Sunday 21 September 2014

Post Referendum Blues

Well the No campaign won the Scottish referendum and a majority of Scots self determined to stay part of the Union and the various parties are now talking about greater devolution for Scotland and for the rest of the UK, so as far as I am concerned wins all round. My position was and still is, that a federal UK is the best.

There was the predictable Rangers Unionists disorder after the victory, seems to have been pretty minor, but according to the some in Yes campaign, it was something approaching Armageddon and complained about BBC Bias in not covering it. I wonder how many of them heard of 500 youths in town centre disorder.

I followed several twitter accounts during the run up, and it was clear that a lot of the Yes supporters were only talking amongst themselves. There would be a local meeting organised to give out the Yes message and surprise, surprise it would be full of Yes voters. None of the individuals I followed seemed to understand that they were moving amongst groups of the converted not the general population. This led to claims about the bias in the polls.

Since the result has been announced there is a very great feeling that the Yes campaigners where somehow cheated and as such are not bound by any of the agreements they entered into. One claim is that by resigning Salmond has given the next first minister a mandate to call a vote again if the next elections is won, as the agreement was signed by him it only applied to him. This is an incredible view Salmond signed as first minister there by for and on behalf of the Scottish state This is not the official view, but it is the view of some of the political naives  that this campaign has  energised. They had never had much interest in politics before the vote, from the sound of some of the comments they may never have voted, they don't like that they lost but that is democracy, sometime your side doesn't win. When that happens democrats respect the result and get on with life, looking for another opportunity to persuade the electorate of the merits of the path they are proposing.

However, through history there have been groups, that while in a minority have thought it ok to seize control and by one means or another use other means to get their way. These range from simple acts of civil disobedience, such as not paying your TV license, through too attempts at armed revolution. Often it starts as the first and depending on the reaction of TPTB either peters out or moves to a very great state of violence. Even when the significant protest is the civil kind, someone will do a Wolfie Smith and others will burn down the odd holiday home.

At this moment all options in Scotland seem to be open. We may yet find that giving the vote to 16 year olds is bad not because they cannot make up their mind but because they are bad losers.

Thursday 18 September 2014

Liverpool to Norwich via the 1980s

While considering Merseytravel's 30-year plan, considerations can be found here, I looked up the numbers for the Liverpool to Norwich service, as it was mentioned.
Here is what I said
"The Liverpool to Norwich route is mentioned in the document. While the route provides useful connections for places along its route, it is of little use to anyone travelling the whole length from Liverpool, anyone travelling beyond Nottingham will often find that the quickest service is not the direct one and beyond Grantham, they definitely will.
The fastest direct journey, all the way, is 5:20, going via London is 4:50 and the RAC route planner claims 4:45 for the 257-mile journey."
I then suggested an alternate route, which I shall explore later.

The problem

It can hardly be that the route is designed to link the economies of Liverpool and Norwich, which can be seen from the table below:

Direct Service Via London

Lvl->Nrw Nrw->Lvl Lvl->Nrw Nrw->Lvl
Depart 06:47:00 15:48:00 05:27:00 18:30:00
Arrive 12:15:00 21:36:00 10:50:00 23:33:00
Duration 05:28:00 05:48:00 05:23:00 05:03:00
Time in Norwich
03:33:00
07:40:00

The journeys via London includes include a relaxing hour crossing London from Euston to Liverpool Street.
In the mid-80s, I made the journey from Liverpool to near Norwich on several occasions. There were no direct trains even then, however, all I had to do was get the train to Birmingham and then the train to Norwich, on some occasion I had to change at Ely to get off at the right intermediate station. The trains to Birmingham were also faster than today's Midland Trains
To get back I'd get a train to Ely, then the to Peterborough and change at Nuneaton to get the Irish mail train, it was a bit slower than the way out but was the latest possible journey.

The Route

Railway lines between Liverpool and Norwich
There are enough trains to Birmingham so I decided to avoid it, it doesn't make anything simpler but it does shorten the distance. There are also enough Liverpool Stafford trains, that another isn't needed. However, there is a need for stops on the way, so I have offered several starting sections, they common up at Nuneaton. I did want to go via Stoke so that in addition to direct traffic to Leicester, Peterborough & Norwich a direct Liverpool Stoke route is created. While I think it might be nearly as efficient as going via Stafford there is less data available for me to work from.
After Nuneaton, the route is mostly only what are termed secondary lines.
I wouldn't stop at Nuneaton the next stop would be at Leicester, the actual path through Leicester is northbound on the MML and is for that section electrified. From Leicester, the route carries on to Peterborough, where the ECML is used this time southbound. This would be the last stop before Norwich.
Between Peterborough and Ely is the slowest track section with a maximum speed of 75mph. We don't actually go to Ely but use the avoiding loop to head straight for Norwich, on the Breckland Line, where we are back on lines with speeds between 75-100 mph. When we arrive at Norwich the last mile is on the Great Eastern Main Line(GEML) from London.

Method

The best source of timings I could find was the Trainline. In order to get the timings for Liverpool to Nuneaton, the first thing to do was as anyone would normally do, enter start and finish. I then looked for the fastest journey. In this case, it had 1 change at Stafford. As the planned route is direct the time on the platform could be discounted.
I could then go on and break the rest of the journey up into smaller chunks.
The total number of separate journeys was 5


Distance Max(mph) T(Max V) T(actual) efficiency Mph(avg) stops
LVL→STF 60.15 105 34.37 55 62.49% 65.62 2
STF→NUN 36.41 125 17.48 39 44.81% 56.02 4
NUN→PBO 71.23 100 42.74 82 52.12% 52.12 4
PBO→ELY 30.55 75 24.44 32 76.38% 57.28 0
ELY→NRW 53.74 90 35.83 54 66.35% 59.71 1

252.08
02:34:51 04:22:00 59.10%
11

The total time for the journey would be 4 hours 22 minutes. This is over an hour quicker than the current journey and even the very very best via London time is 40 minutes worse.
In terms of distance, the shortest route is 234mi 46ch, this is the shortest possible route according to RailMiles Mileage Engine. The current direct route is slightly longer at 244mi 4ch partly because of change of direction at Sheffield & Ely. The above route is 251mi 55ch but a further 3 miles can be saved by avoiding Ely and using the Ely avoiding line, getting it down to 248mi 69ch

Improvements

However, there are some stops we could lose. Say we cut it down to just Runcorn, Crewe, Nuneaton, Leicester & Peterborough. In addition to the explicit 11 stops, we also have the 4 stops between the sub-routes giving a total of 15. With the shortened list we can save eliminate the time for 10 stops. This isn't just the time at the platform but the cumulative loss during deceleration and acceleration, as a minimum this is going to be at least 3 minutes. So we could be down to 3:52, which represents a clear improvement, giving over 2 hours extra time in Norwich on a day return.
While the first leg to Stafford is via Pendolino the rest of the journey is via various DMU. It is quite likely that in reality, the Stafford Nuneaton run is actually quicker, and according to some tables I found at Realtime Trains, it is. If there is no stop at Stafford it is about 21 minutes. So that's a further improvement of 6 minutes.

Base Time

04:22:00
Stops(-) 10 00:03:00 00:30:00
Stafford

00:06:00



03:46:00

Train Improvements

The lack OHLE after Nuneaton makes the use of an electric train for the entire route impossible, but a Voyager or Super Voyager could do the job nearly as well. The super Voyager would be of most benefit if the lines could be clear for titling, whether this is a simple matter, I couldn't say, but like the WCML, which is cleared for tilting, all of the track is built to the W10 load gauge or bigger.
In order to allow tilting a Tilt Authorisation and Speed Supervision(TASS) System needs to be installed, this can be quite expensive and involves the installation of track-side balises. I'm not sure whether the expense is in the balises or the addition survey and modification.
However, there is a weight penalty with tilting, which reduces acceleration, so a route with a few stops is better suited to tilting, while with many stops the higher acceleration of the non-tilting train is preferred. The next generation of tilting trains will use an electrical system rather than hydraulic, this should save some weight.

Route Improvements

To enable tilt may need some track improvements, but there are simpler improvements that can be made. The most obvious being electrification, which would allow better acceleration. This has been suggested several times. In the late 70s, British Rail produces plans to electrify the line between Birmingham and Peterborough. This indicates that electrification has some merit. With the proposed electrification of the MML, it would make even more sense to have this line electrified.
Between Nuneaton and Peterborough there are 3 passing points at Leicester, Melton Mowbray and Barley-Thorpe, after Peterborough there is March, the Ely avoiding line serves as a passing point. There no real passing point from Ely to Norwich but there is are places to construct two at Brandon and Wymondham. Whether this is enough, I don't know, but there are many places that one can be constructed.
There are some strange speed limits on the route, after leaving Leicester on the MML as soon as the line diverges the speed limit falls dramatically for no obvious reason. The Peterborough-Ely section is made up of two 15 mile straight sections, with a maximum speed of 75 mph.
There have been some improvements on the line between Ely and Norwich recently, but they don't seem to be reflected in train times yet. So quantifying any possible speed improvement is not going to be possible.

Action

Without any changes, this route is at it worse 1:15 quicker than any other route. It represents a mean speed of 66 mph. To get down to a 3-hour journey a mean of 85 mph is needed, which would require every possible alteration to the track including the removal of many level crossings and installation of tilting with a line speed of 125 throughout.
This obviously is not going to happen anytime soon, but as it would be useful as a trans-midland line from Bristol to Norwich linking all the English mainline, improvements need to be seriously considered.
There are two starting points the most important is the electrification of the Birmingham to Peterborough section, the second is an increase in the line speeds between Peterborough and Ely.
Without HS2 there will simply not be enough slots to run the WCML part of this route, it services like this which will benefit most from HS2 taking traffic away from the WCML.

See also

If you would like the Google Earth Data for that produced the map in this blog they are here.
 

Update

Using the latest times fount 28 July 2021.

VT8590  Liverpool-Nuneaton 1:13  (99mi 24ch) (78mph)

XC6200  Nuneaton-Peterborough 1:16 (70mi 74ch) (50 mph)

XC6080 Peterborough-Ely 32 (30mi 40ch)  (57 mph)

EM9115 Ely-Norwich 52 (53mi 59ch)  (61 mph) 1-stop.

Gives a total of 3:57, which is 25 minutes quicker than the previous base time it the same route some of the stops may be different but with the same stop reduction we would get 3:21 leaving less to shave off for a decent route, though I think there are less stops to lose.


 

Monday 8 September 2014

The train to the future.

I got to read Merseytravel's 30 year plan. It comes in two bits are available here Long Term Rail Strategy and Enc. 1 for Long Term Rail Strategy.
In general, I'm impressed, though there are at least some bits I cannot make sense of, which probably says a bit about me and a bit about the distance some of these things are in the future.


Around LCR

Within the LCR the report provides a good oversight into producing an expanded system and efficiently reusing redundant infrastructure. However, several pieces of infrastructure most notably the outer loop are not mentioned at all.

Airport

The Airport link is quite intriguing as the diagram shows a spur leaving the CLC line after Liverpool South Parkway and then making its way to the airport before returning to the WCML spur. Given the relative heights of the line, I suspect this would mean that the new spur was, at least initially, underground at least as far as passing under the WCML. The section from the CLC line to the airport must pass some well-developed areas and I can see no clear surface route for it, all the plans I had considered were based on using Tram-Trains and running on the surface. With a junction on the CLC does confirm some benefits as it would allow access from both Lime Street and Central via existing infrastructure.

Burscough

The idea of converting Burscough bridge into a dual-level station is interesting, but I have absolutely no idea what this means in terms of structure and alignments. I don't think that the usage of the Southport Wigan line is so high that having trains use the same level and change direction is not an option. From a simple energy conservation point of view, having the Preston-Ormskirk platforms on a bridge over the line would be sensible, if the stop is below then it means braking down hill and then accelerating up.
Given the proximity of the crossing point might it not be simpler to consider building a new 2 track station there?

St Helens to Widnes

The lack of decent rail services between these towns is not really addressed, the route between St Helens and Widnes is non-existent, and is a possible candidate for Train-Trams.

Runcorn to Widnes & St Helens

The lack of decent rail services between these towns is not really addressed another possible candidate for Train-Trams.

Tram-Trains

The potential of Tram-Trains does not seem to have been considered. Whether this is because of some doctrinal policy of Mersytravel or an aversion cause by the Merseytram project is unclear. However, I believe that considering TrainTrams to come within the remit of Merseyrail is an important step. In Tram mode, these vehicles can go the final mile. In Southport reusing, the some of the redundant infrastructure in the centre could provide access for areas in the north of the town such as Churchtown as the link could be stitched together with sections running on roads. Also, areas to the East such as Shirdley Hill could be considered.

National Routes

Wales

The use of the Halton curve to provide access to North & South Wales shows what services could be available with the replacement of short sections of track. It would provide services directly from Liverpool to a quarter of the island currently not directly served.

Missing

Provision of services to Hull seems somewhat lacking and consideration and evaluation of such a connection would be sensible.
Other areas which seem to lack direct connectivity is the area between Swindon, Reading and Southampton.

Norwich

The Liverpool to Norwich route is mentioned in the document. While the route provides useful connections for places along its route, it is of little use to anyone travelling the whole length from Liverpool, anyone travelling beyond Nottingham will often find that the quickest service is not the direct one and beyond Grantham, they definitely will.
The fastest direct journey, all the way, is 5:20, going via London is 4:50 and the RAC route planner claims 4:45 for the 257 mile journey.
If the route Liverpool -> Manchester -> SoT -> Nuneaton -> Leicester -> Peterborough -> Norwich was used in combination with dual-mode trains such as BritishRail Class 800, this would produce a considerable reduction in travel times without the cost of electrifying the entire route. In the mean time, a Class 221 Super Voyager would be a suitable train, especially if the route could be cleared for tilting.
It would have little effect on the current direct service is that is already outclassed.
A faster service would provide not only access to Norwich but via hub at Peterborough quicker access to places such as Cambridge.  Merseytravel should consider using it influence to facilitate faster connections to the East Anglian region via this or some other route, in order to produce journey times that are shorter than going via London, somewhere in the 3 hour region should be possible, with some track work. (Update) Since I made that 3 hour statement, I have found it is a bit more optimistic than I thought for details see Liverpool to Norwich via the 1980s.

Rollingstock

While encouraging the continued electrification of the network is a very good thing, more consideration needs to be given to producing a vehicle capable of extracting the greatest performance from the current alignments, this inevitably involves tilting to allow great speed in corners. This in conjunction with improved braking and the in-cab signalling, that will be coming online soon with GSM-R ,offers the opportunity to realise the performance offered by the APT project of the 70s.
Given the apparent success of the Intercity Express Programme, it may be possible to start an Advanced Intercity Programme to incorporate the required tilting and braking, possibly with the increased use of composites, to provide reduced weight and even the use of superconducting motors such as http://global-sei.com/super/magnet_coil_e/evmotor.html and http://www.powermag.com/superconductor-motor-for-navy-passes-full-power-test/ to increase performance.The development of such a train is in the interest of LCR as it would make the most of direct connections to cities, other than London, it would of course not only be useful to LCR but to every city that is not London.

Monday 1 September 2014

Mersey 30 Map

My first stab at a map detailing some of the changes outlined in the Echo's article Merseytravel plan to open or reopen host of new stations
I haven't seen the plan so I have had to make some guesses about how the connection to the airport will be made and exactly which bits of the Wapping Tunnel will be used. Also the details of the Skem link are rather vague I have left the Stock Interchange Line between James Street and Central in.

A PDF that details some of the infrastructure in the region and an explanation of some of the technologies can be found at Merseytravel Plan.

And some thoughts on HS2/HS3 From Lymm to Lime Street.