The Rail Projects Keep Coming
I’ve just been reading the rail news sites like Modern Railways and Global Rail News and over the last few days some substantial projects have been announced.
The project that will affect me most is an upgrade to the Great Eastern Main Line.
It’s not any new features, but an upgrading of track, overhead wires and signalling. Network Rail say this.
As part of the upgrade, one of NR’s ‘high output’ machines will begin replacing ballast along the route to ensure the track bed is safe and well-drained. The machine is currently being used to upgrade the Great Western main line, and will move to the GEML in the New Year.
It will also upgrade one track at a time, so it’s unlikely there will be substantial blockades. Traditionally, this sort of work would have meant weekend closures and buses. So Network Rail seem to be doing sometime better.
Network Rail are also replacing the Scarborough Bridge on the Scarborough Branch Line. The work is described here and this is a paragraph.
The bridge, which was originally built in 1845 and then rebuilt in 1875, is now life-expired. Work will see the bridge decks and tracks replaced and a new walkway installed to improve safety for railway workers. The work is part of a £6 million investment by Network Rail.
So it’s only a small project, but I’m sure it’s important to a lot of travellers.
The extending of Chiltern’s network to Cowley has also been announced. I think we’ll see a lot of projects like this, where old lines are given something to do in the next couple of decades.
Network Rail has also announced a £200million project to do more work on the improvement of lines between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
As with the electrification across the North of England, electrification is another prime example of the failure of Central government to do the right thing to create infrastructure and fuel jobs, businesses and growth. This describes the scope of the work.
The companies will work with Network Rail to electrify the main line between the cities, complete route clearance works at Winchburgh Tunnel, infrastructure works at Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley stations and extend platforms at Croy, Falkirk High, Polmont and Linlithgow.
What will fast electric trains running between Scotland’s two major cities, do for the area? Wikipedia lists several benefits including this one.
Service frequencies between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street increased from four trains per hour to six per hour, with the fastest journey time being reduced to 35 minutes. This would have resulted in a total of 13 trains per hour between the two cities across all routes;
Currently, services take from about 50 minutes to an hour and a quarter.
Global Rail News has announced that funding is in place to extend the Manchester Metro to the Trafford Centre.
An aside here is to look at the list of proposed changes and expansions to the Manchester Metrolink. Every council in the area seems to have its own pet ideas and surely this must be best argument for a peacemaker and decision taker in Manchester, like TfL are in London.
I wonder how many more of these projects will be announced before the General Election in May.
Oxford Takes A Leaf Out Of Cambridge’s Book
When I visited all of the 92 football clubs in England, Oxford was one of the most difficult to get to. I said this.
Oxford, must surely be one of the most difficult stadia to get to from the town centre, even if you have a car. And if you do, you have to actually drive along the by-pass where there are queues of traffic. Of all the taxis I have taken to get to and from grounds, Oxford was by far the most expensive.
But from 2020, it’ll all be different.
According to the BBC, Chiltern Trains are opening up the Cowley branch to passenger trains, which will stop at the Science and Business Parks. Some reports say this will also handle the football ground.
But it is good to see Oxford following Cambridge and having a station at the Spence Park.
The Noisy Class 66 Locomotive
The Class 66 locomotive used on UK railways is not a friendly beast as it makes a lot of noise and smell. There is a Wikipedia section on Cab Design Problems, which says this.
The British trade union ASLEF has complained that the locomotives are unfit and unsafe to work in, citing a lack of air conditioning, and poor seating and noise levels.
I’ve spoken to various Class 66 drivers and many don’t like the working environment, but like things like the reliability.
If you type “Class 66 noise” into Google, you find some interesting articles.
One interesting point about Class 66 locomotives is that they don’t meet the new emission regulations and so no more can be ordered. The details are all here on Wikipedia.
Because of this and the noise and smells the locomotives, I think that they should where possible, not work trains through built-up areas.
Could The West London Line Be Another Important North-South Link In London?
I took the Southern service from Wembley Central to East Croydon. It is an hourly service that goes between Milton Keynes and South Croydon stations using a Class 377 train. These pictures show some view of the route.
It is not a high-speed service, and it took about an hour. It does go by a bit of a roundabout route calling at the following stations.
Shepherd’s Bush – For the Westfield shopping centre.
Kensington Olympia – For the exhibition centre.
West Brompton – For Earl’s Court, which is being redeveloiped as housing
Imperial Wharf -For Chelsea and all the smart housing
Clapham Junction – For trains to just about anywhere in the South West and South
Wandsworth Common
Balham – The Gateway to the South
Streatham Common
Norbury
Thornton Heath
Selhurst
East Croydon – For Tramlink, Thameslink and trains to Brighton, Gatwick and many places on the Sussex Coast.
I think we can assume that if a station is built at Old Oak Common to link Crossrail and the Overground, then the West London Line will be linked into this station with a modern step-free interchange.
London has two high capacity North-South routes that cross the central part of the City; Thameslink and the East London Line.
So could the West London Line be upgraded as a third high capacity North South link?
There are several reasons why this might be done.
1. Waterloo is a difficult station to go to, to get trains for the South West. If I’m going to Portsmouth or Southampton, I generally pick up my long-distance train at Clapham Junction, after using the Overground to get there. An upgraded West London Line would give a route to avoid Waterloo to many travellers.
2. The line would also act as a route to avoid going to Euston in the same way.
3. As the line should be linked to Crossrail and HS2 at Old Oak Common, an upgraded line will improve access to Heathrow and the North for South and South West London.
4. In my view, the massive development at Earl’s Court needs a good rail link and possibly another station to the North, as it already has West Brompton to the South.
I think that in ten years time, when plans for HS2 and Old Oak Common are being put into concrete, we’ll see the West London Line upgraded to act as a high-capacity route.
The one thing we mustn’t do is build developments such as at Earl’s Court, so that they compromise what we might want to do on the West London Line.
We should make sure that any developments are done in a similar manner to Wembley Central, which has just enclosed the four rail lines underneath in a step-free concrete box.
A Station With Oversite Development
I’d never been to Wembley Central station before and was surprised it was being redeveloped with a hotel, flats and shops over the top.
We certainly need to do more development like this.
In my view everybody wins, as the station is better and can be made totally step-free, and we need hotels, offices and housing in London. Perhaps too we should think about building public buildings like hospitals, schools, colleges and council buildings over the top of stations.
Judging by the adverts on the development, Wembley Central will be getting a much needed coffee shop.
Ipswich To Felixstowe Has Improved
Over the last few months, I’ve travelled half a dozen times between Ipswich and Felixstowe by train.
I can’t remember a train being late at all, since the Bacon Factory Curve has been opened.
And here’s why!
A Freight Train Waiting On The Bacon Factory Curve
Note the freight train waiting for our one-coach Class 153 to pass. Before the curve opened the freight train would have had to go into Ipswich yard and the locomotive would have had to run-round to the other end, causing all sorts of disruption to the Great Eastern Main Line and especially the Felixstowe Branch.
Also now I noticed that trains coming out of Felixstowe and going South towards London, now sometimes seem to get their diesel locomotive changed for a Class 90 electric one.
The next improvement will come when more of the Felixstowe branch line is double-tracked and the whole branch is electrified.
It’s all a far cry from when I lived in Felixstowe in the 1960s, where the most reliable way to get between the two towns was to cycle along the A45 or A14 as it is now! There were only a handful of trains every day.
How many other places on the UK network need smaller improvements like the Bacon Factory Curve to be implemented?
First Class On Greater Anglia
I needed to go to my dentist in Felixstowe and then on to the evening’s match at Portman Road, so I took one of Greater Anglia’s Mark 3 services in mid-morning.
The coaches don’t have the style of the new First Great Western First Class, but I did get a large table to lay out my paper, unlike on Saturday’s Virgin to Manchester.
The trolley also came round twice and I had a welcoming cup of tea.
Incidentally, I had bought the First Class Off Peak Return at Dalston Junction from the ticket machine, the previous evening for £35.40.
That is the same as the best Internet price from Greater Anglia’s website. The return half has a validity of a month too, so you get the best value, if perhaps you’re going away for a few days.
We need ticket machines, like the ones on the London Overground all over London and the rest of the UK.
Improvements Needed At Essex Road Station
Travelling to Liverpool Street, because of the rush hour, I had to use Essex Road station.
What a dump!
The lifts weren’t working and everybody was having to walk down a deep spiral staircase , which very much felt of Kafka.
The Class 313 trains despite approaching their forties are nowhere near as bad as the station.
Extending The Blackpool Trams
My ride on the Blackpool trams yesterday, got me thinking.
In the first place, I think that concerning the link to Blackpool North station, a trick has been missed. Opposite the station, Sainsburys have built an impressive store.
Sainsburys Opposite Blackpool North Station
Surely, the whole area should be part of one development with the trams coming up Talbot Road from the North Pier to a covered interchange giving level access to both the station and the superstore. With electric trains arriving direct from Liverpool, London and Manchester, and places farther afield, this would make Blackpool North a true destination station.
When I go to see Ipswich play Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, I sometimes go on the single track railway from Preston via Lytham to Blackpool South station, as it is an easy walk through the car-parks to the ground.
But this means, I have to endure one of Northern Rail’s scrapyard specials and there is nowhere along the walk, to even get a cup of tea. I also walk through masses of car parking for visitors, which like the football ground, are a walk of a couple of hundred yards from the promenade and the tram. This map shows the area.
The football ground is clearly at the top and the red arrow at the bottom indicates Blackpool South station, with the car parks between. The tramway at this point runs between the beach and the road along the front. The two blue dots are the tram stops at Waterloo Road and South Pier.
If you look further south, the rail-line and tramway get closer together.
Near Blackpool airport, Squires Gate station (red rail arrows) is perhaps just a couple of hundred metres from the Starr Gate terminus of the tram (blue dot in top left).
It strikes me that the whole of this could be pulled together.
Applying my naive logic, it strikes me that to extend the Blackpool tramway to Lytham, as is a stated as an aim in Wikipedia, one way to do this would be to convert the Blackpool South line to a tramway as far as Lytham. At the Northern end, it would branch off the existing tramway somewhere slightly North of the football ground and then pass through the car parks to take over the rail line at Blackpool South station.
From what I have read in the latest edition of Modern Railways more electrification centred on Liverpool, Manchester and Preston area, is on the cards after the current schemes are completed.
In some ways making the Blackpool South branch, an extension to the Blackpool tramway takes part of this line out of one expensive large project and into a simple stand-alone project, that extends the tramway.
You might even extend the tramway through Lytham to Kirkham and Wesham station, where the branch diverts from the Blackpool North branch, which is being electrified.
Kirkham and Wesham is a larger station, that could probably easily accommodate a simple turnback platform for the tram. It will also be on an electrified railway to Preston, Liverpool and Manchester, and possibly even London.
I would doubt, that whilst the tramway extension was being built, it would have any effect on the operation of the Blackpool North branch.
One extra saving might be, that sense would probably dictate doing both extensions around the same time, the extra trams needed could probably be ordered together.
Incidentally, I’ve found a report, which says that the Blackpool South branch could be converted to tram-trains.
Tram-trains might be an option, but I’m a great believer in extending what you’ve got, rather than bringing in too many different systems, as this means you have the convenience of a uniform fleet and you don’t confuse the passengers.
Tram-trains and other new systems appeal to governments, as politicians and civil servants get nice paid-for trips to see the systems at work.
My only worry about my analysis is, am I being bold enough.
I believe that an urban transport system should link the railway stations to the main visitor and sporting attractions, shopping centres and public services like the Council Offices and hospital.
Could for example the spur to Blackpool North station profitably serve anywhere else?
Is Blackpool On The Way Up?
In previous visits to Blackpool, I’ve found the place rather depressing and dirty. Generally, I’ve arrived by train, to give myself time to get to the match and then got the first train out afterwards. I have also called Blackpool the most pedestrian-unfriendly resort in the UK.
Also, when I mention I’ve been to Blackpool, like I did once to a lady on a bus in Leeds, I have often got a comment saying no-one goes there now!
But was it the fact that the sun was shining yesterday, that made the place seem so much better. But visitors and residents were adamant that the town had improved in the last few years.
The promenade is so much better and must rate architecturally with some of the best in Europe. Although, I would think that the obvious food offerings, are a bit too gluten-rich for me. If I go again, I might do a bit of searching, to see if anybody can cope.
But living in Dalston, an area of Hackney, that has been transformed by a refreshed North London Line, I would think that Blackpool’s refreshed tramway has done the same for the resort. After all, many of Blackpool’s visitors are like me and not in the best state they could be. Surely, a step-free low-floor tram is one of the best prescriptions, that isn’t available on the NHS.
I think to be fair, we haven’t seen the end of the rise of Blackpool. Just as Liverpool took more than a few years to rise from its nadir, Blackpool won’t get back to the top overnight.
The biggest thing that will happen is connecting the town to the electrified rail network as part of the North West Electrification. Network Rail’s report says this about progress in linking Blackpool to Preston by 2016.
A fully electrified route between Preston and Blackpool will connect the area to the west coast main line, the key rail artery linking the North West with London and Scotland.
We’ve upgraded all 15 bridges whilst carrying out safety improvement work to parapets. Overhead line equipment will be installed in 2015/16.
This electrification should improve the perception of the resort, as refurbished Class 319 trains are so much better and bigger than most of the trains working the line now.
It will also further improve the direct services to Liverpool, Manchester and London.
The tramway should also be linked to Blackpool North station in the next few years, as it should have been years ago. Nothing annoys me more, when I arrive by train in a town or city and find that the buses and/or trams are not connected to the station. Blackpool will rectify this omission, but I hope they get the tram capacity right, as many arriving by train will want to get straight on a tram to perhaps have a sightseeing run up and down the promenade.
One factor affecting the extension of the tramway to Lytham is the Open. Golf has staged its championship four times at Royal Lytham Golf Club in the last twenty-five years. As it last staged an Open in 2012, it should probably be due another. Ansdell and Fairhaven station is close to the course, so if another Open was to be staged at Lytham, then this station would probably play a large part in getting spectators to the event in a carbon-free manner.
I would suspect that Lytham are pushing hard for another Open and they are stressing the 2016-electrification to Preston in their bid. They can probably link an improved train or tram service to the course into the mix as well!
One interesting asset well connected to the trains and the tram is the old Blackpool International Airport, which recently closed. I’m sure that the town will use it to their advantage and I suspect various stakeholders have ideas in mind.
Blackpool has certainly had problems, but I would hope it is now on the rise!
The Anonymous Widower 