Exploring Around The Bermondsey Dive-Under
As the post entitled Uncovering The Past On Thameslink showed, the railway lines around South Bermondsey station are complicated to say the least and at the moment they are more so due to the construction of the Bermondsey Dive-Under. This Google Earth image shows the main viaduct out of London Bridge as it goes south east.
Exploring Around The Bermondsey Dive-Under
The top left corner of the image shows the old Peek Frean biscuit factory and at the bottom right there is Millwall’s ground. I took these pictures as I walked around.
The arches are certainly a good example of Network Rail’s extensive collection of railway arches used for non-rail commercial pyrposes.
Uncovering The Past On Thameslink
The definition of archaeology according to the Oxford English Dictionary is.
The study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artefacts and other physical remains.
So perhaps calling digging up an old nineteenth century station is stretching the definition a bit far.
But this report on the BBC web site about the uncovering of the disused Southwark Park station is fascinating none-the-less. This is an extract from the report.
The station was discovered as engineers constructed the Bermondsey Dive Under, which will see two Victorian viaducts partially-demolished and rebuilt to allow trains from south east London and Kent to dive down, under a new route carrying Thameslink services from Croydon.
There’s more here on the Ian Visits site and here on the Thameslink web site. This is a Google Earth image of the area.
Bermondsey Dive-Under
Note The New Den, which is Millwall’s ground and SELCHP incinerator to its right. The image highlights the complicated nature of the lines into London Bridge station. The line that runs between the football ground and the incinerator in a south-easterly direction is the Thameslink line between London Bridge and New Cross Gate. The smaller line that crosses this line at right angles is the Overground line between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction.
Where this Overground line crosses Surrey Canal Road just off the bottom of this image, construction should start on the new New Bermondsey station later this year.
Southwark Park station was under the tracks , where Rotherhithe New Road crosses underneath.
Up And Down The Lickey Incline
When I was growing up in the 1950s, books for boys, used to have pictures of massive steam or diesel locomotives working in twos and even threes to bring heavy freight and passenger trains up inclines in places like the Rocky Mountains and the Alps.
In the 1950s and 1960s, it was quite common to see two engines double-heading a freight train, but it is a practice you rarely see now, except in special circumstances. This video shows a single nuclear flask double-headed by two Class 57 locomotives.
Occasionally, in places in the world, where there are steep gradients, an extra banking engine will be added at the rear to help push the train up the incline. You can imagine it, whilst crossing serious mountains or possibly even on the the Highland Main Line, where I rode in the cab of an InterCity 125 from Edinburgh to Inverness.
But you wouldn’t think you’d see this technique on the south-west approach to Birmingham from Bromsgrove!
You would be wrong, as this video shows. It was uploaded in 2007.
It shows a Class 66 locomotive taking a coal train up the Lickey Incline, assisted by a similar locomotive at the rear. If you search YouTube for Lickey Incline, you’ll find some real engineering pornography, like massive steam locomotives being assisted by four smaller tank engines.
But in a few years time, the pictures will all be different, as the Cross-City Line from Lichfield via Birmingham is being electrified to Bromsgrove and Redditch. Bromsgrove will also be getting a new four-platform station, which should open in November according to this article in the Bromsgrove Advertiser. Three new Class 350 trains have been ordered to provide a much-improved service, of three trains an hour to each of the two southern termini.
It looks like the improvements to the southern end of the Cross-City line with come out at around £65 million and the new Bromsgrove station at £17.4 million according to various reports on the Internet.
I would think this investment is money well-spent, as the line is the busiest commuter railway outside London.
I think that if the next government devolves transport to local areas, then other projects like this will be undertaken in the West Midlands.
For example, the reinstatement of passenger services on the Camp Hill Line is a long term aspiration of the city.
To Dive Or Fly At Werrington
Network Rail are doing their bit to speed up trains on the East Coast Main Line. Over the last few years they have upgraded the Great Northern Great Eastern Joint Line from Werrington Junction, just north of Peterborough, to Doncaster via Spalding, Sleaford and Lincoln, so that the number of freight trains on the East Coast Main Line can be reduced and the passenger services can be speeded up. This page on Network Rail’s website describes the work.
But all these freight trains have started to get up the locals noses. This article in the Peterborough Telegraph is entitled Werrington And Peakirk Residents’ Plea On Rail Plans. It starts like this.
Two petitions signed by 752 people in Peterborough opposed to plans to increase freight services on the railway have been presented to Parliament.
Householders in Werrington and Peakirk have signed the petitions calling on the Government to start talks with rail operator Network Rail about the proposals.
The line is also noted for its numerous level crossings and proposals to shut them and according to this article in the Lincolnshire Echo, there is opposition to the closure of at least one crossing.
So now Network Rail want to create a flyover or a dive-under at Werrington Junction to speed northbound freight trains turning on to the line through Lincoln. This map from Network Rail, shows the two options.
Werrington Junction
The dive-under is shown in red and the flyover in blue.
I have a feeling that the decision for this much-needed junction and its construction will be a long-time coming.
I also think that it is complicated, by the fact that Peterborough is very much a city, where most people don’t use public transport, as they have their own cars, so any local vote would not be in favour of improving public transport or the railway, unless perhaps it improved commuting to London.
Perhaps the solution to these problems, could be a bit of bribery in the form of some strategically-located new stations and a very much improved rail service between Peterborough and Doncaster via Lincoln.
Euston Is Getting A Balcony
At Euston station today, it was obvious that Network Rail are creating a balcony in a similar way to how they did at Manchester Piccadilly and Waterloo stations. They describe the project on this page on their web site and these are some pictures I took today of the construction work.
Hamish Kiernan, Network Rail’s Commercial Retail Director is quoted as saying this.
Our award-winning developments at King’s Cross and Waterloo showcase what can be achieved at our major stations and now as we move our focus to Euston, we are confident we can create a bigger, brighter station for everyone.
Any improvement to Euston is to be welcomed.
I wonder how many other stations could be balconied to create more space.
Work On The Hackney/Downs/Central Link Has Started
The long-awaited pedestrian link between Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations seems to be arriving on the eastbound Platform 2 at Central.
That could be a bit surprising, as I thought it was arriving on the westbound Platform 1.
This page on London Reconnections has this diagram.
Hackney Downs Central Link
Note that the link goes to Platform 1, whereas it now goes to Platform 2.
I can’t find anything on the usual web sites, but this page on the contractor; Spencer Rail’s web site, says this.
An earlier proposal had to be abandoned because it would interfere with Network Rail signalling equipment. The latest plan avoids this problem by building the interchange on the northern side of the track.
I think for some passengers this will be better. It will probably only make a difference to me, if I’m coming from my son’s in Walthamstow and need to pick up some supper in Marks and Spencer.
On the other hand the link may connect the stations in the dry, but some transfers will mean going up and down the stairs at Hackney Downs, which is a station that is in desperate need of lifts.
Alliance Rail Are Thinking Big
In the UK, there is provision for allowing what are called open access operators on UK railways. This is Wikipedia’s definition.
An open access operator is a train operating company that is not subject to franchising, instead purchasing individual slots on the mainline from a railway infrastructure company.
The three most well-known open access operators in the UK are Eurostar, First Hull Trains and Grand Central Railway.
A new company called Alliance Rail, who incidentally are the parent company of Grand Central is trying to join them.
They are proposing to have two train companies Great North Western Railway and Great North Eastern Railway running on the West and East Coast Main Lines respectively.
Services which would be run using six-car Class 390 Pendolinos are proposed as follows.
GNWR
London Euston – Blackpool North (six daily)
London Euston – Leeds (six daily)
GNER
London King’s Cross – Edinburgh – (hourly)
London King’s Cross – Bradford/Ilkley – (two hourly)
London – Cleethorpes – (up to four daily)
In addition towns and cities like Dewsbury, Eccles, Grimsby, Huddersfield, Newton-le-Willows, Scunthorpe and Stalybridge will get direct services to London.
It is an ambitious plan and I suspect that Virgin and Stagecoach will use everything in their power to strangle this upstart before it starts.
Know Your Ticketing
My trip yesterday illustrated one thing, in that you can save pounds and pence by being smart with ticketing. This picture shows my six tickets from yesterday.
Tickets To Huddersfield
I travelled virtually along to Sheffield on the 07:24 for £17.15 and back on the crowded 20:49 for £19.15. Both tickets were for use with a Railcard in First Class and bought on-line from East Midlands Trains.
If I wanted to do that journey today, the cheapest ticket I can find on the web is £48.85
My Return from Sheffield to Huddersfield was bought from the ticket machine in Dalston Junction for £6.20, which was incidentally ten pence cheaper than one of my tavelling companion’s ticket bought on-line some days earlier.
Why the North Needs Electrification And Pacer Eradication
Huddersfield is one of these classic Northern towns and cities that do not have a direct train to London.
In the past, when Ipswich have played there, I’ve either taken a fast train to Manchester or Leeds and then taken a train across in a twenty minute ride or so ride.
A typical trip via Leeds takes about ten minutes under three hours, with one via Manchester Piccadilly taking perhaps ten minutes longer.
On my trip north to Huddersfield, because I wanted to do take some photos in Sheffield and because the West Coast Main Line was closed, I decided to go via the old steel city from St. Pancras. With just one change at Sheffield this journey takes ten minutes short of four hours.
So imagine, you were perhaps a businessman needing to go to Huddersfield to check something out or a fan going from London to see your team play Huddersfield Town, would you bother?
I probably wouldn’t except for the fact that I got First Class tickets to Sheffield £36.30. That was Advance tickets with a Senior Railcard and I did buy them several weeks ago, but both journeys were in two hours, so it was probably good value.
I then took a local train from Sheffield to Huddersfield on the Penistone Line, with the journey taking over an hour in a dreadful Class 142 Pacer, as it meandered through the Yorkshire countryside, stopping at stations with interesting names like Wombwell, Denby Dale and Silkstone Common.
At least I wasn’t alone, as I shared the journey with an Ipswich-supporting student and another guy, who like me had been to Loverpool University. So at least it was an entertaining journey.
When you arrive in Huddersfield, you aren’t greeted by some dreadful pile of bricks, which has suffered the excesses and poor imagination of British Rail’s in-house architects, but a regional station that is second to none and is up there with Kings Cross for grandeur and setting.
Huddersfield station deserves a lot better than it is currently getting. The Wikipedia entry, says this about the views of those who knew about architecture, trains and stations.
The station frontage was described by John Betjeman as the most splendid in England and by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘one of the best early railway stations in England’.
The only blot on the station, is that in front is a statue of one of Huddersfield’s most famous sons; Harold Wilson. When he was Prime Minsister, he could surely have done more to put an electrified railway across the Pennines from Liverpool and Manchester to Sheffield and Leeds via his home town. Wilson also has the dubious claim to fame in that despite the recommendations of Beeching, he was Prime Minister, when the only electrified line across the Pennines, the Woodhead Line was closed to passengers in 1970.
But things could be getting better.The number of Trans Pennine trains has been increased in the last couple of years and the Huddersfield Line from Manchester to Leeds has been funded for electrification by 2018.
Six fast electric trains every hour between Leeds and Manchester via Huddersfield will be a big improvement in terms of speed and capacity, even if for a few years, they are just refurbished Class 319 trains. For example, journey times between Manchester and Leeds via Huddersfield will be down to forty minutes.
I find it rather ironic, that an electric train based on a design started under Wilson’s Prime Ministership, which was designed for the mountains of the South East, has such an important role in the exorcising of his sins as regards to railway electrification across the Pennines. It probably shows that engineers know a lot more about providing good infrastructure than politicians. But although Class 319 trains may be ugly buggers, underneath and behind that extremely tough steel bodywork, lies all the suspension and power systems to create a comfortable, fast and reliable train, that rides with all the smoothness and finesse of a top of the range car. The one I rode on in Liverpool recently had certainly scrubbed up well.
But this 100 mph electrified railway across the Pennines will be ruined for many, if there is no improvement in feeder services on other routes, which are generally worked by the dreaded Pacers.
To be fair to Northern Rail, yesterday’s example did have new seats and had been smartened up, but that doesn’t alter the fact that they should be sent to the Army for use as targets in gunnery practice.
Take the Penistone Line on which I travelled to Huddersfield. It has four major stations at Sheffield, Meadowhall, Barnsley and Huddersfield, with a host of what look like to be well-maintained stations in smaller and often rural communities. A Pacer trundling along the line once an hour is not exactly a passenger-magnet.
Northern Rail probably don’t have enough trains to provide a more frequent service, but surely in an ideal world, there should be at least two trains an hour along the line. Hopefully, with electrification in the north and transfer of trains from other parts of the country, in a few years time, we’ll see a better service on the line, provided by something like Class 172 trains.
Around the end of this decade, Sheffield will be electrified to London and fast electric trains will do the journey in well under two hours. As Huddersfield will also be electrified, the electrification and modernisation of the Penistone Line and the related Hallam Line between Sheffield and Leeds , could be a logical step to take. In fact the recent report on Electrification in the North has recommended this.
This would open up all possibilities for services, such as providing direct electric services from Leeds, Barnsley and Huddersfield to London via Sheffield and the HS2 interchange at Meadowhall, in addition to very much improved local services.
I look forward to the day when voters in London and the South East start moaning about all their money being spent on electric railways in the North. Hopefully by then, London’s Mayor will have a lot more freedom on how to fund railways in the capital.
The Station Now Arriving Is Running Late
Network Rail is creating several new stations in the UK. But not every one seems to be going to the original schedule.
In the following, which lists current new station projects in Wikipedia, I have not included any Crossrail or Borders Railway stations.
Appleby Bridge
The station at Appleby Bridge would appear to be progressing according to the latest plan and could open on time in August 2015. I went past the site recently but didn’t manage to see much.
Bermuda Park
Bermuda Park station is a small station in Nuneaton, but according to this story in the Nuneaton News, construction appears to be going well for an opening this year.
Cambridge Science Park
Cambridge Science Park station was originally approved in December 2013 scheduled to open in December 2015. This has now slipped to December 2016.
When I last went past the area in March 2015, there appeared to be little happening.
Cassiobridge And Watford Vicarage Road
Cassiobridge and Watford Vicarage Road are two new tube stations being built on the Croxley Link of the Metropolitan Line linking it to Watford Junction. The link and the new and updated stations were due to open in 2016, but after the takeover of the project responsibility and management by Transport for London, the completion date is now a more realistic 2018.
Coventry Arena
Like Bermuda Park, Coventry Arena is a new station on the Coventry to Nuneaton Line. Like Bermuda Park, things seem to be going well for a scheduled opening in May 2015.
Cranbrook
Cranbrook station is a small single-platform being built in Devon, perhaps using ideas borrowing from James Cook. Progress is summed up by this story in the Exeter Express and Echo.
Ebbw Vale Town
Ebbw Vale Town is a new terminus station for the Ebbw Vale Railway, being built for the town and various reports say it will open this year.
Ilkeston
If ever a station was delayed by great crested newts on the line, it is the new Ilkeston station. This story on the BBC details the problems, which mean that this important station will be delivered over two years late.
Would the Germans, French and Italians allow this sort of construction delay? The Chinese would probably serve them with ginger, pak choi and noodles.
Kenilworth
Kenilworth station has had a protracted gestation period, with an original planned opening of 2013, which is now scheduled for December 2016, with this report in the Leamington Observer saying work will start this year. It looks impressive and it is one I’m looking forward to use.
Kirkstall Forge
Thje builders must be confident of the schedule for Kirkstall Forge station, as the Wikipedia entry gives a completion date of the station is given as October 2015, which is confirmed on this page on the Leeds Metro web site. When I passed recently, there certainly seemed to be an embryonic station at the site.
Lea Bridge
It was hoped that Lea Bridge station would reopen in late 2014, but despite one sighting of the orange army, nothing seems to be happening. and the new hoped-for opening date of December 2015 would appear to be optimistic.
Oxford Parkway
Oxford Parkway station is not only a new station, but one at the interim end of a new privately-funded railway route from London. As it is key to the opening of the line, I would suspect that the planned opening date of September 2015 will be achieved.
Wixams
Wixams railway station was originally promised to be completed this year. This report on Bedfordshire on Sunday takes about broken promises and a much-delayed station. In other words, it is an aspiration, that has not been planned.
The lateness with some of these stations is a trend that is worrying, but in many cases it seems that you can’t blame the politicians but bad planning and the not getting everything sorted before announcing start and finish dates.
And of course there are the newts at Ilkeston!
The Anonymous Widower 