a vital connector between south Wales and the rest of the UK
The stations are not named, but it is said that they could be between Cardiff and the Severn Tunnel.
The last paragraph changes direction a bit.
Lord Peter Hendy also proposed reviewing the route connecting north Wales to the north-west of England, better connectivity with HS2 and a package of railway improvements to increase connectivity and reduce journey times between Cardiff, Birmingham and beyond.
I find this development very interesting, but typical of the sensible approach one would expect from Lord Peter.
In Could High Speed Two Serve Holyhead?, I looked at the route and came to this conclusion.
London Euston and Holyhead could be a serious proposition.
With some development and a new fast ferry, it could also open up a practical zero-carbon route between Great Britain and Ireland.
Times of four and a half hours between London Euston and Dublin could be possible.
I suspect that time would appeal to green tourists, especially those in First with a good meal.
Hydrogen Train To Be Demonstrated In Québec
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the Railway Gazette.
These two paragraphs outline the project.
An Alstom Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell multiple-unit is to operate demonstration passenger services on the Chemin de fer de Charlevoix from June 17 to September 30.
The return service along the St Lawrence River between Parc de la Chute-Montmorency on the outskirts of Québec City and Baie-St-Paul is being organised by the province, short line operator Chemin de fer Charlevoix, tourist train operator Train de Charlevoix, hydrogen production technology company HTEC and Harnois Énergies, which will produce the green hydrogen at its Québec City site.
The Train de Charlevoix runs along the St. Lawrence River and is described on the web site as a unique experience.
I have felt for some time, that one of the uses of zero-carbon trains is as tourist trains, on quiet lines, where noise is probably not welcome.
It might even change the future of some lightly-used lines.
Landmark Levelling Up Fund To Spark Transformational Change Across The UK
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the UK Government.
These are the four bullet points.
- More than 100 projects awarded share of £2.1 billion from Round 2 of government’s flagship Levelling Up Fund.
- Projects will benefit millions of people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and create jobs and boost economic growth.
- £672 million to develop better transport links, £821 million to kick-start community regeneration and £594 million to restore local heritage sites.
- Successful bids include Eden Project North in Morecambe, a new AI campus in Blackpool, regeneration in Gateshead, and rail improvements in Cornwall
The press release expands the last bullet point.
Projects awarded Levelling Up Fund money today include:
Eden Project North
Eden Project North will receive £50 million to transform a derelict site on Morecambe’s seafront into a world class visitor attraction. It will also kick-start regeneration more widely in Morecambe, creating jobs, supporting tourism and encouraging investment in the seaside town.
Note.
- Because of its closeness to the West Coast Main Line, it will have excellent rail connections to all over the North of England and Central and Southern Scotland, through Lancaster, which will only be a shuttle train away.
- One of High Speed Two’s direct destinations will be Lancaster, which will be served by High Speed Two by hourly trains to Birmingham, Carlisle, Crewe, London, Preston, Warrington and Wigan and by two-hourly trains to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lockerbie and Motherwell.
- London and Lancaster will be a journey of just two hours and three minutes.
I believe that this high quality rail access will ensure the success of the Eden Project North.
Cardiff Crossrail
Cardiff Crossrail has been allocated £50 million from the fund to improve the journey to and from the city and raise the economic performance of the wider region.
The Cardiff Crossrail is obviously a good project from the little that I’ve read about it. But it does need a web site to explain the reasoning behind it.
Blackpool Multiversity
Blackpool Council and Wyre Council will receive £40 million to deliver a new Multiversity, a carbon-neutral, education campus in Blackpool’s Talbot Gateway Central Business District. This historic funding allows Blackpool and The Fylde College to replace their ageing out-of-town centre facilities with world-class state-of-the-art ones in the heart of the town centre. The Multiversity will promote higher-level skills, including automation and artificial intelligence, helping young people secure jobs of the future.
Blackpool certainly needs something.
My suggestion in Blackpool Needs A Diamond, was to build a second Diamond Light Source in the North to complement the successful facility at Harwell.
I don’t think the two proposals are incompatible.
Fair Isle Ferry
Nearly £27 million has been guaranteed for a new roll-on, roll-off ferry for Fair Isle in the Shetland Islands. The service is a lifeline for the island, supporting its residents, visitors and supply chains, and without its replacement the community will become further isolated.
Note.
- Will it be a British-built ferry?
- Will it be hydrogen-powered? After all by the time it is built, the Northern Scottish islands will be providing enough of the gas to power a quarter of Germany.
- Surely, a hydrogen-powered roll-on, roll-off ferry will be a tourist attraction in its own right.
I hope the Government and the islanders have a good ship-yard lined up
Gateshead Quays And The Sage
A total of £20 million is going towards the regeneration of Gateshead Quays and the Sage, which will include a new arena, exhibition centre, hotels, and other hospitality. The development will attract nearly 800,000 visitors a year and will create more than 1,150 new jobs.
I don’t know much about the Sage, but this project seems very reasonable.
Mid-Cornwall Metro
A £50 million grant will help create a new direct train service, linking 4 of Cornwall’s largest urban areas: Newquay, St Austell, Truro, and Falmouth/Penryn. This will level up access to jobs, skills, education, and amenities in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the UK.
I wrote about this scheme in The Proposed Mid-Cornwall Metro, where I came to this conclusion.
I believe that a small fleet of Hitachi Regional Battery Trains could create an iconic Metro for Cornwall, that would appeal to both visitors and tourists alike.
Judging by the recent success of reopening the Dartmoor Railway to Okehampton in Devon, I think this scheme could be a big success. But it must be zero-carbon!
Female Changing Rooms For Northern Ireland Rugby
There is £5.1 million to build new female changing rooms in 20 rugby clubs across Northern Ireland.
Given the popularity of the female version of the sport in England, Scotland and Wales, perhaps this is a sensible way to level it up in Northern Ireland. As rugby is an all-Ireland sport, perhaps the Irish have already sorted the South?
MOB To Launch Gauge-Changing Montreux – Interlaken GoldenPass Express
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the explanatory paragraph.
December 11 will mark the start of a long-awaited through service by luxury train between Interlaken and Montreux. Operated by Montreux-Oberland Bahn and BLS Lötschbergbahn, the gauge-changing GoldenPass Express service is expected to become a major attraction between the two lakeside resorts that will help revive tourist travel in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
These are some details of the service.
- Journey time for the 115∙3 km trip through three cantons, including 11 intermediate stops and the change between 1 000 mm and 1 435 mm gauge at Zweisimmen, will be 3 h 15 min.
- The trains have been built by Stadler.
- There are three classes of accommodation; Prestige, First and Second.
- Catering will be appropriate to the class.
- Initially, there will be one train per day in each direction, but after June 2023, there will be four trains per day.
- Fares range between £64 and £129 one-way depending on the class.
- Tickets can be bought here.
It sounds like a trip worth doing.
I suspect that if this service is a success, then other countries will imitate it.
In the UK, we haven’t anything as grand as Montreux – Interlaken, but we do have the Settle and Carlisle Line.
- Trains run between Leeds and Carlisle.
- There are charter services, some hauled by steam locomotives.
- The distance is a kilometre longer than Montreux – Interlaken.
In Through Settle And Carlisle Service Under Consideration, I look at a Department for Transport study for a Glasgow and Leeds service via the Settle and Carlisle Line.
If the Borders Railway is ever extended to Carlisle, an Edinburgh and Leeds service would be a possibility.
The Secret Of The TwinHub
I was reading about the TwinHub, which is a pair of wind turbines, that are to be mounted on a single float.
There is an explanatory video on the TwinHub home page. Just scroll the page down and you’ll find a full page video, that is rather beautiful and slightly hypnotic.
But note how it stops and starts in the wind and turns itself into a position, so that it is generating the maximum amount of wind.
So how does it do that?
It is not by clever computers and a whole host of actuators, but by good old-fashioned aerodynamics.
Above the video, there is a picture of the sea, with these words underneath.
This demonstration project will be located at the Wave Hub site, and will consist of two floating platforms anchored to the seabed. Each floating platform will host two turbines with inclined towers. The total installed capacity will be between 30 to 40 MW.
Two words are the key to the design – inclined towers.
The wind will apply a force to each turbine and because the towers are inclined, this will apply a force, that will turn the turbines so they are facing the wind. This will maximise the power generated.
The design is elegant, efficient and enchanting.
I can see the TwinHub becoming an unusual tourist attraction in Cornwall.
Transport Enterprise Leasing To Integrate Cummins X15H Hydrogen Engine Into Heavy Duty Trucks
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Fleet Equipment.
This is the first paragraph.
Transport Enterprise Leasing and Cummins Inc. announced recently that TEL has signed a letter of intent planning to purchase Cummins’ 15-liter hydrogen internal combustion engines when available. TEL will integrate the Cummins’ X15H hydrogen engines into their fleet of heavy-duty trucks.
This second paragraph is very significant.
Hydrogen engines can use zero-carbon green hydrogen fuel, produced by Cummins-manufactured electrolyzers. The projected investment in renewable hydrogen production globally will provide a growing opportunity for the deployment of hydrogen-powered fleets utilizing either Cummins fuel cell or engine power.
Cummins would appear to be aiming to be a one-stop shop to decarbonise your fleet of heavy trucks or anything that is powered by a Cummins diesel engine.
I did a small amount of work for Cummins about twenty years ago and one of the companies objectives was to be able to provide a diesel engine to fit anybody’s application.
So if someone wanted a diesel engine with a particular power, that fitted in an unusually-shaped or confined space, they would rearrange the layout of the engine to make it fit.
I suspect that London’s New Routemaster buses have a special version of Cummins B Series engine, designed for its unusual location halfway up the back stairs.
Will Cummins produce a hydrogen internal combustion engine for the New Routemaster?
- The buses could become zero-carbon, at less cost than new buses.
- Passengers would notice no difference in ride comfort and experience.
- Drivers would just need to use the hydrogen systems.
- Maintenance staff would only need to be trained n handling the hydrogen system, as much of the buses would be unchanged.
- Cummins could sell an electrolyser to each garage.
- London would get some good publicity for tourism.
London’s iconic bus would look the same.
Hydrogen Tourist Transport Network Trialled In The Peak District
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Fleet News.
This paragraph outlines the trial.
A trial is taking place in the Peak District National Park where hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) will run together between multiple destinations and attractions.
Note.
- Toyota will provide the buses.
- Air Products is providing hydrogen.
- The services appear to be centred on Chesterfield station.
It looks like one of the objectives is to test the two types of buses against the terrain.
I can see hydrogen-powered buses being used extensively in tourist areas all over the world.
It’s A Tough Job, But Someone’s Got To Do It!
For a couple of stops today, on the Elizabeth Line, I shared my section of the carriage, with a party of four Japanese tourists, who I took to be mother, father and son, with an older man, who was probably one of the boy’s grandfathers. The father had his camera out and was photographing his family and the train. As I passed him to leave the train, he said “Good train!” He also pointed to himself and said. “Japanese railway engineer!”
I wonder how many other professional railway engineers will visit London and run their eyes over the Elizabeth Line?
Is The Okehampton Effect Starting?
This article on the Tavistock Times Gazette is entitled Hop Aboard The 118 For Town And Village Connection To Rail.
These are the first three paragraphs.
County council chiefs have confirmed they have launched a new bus service to link residents in Tavistock to Okehampton’s restored railway line.
From Saturday, Service 118 will link Tavistock to Okehampton, via Mary Tavy and Lydford, to provide an integrated connection to the rail services between Okehampton and Exeter during the day. The service is part of a bigger project to improve public transport in Devon.
The move comes as Devon County Council pushes ahead with plans to get trains rolling again in Tavistock — but in the opposite direction.
Note.
- Tavistock has almost twice the population of Okehampton.
- Okehampton and Tavistock are about sixteen miles apart.
- Buses will take about forty minutes.
- The railway from Tavistock could eventually go to Plymouth via the existing Bere Alston station and the Tamar Valley Line.
This bus route will complete a circular route between Exeter and Plymouth around Dartmoor.
Devon does seem to be getting itself ready for the next phase of rail development in the county.
But does Devon as the birthplace of those great mariners, Chichester, Drake, Gilbert, Grenville and Raleigh, follow in their footsteps and plan things well and get it done?
My maternal grandmother was born in Dalston of two Devonian parents.
Just before the Second World War my mother asked her if she was prepared for the inevitable war.
My grandmother’s reply was as follows.
I got caught out in the First War, so I’ve got a hundredweight of sugar and a hundredweight of jam in the cellar.
Was that her Devonian genes shining through?
Devon is certainly planning for the future at Okehampton.
- There are plans for an Okehampton Parkway station, where the railway crosses the A30, which I wrote about in Work Begins On Okehampton Parkway Station.
- There is this new bus route.
- Will there be more housing in Okehampton?
- There will be developments linked to tourism.
I believe the Okehampton Effect is starting.
Lumo – A View From Across The Pond
I have just read this guide to Lumo on a United States web site called NewsNation USA, which is entitled Lumo Trains: Cheaper London To Edinburgh Fares – What You Need To Know. The article is positive about the new train service.
It only misses out one important detail. Lumo have said, they will have a long booking window, which will surely appeal to travellers on the route from overseas, who are coming to the UK for a holiday and want to visit both cities.
The Anonymous Widower 