Chester To Liverpool Via Runcorn
This new service between Chester and Liverpool Lime Street stations via Runcorn station and the Halton Curve, started a couple of weeks ago.
I took these pictures of the journey.
Note.
- The service was busy, as everybody seemed to be going to Liverpool to prepare for the evening’s match.
- The Class 150 train kept up a good speed, which indicates that Network Rail didn’t cut quality on the link.
- Runcorn is about the halfway point of the journey.
- The route is electrified between Runcorn and Liverpool Lime Street stations.
- The Class 150 train was a bit tired.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a hybrid train working this route.
- Transport for Wales have ordered some electro-diesel Class 769 trains.
- Alstom are converting Class 321 trains into hydrogen-powered Class 321 Breeze trains at nearby Widnes.
- Porterbrook are converting Class 350 trains into Battery/FLEX trains.
- Hitachi are talking to ScotRail about Class 385 trains with batteries.
- I’m also sure Bombardier have a battery-electric Aventra.
Operation would be as follows.
- All these trains work be capable of 100 mph using 25 KVAC overhead electrification between Liverpool Lime Street and Runcorn stations.
- Power changeover would be at Runcorn station.
- Between Runcorn to Chester stations is only about fourteen miles.. This will be well within battery range in a few years.
Transport for Wales will be obtaining trains from a crowded market.
More Halton Curve Services
Under Planned Improvements in the Wikipedia entry for Transport for Wales, this is said.
Introduction of a new hourly Liverpool to Llandudno and Shrewsbury service, and a new two-hourly Liverpool to Cardiff Central service from December 2022.
Adding these to the current hourly service, this would mean that two trains per hour (tph) would normally run between Liverpool Lime Street and Chester stations, with three trains in every alternate hour.
I think that, there would be a marketing advantage in running hybrid trains on these routes. Hydrogen would be ideal, as these would not need recharging like battery trains after a long trip.
To go through the single-track Halton Curve appears to take trains about five minutes, so up to eight tph could probably be feasible, which would mean four tph between Liverpool and Chester via Runcorn in both directions.
If Trains for Wales are going to compete with the Merseyrail electric services, they need a four tph frequency in both directions.
Flexible Ticketing
Currently, if you want to buy a ticket between the Chester and Liverpool Lime Street, you have to buy an appropriate ticket for your chosen route.
Surely, tourists and others might like to do the out and back journeys by a different route.
If London Underground and some train companies can share ticketing, then surely Merseyrail and other train companies can do the same.
Conclusion
This new service will be surprisingly well-used and needs an iconic hybrid train.
- Diesel is not appropriate for the long term, although in Northern Connect Between Chester And Leeds To Start In May, I did report a rumour that Class 769 trains might be running between Chester and Leeds.
- Hydrogen is non-polluting and has a longer range, that could make services between Liverpool and Holyhead possible.
- Battery will probably need a charging infrastructure.
My money is on hydrogen power.
Vivarail Units Take Over Marston Vale Services
The title of this post is the same asw this article on Railway Gazette.
The article contains an informative video of Adrian Shorter talking about the Class 230 train.
Much of the article and the video is information that has already been well reported.
Adrian Shooter does mention that the diesel-electric-battery versions of the Class 230 train for Transport for Wales will incorporate geo-fencing.
This would mean that in sensitive areas, the diesel engines would be cut out and only battery power would be used.
The process would be controlled automatically using the train’s position from GPS.
This technique has been used on hybrid buses to lower emissions and noise levels in sensitive areas.
Irish Rail And Porterbrook Order MTU Hybrid PowerPacks
The title of this post is the same as that of this this article on the International Rail Jotnal..
This is the first paragraph.
Irish Rail (IE) and British rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook have signed contracts with Rolls-Royce for the supply of 13 MTU Hybrid PowerPacks, the first firm orders for the hybrid rail drives.
Other points are made in the article.
- IE has ordered nine PowerPacks for Class 22000 trains. If the technology works they intend to convert all 63 trainsets, which will need 234 PowerPacks, as each car has a diesel engine.
- Porterbrook has ordered four for Class 168 and Class 170 trains.
- The PowerPacks will be delivered between mid-2020 and 2021.
- The MTU engines are built to EU Stage 5 emission regulations.
- The PowerPacks can switch to battery power in stations and sensitive areas.
- Under battery power, noise is reduced by 75 % and CO2 emissions by up to 25 %
- Operating costs are significantly reduced.
- The PowerPacks have regenerative braking, thus they reduce brake pad wear.
- Due to electric power, the trains have been acceleration, which may reduce journey times.
It seems that passengers, train operating companies, train leasing companies and those that live by the railway are all winners.
If the concept works reliably and meets its objectives, I can see MTU selling a lot of Hybrid PowerPacks.
Which Operators Will Be Used For Trials?
This is a valid question to ask and I’ll put my thoughts together.
Irish Rail Class 22000 Train
These trains only run in Ireland with one operator;Irish Rail, so they will be used for trials.
As each car has one MTU diesel engine and Irish rail are stated in Wikipedia as wanting to run three-car and six-car sets, could they be converting one train of each length?
British Rail Class 168 Train
All the nineteen Class 168 trains of various lengths are in Chiltern Railway’s fleet, they will be the trial operator.
Chiltern also have nine two-car trains, which could be ideal for trial purposes as they will need two Hybrid PowerPacks.
British Rail Class 170 Train
Porterbrook own upwards of thirty two-Car Class 170 trains with CrossCountry, Greater Anglia and West Midlands Trains.
As Greater Anglia and West Midlands Trains are replacing their Class 170 trains, this means that CrossCountry will soon be the only user of two-car units.
The four two-car trains from Greater Anglia, will be going to Trains for Wales (TfW).
TfW currently has thirty two-car Pacers in its fleet, which must be replaced by the end of 2019.
TfW is bringing in the following trains.
- Nine four-car Class 769 trains from Porterbrook.
- Eight three-car Class 17 trains from Greater Anglia
- Four two-car Class 17 trains from Greater Anglia
This is a total of sixty-eight cars.
So TfW are replacing a load of scrapyard specials with quality, more powerful trains, with approximately 13 % more capacity.
TfW are proposing to use the Class 170 trains on the following routes.
- Heart of Wales line (from 2022)
- Regional services between South and West Wales
- South Wales metro lines – Ebbw Vale/Maesteg (until 2022)
- Crewe-Shrewsbury local services (from 2022)
There is a mixture of routes here and it would be a good trial,
Other Trains
If the MTU PowerPack proves successful and leads to widespread conversion of the Class 168 and Class 170 fleets, will we see the twenty Class 171 trains and thirty-nine Class 172 trains converted to hybrid power?
Conclusion
It looks like a good solid project to me!
Liverpool Lime Street And Chester Services Via Halton Curve Start In May
This page on the National Rail web site is entitled Changes to the National Rail Timetable.
Under Transport for Wales, this is said.
New services will run between Liverpool Lime Street and Chester via Runcorn. An hourly service will run, with peak time extensions to Wrexham General.
This sounds like the Halton Curve service to me.
Timing On The Route
Timing on the sections of route are as follows.
- Liverpool Lime Street and Runcorn – 21 minutes – West Midland Class 350 train, with a stop at Liverpool South Parkway.
- Runcorn and Chester – 17 minutes – Parliamentary service as given on Wikipedia.
- Chester and Wrexham General – 14 minutes – Trains for Wales
This gives timings as follows.
- Liverpool Lime Street and Chester – 38 minutes
- Liverpool Lime Street and Wrexham General – 52 minutes
It looks to me that a round trip would be under two hours to both destinations, so two trains would be enough to provide an hourly service.
If Trains for Wales should decide to run a half-hourly service, then four trains would be needed.
Trains On The Route
The Crewe-Liverpool Line has fast services between Liverpool Lime Street and Crewe, so I suspect that it has a speed limit of at least 100 mph.
For this reason along, I suspect that all operators and Network Rail, would hope that Trains for Wales will use a train capable of running at up to 100 mph between Liverpool Lime Street and Runcorn.
The operating speed of trains owned or planned by Trains for Wales are.
- Class 150 train – 75 mph
- Class 158 train – 90 mph
- Class 175 train – 100 mph
- Class 769 train – 100 mph on electricity
It seems to me for various reasons that the Class 769 trains would be ideal for this route.
- They could use the electrification between Liverpool Lime Street and Runcorn.
- They are four-car high-capacity trains, that meet all the regulations.
- They are 100 mph trains on electrification.
- They will be straight from the factory with new interiors.
- Northern will have servicing facilities for these trains at Allerton TMD.
- They would give the service some publicity.
They probably won’t be delivered in time for May 2019, but they could replace whatever is used for the initial service.
The Anonymous Widower 