A Scoop For Train-Spotters
Various news sources are reporting that Kim Jong-Un’s visit to China was first noticed by train spotters.
This article on the Washington Post, says this.
The detective work started Monday when train spotters and North Korea watchers noticed two suspicious developments: tight security at the China-North Korea border and train delays across the northeast.
The article also says that a popular Chinese nickname for the North Korean dictator is Fatty the Third.
New Passenger Rail Routes In The West Midlands
Looking for possible privately-funded rail projects, I have come acrossseveral proposed rail route re-openings and improvement schemes in the West Midlands on Wikipedia.
Birmingham-Peterborough Line
The Birmingham-Peterborough Line is a major route between Birmingham and the East.
I am including it, as there are aspirations to add new stations at Castle Bromwich and Fort Parkway.
Between Birmingham and Nuneaton must be a candidate for in-fill electrification, especially as this section has two freight terminals.
Camp Hill Line
The reopening of the Camp Hill Line across Birmingham has been a long term ambition of the City Council for years.
The current status of the proposed development of the Camp Hill Line is given in Wikipedia under Future Plans.
This is the last part of that section.
In 2017, the newly elected Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street pledged to get work started on restoring services to the line by 2020. And officials were said to be investigating the business case for a fourth station at Balsall Heath (previously called Brighton Road) This would mean Lifford and Camp Hill would be the only stations not to be reopened.
In August 2017, West Midlands Trains announced plans as part of their franchise deal that the line would reopen by December 2019 as part of a £1 billion investment in the West Midlands. This included a new station at Moseley.
In February 2018, Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, said that the viaduct would not be needed, as Hereford to Birmingham New Street trains could be diverted along this line, meaning that extra capacity at Birmingham New Street was not required to open this line.
Note that the original completion date for this scheme was 2025 and it has now been moved forward to December 2019.
The current scheme seems to include the following.
- Four new stations at Balsall Heath, Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell.
- A possible connection into Birmingham Moor Street station.
- Birmingham New Street to Worcester services would use the Camp Hill Line.
It seems that this scheme provides a rail service to a new part of the city and also releases capacity at Birmingham New Street. I think there’s some Brummie cunning at work and that a simpler scheme is being created, that could involve.
- The new stations.
- None or very little new electrification, track and signalling.
- No connection to Moor Street station.
- Services from Birmingham New Street to Kings Norton, Redditch and Bromsgrove using new Aventra trains running on batteries on the Camp Hill Line, which would call at all stations.
- An improved Birmingham New Street to the new Worcester Parkway station using new CAF Civity diesel trains, along the Camp Hill Line.
- Will CrossCountry’s Cardiff-Nottingham service be rerouted via the Camp Hill Line?
The New Street to Worcester services could be rerouted earlier, if it was necessary to squeeze more capacity out of New Street station.
Note that if all services stopped at Bromsgrove, when it gets its electric service on the Cross-City Line in May 2018, passengers for a lot of destinations, would surely change at Bromsgrove, rather than New Street!
Darlaston Loop
The reopening of the Darlaston Loop has been suggested by Andy Street, who is now Mayor of the West Midlands.
I suspect that this reopening fits within a larger overall scheme.
South Staffordshire Line
Network Rail and Midland Metro, both seem to have aspirations to run services on the South Staffordshire Line.
Re-opening Proposals in the Wikipedia entry gives full details of the proposals. Included are.
- Freight trains on a single track.
- Midland Metro on a single track with passing places.
- National Rail services.
- Tram-trains sharing with freight trains.
This is the last entry.
In September 2017, the new franchise operators, West Midlands Trains, plans to restore disused railway lines including the South Staffordshire Line which would be an extension of the existing Birmingham to Stourbridge Junction service which it plans to extend to Brierley Hill in the future.
On the Wikipedia entry for the Midland Metro, under Wednesbury and Merry Hill – Extension, this is said.
From Line 1 in Wednesbury, the Brierley Hill Extension (WBHE) would follow the disused South Staffordshire Line, through Tipton to the vicinity of the former Dudley Town station (which closed in 1964 and was later the site of a freightliner terminal), then on-street into Dudley town centre. It would leave Dudley alongside the Southern Bypass to access the railway corridor, leaving it at the approach to the Waterfront/Merry Hill area and Brierley Hill and then on to Stourbridge.
Centro has stated that the WBHE would provide 10 trams per hour, alternately serving Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Journey time from Brierley Hill to West Bromwich was stated as 31 minutes.
There are a lot of possibilities.
Various things might help in the design.
- There is space for two tracks. It has been suggested that one is for trams and one for freight.
- Midland Metro’s trams can run on battery power, so no electrification is required, if all other trains are diesel-powered.
- Midland Metro’s trams and West Midlands Trains’s new diesel trains are both built by CAF, so are they compatible enough to share a track?
- Modern signalling gets better and better.
I think we might see a very innovative plan for the use of this line.
Sutton Park Line
The Sutton Park Line is another line in the est Midlands area, that could be re-opened.
Re-opening in the Wikipedia entry gives full details of the proposals.
In February 2008 it was announced that Birmingham City Council, Network Rail and Centro were launching a feasibility study to assess the possibility of re-opening the line to passenger services. In January 2015 the line was put on hold for reopening to passenger trains. In April 2017, the proposals were being looked at again as part of a spin-off to the HS2 scheme. In December 2017, it has been proposed that the line could reopen as part of the Governments plans to reopen lines closed in the 1960s and later cuts by British Rail.
I would think, that one of the main reasons, this line is being reopened is that is connects several of the other suburban lines in Birmingham. It also allows freight trains to by-pass Birmingham New Street station.
Walsall-Wolverhampton Line
This is said about reopening a passenger service on the Walsall-Woverhampton Line in Wikipedia under Future Plans.
The West Midlands Combined Authority have announced their intention to restore a passenger service to the line by 2027, along with new stations at Willenhall and Darlaston James Bridge.
Note.
- At the present time, this route is for freight.
- It has had passenger services on and off for fifty years.
- It can be used as a diversion route around engineering works.
If a direct service were to be reinstated it would take just twelve minutes, as opposed to an hour via Birmingham New Street station.
It strikes me that this would be a simple route to upgrade.
Walsall and Wolverhampton stations are electrified.
The route is surely short enough to be handled by a battery-powered train.
Signalling is probably up-to-date.
There is also this report in the Wolverhampton Express and Star, which is entitled Spring Satement: £350m Housing Deal For The West Midlands, which says this.
The deal comes after ministers revealed plans to bring the line between the town and city back into use, including new railway stations at Willenhall and James Bridge, Darlaston.
Things seem to be happening on this route.
Possible New Stations
I’ll summarise the possible new and reopened stations.
- Aldridge – Sutton Park
- Balsall Heath – Camp Hill
- Castle Bromwich – Birmingham – Peterborough
- Darlaston James Bridge – Walsall-Wolverhampton
- Fort Parkway – Birmingham – Peterborough
- Hazelwell – Camp Hill
- Kings Heath – Camp Hill
- Moseley – Camp Hill
- Pelsall – South Staffordshire
- Willenhall Bilston Street – Walsall – Wolverhampton
Could a common design be created, so that the cost of stations is reduced?
Is There A Plan?
The West Midlands Combined Authority and the train operation company for the area; West Midlands Trains, seem at a first look, taken all the freight and disused routes and seeing how they can be linked into a network to the benefit of Birmingham.
But I think it is more than that!
The trains and trams are a varied fleet.
- CAF Urbos trams. – Can be fitted powered with batteries
- Bombardier Aventra trains in three- and five-car units. – Might be possible to be powered with batteries
- CAF Civity diesel-multiple units in two- and four-car units.
Full details have not been given about the Aventras, but it could be that all trams and trains are capable of moving for perhaps a dozen miles under their own power. Obviously, the CAF Civitiies can go a lot further on diesel fuel.
I have some questions.
- Could all these trains, mean that the lines can be added to the current network without installing too much electrification?
- Is it only the South Staffordshire Line and the Darlaston Loop, where new track needs to be laid?
- CAF are a company noted for innovation, who are opening a factory in Wales. Have they got a Spanish Surprise to help the WMCA create a world-class network?
- Are architects and engineers working on a unique platform design, that all trains can share?
- Could the Camp Hill Line and the Walsall-Wolverhampton Line have a passenger service, as soon as there are trains to run the service?
I wonder if there is a plan to bring in new routes continuously!
- Electric trains on the Chase Line to Rugeley Trent Valley station and to Bromsgrove station will be first in 2018.
- Walsall and Wolverhampton using the Wallsall-Wolverhampton Line
- New Street and Worcester using the Camp Hill Line.
- New Street and Bromsgrove using new stations on the Camp Hill Line.
- Coleshill Parkway tand Walsall using the Sutton Park Line.
- Walsall and Stourbridge Junction using the South Staffordshire Line and diesel trains.
- Wednesbury and Merry Hill using the South Staffordshire Line and trams.
Note.
- The early bonus of the new electrification.
- Walsall and Bromsgrove will develop into well-connected hubs.
- Euston and Walsall will be introduced by West Midlands Trains.
- As the network expands, new trains are delivered.
- Stations will be added continuously.
- All parts of Greater Birmingham will benefit.
Is this the way, Andy Street will market the network to his customers?
Swansea Bay Metro
Looking for possible privately-funded rail projects, I have come across the Swansea Bay Metro on Wikipedia.
Wikipedia outlines the project like this.
- A new line from Baglan to Swansea station diverting the mainline from the current route via Neath, reducing journey times to Cardiff to 30 Minutes
- The new Main Line would have stations at Swansea Bay Campus and SA1
- Reopening of the current freight only Neath Valley Line to passengers with new stations at Jersey Marine, Neath Abbey, Neath (shown as Neath 2) and Aberdulais
- A new line from Neath to Llansamlet Interchange via a new station at Llandarcy
- New stations on the existing Swansea to Baglan at Llansamlet Interchange, Phoenix and Morfa
- New stations at M4 J45, Morriston, M4 J46 and Pontlliw
- A new station on Station Road.
It is a comprehensive project that would probably cost over a £1 billion.
This could just be the sort of project that Chris Grayling felt could be developed.
This study document from Professor Mark Barry gives more details of a possible proposal.
This map is included.
It certainly is a comprehensive project.
York-Beverley Line
Looking for possible privately-funded rail projects, I have come across the York-Beverley Line on Wikipedia.
This is an extract from the Wikipedia entry.
Following the Government’s plans to reinstate lines closed in the 1960s which was announced in November 2017, it has been proposed that the line could reopen as a result.
The line runs between Bootham Junction on the York-Scarborough Line and Beverley Junction on the Hull-Scarborough Line.
This diagram from Wikipedia shows the detailed route.
I only know the area as a visitor, but it would appear to be a valuable new connection.
The Heath Rail Link In Devon
Looking for possible privately-funded rail projects, I have come across the Heath Rail Link in Devon on Wikipedia.
This is said.
In January 2018, a new company, Heath Rail Link met with Network Rail to discuss plans and progress. During the meeting, Network Rail gave authorisation for Heath Rail Link to lease the line once funds were submitted for it.
I also found this article on Heritage Railway, which is entitled A Fourth Tourist Line In South Devon In 2020?.
Something is definitely happening, but will it lead to anything?
Will the line be a heritage railway or will it be run by something like a Class 230 train?
The Cranleigh Line
Looking for possible privately-funded rail projects, I have come across the Cranleigh Line on Wikipedia.
This is part of what is said on Wikipedia about Possible Reopening, in a eport by Buchanan and Partners in 1994.
The report estimated that around 500 car users could transfer to rail each day. The cost of reinstating the line between Guildford and Cranleigh was projected at £24 million which would include the base, civil, electrical, engineering and signalling works. It did not include land acquisition costs, legal costs and bridge works. The reinstatement of the bridge over the River Wey was costed at £750,000.
The report concluded that, based on a preliminary analysis of the line’s potential returns, re-opening would not be feasible. The line was, according to the report, likely to recoup only 3% of the capital investment in the first year of re-opening, and this without taking into account its operating costs. British Rail usually insisted on a figure of at least 8% before investing capital into re-opening a line. Nevertheless, the County Council decided to commission a detailed economic feasibility study by British Rail into the line’s potential for re-opening, and looked into the possibility of using a light railway or tramway substitute.
What would a report say now?
Given that the line runs between the busy stations at Guildford and Horsham, the latter of which has a Thameslink frequency of two trains per hour, I think that the answers would be very different.
The route would also be one, that could be run by a third-rail tram-train!
Consider.
- The tram-trains would use battery power, where there is no third-rail electrification.
- The route between Guildford and Peasmarsh Junction is electrified and has no stations.
- The route between Horsham and Stammerham Junction is electrified and has no stations.
- Between Peasmarsh Junction and Stammerham Junction, there were stations at Bramley & Wonersh, Cranleigh, Baynards, Rudgwick and Slinford.
- Stations could be rebuilt and added to as required.
- Between Peasmarsh Junction and Stammerham Junction, the new line would be without electrification.
Could the new line share the route with walkers and cyclists?
I think there is a chance here to create a new type of light rail link!
Carmarthen–Aberystwyth Line
Looking for possible privately-funded rail projects, I have come across the Carmarthen–Aberystwyth Line on Wikipedia.
This is said on Wikipedia under Reopening.
Official talks of reopening started in 2014, when First Minister Carwyn Jones shared his support towards the reopening, and it was adopted as an official policy of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The next two years were followed by support from Carmarthenshire County Council, Ceredigion County Council, the Minister for Science, Economy and Transport (Welsh Government) and Plaid Cymru. Official talks and meeting included Stephen Crabb MP, Secretary of State for Wales and James Price, Director General, Economy, Science and Transport (Welsh Government) shortly followed by the AECOM report. There have been several support, funding and help pledges.
In October 2016, the Welsh government announced it would be allocating £300,000 towards funding a feasibility report into re-opening the railway as part of the draft 2017-18 budget. The study is being carried out by engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald and began in September 2017.
Reopening would certainly open up an area with no railways.
Formartine and Buchan Railway
Looking for possible privately-funded rail projects, I have come across the Formartine and Buchan Railway on Wikipedia.
This is said on Wikipedia.
Transport Scotland is considering re-opening sections of this line. The population in the area, largely thanks to the oil and gas industry, has shown a considerable increase since the line was closed. For example, the town of Ellon has 50% more inhabitants than it had in 1979.
I’ll be interested to see what happens here.
Budget Trains To Get Rail Network Flying
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in The Times.
It outlines how open access operators like Grand Central and Hull Trains, are being encouraged by the Office and Rail and Road to set up new services.
I think that these companies are a welcome addition to the UK rail network.
I don’t always use them, when one is available, but if their train is at the right time for my trip, I usually do.
Sometimes I save money and sometimes I don’t!
Is The Answer To Transport Problems 42?
This article in Rail Magazine is entitled Adaptable Carriage Secures Government funding.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Product development company 42 Technology has secured £350,000 worth of Government funding towards developing a system that can turn passenger carriages into goods vehicles.
The Adaptable Carriage system allows seats and tables to be stowed within three minutes, creating space for cargo that would normally be sent by road. 42 Technology envisages the system being employed on quieter off-peak services to carry low-density, high-value goods. It could also be used to create storage space for wheelchairs and bicycles, if required.
It is an idea that could work.
Take a route like Felixstowe to Ipswich, that I used to know well.
It gets commuter traffic at both ends of the working day.
But if it’s sunny and fine, the service would need extra space for bicycles and buggies for passengers going to enjoy the sea air.
The ability to be able to convert seats to bicycle, buggy and wheel-chair spaces might generate extra traffic.
That is only a simple example, but surely there are possibilities on routes between big cities for high-value traffic.
Red Star Parcels used to work well fifty years ago, so why shouldn’t a high speed parcels service work in this day and age?
During the Peak Hours all carriages would be setup for seats. but at other times, seats would be stowed to allow freight and parcels on wheeled pallets to be carried.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Surely, only a company specialising in unusual designs in Cambridge, Shoreditch or California would call itself 42 Technology.
The Anonymous Widower 