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001 Cover MR Apr2020.indd 1 16/03/2020 16:51:13

CAF_FP.indd 1 09/09/2019 14:53

Quartet of editors: (left to right) Geoffrey Freeman Allen, Charles Long,
James Abbott and Ken Cordner at a lunch more than a quarter of a century
ago. The empty seat belongs to the photographer, Roger Ford.
GREETINGS AND FAREWELL
S
alvete et vale… I welcome
you to the last issue of Modern
Railways for which I am editor.
It is a landmark for me: much of my
adult life has been taken up with the
business of getting this magazine
before you, the reader, every month.
I’ve had a ball: what a privilege,
to report on such an interesting
industry. For what it is worth, I have
been the youngest ever, oldest
ever and longest-serving (31 years)
editor of this illustrious organ.
Not that it is a large field in which
I have competed for those records.
It is almost six decades since 1962,
when the first editor, Geoffrey
Freeman Allen (‘GFA’ as he was
known), recognised that there was
a wide public hunger for reliable
information on the railways of the
day, their business and their vision
for the future, and took the inspired
decision to rename Trains Illustrated
as Modern Railways. In that time
there have been but four other
editors besides him and me: Geoffrey
Kichenside, Bill Cornwell and Charles
Long in the 1970s and early 1980s,
and Ken Cordner in the late 1980s
when I had a spell in North America.
After he left Modern Railways
publisher Ian Allan, GFA went on
to edit the Jane’s World Railways
yearbook. He had a reputation for
gruffness but was kind enough
to mentor me. Over the years,
whenever difficult stories have
presented themselves or production
disasters threatened, I have felt GFA
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
003_MR_Apr 2020_welcome.indd 3
on my shoulder cheering me on to
go the last half-mile for the sake of
the finished result. Modern Railways
was his creation and he has left
the rest of us a lot to live up to.
Of course, I would have found it
impossible to live up to GFA’s ideals
without help. Roger Ford’s ‘Informed
Sources’ column predated my
arrival on the magazine and is still
in rude health today. It is a conceit
that we call Roger the Industry and
Technology Editor: he could have
been Editor many times over, but for
Captain Deltic the story is king and
he did not want to be fussed with
the duties and responsibilities that
inevitably come with the editing role.
But he has always been a stalwart
supporter of both the magazine and
me personally, providing a guiding
hand and lending moral support
whenever times have got tough.
There’s the sage of Effingham
(and latterly Scarborough), Alan
Williams, whose InterCity diary first
published in January 1976 morphed
into the eponymous column, which
has been around for longer than
any other column in the business.
Over the years, readers have
become familiar with the writings
of many other contributors: Rhodri
Clark, Keith Fender, Dan Harvey, Tony
Miles, Theo Steel, Chris Stokes and
Ian Walmsley, to name but a few.
I salute them all, not only for their
fine contributions but also for their
personal loyalty to me, resisting all
siren calls from rival publications.
A shout-out too for the late Ken
Cordner, who not only edited the
magazine when I was in foreign
climes but also assisted me, in his
reassuring unflappable style, when
I was back in the editor’s chair.
The freelance photographers
deserve a mention, from Brian
Morrison, the Sidcup doyen of the
railway snap over seven decades, to
the many others that have followed
in his footsteps. Thanks too to the
production staff, who have gone
the extra mile to accommodate
my liberal interpretations of the
production schedule in an effort
to get the most up-to-date stories
in, and the sales staff and their
customers, who have paid for it all.
We would have been nowhere,
of course, without the railway
people who have trusted us with
the story. To those many railway
managers and PR folk down the
decades who have taken us on
site visits and given up their time
for interviews, I say thank you.
We would not have been a true
friend of the railway had we not had
the courage to criticise performance
or policies when we saw a need
to do so. One train operating
company MD was kind enough
to say recently ‘Modern Railways
keeps us honest’. To both those
that have ‘got’ Modern Railways and
those that have struggled with us,
I say this: we have all only wanted
what is best for what Peter Rayner
used to call ‘the Mother Railway’.
Welcome
And then there’s you, the
reader. I have batted to the best
of my ability on your behalf and
you have rewarded me with your
loyalty. I cannot but think that GFA
would be gratified to see that,
despite the rise of the internet, the
printed magazine that he founded
remains the core product at the
heart of a range of offerings for the
railway industry, encompassing
our Modern Railways Insight web
directory, the RVE show and the
4th Friday Club meetings.
A final hats off to Key Publishing
for having faith in Modern Railways
in 2012, at a time when many were
nervous about the future of print,
and buying this magazine as part of
a portfolio of titles put up for sale by
previous owner Ian Allan. Thanks too
to Key MD Adrian Cox for helping
me recruit the next generation:
together, we took on an assistant
editor. That person, Philip Sherratt,
has blossomed in the role and is
now set to be the new editor. It is
a great comfort to me that I can step
down from the job knowing that the
mag is in a safe pair of hands. I shall
be around as Consultant Editor for
a while yet, but as I hand over the
baton, I ask you all to welcome Phil
to the editor’s
chair and support
him in the years
to come. a
James Abbott
Editor
3
16/03/2020 17:35
 Contents

REGULARS FEATURES
3 Welcome
An introduction from the Editor 22

Infrarail moves to Olympia
Preview of the May infrastructure show

6 Railtalk
Modern Railways’ editorial view 50

Duchy delights
A photographic selection from Cornwall

38

Pan Up
Ian Walmsley takes a ride in a Class 88 from Crewe to Carlisle
52

Collaboration is the key
Out and about with Chiltern Railways’Golden

44 Forum Whistle winner Tom Milnes

Readers comment on topical issues around the railway today

48

Blood and Custard
Our diary column
56

Anglia in the midst of change
An update on the Greater Anglia franchise

82

Moving Wheels
Rolling stock news
62

Wherry lines resignalling
Routes east of Norwich were re-equipped in February

88 Trackwatch
Our monthly look at changes on the national network
66

The decarbonisation challenge
How quickly do we need to electrify the network?

89 People
Recent appointments
72

Core Valley Lines modernisation
As the asset transfer is finalised, we preview
the planned infrastructure upgrades

90

In Business and small ads
Latest happenings in industry
76

Ready for all weather
Visit to the Vienna climate testing centre

92

Crossrail update
‘345s’ to Heathrow soon
86

Unlocking innovation
Review of a recent Railway Industry Association seminar

94

High Speed Two
Phase Two priorities: Manchester first?
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Chris Stokes discusses the Oakervee review " @Modern_Railways
Search for ‘Modern Railways Magazine’ or put in the web
98

Alan Williams
Our pundit in the North
! address www.facebook.com/modernrailwaysmag/

4 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

004-005_MR_Apr 2020_contents.indd 4 17/03/2020 17:09

 Contents

ISSN: 0026 8356

April 2020 Volume 77 Number 859
Editor: James Abbott
Email: james.abbott@keypublishing.com
Design: Matt Chapman
Cover: Lee Howson
Editorial Address
Modern Railways, Transport Writing Services,
PO Box 206, Tunbridge Wells North, TN1 2XA, UK.
Tel: 01892 457147
www.modern-railways.com
Industry and Technology Editor: Roger Ford
Email: roger@alycidon.com
Assistant Editor: Philip Sherratt
Email: philip.sherratt@keypublishing.com

Editorial Contributions
The Editor is pleased to receive contributions to Modern Railways
in the form of articles, news stories, letters and photographs
(ideally by digital means). Material sent to the Editor, whether
commissioned or freely submitted, is provided at the contributor’s
own risk; neither Key Publishing Ltd nor Transport Writing Services
can be held responsible for loss or damage howsoever caused.
The opinions and views expressed by authors and contributors
within Modern Railways are not necessarily those of the Editor or
Key Publishing Ltd.

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London Bridge ASC to bow out; Werrrington dive under progress
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Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.
38 Up front in an ‘88’
66 Climate change electrification challenge To find a stockist near you,
visit www.modern-railways.com
14 Royal opening for Newport factory The Editorial team is always happy to receive correspondence. It is all read and
appreciated, but we cannot always guarantee a reply. While every care is taken with
material, the Publisher cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage incurred.

56 All change in Anglia
Cover: No 68011 arrives at Kidderminster on 17 May 2018 with the
16.15 Chiltern Railways service from Marylebone. Keith Fender
All items submitted for publication are subject to our terms and conditions. These are
regularly updated without prior notice and are freely available from Key Publishing
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own precautions before parting with any information or item of value, including, but
not limited to, money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response
to any advertisements within this publication. The entire contents of this magazine is
© Copyright 2020. No part of it can be reproduced in any form or stored on any form of
retrieval system without the prior permission of the publisher.

Insets: Philip Sherratt Publisher: Mark Elliott

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 5

004-005_MR_Apr 2020_contents.indd 5 17/03/2020 17:09
 Railtalk
ELECTRIFICATION
REMAINS THE ANSWER
T
he world is changing fast.
As we closed for press,
the coronavirus crisis was
deepening, with the Government
advising people to avoid pubs, clubs
and theatres. Where possible, firms
were making arrangements for
employees to work from home. The
stock market was in steep decline
and it was clear that the economic
implications of the health crisis
would be profound and long lasting.
Airlines are one of the hardest
hit industries, with many carriers
grounding most of their fleets. But
a range of other sectors, from hotels
and hospitality to haircutting and
dental hygiene, are looking at a major
hit to their revenue. And of course
the railways are not exempt: by the
end of the second week of March,
some routes were looking at a 50%
drop in patronage, and it seemed as
if this was likely to be only the start
6 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
006-007_MR_Apr 2020_railtalk.indd 6
of the crisis. The operator owning
groups, many already in trouble
from a softening of the economy
since last autumn, were queuing
up behind the airlines to request
government assistance. Some
move to short-term management
contracts seemed likely.
The railways are facing not only
massive short-term revenue loss, but
also longer-term societal change that
is going to impact travel patterns.
A forced experiment in large-scale
homeworking is being conducted,
with likely long-term implications
for the future organisation of
work. Firms will discover just what
proportion of the overheads of
office working are avoidable.
The potential of teleconferencing
will be explored in full.
The implications are clear:
the decline of five-days-a-week
commuting is likely to accelerate
once the health crisis is over. One,
two or three days a week, or even
just occasional visits to the office, will
become much more widespread.
There will be less travel for face-to-face
business meetings and more use of
modern communications technology.
So pervasive is the coronavirus
effect on all corners of society likely
to be that we cannot expect its
impact to be confined to the world
of work. There may be a lasting
effect on people’s willingness to
attend large social gatherings
and there could be less travel for
interaction with friends and family.
All this is going to hit the railways
hard. While many of the pages of
Modern Railways in recent years
have been taken up with how to
accommodate rising numbers of
passengers, this is likely to be less of
a problem in future. More plausible
is that we shall be wondering what
to do with the fleets of new trains
ordered in the boom years.
LIFE WILL GO ON
We should not overdo the doom
and gloom. The health crisis will
pass. Our industry will continue to
have relevance in future years. In
the aftermath of coronavirus, the
Government will have to reassess
the economy and the part of the
railways in it. When this point comes,
the Williams review is likely to
seem so 2019 as to be irrelevant.
Looming in the background is
another great challenge of our times:
climate change. While the impact of
coronavirus has been so immediate
and obvious as to demand attention
and it has been difficult to do things
quickly enough, climate change
suffers from the reverse problem:
the effects have been gradual and it
has been easy for politicians to put
17/03/2020 17:09

off dealing with it till another day.
But it won’t always be like this: the
impact is accelerating, as many in this
country witnessed in the past winter
with floods outside their front doors.
There is some linkage between
the two issues in that the economic
slowdown prompted by coronavirus
will reduce carbon emissions. But
there is much more to be done
if we are to achieve the goal of
becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
On 11 March, in what already
seems a lifetime ago, Chancellor Rishi
Sunak delivered his first Budget. This
is having to be reconsidered in view
of the health crisis, but reviewing it
we can see that it failed adequately
to address the climate issue.
There will continue to be demand
for travel in a post-coronavirus
world, and it is incumbent on the
Government to encourage a shift
to more carbon-friendly modes.
The Budget saw no increase
in fuel duty, despite falling oil
prices – a move that will only
encourage carbon-intensive motoring.
It will be interesting to see how
the Government deals with the
air industry in the wake of the
coronavirus crisis. Does the fate
of regional airline FlyBe offer any
lessons? When this company went
Midland main line electrification: No 222015, forming the 08.31 Derby to St Pancras
International service, passes Burton Latimer near Kettering on 17 November 2018.
The up goods line has been relaid and electrification is progressing. Ken Brunt
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
006-007_MR_Apr 2020_railtalk.indd 7
to the wall in early March, the
Government, correctly, did not save
the company: it is surely a nonsense
that FlyBe could offer fares cheaper
than going by car or train. These
prices could only be offered by
mortgaging the environment.
The same applies to many
budget international carriers, but
the employment and economic
implications of closure loom
larger with these companies.
OUR SECTOR
As for the railways, the Government
is right to press on with HS2. There
will be carbon-intensive construction
work, true, but the way things are
shaping up this seems likely to be
a valuable job creation project akin
to the London Passenger Transport
Board’s New Works Programme
in the 1930s. Once complete, HS2
will provide travel opportunities up
and down the spine of the country
powered by electricity that can be
generated in carbon-friendly ways.
But a major miss in the Budget was
any reference to electrification of the
historic network. The Railway Industry
Association (RIA) had been lobbying
hard for the Budget to include the
immediate reinstatement of the full
Midland main line electrification to
Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield;
behind the scenes, even we had been
doing our bit. As we have argued
before, this is a genuine ‘shovel ready’
scheme. Outline design is complete
for the entire route. Detailed design
is completed for some sections,
together with some structures work.
With the Bedford-Corby electrification
nearing completion, the skilled
installation teams could start working
almost immediately on these sections,
while design is completed on the
rest of the route. Work is already
in hand to extend northwards to
Market Harborough, and Network
Rail should be authorised to press
on from there. Without such
a rollover, the installation teams will
be disbanded, with the consequent
dissipation of hard-won expertise.
The Department for Transport
developed an understandable
aversion to electrification in the wake
of the cost over-run on the Great
Western Electrification Programme
(GWEP). But GWEP highlights the
critical importance of continuing
with the MML electrification. Many
of the problems with GWEP – we
only have to mention the piles for the
overhead masts sunk deep enough
to moor a battleship – were down
to a lack of experienced engineers
after a decade and more since
the last electrification projects.
Former Transport Secretary Chris
Grayling is said to have developed
a deep personal antipathy to
the notion of further railway
electrification. We see one result
of this blight in the East West Rail
proposals, where even passive
provision for electrification was
initially ruled out. There is now the
lamentable sight of EWR looking
for second-hand diesel trains to
launch its new service (p82).
We have some sympathies with
the EWR team, who are seeking to
get something up and running in
the face of a hostile environment
to electrification. But with the
Government aiming to make the rail
industry carbon neutral by 2040, it is
a nonsense that we are not putting up
the wires before trains start running
on this line, while the route is still
a building site and access is not an
issue. Rather than afterwards, as the
wires will surely prove to be needed.
ROLLING PROGRAMME
We require, as this magazine has
argued since time immemorial,
a rolling programme of electrification.
The Scots seem to have got it, with
plans to build on the successful
wiring to Dunblane and Alloa with
new projects to destinations such
as East Kilbride. By capitalising
Railtalk
on the experience of recent
projects and retaining the skills it is
possible to drive down costs, with
Transport Scotland estimating it
can achieve the golden £1 million
per track kilometre electrification
cost that RIA claims is feasible.
The Department for Transport
should take a leaf out of Transport
Scotland’s book. Electrification of the
full MML should only be the start: if we
are really serious about cutting carbon
emissions through transport, we have
to be much more ambitious about
railway electrification. In this issue,
Richard Harper of Steer works through
the implications of a carbon-neutral
strategy: he calculates that we
should be electrifying over 400 track
miles a year (p70). This is a sobering
statistic and means we have to gear
up immediately – yet Rishi Sunak
failed to even mention the possibility
in his 11 March Budget speech.
The winter’s flooding should
bring home the notion that we
should let nothing stand in our way
to executing this. Hydrogen and
batteries may have a place on the
margins, but they should not be
allowed to be a distraction: as the Rail
Industry Decarbonisation Report has
concluded, overhead wires are what
we need for intensively-used routes
(although we regard the qualification
‘intensively-used’ to be a potential
weasel). Nor should the extension
of third rail be ruled out, should that
be appropriate (on which point it
is heartening to report that there
are rumours of a softening in the
Office of Rail and Road’s misplaced
antipathy to third rail extensions).
To quote Darren Caplan, Chief
Executive of RIA: ‘Kick-starting
a programme of electrification on
intensively-used rail is essential
if the Government is serious
about delivering on its goal to
decarbonise UK rail by 2040. Not
only are electrified trains key to
decarbonisation, electrified tracks are
more reliable, reduce costs in the long
term and shorten journey times too.
‘Research conducted by RIA has
shown that the costs of electrification
schemes can be lowered by up
to 50% compared to some past
projects, particularly if supported
by a rolling programme of work to
avoid the expensive and inefficient
feast and famine approach to
investment in the past. So we urge
the Transport Secretary to make this
a top priority as the new Government
develops its infrastructure
strategy in the months ahead.’
An electrified railway is the
legacy we should leave future
generations as they grapple with the
consequences of climate change. a
7
17/03/2020 17:09
 News Front
Coronavirus concern hits passenger numbers
IN THE midst of a changing
situation as we went to press, there
was widespread concern that
the coronavirus pandemic was
slashing passenger numbers across
the network, causing financial
trouble for train operators.
As awareness of the scale of
the pandemic rose, passenger
numbers were reported to be
falling dramatically. Industry sources
suggested that by mid-March
some operators were seeing
daily flows up to 50% down on
the norm with major stations
described as ‘ghost towns’.
On 16 March Transport for London
reported passenger numbers
on London Underground in the
previous week were down 19%
compared to the same time last year.
It says its current forecast, based on
Government scenarios, suggests
Get Modern Railways in print and digital format!
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A number of readers have
previously suggested they
8 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
008-009_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 8
it could lose out on as much of
£500 million of passenger income.
The Government was reportedly
in talks with train operators to
combat financial struggles, in
a situation where some companies
are already facing challenges.
The Rail Delivery Group was
co-ordinating the industry’s response
to the pandemic, which it said included
enhanced cleaning regimes both at
stations and on trains. Some operators
waived refund fees as passengers
sought to change their travel plans,
although as we went to press some
were still stopping short of refunding
advance purchase tickets but instead
offering passengers the right to
change their journey free of charge.
AUTUMN RESULTS
The situation came shortly after the
Office of Rail and Road published its
would prefer the option of
receiving the magazine in both
modes, and the move comes
in response to this feedback.
Full details of the subscription
options available can be found
on pages 36-37 of this issue.
Where have all the passengers gone? Mid-morning
at Crewe on 14 March 2020, with a Liverpool Lime Street to
Euston via New Street train in shot. John Whitehouse
latest statistics on passenger journey
numbers, covering Quarter 3 (October
to December). Passenger journeys
were up by 2.6% year-on-year, with
regional services growing most
strongly at 5.0%. Passenger revenue
was up by 2.9% and passenger
kilometres travelled by 2.1%.
The increase masked some
significant variations between
operators. Northern saw a 17.5% rise
in passenger kilometres in a period
in which there were no strikes, while
Caledonian Sleeper saw a 17.8% rise,
perhaps reflecting the effect of the
introduction of new Mk 5 coaches.
Despite patchy performance West
Midlands Trains saw an 8.1% rise in
passenger kilometres, while the 3.1%
rise at ScotRail might be considered
disappointing now performance
has improved and infrastructure
work has largely been completed.
We are able to report that, at
time of going to press, production
and despatch of our magazine
is currently not affected by the
ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
We will continue to update
you as best we can should this
On the other hand, South Western
Railway saw a 4.0% drop in passenger
kilometres, likely due to the extensive
strikes during December. Transport for
Wales saw a 6.9% fall, with one factor
being fewer major rugby matches in
Cardiff compared to the same period
in 2018. A 1.2% fall at c2c will be
concerning, reflecting employment
trends in the City of London, while
a 1.0% drop at TransPennine Express is
less surprising given the performance
challenges facing that operator.
While not mentioned by ORR, the
general election in December with
the associated purdah period and
closedown of Parliament may have
had an effect – these factors typically
depress receipts. The impact of the
coronavirus and another freeze in
fuel duty will not help the outlook
for Q4 (January to March) and
beyond. Philip Sherratt/Theo Steel
change. Some postal services
may be delayed. You can
keep in touch with our latest
updates and see what we are
doing to keep distribution as
normal as possible by visiting
www.keypublishing.com/FAQs.
17/03/2020 17:10
 News Front

Government takes over Northern operation

THE GOVERNMENT’S Operator
of Last Resort function took
over the Northern franchise
from Arriva on 1 March 2020.
The decision follows a series
of challenges which faced the
Arriva operation, culminating in
early termination due to financial
difficulties. Arriva Rail North’s
accounts for the year ended
31 March 2019 describe the year as
‘particularly difficult’ with ‘several
material and unprecedented
challenges’. The accounts reveal
the company made a pre-tax
loss of £222.6 million in 2018-19,
compared with a profit of
£12.7 million the previous year.
This change was driven by an
onerous contract provision of
£180.0 million and impairment
assets of £71.3 million. Arriva began
operating the Northern franchise
in April 2016 through a deal which
was due to run until 2025.
Government says the its first
priority will be rebuilding passenger
confidence, with a new panel
launched to provide ongoing advice
on how services will be run. The
transfer also heralded a change in
management, with former Managing
Director David Brown moving to
the OLR holding company, replaced
by Nick Donovan as Managing
Director of Northern Trains.
Speaking to Modern Railways at
Northern’s Newton Heath depot
on 2 March, Secretary of State for
Transport Grant Shapps confirmed
that whilst some changes would be
immediate, such as deep cleaning
of all trains and improvements to
Sunday timetables, passengers
needed to accept that ‘things
won’t change overnight’.
‘I’m asking the new leadership to
give me a plan for the things that
will make big, significant changes in
the first 100 days’ he said. ‘I want to
get the service running much more
smoothly. Things which have been
bad have included poor industrial
relations and we’ve had problems
with track and with train; some of
those things we can tackle quickly,
other things will take longer.’
The Transport Secretary accepted
that some issues had been outside
Arriva’s control but felt the company
itself had played a part in its demise.
‘Part of the problem has been the
infrastructure, part has been the
late delivery of trains but there’s
also been a management issue
as well and the management is
the thing which changes today’
Mr Shapps said. ‘I hope people
start to see some improvements,
but I appreciate that some people
are going to have to be patient,
there’s not a magic solution.’
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS
While Robin Gisby and Richard
George will work together during
the first 100 days to prepare a plan
for the franchise, Mr Gisby also
confirmed urgent work was needed
alongside this review. ‘We need to get
on and invest in the business right brand applied to the business
now, to sort out the depot facilities, it has been confirmed that, at
to do things about the uniforms, least for the time being, there are
just to make things better for the no immediate plans to rebrand
staff because they’ve had a pretty the identity left by Arriva, other
tough time’ the Northern Trains than the removal of the ‘by arriva’
Chairman told Modern Railways. line below the Northern name.
‘We need to focus on the operating A spokesperson for Northern
basics – reducing cancellations, Trains said ‘We believe our first
Sunday working and just running priority should be to restore
trains on time; that’s what we’re stability and to work collaboratively
going to do to start with. In the next with stakeholders and customers
100 days we’re going to look at where on these decisions. Ultimately, we
we want to invest in the future; we’ll want the Northern franchise to
work with Network Rail and look be rooted in its communities
at capacity issues and there will be and become a railway of the
a big focus on the December 2021 people, for the people. Decisions
timetable because we’ve got to on the branding and name
restructure some things around that.’ of Northern will be taken
Whilst previous franchise collaboratively at the appropriate
terminations have seen a new time.’ Philip Sherratt/Tony Miles
ADVISORY PANEL MEMBERSHIP
n Richard George – Chair, Department for Transport
Operator of Last Resort Holdings Ltd
n Robin Gisby – Chief Executive, Department for Transport Operator
of Last Resort Holdings Ltd and Chairman of Northern Trains Ltd
n Louise Gittins – Leader, Cheshire West and Chester
Council and Vice Chair, Transport for the North
n Steve Rotheram – Metro Mayor, Liverpool City Region
n Andy Burnham – Mayor, Greater Manchester
n Judith Blake – Leader, Leeds City Council
n Ben Houchen – Mayor, Tees Valley
n Jools Townsend – Chief Executive, Association
of Community Rail Partnerships
n David Sidebottom – Director, Transport Focus
n Beckie Hart – Regional Director Yorkshire and the
Humber, Confederation of British Industry
n Heather Scott – Leader, Darlington Borough Council

Northern termination inevitable, says Hoggarth

TERMINATION OF the Northern
franchise was the only available
option, according to Transport for
the North’s Strategic Rail Director
David Hoggarth. Mr Hoggarth’s
robust defence comes as industry
sources have expressed some
unease at the decision and
TfN’s apparent willingness to
see the franchise agreement
terminated rather than agree
to proposals put forward by
Arriva to stabilise the business.
Speaking to Modern Railways,
Mr Hoggarth commented: ‘The
financial issue meant that change
had to happen, and the Department
for Transport had two options, as
it did for LNER. The choice for our
leaders was to take a view on which
of those two options is going to give
the best answer for the North and
the view they took very strongly was
that an intervention was required
and a fresh start was needed.’
Mr Hoggarth also expects OLR to
make some decisions, freed from the
constraints of a franchise contract,
that will put Northern on a sound
footing ahead of the release of the
Williams Review and a decision on
how the next contract is organised.
‘The construct of OLR means it’s
much easier to move to whatever
comes out of the Williams Review as
opposed to a Direct Award where you
still have a franchise agreement and
all the constraints that system has’ he
explained. ‘We’re clear that this is not
a silver bullet for all the problems of
Northern, it is a mix, it is infrastructure,
it is ongoing staffing issues, historic
issues. All of these need tackling. We
think that there are definitely some
things that can be done quickly,
our view and our leaders’ view is
that putting more of a focus on
performance and the things that
would really play into building that
trust with passengers and we hope
that the 100-day review that Richard
George and his team are going to
carry out will bring that focus.’
Mr Hoggarth also defended the
way what is now seen to be a clearly
over-ambitious timetable plan was
accepted, insisting that after three
stages of review involving Arriva Rail
North, DfT, TfN and Network Rail and
including ‘a whole series of checks
and balances with changes made
along the way’ it was the fragmented
system that led to a plan which the
infrastructure was unable to handle.
‘We do stand behind the work that
was done in the lead up to the letting
of the franchise; it was about levelling
up that led to the specification
for the franchise but things have
moved on, we didn’t know then
what we know now about Northern
Powerhouse Rail and HS2’ he said.
In the meantime, Mr Hoggarth
confirmed leaders across TfN are
prepared to accept some short-term
pain in the form of service reductions
as long as a pipeline of infrastructure
improvements is also agreed. ‘Out
of this we’ve now got clarity and
the opportunity to do the right
thing in terms of completing the
Northern Hub and all the other bits’
he said. ‘We can do some things
in the short-term to ease the flow
for passengers and then build the
infrastructure that we do need to
give the North what it deserves. One
of the key lessons for us is… just
doing Manchester isn’t enough –
Leeds has got its challenges as well
as York, Middlesbrough, Sheffield
and so on.’ Tony Miles

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 9

008-009_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 9 17/03/2020 17:10
 News Front
‘710s’ DEBUT ON WEST ANGLIA
CLASS 710s have entered
passenger service on London
Overground’s West Anglia services
from Liverpool Street to Chingford,
Cheshunt and Enfield Town.
A pair of the Bombardier-built units
made a brief debut on 24 February
before a formal introduction on
3 March. Software issues have
plagued the Aventra fleet, with
the latest development following
progress with software upgrades
enabling the four-car ‘710s’ to operate
in pairs as eight-car formations.
Transport for London has a total of
54 ‘710s’ on order from Bombardier.
Dual-voltage units entered service
last year on the Gospel Oak to Barking
(GOBLIN) and Euston to Watford
routes, with 30x4-car AC-only sets
ordered for West Anglia services,
although two of these have been in
use on the GOBLIN route operating
singly as four-cars. Benefits of the
new trains include increased capacity,
air-conditioning, free Wi-Fi, real-time
information screens, USB charging
points and more wheelchair spaces.
FULL SERVICE BY JUNE
At the time of the launch, TfL had
accepted two units for West Anglia
services, which began working a full
diagram on 4 March. It expected
to accept a further two units
imminently with introduction of
these planned for mid-March, and
after a further two-week interval
a pair of units is then planned to
be accepted for introduction every
week. Initially introduction will be
in pairs, but in future some off-peak
10 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
010-011_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 10
Old and new at Chingford: unit No 710117 in the background
stands alongside No 315807, with Nos 317714, 732 and 709 closer
to the camera in this 3 March 2020 view. Antony Guppy
services will operate with single
four-car sets. The full fleet of ‘710s’
for West Anglia is expected to be
in service by the end of June.
The new trains are replacing
Class 315 and 317 EMUs on West
Anglia services, with some of the
latter operating under a dispensation
against Persons with Reduced
Mobility (PRM) regulations. The
priority will be removing these
non-compliant units from service
as ‘710s’ are introduced. Five ‘315s’
which previously worked on TfL
Rail services between Liverpool
Street and Shenfield have also
been drafted in for West Anglia
services as they do not require
immediate maintenance; a further
two units are in storage but are
unlikely to be pressed into service.
The original order for ‘710s’
comprised 45x4-car units. Of these,
30 AC-only units are for West Anglia
services, 14 dual-voltage units for
the GOBLIN and Watford routes and
the remaining unit was ordered for
the Romford to Upminster shuttle.
However, TfL is now considering
its options for the latter which may
involve an alternative plan to using
a ‘710’; a change is coming later this
year for the shuttle with London
Overground drivers taking over
duties from drivers supplied by TfL
Rail operator MTR Elizabeth Line.
Of the 14 dual-voltage sets, six
are required in daily service on
the GOBLIN and at least six on the
Watford DC service, although at
times all eight Watford DC diagrams
have been covered by ‘710s’. This is
dictated by availability of the older
Class 378s; a refresh programme
for these has now recommenced at
Ilford depot, having been paused
when the availability requirement
for ‘378s’ rose in the wake of
Bethnal Green bank: an eight-car Class 710 working
climbs up with the 13.15 Liverpool Street to Chingford
delays to ‘710’ introduction on the
GOBLIN. The three ‘378s’ which were
shortened to four cars to work on
the GOBLIN last year have all been
restored to full five-car length.
FIVE-CARS TO FOLLOW
Nine sets were added to the ‘710’
order, taking the total number
of units to 54. The extra units are
3x4-car and 6x5-car. These make
provision for the GOBLIN extension
to Barking Riverside while also
enabling strengthening elsewhere.
TfL expects to accept its first
five-car unit imminently and
intends to renumber these in
the ‘710/3’ series. It is hoped
to introduce two five-car sets
from May working peak-hour
shuttles on the West London line
between Clapham Junction and
Shepherd’s Bush or Willesden
Junction, providing a capacity
increase on this busy section.
The balance of the additional
units will be used on the North
London line, in turn enabling
a frequency increase on the East
London line using cascaded ‘378s’.
This uplift from 16 to 18 trains per
hour (tph) at peak times is planned
to be implemented in December
following re-siting of some signals
to draw trains into platforms more
quickly and associated timetable
adjustments. A further uplift to 20tph
is also planned following receipt
of Housing Infrastructure Fund
(HIF) funding; options are currently
being worked through with the aim
of delivering this uplift in 2023.
service on 3 March 2020. Philip Sherratt
17/03/2020 15:37

AVENTRA PROGRESS AT BOMBARDIER
Aventra for Anglia: Class 720 vehicle in ‘G’ shop at Bombardier’s Derby works on 6 March 2020. Philip Sherratt
‘710’ MULTIPLE WORKING BREAKTHROUGH
THE BREAKTHROUGH with
achieving multi-unit operation
of Class 710s is key to unlocking
future service introductions for
Bombardier’s Aventra platform,
according to Matt Byrne, Bombardier
Transportation’s President,
UK Region. Mr Byrne told Modern
Railways the finalisation of software
CROSSRAIL 2 CASE GAINS DfT SUPPORT
THE DEPARTMENT for
Transport has said the latest
Strategic Outline Business Case
for Crossrail 2 satisfies Treasury
guidance, with no further
work required at this stage.
According to papers submitted
to Transport for London’s
Programmes and Investment
Committee, DfT described the
DLR TO THAMESMEAD CONSIDERED
AN EXTENSION of the Docklands
Light Railway from Gallions Reach to
Thamesmead is being considered to
support growth in the Thamesmead
and Abbey Wood Opportunity Area.
A 12-week consultation on
the Opportunity Area Planning
Framework closed on 10 March
and included transport options to
serve the area. A DLR extension
is considered fundamental to
a high growth scenario which
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
010-011_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 11
allowing introduction of ‘710s’
operating in pairs will demonstrate
the capabilities of the Aventras
and opens the door to allow
other programmes to follow.
The next Aventra contracts for
Bombardier are Class 720s to Greater
Anglia and Class 701s for South
Western Railway: Mr Byrne said
SOBC as a high quality document.
TfL has been developing
Crossrail 2 with a view to a decision
to proceed further with the scheme
being made at the Spending
Review, which was expected last
year but has been delayed and
will now be completed in July.
The SOBC was submitted in
June 2019 and follows several
could deliver over 15,000 new
homes and 8,000 new jobs.
The extension would leave
the DLR’s Beckton branch at
Gallions Reach and cross the
river Thames, running via the
Thamesmead Waterfront site. The
extension would complement
enhanced conventional bus
services and bus rapid transit.
The assumed service frequency
is at least 7.5 trains per hour (tph)
Bombardier is looking to sell trains to
both operators during Quarter 2 of
this year (April to June). ‘The Class 710
has around 4,500 functionalities for
single-unit operation and 1,500 more
for multi-unit operation’ Mr Byrne
explained. ‘But there are only around
250 more functionalities needed to
read across for the “720s” and “701s”.
iterations, with the first SOBC
having been submitted in 2015.
The Secretary of State for Transport
and Mayor of London have
agreed to fund the scheme on
a 50:50 basis and an Independent
Affordability Review has been
carried out. The committee
papers explain the expected
timescale is for a Spending Review
in peak periods, with capability
for 15tph as demand increases.
An extension onwards from
Thamesmead to Abbey Wood
has also been considered, where
interchange could be provided with
the Elizabeth Line and main line
services. However, this is thought
to be challenging and would offer
only limited connectivity benefits.
The DLR extension is being
pursued in preference to an
News Front
We believe we’re only one software
iteration away from the version
we’ll use for passenger service
with Greater Anglia on the “720s”.’
Construction has also begun on
pioneer builds of Class 730s EMUs for
West Midlands Trains. Two types will
be built – a three-car as will be used
on the Cross City line in Birmingham
(see photo overleaf) and a five-car
as will be deployed on London
Northwestern branded services.
Mr Byrne said type testing on these
is planned to begin this spring, to be
followed by a series build, with the
aim of starting deliveries in early 2021.
At present Bombardier has
six Aventra production lines:
n one finishing off the final
vehicles for Crossrail (Class 345)
and London Overground;
n two for Greater Anglia;
n two for SWR; and
n one for WMT.
As of early March, the
manufacturer had only three
Crossrail vehicles and six Class 710
vehicles left to build, after which
this production line will switch
to Class 701s for SWR. A seventh
production line will also be built
this spring to support a Bombardier
contract for 70x4-car monorail trains
for Cairo, with the aim of completing
the first car in spring 2021.
submission in summer 2020
and a decision in November.
Crossrail 2 envisages a route in
new tunnel between Wimbledon
and Tottenham Hale, running
beyond this onto existing Network
Rail tracks on the South Western
and West Anglia routes. It is
expected to cost at least £30 billion,
with completion in the 2030s.
extension of London Overground
from Barking Riverside, to which
an extension from Barking is
currently under construction. The
Overground extension is thought
to offer fewer connectivity benefits
and would cost significantly
more to build and operate.
The final Opportunity Area
Planning Framework, responding
to the consultation, is planned
to be adopted in the summer.
11
17/03/2020 15:37
 News Front
Under construction: driving vehicle from the first Class 730 EMU
for the Birmingham Cross City line in ‘G’ shop at Bombardier’s
Litchurch Lane plant on 6 March 2020. Philip Sherratt
WMT works through remedial plan
FOLLOWING A lengthy period
of poor performance in 2019 West
Midlands Trains is now working
on a remedial plan, agreed with
the Department for Transport, to
stabilise the business and deliver
significantly higher levels of service
reliability and punctuality.
Talking to Modern Railways,
WMT Managing Director Julian
Edwards explained that the final
agreement was actually the fourth
submitted by the operator as the
DfT pushed hard for commitments.
First changes have been delivered
ahead of the May timetable change,
with the removal of Coseley stops
on some off-peak London to
Liverpool services and the removal
of the Smethwick Galton Bridge
call from services heading to Stoke
and Crewe from 2 March and
changes from 16 March on the
Chase line, which saw one hourly
weekday departure from Rugeley
Trent Valley which previously
travelled to London amended to
terminate either at Birmingham
International or Coventry. Other
service adjustments mean the
frequency of trains between
Birmingham and London has not
changed. ‘Negotiating to bring these
12 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
012-013_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 12
New trains coming: WMT MD Julian Edwards in a Class 196 DMU vehicle
undergoing testing at CAF’s Newport factory on 21 February 2020. Philip Sherratt
amendments forward by more than
two months has not been easy but
improving the experience for our
passengers as quickly as possible is
our top priority’ said Mr Edwards.
The company has reached
agreement with the RMT rail
union over its dispute and is now
working with the drivers’ union
ASLEF to address terms and
conditions for drivers that have
made service recovery difficult.
WMT is putting more ‘fire breaks’
into longer-distance services and
the changes to calling patterns are
also aimed at delivering short-term
improvements. Principally this will
be seen through some longer dwells
at stations such as Northampton
and Birmingham New Street, and
also less splitting and joining of
trains to provide resilience.
Mr Edwards explains the aim has
been to avoid ‘putting a coach and
horses through the fundamental
ethos of what our bid was about
and what we were delivering’ with
the expectation that the changes
will add several percentage points
to the operator’s PPM (Public
Performance Measure) scores
from the May timetable change.
MORE CAPACITY
Further work is needed to deliver
additional capacity in time for
May 2020 and to manage this until
the new larger fleets of trains are
delivered. ‘More eights and 12s is
what we need’ said Mr Edwards.
‘We’ve squeezed an extra unit out
of Siemens, but I need those six final
TPE trains.’ He confirmed the final
Class 350/4 sets were still on track
to be released by TransPennine
Express to WMT at the end of March.
Speaking prior to the coronavirus
crisis, Mr Edwards explained that
Cross City services were also
experiencing severe crowding issues.
He said that until the 36 Class 730s
replace the 26 Class 323s on
this route the fleet will struggle,
especially as some sets are out of
traffic for Persons with Reduced
Mobility (PRM) work. One plan
may be to lengthen long-distance
DMU-worked trains with Class 153
sets and put in some special stop
orders at key stations on the route to
the south of Birmingham. Tony Miles
17/03/2020 17:12
 News Front

NOTTINGHAM TRAM EXTENSIONS CONSIDERED

NOTTINGHAM CITY Council
is progressing plans to extend
the Nottingham Express Transit
(NET), with three extensions
under consideration.
A report to the Council’s Executive
Board on 17 March sought approval
to undertake the next stage of
feasibility work for extensions
from Nottingham station towards
Gedling (initially to the Racecourse
Park and Ride, 2.5-3.0km), from
Toton Lane to the HS2 hub at
Toton and thence to Long Eaton
(1.5km), and from Clifton South to
the Fairham Pastures development
(1.8km). The capital cost of
the three schemes together is
estimated to be £275 million. Nottingham Express Transit: tram at Nottingham station on 20 October 2018. In the
The council also plans to background is a former Unitarian chapel that is now a Pitcher & Piano pub. Philip Sherratt
support neighbouring authority
Broxtowe in its investigation of and Derby, which also feature The next stage will be to develop and Works Act Order application
an extension from Phoenix Park in the HS2 Growth Strategy, and an Outline Business Case, with this could then be made in summer
to Kimberley and Langley Mill. east towards Gamston, have work expected to be completed 2023, with construction starting
Routes further west from the HS2 been considered and are likely and submitted to Government in 2025-26 and the extended
station to East Midlands Airport to be longer-term projects. in autumn 2021. A Transport network opening in 2028-29.

Siemens wins ECML digital railway contracts

NETWORK RAIL has confirmed
that Siemens Mobility has been
chosen as the Train Control
Partner (TCP) under the East
Coast Digital Programme (ECDP).
The contract takes the form of
a framework agreement, under
which contracts will be called off
for specific schemes replacing
existing signalling with the
European Train Control System
(ETCS). Contracts will include
detailed design, supply, installation,
integration with associated
systems and commissioning plus
maintenance support for the
estimated 30-year service life.
First call-off contract under
the framework will cover the
outline design for the installation
of ETCS Level 2 on the southern
section of the East Coast main
line from London King’s Cross to
Peterborough North plus a design,
build and maintain contract for the
Finsbury Park to Moorgate branch.
Siemens has also been
announced as the winner of the
Traffic Management Partner
framework which has been
procured as part of the ECDP.
Procurement has been managed
on behalf of the Routes and is
based on the requirements of
the York and Manchester Rail
Operating Centres (ROC).
Two lots are covered by
the TCP framework, the ECML
resignalling and the Trans-Pennine
Route Upgrade (TRU). Siemens
has been awarded both lots.
A full analysis of this deal
can be found on page 24.
Completing the ECDP is a third
framework contract for a Railway
Systems Integration Partner (RSIP).
The role will be to help co-ordinate
the industry change in delivering
the programme. The RSIP
framework has been awarded to
a consortium of consultants Atkins,
Ramboll and PwC. Roger Ford

Still on tripcocks: new Siemens-built Class 717 at Drayton Park on the Moorgate branch, where the voltage changeover from overhead
to the third rail used in the central London tunnels takes place, on 24 October 2019. Implementation of ETCS will strip the Northern City
line of the last vestiges of the signalling betraying the line’s history as part of the London Underground system. Ken Brunt

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 13

012-013_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 13 17/03/2020 17:12
 News Front

Prince of Wales: CAF Chief Executive Andrés Arizkorreta

García welcomes Prince Charles to the company’s
Newport factory on 21 February 2020. Philip Sherratt

Prince Charles opens CAF’s Newport factory

HIS ROYAL Highness the Prince of After that will be all 77 trains in
Wales officially opened CAF’s factory a 180-vehicle order for the Wales and
at the Celtic Business Park near Borders franchise. Newport will build
Newport, South Wales on 21 February. 51x2-car and 26x3-car Class 197s,
The factory opened its doors in and the first bodyshell was due to be
September 2018 and is the result delivered to Newport in March with
of a £30 million investment by the production ramping up next year.
Spanish manufacturer with grant CAF says Newport could build
support from the Welsh Government’s a range of trains from light rail to
Inward Investment Programme. high-speed, including for export
St Modwen is the landowner and abroad. The factory has scope
developer for the Celtic Business to expand, including the setup
Park site, while Bowmer & Kirkland of further production lines and
was principal contractor for options for additional land within
construction of the factory. the Celtic Business Park if needed.
Initially CAF has built Civity DMUs
at Newport. The South Wales site has For more on the Newport factory
assembled 19x2-car Class 195s for see the feature in our March issue. Bogie for Civity DMU: the assembly hall of the CAF factory at Newport. Philip Sherratt
Northern, plus the driving vehicles
for 3x3-car units which were a later
addition to the order; the last vehicles
for Northern were nearing completion
at the time of the official opening.
The main focus at present is on
Class 196 DMUs for West Midlands
Trains, with Newport building 60 of
the 80 vehicles on order (11x4-car
and 8x2-car sets), the first 20 carriages
coming from CAF’s Beasain factory
in Spain. The first train from Newport
is due to be delivered to WMT in
the spring, with a broad pattern of
a pair of four-car sets followed by
a two-car. The WMT build will be Welsh dragon: Class 195 specially prepared for the royal
completed by the end of the year. factory opening on 21 February 2020. Philip Sherratt

14 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

014-015_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 14 17/03/2020 17:13


LONDON TO BORDEAUX IN 2022
SNCF HOPES to start direct services
between London and Bordeaux
by 2022. The announcement was
made by Diego Diaz, President,
SNCF International, at an event
to mark the twinning of London
St Pancras and Bordeaux St Jean
stations on 5 March 2020.
Development of a new route
between London and Bordeaux
has been the subject of a multi-year
high profile lobbying campaign by
the infrastructure managers along
the entire route (HS1, Eurotunnel,
SNCF Reseau and Lisea) and a formal
feasibility study was begun in 2019 to
address practical issues. Whilst there
was no senior person from Eurostar
speaking at the event, the fact SNCF
SEVERN TUNNEL OVERHEAD SOLUTION
NETWORK RAIL is to switch
on the overhead electrification
within the Severn Tunnel in
April for testing. If successful,
it is hoped regular passenger
services will be able to operate
under electric power through
the tunnel from May.
CROSSCOUNTRY CAPACITY BOOST
CROSSCOUNTRY IS to increase
capacity on its services, starting in
May 2020, following £2.5 million
of new government funding.
The first increase will be in
May 2020 on CrossCountry’s
Turbostar routes linking Birmingham
to Nottingham, Leicester and Cardiff.
A change in the maintenance
arrangements with West Midlands
Trains for CrossCountry’s Class 170s
will allow more units to be in service,
Set to receive centre vehicles: a brace of two-car Class 170s call at the new station at Worcestershire Parkway on the
station’s opening day, 23 February 2020, with a Cardiff to Birmingham CrossCountry service. Steve Widdowson
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
014-015_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 15
Ceremonial twinning: (left to right) Dyan Crowther, CEO HS1;
Diego Diaz, President, SNCF International; Chris Heaton-Harris,
UK Rail Minister, at St Pancras on 5 March 2020. Keith Fender
Overhead conductor bar
was installed in the tunnel
during 2016 but has proved
troublesome. Electric services
west of Bristol Parkway to Cardiff
began operating in January, but
GWR’s bi-mode Class 800/802s
have been operating through
leading to the provision of an
additional 5,000 seats per week.
In December 2020, subject to
agreement with DfT, CrossCountry
plans to utilise additional HSTs to
enable longer trains to operate some
services on Mondays to Thursdays on
routes from Scotland, the North East
and Manchester to the South West
and the South Coast. The operator has
five HSTs, which are currently utilised
most intensively on Fridays, Saturdays
the tunnel on diesel pending
resolution of the difficulties.
A spokesperson for Network
Rail said: ‘We’re undertaking
modifications to the contact
system assets within the Severn
Tunnel to improve the system
resilience. We plan to energise the
and Sundays. To enable the increase,
two additional power cars will join
CrossCountry’s fleet, with Voyagers
released by use of HSTs allowing
other trains to be lengthened.
A further uplift in May 2021 will
follow on the Turbostar routes.
CrossCountry’s mixed fleet of two-car
and three-car ‘170s’ will be bolstered
by the addition of six centre vehicles;
these are being displaced from the
current West Midlands Trains fleet,
News Front
as the majority owner of Eurostar
made this announcement makes
clear that Eurostar is undertaking
the necessary planning. Eurostar is
currently the only operator in Europe
that has the trains and necessary
licences to operate such a service.
To coincide with the twinning
event, HS1 published research
undertaken by Steer which suggests
high-speed rail can attract 30% of
the current air market for routes (like
London to Bordeaux or Frankfurt)
which have five-hour journey times.
Currently there are around 15 million
short-haul air trips annually to and
from London on routes that could be
served in five hours by rail, illustrating
the market potential. Keith Fender
tunnel in mid-April and commence
a period of live electrical testing,
during which the system will be
monitored and its performance
assessed. On completion of the
testing, we will be in a better
position to understand what
further action is required, if any.’
which will be transferring to East
Midlands Railway but as two-car sets,
leaving the centre vehicles spare. The
Department for Transport says the
increase of 15,000 seats per week
will include services to and from
Cambridge and Stansted Airport.
DfT says work is underway on
further improvements when more
rolling stock is available, especially on
longer-distance routes. This is likely
to involve the transfer of Class 221s
displaced from Avanti West Coast or
Class 222s from East Midlands Railway.
Also promised as part of
the investment is expansion of
CrossCountry’s seat reservation
service and cycle reservations, as
well as improved signage to aid
luggage storage. Community Rail
Partnerships for Worcestershire,
the Heart of England and Bolton
will also receive financial support.
Arriva’s current CrossCountry
franchise runs until October 2020;
the company has operated the
franchise since 2007. Negotiations
are underway regarding
a further direct award franchise,
which is thought likely to be for
two years with the option of
a further two-year extension.
15
17/03/2020 17:13
 News Front

WISBECH REOPENING OPTIONS CONSIDERED

TRAM-TRAIN AND heavy rail are
the preferred options for reopening of
the line between March and Wisbech,
according to an Options Assessment
Report. The report was presented to
the Cambridge and Peterborough
Combined Authority’s Transport and
Infrastructure Committee on 6 March,
with a full business case anticipated
to be completed by the end of June.
The two main options have been
chosen primarily because a key
objective is providing direct services
between Wisbech and Cambridge,
rather than just a shuttle to and from
March, requiring services to run over
existing lines east of March. However,
provision of such through services is
constrained by capacity issues at Ely,
which are being addressed through
the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement
study (see below). The report also
sets out a preferred station location
at Wisbech, which it says should be as
close to the town centre as possible.
According to the report, an
interim solution of two trains per
hour between Wisbech and March,
with one continuing to Cambridge
if other services can be retimed
through Ely, would require a new
platform at March at the west end
of the old platform 3 along with
an associated revised track layout.
Accommodating a resilient two trains
per hour service on the single line
between Whitemoor Junction and
Wisbech would require a passing
loop at Coldham, with a single
platform at Wisbech station to be
capable of accommodating a two-car
Class 170 but with passion provision
for future extension to four cars.
Construction cost for the scheme
is estimated at £200.4 million at 2019
prices, including a risk allowance
but not optimism bias or land
acquisition costs. Risk assessment
will also be needed on the 39 level
crossings between March and
Cambridge if additional services are
to be introduced on this stretch.
Passenger services on the March
to Wisbech line ceased in 1968,
although the line continued to be
used by freight services until 2000.
£200 MILLION FOR ELY
£200 million has been allocated
by the Department for Transport
to deliver improvements in the
Ely area during Control Period 6
(2019-24), but delivery of a full
capacity enhancement scheme
would cost considerably more.
A report to the Cambridgeshire
and Peterborough Combined
Authority’s Transport and
Infrastructure Committee sets out
the current status of the scheme.
The area currently has capacity for
8.5 train paths per hour at peak times
and 6.5 paths per hour off-peak,
which the report says is being fully
utilised with 127 train movements
per day. The current study is
likely to propose enhancements
to either 11 or 14 paths per
hour all day, with three of these
being freight and the remainder
passenger. For 11 paths per hour,
up to £251 million of additional
funding will be needed, and for
14 paths up to £351 million more.
Improvements required in the
Ely area include improvements
to structures to allow removal of
speed restrictions, layout changes
at the station, signalling headway
reductions, particularly for freight,
traction power upgrades and a range
of level crossing interventions.

Welcome to Ely: Stadler-built No 755410 draws into the station on

30 October 2019 with a Norwich to Cambridge service. Alan Wallwork

TRAFFORD PARK EXTENSION SET FOR OPENING

THE TRAFFORD Park extension
of Manchester Metrolink was due
to open on Sunday 22 March,
after this issue went to press.
The opening of the 5.5km line
is ahead of even an accelerated
schedule, with Transport for Greater
Manchester having announced
that the line would open early in
April. Leaving the existing network
at Pomona, the extension serves six
new stops at Wharfside, Imperial War
Museum, Village, Parkway, Barton
Dock Road and intu Trafford Centre.
TfGM has delivered the
£350 million extension alongside
construction partner M-Pact Thales,
a consortium of Laing O’Rourke,
VolkerRail and Thales, and its delivery
partner WSP. The extension expands
the Metrolink network, the largest in Coming soon: a preview service visits the
the UK, to over 100km with 99 stops. Trafford Centre on 19 December 2019.

16 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

016-017_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 16 17/03/2020 17:14

 News Front

More new trains: Nexus will order four extra sets

from Stadler as part of the Metro Flow project.

MIDLANDS AND METRO FLOW FUNDING

BUT NO FURTHER ELECTRIFICATION APPROVED IN THE BUDGET
DEVELOPMENT OF the
Midlands Rail Hub and funding to
increase capacity on the Tyne &
Wear Metro are among schemes
rewarded in the Chancellor’s
Budget, delivered on 11 March.
The budget commits to significant
infrastructure spending, although
the largest allocation of over
£27 billion over five years goes to
the strategic road network and
there has been no commitment to
further electrification of key main
line routes. A National Infrastructure
Strategy is to be published later in
the spring, while the budget also
launches a Comprehensive Spending
Review which will conclude in July
and set out detailed spending plans
for public services and investment.
£20 million is being invested to
develop the Midlands Rail Hub,
a scheme to increase capacity
across the region (p55, February
issue), taking the project to the
Outline Business Case stage. Priced
at £2 billion, the proposal features
15 pieces of new and improved
infrastructure including new chords
at Bordesley, a dive under or flyover at
Nuneaton and improvements to the
railway through Leicester. Midlands
Connect, which is promoting the
scheme, is targeting completion
for between 2024 and 2033 and
says the plans will make space for
24 new passenger trains an hour
across the network along with an
additional 36 freight trains each day,
providing faster and more frequent
services across the region. Midlands
Connect says some of the proposed
improvements could be delivered
during this Parliament (from 2024),
including the reopening of platform 4
at Birmingham Snow Hill station and
improvements to linespeeds between
Leicester and Birmingham.
METRO BOOST
Over £1 billion of investment
has been allocated through the
Transforming Cities Fund to deliver
schemes by 2022-23. Headlining
this is £198 million for the North
East, including funding for the
£100 million Metro Flow project for
the Tyne & Wear Metro. The project
involves removing three remaining
single-track sections of the Metro by
upgrading and electrifying a parallel
freight line in South Tyneside from
September 2022 to make it capable
of carrying Metro services. Three
sections of track between Pelaw and
Bede will be dualled – 800 metres
between Pelaw and Hebburn,
1.4km between Hebburn and
Jarrow and 600 metres between
Jarrow and Bede. Nexus will buy
a further four trains from Stadler,
taking the total order to 46, and
will be able to increase frequencies
system-wide from five to six trains
per hour. The Metro already shares
tracks with heavy rail services on
the line through Sunderland.
Other Transforming Cities Fund
allocations include £25 million for
a new station at Cottam Parkway on
the Preston to Blackpool line, funding
to the Sheffield City Region for a new
stop at Magna on the tram-train
line to Rotherham, £39.9 million
for Halifax which includes an
improved station and, subject to
further business case approval,
funding for a multi-modal transport
hub at Stoke-on-Trent station.
Accessibility funding of £50 million
will deliver improvements at
12 stations, expanding the
programme undertaken through
the Access for All initiative, among
them schemes at Newtown, Beeston,
Eaglescliffe and Walkden. The
Government has also committed to
building a new station at Cambridge
South to serve the biomedical
campus, subject to planning consent.
The latest region to get
a directly-elected mayor will be
West Yorkshire from May 2021, with
a devolution deal providing £1.1 billion
of investment for the area of over
30 years and devolving significant new
powers. In addition, up to £500,000
will support the city of Bradford to
develop plans that would maximise
the benefits of potential Northern
Powerhouse Rail connections.
Government is to remove the
entitlement to use red diesel from
April 2022, but rail will be one area
exempted from this change and will
continue to receive this tax relief.

Boost for the North East: Tyne & Wear Metro

service at Percy Main, 26 June 2016. Bill Welsh

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 17

016-017_MR_Apr 2020_news.indd 17 17/03/2020 17:14
 Rail Freight
FREIGHT VOLUMES FALL
RAIL FREIGHT volumes fell during
Quarter 3 (October to December)
of 2019-20, with the 3.99 billion net
tonne kilometre total for freight
moved the lowest recorded in
any quarter for over 20 years.
The figure represented an 8%
decrease on the same period
the previous year, reflecting the
continued decline in coal traffic.
There were year-on-year decreases
for international freight (down
Light in the darkness: oil and petroleum flows were down 9% in Q3 of FY19-20 even before coronavirus hit the economy, but one recent new flow is aviation fuel from the Isle
of Grain to Heathrow. Here No 66621 heads through West Brompton on the West London line with the 13.35 from Grain to Colnbrook on 13 December 2019. Antony Guppy
GATEWAY HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR
GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT
T
he rail freight industry knows
how to celebrate success
and the opening of the new
strategic rail freight interchange
at East Midlands Gateway at the
end of February was no exception.
Despite the torrential rain, several
hundred people came from the
industry and across the region
to mark the official launch of this
brand-new facility which saw the
start of services earlier this year.
Speaking at the event, Rail Minister
Chris Heaton-Harris MP highlighted
18 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
018-019_MR_Apr 2020_freight.indd 18
11%), oil and petroleum (down 9%),
metals (down 6%) and construction
(down 2%). Domestic intermodal
(which includes maritime container
flows from ports) accounted for
the largest share of freight moved
at 42%, with its market share up
by 13% over the last five years.
By the freight lifted measure,
which records volumes carried
but not the distance travelled, at
15.3 million tonnes the decrease
rail freight’s role in driving down UK
emissions and supporting economic
growth and international trade.
Sir John Peace, chair of the Midlands
Engine, emphasised the link between
the new facility and the prosperity
of the East Midlands region, both
on a national and global basis.
The new rail terminal is indeed
impressive, capable as it is of handling
up to 16 freight trains, 775 metres in
length, daily. It has storage capacity
for over 5,000 TEU (twenty-foot
equivalent units) of containers. Yet it
was more marked (20% down).
Just 1.4 million tonnes of coal was
lifted during the quarter, down 56%
on the same period in 2018-19.
Freight performance also suffered
during the quarter. The Freight
Delivery Metric was 91.4%, the
lowest for six years and down 1.6%
on the Q3 in 2018-19, although the
moving annual average at 93.8%
was 0.8% higher than the previous
year. Freight delay was 13.18 minutes
is the on-site warehousing that will
drive the long-term success, as we
have seen at similar sites such as at
Daventry. With new tenants on site
already keen to use the rail facilities,
and the adjacent airport offering
further opportunities, there is every
chance of continued growth.
Segro and Maritime Transport,
which have developed and operate
the site, are both large scale private
sector companies and have made
a very significant investment in
the facility. As well as building the
per 100 train kilometres, a 3%
increase on the previous year.
Slightly fewer freight train
kilometres were operated during
the three-month period, with
a 3% year-on-year decrease to
8.1 million kilometres. DB Cargo,
Freightliner and GB Railfreight
continue to dominate the market,
but the most notable change
was for Direct Rail Services which
saw an increase of 41%.
railhead and connecting it to the
main line, Segro has created the
on-site facilities, built the first phase
of warehousing and constructed
a new road, the Kegworth bypass, as
well as alterations to the motorway
junction. It has created a new bus
terminal and operates a shuttle
bus for on-site workers. In short, it
has spent a lot of money and, quite
reasonably, it expects to make
a return on that investment. So,
in his speech, John Williams, the
CEO of Maritime Transport, spoke
16/03/2020 17:35
 Rail Freight

SCOTTISH CEMENT BOOST

Help for Oxwellmains: the Scottish Government has allocated £1.49 million to Tarmac in a Freight Facilities Grant with the aim of expanding rail operations
at the company’s cement plant near Dunbar. Here Colas Class 60 No 60021, hauling the 05.55 Oxwellmains to Aberdeen Craiginches working, struggles
to get its heavy train loaded with cement for the Aberdeen Eastern Bypass project back on the move at Dunblane after a signal stop on 17 May 2018.
At left is No 170460 about to depart for Edinburgh Waverley; this service has been worked by EMUs since December 2018. Ian Lothian

Blackford progress
New terminal springs up: work is underway
on constructing buildings to serve flows
of Highland Spring bottled water from
new sidings at Blackford, near Gleneagles
on the route from Stirling to Perth. By
early February, a new road entrance had
been made and the former Blackford
station buildings had been demolished:
here the 10.46 Inter7City HST from
Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street
passes on 4 February 2020. Ian Lothian

of the factors which he considers
necessary for the business to thrive.
He highlighted the need for
a consistent and fair pricing framework
for rail, noting the comparison with
road freight. This includes charges
at ports and terminals, which can
sometimes be more expensive
for rail. Mr Williams also noted the
need for long-term capacity on
the network to support growth,
highlighting the demand for more
rail freight coming from customers.
These comments are timely with
the Williams Review expected to be
published soon. Although we do
not yet know the details, it is widely
expected there will be significant
changes, including to the commercial
model for passenger services, and this
in turn could lead to changes in the
fundamental building blocks of the
industry, including capacity allocation
and charging. If Government is to
retain more of the industry financial
risk for passengers, then it follows
that it may wish to specify and
contract services very differently.
However, the commercial model
for freight is wholly different, and
there does not seem to be any
need or appetite for change to that.
Freight operators will continue to
be private sector companies, taking
commercial risk on train services in
conjunction with their customers
and suppliers. So, it is essential that
the right framework exists to allow
these businesses to prosper and most
importantly to continue investing.
The most fundamental part
of this is the access framework
which gives companies the right to
operate trains on the network for
the long-term and is an essential
element of investor confidence. Today
this is defined in law, and overseen
by the Office of Rail and Road,
with a formalised Access Disputes
process, which freight operators
have needed to use on occasion.
Over time, and as the network has
become busier, the process has
sometimes struggled to cope, and
the way that some franchises have
been specified outwith the access
process has compounded the
issue. There is no doubt a case for
some reform and a more strategic
approach to identifying and
safeguarding capacity, but there is
also a danger that, in doing so, the
case for freight investment is lost.
Speaking at the launch event,
David Sleath, CEO of Segro, outlined
its plans for further investment
of around £1 billion across the
Midlands, including the recently
consented rail freight interchange
at Northampton Gateway. This is
welcome news for the economy
and for local job creation, and in
difficult economic times shows
an ongoing commitment to the
UK. Government must act to
support such investment in rail, by
creating the right environment.
This commitment comes as warm
words at official openings, but most
importantly, it comes in the right
legal and regulatory frameworks.
An opinion column of the
Rail Freight Group, www.rfg.org.uk

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 19

018-019_MR_Apr 2020_freight.indd 19 16/03/2020 17:35
 Infrastructure News
BELL TOLLS FOR LONDON BRIDGE ASC
LONDON BRIDGE Area Signalling
Centre (ASC) will cease to control
trains at the Easter bank holiday
weekend when control of the Hither
Green area is transferred to Three
Bridges Rail Operating Centre (ROC).
The signal box once employed
around 60 people with up to 15 on
shift at any one time, but since the
Angerstein recontrol at Easter 2019
has had a staff of just 15, with one
duty signaller plus one relief on
shift at a time. The process to move
signalling panels out of London
Bridge began at Christmas 2014
with the terminal platforms, kicking
off a series of transfers associated
with the Thameslink Programme
and finally the Angerstein and
Hither Green recontrols.
Panel 7 at the ASC covering the
Hither Green area fringes with Three
Bridges ROC to the north and covers
the main line as far as Chislehurst, the
Dartford line as far as Mottingham
and the Bromley North branch; the
country end fringes are with the
Kent Integrated Control Centre at
Ashford. The area of control also
includes Grove Park carriage sidings
and depots used by DB Cargo and for
Network Rail’s infrastructure fleet.
RENEWAL
With life-expired equipment
requiring replacement, the process
represents a renewal. Siemens is the
main contractor for the signalling
element with Balfour Beatty engaged
for the civils side. The project is
introducing 190 new signalling
equivalent units (SEUs), 58 new
Disappearing panel: the last-remaining section in use at London
Bridge ASC is at the far right of the picture. Philip Sherratt
20 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
020-021_MR_Apr 2020_infrastructure.indd 20
signals, 20 ground position lights,
26 point conversions, five relocatable
equipment buildings (REBs) and
20 location cabinets (compared
to 89 today, which will all be
recovered), 26 new signal posts and
nine refurbished signal structures.
The opportunity has also been
taken to change the method
of detection from track circuits
to some 254 axle counters.
Two principal supply points and
one auxiliary supply point will be
provided to increase reliability and
power provision to the system.
Following the commissioning the
power supply will be reconfigurable;
with the exception of the Bromley
North branch, if a section loses
power another will automatically
replicate it, avoiding an outage.
The civils side of the work has
included provision of 14 under-track
crossings, six signal gantries and two
cantilever structures. The general
principle has been to install new
equipment with modern standards
of reliability and maintainability,
improving safety at the same time.
OTHER BENEFITS
The Hither Green programme is also
introducing flexibility within the
signalling system to provide turnback
opportunities for use at times of
perturbation or during engineering
works, with two at Hither Green,
two at Grove Park and one at Lee.
Moving the signal on platform 3 at
Grove Park also enables a 12-car train
to be accommodated, rather than
the previous 10-car maximum.
In the shadow of the Shard: view
from the roof of the ASC, located in
the south-eastern corner of London
Bridge station. Philip Sherratt
The bulk of this work has taken
place already, with only a few
signals which were not otherwise
accessible to be installed during
the commissioning weekend.
A 103-hour blockade will begin
late on Thursday 9 April, with the
railway handed back the following
Tuesday morning. A collaborative
approach between Network Rail
and Southeastern has facilitated
the necessary possession access to
deliver these works. The four-day
closure will also be used to undertake
various minor upgrades at stations, in
a similar manner to the Three Bridges
to Brighton project in early 2019.
The Easter commissioning will
see the control room at London
Bridge ASC close and the relays on
the floor below fall silent. Equipment
within the telecoms room will
remain in use until it is re-sited in
the London Bridge Equipment
Room built beneath the station
during construction work as part
of the Thameslink Programme.
The ASC sits at the end of
platform 15 of the station, with its
presence meaning this is the only
platform at London Bridge not
cleared for 12-car operation (it can
accommodate 10 carriages). However,
there are no plans at present to
demolish the ASC and extend the
platform, with discussions as to
future use of the building ongoing.
RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENTS
A parallel programme is targeting
reliability improvements in the
Lewisham St John’s area, where
resignalling is not due until Control
Period 7 (2024-29). An investment
of around £20 million is seeing
replacement of track circuits,
installation of LED lights on signals,
replacement of faulty cables,
provision of plastic shields on
electrical components, installation
of remote condition monitoring on
critical assets and a wet bed removal
programme. More than £50 million
will be invested to renew junctions at
St Johns, Parks Bridge, Courthill, Grove
Park, New Cross and Lewisham, where
any faults can lead to significant
delays for passengers. This area was
recontrolled to Three Bridges during
the Thameslink Programme, but
the equipment was not renewed.
17/03/2020 12:15

WERRINGTON WORK PRESSES ON
A NINE-DAY blockade on the
East Coast main line planned for
September will be the key landmark
in the construction of a dive under at
Werrington, north of Peterborough.
The dive under is being built as
part of Network Rail’s East Coast
upgrade, which will increase capacity
on the route by the end of 2021.
At Werrington the grade separation
will remove conflicts posed by trains
crossing the flat junction from the
Stamford lines on the west side
to access the so-called Joint line
to Spalding, a manoeuvre chiefly
undertaken by long freight trains.
The gradients into and out of the dive
under have been optimised to be
as steep as possible while allowing
a fully loaded freight to restart.
Work carried out so far has
involved moving the Stamford lines
30 metres to the west to make way
for the south ramp of the dive under,
with this work completed over
Christmas. This required the creation
of a replacement river alignment
for Brook Drain North and a new
fenced off area for newt ponds, with
88 great crested newts translocated.
Now the key focus has moved to
the east side of the main line, where
the north portal and ramp are being
built. A tunnel boring machine
arrived on site in February and is now
excavating two 3.5-metre diameter
guide tunnels beneath the main line.
CONCRETE BOX
The nine-day closure, pencilled in for
6-15 September, will be used to slide
an 11,000-tonne curved concrete box
into place which will house the new
tracks. This box, around 160 metres
in length, is currently being formed
to the east of the main line within
the north ramp of the dive under.
During the closure the tracks and
overhead lines from the East Coast
main line above will be removed for
a 200-metre section, allowing space
for the box to be carefully steered
into position using hydraulic jacks
in an operation expected to take
five days, the curvature making this
a particularly challenging exercise.
Once this has been completed, track
and overhead lines will be restored
above and signalling modifications
made to allow lines to reopen.
The signalling alterations are
needed to maintain access to the Joint
line with trains in close proximity to
the worksite, as the diversionary route
will be used for the reduced service
operating during the nine-day period.
Network Rail is also investigating
the possibility of keeping one of the
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
020-021_MR_Apr 2020_infrastructure.indd 21
Dive under takes shape: the view of the new grade-separated alignment at
Werrington on 12 March 2020, with the East Coast main line at right. Philip Sherratt
Stamford lines open for bi-directional
working so a small number of trains
can continue north on the East
Coast route via Grantham, rejoining
the main line via a freight-only link
line at Helpston Junction (located
where the Stamford and East Coast
routes part company), although
this route would only be available
to diesel-powered trains. After the
possession, ballast will be laid and
track installed on the new formation.
The Stamford lines have both been
moved to the west of the dive under
box, but for the Up line this position
is temporary, and at Christmas it will
move east again to sit above the
box. Switch and crossing works at
Marholm Junction (where the dive
under lines will leave the Stamford
lines) will begin at Christmas to
connect the new tracks to the main
line, although a further possession
will be needed for switch and crossing
work on the down line, which is
likely to take place in February.
To the east, the new lines pass
under an existing bridge span
beneath the A15 formerly used
by Hurn Road, which has been
diverted to make way for the
new twin tracks. A new bridge
span will take the tracks beneath
Lincoln Road, after which they
will join the line towards Spalding
at the new Glinton Junction.
From a signalling perspective,
most alterations have already been
completed with provision made
for the dive under but not yet
switched on. The final signalling
stage to complete the project
will see this go live in March or
Infrastructure News
PROPOSED TRACK ‘JOINT’ LINE
TO SPALDING
LAYOUT CHANGES A15
AT WERRINGTON
JUNCTION Foxcovert
Glinton Junction Road
ECML TO
GRANTHAM
Lincoln
Road
A15
Hurn Road
Footbridge
Werrington Junction
ECML TO
PETERBOROUGH
Existing Line (Unaltered)
New dive-under line
Stamford Lines
Stamford Lines removed
Cock Lane Marholm Junction
Footbridge
April 2021, although this will not works relating to the remodelling
be a disruptive possession. in the station throat at King’s Cross
Morgan Sindall is the principal include a full closure of the station
contractor for the Werrington on 20-21 June and another on
project, with Network Rail engaged 5-6 September to coincide with the
in a hub and spoke arrangement opening weekend of the proposed
with the Central Rail Systems nine-day closure at Werrington.
Alliance for the track element, and These prelude a period of more
Siemens the signalling contractor. prolonged disruption planned
The dive under includes passive to start on 19 December and run
provision for electrification, which through to March 2021 when the
would take the form of a conductor bulk of the work at King’s Cross will
beam; ballast would be replaced take place, bringing the third bore
with slab track and the track of Gasworks Tunnel back into use.
lowered to make space for this. The East Coast upgrade is due
to culminate in an improved
BLOCKADES timetable in December 2021 which
Elsewhere on the East Coast main will include eight long-distance
line, provisional dates for further paths per hour, up from six today.
21
17/03/2020 12:15

THIRTEEN MIGHT be unlucky
for some, but not in the case of
Infrarail, as the 13th instalment is
on track to be one of the highlights
of the rail industry calendar.
This year the biennial event
comes to a new home – Olympia
London – from 12 to 14 May, with
new features, new faces and new
opportunities. Across the three days
there will be thousands of visitors
and more than 100 companies
showcasing the very latest
equipment, products and services.
Infrarail comes at a challenging
yet exciting time for the railway
industry, particularly for those
working in electrical engineering.
As well as once-in-a-generation
projects like HS2, record large-scale
investments are targeted at
enhancing the performance
of the existing system and
modernising its assets to meet
the increase in demand.
Electrification, digital railway
and the expansion of the London
Underground system are among
just a few of the headline
projects offering great business
opportunities for suppliers for many
years ahead. There will be particular
emphasis on civil engineering, track,
signalling and communications,
depots and station equipment and
services, as well as supply chain
services such as cable technology,
electronics, tools and workwear.
NEW VENUE
This year marks an exciting new
chapter in the Infrarail story
as the event come to a new
venue – Olympia London.
Natig Asadullaev, Exhibition
Manager for Infrarail, said: ‘We’re
incredibly excited about this
year’s event which will bring
a host of new features and
exhibits to a brand new venue.
‘It comes at an exciting time
for the railway industry as we
are in an era of record spending
and endless opportunities.
‘Organisations of all sizes will
be at the event, discussions
will be had, deals struck and
friendships will be made.’
BRINGING THE INDUSTRY
TOGETHER
Among the new features this year
will be a high-profile networking
space. Infrarail Matchmaking is
an official one-to-one business
networking service that will enable
registered users to search and
22 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
022_MR_Apr 2020_infrarail.indd 22
MOVES TO OLYMPIA
New venue for biennial infrastructure show
Showcase: companies from across the rail industry
will display their products at Infrarail 2020.
Speaker programme: details of the seminars at
Infrarail 2020 will be announced shortly.
Meet and greet: Infrarail provides an ideal networking
opportunity for industry personnel.
connect with new and existing
business contacts, manage event
schedules and arrange meetings
on exhibitor stands and in a new,
dedicated matchmaking lounge.
Anyone who registers will be
able to access their profile online
and search for connections by
their interests, sectors, products,
services and geographic location.
Natig Asadullaev added: ‘Our
new complementary matchmaking
service is the perfect way to make
valuable leads with new and
existing contacts. The programme
will provide free access to our
dedicated matchmaking team and
on-site meeting concierge, making
planning meetings and networking
a simple and hassle-free process.
‘Infrarail’s Matchmaking personal
planner also allows you to pre-book
meetings to suit you and your
colleagues’ show schedule.’
NEW FACES
As the reputation of the event
continues to grow, so do the
different organisations wanting to
exhibit. This year’s exhibition will
again have an international flavour,
building on the last event which had
visitors from more than 40 countries,
including representatives from
Atkins, Arup, Balfour Beatty, CAF,
Costain, Department for Transport,
KeolisAmey, Kier, Skanska, SNCF,
Transport for London, Transport
Scotland and Trenitalia.
Among just a few of the new faces
exhibiting at Infrarail in May include:
n Bender UK, market leader
in electrical safety;
n Fujikura, a leading
manufacturer and supplier of
superior quality power and
telecommunications products;
n Norwegian company Elkem,
a leading producer of high
quality silicon-based advanced
materials and related products,
presenting the benefits of using
Microsilica in rail networks;
n Exception PCB Ltd, European
time critical and technology
driven PCB manufacturer,
offering global services to
over 32 different countries.
DISCUSSING THE
BIG ISSUES IN RAIL
It is a landmark period of investment
and change for Britain’s rail network
with major projects such as HS2,
East West Rail and Northern
Powerhouse Rail just a few of the
big developments on the horizon.
Infrarail is much more than an
exhibition. Technical workshops,
seminars and high-level speakers
will be part of the programme,
making it the most important
industry networking and business
event in the rail calendar. The
speaker programme was due
to be confirmed shortly after
this issue went to press.
Infrarail offers CPD accreditation
for its extensive educational
programme. Attendees will be
scanned into the free sessions on
a wide array of topics and can then
claim points towards their Continuing
Professional Development.
ATTENDING INFRARAIL
Anyone wishing to attend Infrarail
as a visitor on the day for free
must register by midnight on
11 May 2020 at www.infrarail.com.
After this, registration online or
on-site costs £20. a
16/03/2020 17:36
 IMAGINE THE
JOURNEY

XPERIENCE
CUSTOMER
MANAGEMENT
TRAFFIC
MANAGEMENT
OPERATIONS
SIGNALLING
CONTROL

Operations wide, results focused,

digital management;
improving performance and
increasing capacity.

Real time, disruption Customer communication,

management. Plan optimum data gathering and analytics;
stock and crew utilisation; delivering personalised
improving service resilience engagement and
and customer satisfaction. informed journeys.

Digital platform with

automated movement
authorities. Integrates
with all interlockings
and any TMS; reducing
the cost of operations and
infrastructure renewals.

www.resonate.tech

Reasonate_FP.indd 1 20/12/2019 09:23

 Informed Sources
Traffic Management procurement
COMMON SENSE AT LAST
Informed Sources 1st Law confounded
INFORMED SOURCES 1ST LAW
Never assume railways are rational organisations
L
ike the other‘Informed Sources’
Laws, the 1st Law is based on
over half a century of empirical
research. It was first postulated under
British Rail, but privatisation has
brought a new wealth of confirmatory
evidence. Readers should note that
in this context‘railways’embraces
all those who influence, as well as
implement, railway policy, including
transport ministers, civil servants
and regulators, among others.
A classic example of the 1st Law’s
powers had been Network Rail’s
attempts to procure a Traffic
Management (TM) system. Yes, I know
I have been banging on about this
for over a decade, but the timescale
alone vindicates the 1st Law.
Procurement of TM for the Eastern
Region and London North Western
Route seemed to be heading for yet
another triumphant corroboration
of the 1st Law. Yet the outcome
delivered a stern reproof to this
column’s institutionalised cynicism.
HOWDY PARTNER
In May 2019 NR published an OJEU
Notice seeking expressions of
interest from‘partners’to provide
TM systems for two schemes.
24 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
024-029_MR_Apr 2020_informed 1-3.indd 24
One was the East Coast main
line resignalling, the other the
Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU).
These were zero-value Framework
Contracts, which would be called off as
the schemes progressed. Lot 1 covered
‘anywhere within the geographic
scope of Network Rail’s Eastern Region,
including the Trans-Pennine route’.
Lot 2 applied to the geographic scope
of the London North Western North
Route, including Trans-Pennine.
Both TM systems had to
‘technically integrate’with each
other in the middle of the Pennines.
Estimated values were: Lot 1,
£108 million, and Lot 2, £72 million.
According to the OJEU four
candidates were expected to qualify.
In the event there were seven
expressions of interest, from which
five potential suppliers went forward.
BACKGROUND
Time for a quick review of the
form of the runners and riders in
the 2019 TM Partner Handicap.
Alstom was, of course, one of Digital
Railway’s‘Favoured Three’who shared
£21 million to develop demonstration
suites under the original 2009 TMS
procurement. Despite the Iconis
Roger Ford
TABLE 1: A DECADE OF TRAFFIC
MANAGEMENT PROCUREMENT
Network Rail issues OJEU Notice July 2009
Demonstration suite contracts awarded August 2012
Demonstration suites operational End 2012
Resonate E-ARS receives Network Rail approval October 2013
National TM roll-out planned to start From 2014
Thales awarded Cardiff & Romford 1st deployment schemes May 2014
Hitachi TREsa ARS receives Network Rail approval March 2015
National TM roll out aborted March 2015
Hitachi awarded Thameslink TM contract July 2015
Cardiff and Romford delivery dates missed December 2015
Atkins brought in to support Hitachi July 2016
Revised Cardiff and Romford delivery dates missed December 2016
Cardiff and Romford (initially) descoped to isolated TM December 2016
Resonate submits proposal for Luminate integrated TM trial December 2016
Resonate awarded GWML integrated TM contract June 2017
Thameslink TM delivery date missed August 2017
Cardiff Isolated commissioned (non-operational) December 2017
GWML Integrated TM commissioned 10 June 2018
Cardiff Isolated with restricted functionality October 2018
Romford Upminster Isolated commissioning date October 2018
Siemens Dynamic Route Setting commissioned (Manchester) October 2018
Romford Integrated TM commissioning date cancelled September 2018
Cardiff Isolated TM goes live January 2019
Thameslink TM commissioning date missed March 2019
Romford Isolated live at Upminster IECC April 2019
ECML-TRU Signalling upgrade TM Partner OJEU issued May 2019
GWML Integrated TM extended evaluation ends September 2019
ECML Signalling upgrade TM Partner qualification September 2019
Thameslink TM Live interface with Westcad-e testing November 2019
ECML-TRU TM Partner contract decision deferred January 2020
Siemens confirmed as ECML-TRU TM Partner March 2020
Resonate awarded 10-year contracts for GWML and Liverpool St TM March 2020
Thameslink TM commissioning n/a
Busy railway: No 387128 forming a service from Cambridge enters Copenhagen
Tunnel via the flyover as No 91119 Bounds Green InterCity Depot 1977 -2017
exits with the 10.33 King’s Cross to Leeds on 14 May 2019. Antony Guppy
17/03/2020 12:18

demonstration suite being just down
the road from me, procurement moved
on before I got to play with it and
Alstom faded from the UK TM scene.
Indra of Spain was another from
the 2009 forlorn hope. The company’s
DaVinci TM has been installed on
all the Spanish high-speed rail
network. In 2018 a joint venture of
Indra and Siemens won a contract
from railway infrastructure manager
Adif to develop a traffic control and
management system, known as Sitra+,
for the entire Spanish rail network.
DXC of the United States with
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) was the
combination notable by its absence
from the 2009 line-up. Developed
jointly, the TM system has been in
service with SBB since 2009 and claims
some impressive statistical credentials.
According to informed sources,
SBB/DXC was in consortium with
Tracsis – which would provide
some UK experience (‘Informed
Sources’, November 2019). However,
in the end they did not bid.
Regular readers of this column
will know all about Hitachi,
Resonate, Siemens and Thales and
their respective track records.
OUT
Two early fallers were Hitachi and
Resonate. Here was the 1st Law
emerging. While disqualifying the
only firm in the world to have a fully
Integrated TM proven and in daily
service on its network, plus one of
the Favoured Three, the Network
Rail procurement team was happy
to shortlist other companies with
zero or limited experience of UK
signalling and control systems.
Equally, the procurement process,
as I understand it, means a buyer
can’t say‘You made a right Horlicks
of your last contract, so goodbye
and thank you’. No names, no pack
drill, but three years late, 100% over
budget and de-specced to the most
basic form of TM, meets the criteria
for a‘Horlicks’in BS:9009 to me.
TABLE 2: TM PROCUREMENT COMPETITIONS, 2009 AND 2019
The Dirty Dozen
Ansaldo
Atos Origin
CSC
GE
Hitachi
IBM
Indra
Invensys (2019 Siemens)
Logica
Siemens
Signalling Solutions (2019 Alstom)
Thales
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
024-029_MR_Apr 2020_informed 1-3.indd 25
ROC BASED
After I wrote up the aspirations of
East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP),
which also included procurement
of European Train Control System
(ETCS) between King’s Cross and
Peterborough plus a programme
integration partner, Programme
Director Toufic Machnouk got in touch
to explain that the TM component
was separate to the ECML South
resignalling, which was the central
feature of the scheme. In effect ECDP
was managing procurement of the
TM on behalf of the Routes and
their Rail Operating Centres (ROC).
This was to be hugely significant
in determining the outcome. As
explained below, successful TM
depends on integration between
the TM software and the control
system which implements the TM
outcome. In retrospect the original
TMS procurement was doomed
from the start, because Network
Rail believed TM was a ‘product’ you
could buy off the shelf and install in
your signalling and control centres.
UPGRADE
What the trial of Resonate’s Luminate
TM on Great Western demonstrated
is that for TM to be effective it needs
to be treated as an upgrade to an
existing control system. Thus a key
consideration was the control system
installed at the ROCs concerned,
namely Manchester (Siemens’
Westcad), Derby (Westcad) and York
(Westcad and Resonate IECC Scalable).
Note that the TMP contracts are
‘empty frameworks’ to be populated
with contracts as the business case
can be made. As we know from
Great Western it is proving very
hard to link improved performance,
which can be monetised, to TM.
TM was promoted initially for
its ability to predict and manage
major disruption across the network.
Great Western’s experience with
Luminate has shown that while
the use of offline plan and re-plan
2009 procurement
The select six The tested trio
Ansaldo STS Hitachi (Tranista)
General Electric Signalling Solutions (Iconis)
Hitachi Thales (Aramis)
Invensys Rail
Signalling Solutions
Thales
HERE’S WHAT WE WANT
Network Rail (NR) requires a Traffic Management Partner (TMP) to work
collaboratively within its Eastern Region, and a TMP to work collaboratively
within the London North Western North (LNW North) Route of the LNW
Region, to achieve NR’s long-term strategic vision for Traffic Management.
Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, 15 May 2019
during disruption is valuable, the
real benefit of an Integrated Traffic
Management system lies in the ability
it gives signallers to implement the
many small interventions which turn
good performance into excellent.
Sub-threshold delays – under
three minutes – have long been
a major concern to operators as
the railway has become busier. TM
could be the key to reducing them.
Less glamorous than preventing an
incident at Newcastle disrupting
services at Reading hours later,
but providing a 24/7 benefit.
BRAVE PUNT
So hats off to Toufic Machnouk and
his team who, taking a user-centred
approach to TM, came up with the
logical decision to award both TM
Partnership contracts to Siemens,
which had control equipment in the
key ROCs. Given the major players
on the shortlist, this must have
taken some intestinal fortitude.
According to informed sources
there were some vigorous protests,
but no-one mounted a formal
challenge. I got my ears bashed,
with informed sources pointing out
Siemens has yet to demonstrate
a working TM system on the UK
network, the experience to date
being limited to interfacing with the
Hitachi Tranista TM for Thameslink.
As reported in ‘Informed Sources’
(January 2020), Siemens is developing
its own TM upgrade known as
Dynamic Conflict Resolution (DCR).
The pilot application, covering
selected Westcad workstations
at Derby Rail Operating Centre
(ROC), is due to be installed shortly,
with trials staring later this year.
2019 procurement
The dynamic duo The seven supplicants
Hitachi (Three Bridges) Alstom
Thales (Cardiff & Romford) Hitachi
Indra
Resonate
SBB/DXC
Siemens
Thales
Informed Sources
Now it is up to the ROCs to develop
incremental improvements to
their Westcad control systems with
Siemens. To go ahead, these will have
to make a‘robust’business case.
ENHANCEMENT
But as the two Resonate contracts for
Great Western and Anglia show, TM
supplied as an enhancement to an
existing control system, rather than
a new‘multi-million computer’, is not
costly and might even be affordable
from Operating Expenditure. The
corollary of the new approach is that
Siemens and Resonate can now
negotiate further deals to roll out
TM for control centres with Westcad
and IECC Scalable respectively.
In which case, where does this
leave control centres with MCS
workstations? These were supplied
by General Electric (GETS), which
was acquired by Alstom.
Subsequently Alstom has
developed the‘MCS Infinity’
workstation, which combines touch
screen panels with wrap-round display
screens. An installation is being trialled
on an MCS desk at Three Bridges ROC.
However, adding TM could be
problematic since Alstom’s Iconis
TM is an integrated supervision
and control system which includes
what Alstom calls Automatic
Train Path Management. Adding
TM to MCS workstations as an
enhancement is debatable.
Especially as TM is only as good
as the Automatic Route Setting
(ARS) supporting it. Alstom has
inherited an interest in the Hitachi
TREsa ARS available with the MCS
workstations, since GETS jointly
funded this application. a
The favoured five The rational winner
Alstom Siemens
Indra
SBB/DXC
Siemens
Thales
25
17/03/2020 12:18
 Informed Sources Roger Ford

AUTOMATIC ROUTE SETTING

KEY TO SUCCESSFUL TM
Traffic Management does the clever stuff, but implementation needs equally bright route setting

R
ather like buses, you wait
months for Network Rail and
Resonate to agree a long-term
contract for the Great Western main
line’s Luminate integrated Traffic
Management and then two contracts
are announced simultaneously. As
reported in ‘Infrastructure News’
last month, the Derby-based
company has been awarded
10-year contracts, together worth
£50 million, covering licensing of the
Luminate software, maintenance
and support, plus provision for future
enhancements, at both Didcot and
Liverpool Street control centres.
Given the time taken to reach
mutually agreeable terms for
a new type of contract for the
existing GW installation, a second
Luminate contract covering the
control area of the Liverpool Street
Integrated Electronic Control
Centre (IECC) came as a surprise. Congested throat: No 66705 Golden Jubilee at Bishopsgate with an engineer’s train during track
It must also have surprised those relaying on the Liverpool Street approaches on 21 July 2019. Antony Guppy
bidding for the East Coast TM
Partner (TMP), since Lot 1 covers It also emphasised that the to implement its outputs it needs With IECC Scalable, Resonate’s
‘a framework for TMS anywhere aim was to ‘secure enhanced to interface with the real railway. Enhanced ARS (E-ARS, pronounced
within the geographic scope of functionality in the IECC Scalable When British Rail Research was ears) runs the day’s timetable which
Network Rail’s Eastern Region’. system through the installation of developing the IECC concept, is downloaded the previous night
Indeed, according to informed supplementary software’. Nothing a key feature was Automatic Route by Network Rail. As an aside, both
sources, there was concern that new to see here – please move on. Setting (ARS). The aim was to reduce Luminate and Hitachi’s Tranista
a TMP bidder might protest the A long screed followed, the workload on the signallers at TM at Three Bridges are proving
award of a £50 million TM contract hammering home multiple reasons their workstations by running the invaluable at de-conflicting these
to the firm which came last in why Luminate was the only timetable – setting routes and downloads, which regularly contain
the pre-qualification evaluation. option. A major argument was regulating trains – automatically. plans which are undeliverable.
However, the ‘voluntary ex-ante’ that software and systems from As I was told on a visit to Didcot When Luminate is used to
Notice in the Official Journal of the a different manufacturer would Signalling Centre, under normal re-plan a service, the changes
European Union announcing the risk integration and compatibility conditions, the Great Western are downloaded to the Scalable
intention to award the contract had issues. It would also divide main line is an ‘ARS railway’. timetable planner (TTP), which
been carefully worded by a crack responsibility for maintenance and E-ARS then implements. As I was told
team of specialist lawyers. In the support between two companies, UNDERESTIMATED during a Luminate demonstration
event, the 10-day standstill period ‘making it difficult to support However, there has been a tendency at Didcot, ‘the TM can throw
passed without dispute and the and maintain the IECC Scalable to understate the capability of ARS the new plan at the ARS which
roll-out of Integrated TM has begun. platform as a whole, including amid the excitement of procuring TM. can correct any minor issues’.
interface responsibility and a single ARS is much more than an electronic
NO ALTERNATIVE point of accountability’. The version of the London Underground’s CLEVER
Ex-ante Notices aim to justify letting result would be ‘disproportionate Dell Programme Machines with So E-ARS is quite smart. And if the
contracts without competition. technical difficulties in operation the timetable encoded as holes TM shuts down, E-ARS will continue
Thus, the Notice explained that and maintenance of the punched in a roll of plastic sheet. running the most recent timetable.
competition was absent on the IECC Scalable platform’. While running the timetable, This is why I have added ARS
Liverpool Street contract ‘for ARS takes account of late-running development dates to Table 1 (p24).
technical reasons due to unique SECRET SAUCE trains and prioritises route setting at In summary, while TM has been
characteristics/technical capabilities All worthy reasons, but the key factor conflict points to minimise aggregate the focus of attention over the past
of Luminate to integrate with in Luminate’s success is a decades-old train delay. In complex areas it decade, to be effective it is crucially
existing IECC Scalable system in system that has been largely can also re-route trains where it is dependent on ARS. For Resonate
Anglia’. It added: ‘No reasonable overlooked in the TM procurement permitted to do so. There are also and Siemens the application
alternative or substitute exists. process. Traffic Management facilities to invoke contingency plans, of some Keizen – continuous
Luminate is uniquely suited to software can do an increasing rescheduling services in the event improvement – to E-ARS and ARS
meeting the contract objectives’. range of clever things. However, of infrastructure unavailability. should be the order of the day. a

26 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

024-029_MR_Apr 2020_informed 1-3.indd 26 17/03/2020 12:18

Angel_Grayling_FP.indd 1 11/03/2020 12:10
 Informed Sources
Barrier down: the EBI Gate 2000
MCB-OD level crossing system.
BOMBARDIER’S NEW
MCB-OD CONTENDER
A day out in Yorkshire reveals revived ambitions
T
hink ‘Bombardier’ in the
UK and the immediate
association is with
rolling stock. Yet the European
multinational is also a major player
in the global signalling industry.
How come, then, that Bombardier
does not have the same presence
in the UK signalling market?
Time for some genealogical
exploration of the consolidation
within the European signalling
industry over the last 50 years.
Bombardier’s signalling heritage
starts with Ericsson of Sweden,
pioneer of signalling, founded in
1915. In the UK it extends back
to ML Engineering of Plymouth,
established in 1957. In 1961, ML
Engineering signed an agreement
with L. M. Ericsson to be the Swedish
company’s sole representative
in the UK for railway signalling
and associated equipment.
In 1989 Ericsson became
EB Signal, which in the same
year acquired ML Engineering.
EB Signal, in turn, was acquired
by ABB, becoming part of ABB
Transportation. ABB was itself
28 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
024-029_MR_Apr 2020_informed 1-3.indd 28
a merger of ASEA of Sweden and
Brown Boveri of Switzerland.
Next, in 1996, ABB Transportation
merged with a subsidiary of Daimler
Benz. Three years later Daimler Benz
took full control, creating ADtranz,
best known for its ownership of the
former British Rail Engineering rolling
stock business at Derby. Finally, in
2001, Bombardier acquired ADtranz,
creating Bombardier Transportation.
UK PRESENCE
ML Engineering had been the
junior member of the triumvirate of
British Rail’s signalling contractors,
alongside GEC-General Signal and
Westinghouse. While ML carried out
some signalling projects, including
abroad, these ended when the
company did not acquire a Solid
State Interlocking (SSI) licence.
However its
equipment-manufacturing
business continued, with products
ranging from signal heads to data
transmission multiplexing systems.
The jewel in the corporate crown
was the TI21 jointless track circuit, the
TI standing for Traction Immune.
With the privatisation of British
Rail, ADtranz expanded its UK
presence, buying the Interlogic
Signalling design group based
at Reading. Interlogic came with
an SSI licence, but since ADtranz
already had the EBI Lock Computer
Based Interlocking (CBI), the licence
was sold on to W. S. Atkins.
TRIAL
EBI Lock was selected by Railtrack
for one of its ill-considered and
ill-fated CBI pilot schemes. It was
also mooted for Thameslink 2000
signalling in preference to SSI.
Railtrack assumed that the
success of the pilot scheme
interlockings would herald
a new generation of signalling
technology: but all three crashed
and burned. Bombardier’s EBI Lock
trial at Horsham had the additional
handicap of being formally
inaugurated by Captain Deltic
on a sunny afternoon in 2002.
There is one more piece of
history. Rather like Alstom with
Signalling Solutions, Bombardier
had formed Infrasig, a joint
venture with a civil engineering
contractor to bid for turnkey
signalling projects. Unfortunately,
Roger Ford
the civils partner was Carillion and
now Bombardier’s UK signalling
activities are firmly back within
the responsibility of its in-house
Rail Control Solutions (RCS) arm.
CATCH-UP
I must confess that with the
distractions of European Train
Control System (ETCS) and Traffic
Management, plus the end of Infrasig,
I had lost visibility of Bombardier’s
signalling activities. That was
until last September when I was
invited to see the company’s latest
product to be installed on the UK
network – the EBI Gate 2000 MCB-OD
level crossing system. The site visit,
looking at some new tech, would be
followed by an overdue update on
Rail Control Systems (RCS) activities
over coffee and sandwiches.
One of the contracts won by
Infrasig was the replacement of four
life-expired Automatic Half Barrier
(AHB) level crossings between
Shaftholme Junction and Knottingley
with Manually Controlled Barriers
with Obstacle Detection (MCB-OD).
Commissioned from April 2018, the
first crossings ran in shadow mode for
six months before entering service.
The route carries a steady stream
17/03/2020 12:18

of freight traffic, in particular fuel
for the Yorkshire power stations.
ON-SITE
First stop on my visit was Selby
Road crossing on the busy A19
road. Inside the compound, the
crossing’s relay interlocking has
been retained in its original brick
building. Control equipment for the
EBI Gate 2000, which interfaces with
the existing interlocking, plus its
power supply equipment, is housed
in a walk-in ‘hut’. The power supply
includes four batteries providing
10-12 hours of operation in the
event of a mains supply failure.
Modular construction means
that, if the space is available, the
new crossing control equipment
can be installed in racks in existing
equipment rooms. On the Ferriby
to Gilberdyke resignalling scheme,
which included nine EBI Gate 2000
crossings, seven locations had huts,
which also contained the new
signalling and telecommunications
equipment. The remaining two were
deployed in existing relay rooms.
DETECTION
Primary Obstacle Detection
(POD) is provided by radar with
LIDAR providing Complementary
Obstacle Detection (COD). This
combination was pioneered
on the Modular Signalling pilot
schemes described in this column
way back in November 2013.
EBI Gate 2000 uses the standard
Honeywell radar, housed in the
familiar white ‘egg’. Network
Rail developed this system in
conjunction with Honeywell, but
the manufacturer is no longer
supporting such a niche product.
As a result, Network Rail has
commissioned development of an
‘OD Mk 2’. Meanwhile, further orders
for crossings can draw on a stock
of around 30 units already built.
COD units are housed in boxes
mounted between the two tracks.
These scan the crossing for people
or objects on the crossing, before
the approach signal can be cleared.
A requirement in the original
MCB-OD specification included
the ability for the LIDAR to detect
a small child lying prone. More recent
risk assessments have removed
that requirement. A third level of
detection is provided by inductive
loops under the road service which
can detect a stationary car.
CONTROL
From Selby Road the next stop
was Norton signal box, which
controls one of the four MCB-OD
crossings, plus two closed circuit
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
024-029_MR_Apr 2020_informed 1-3.indd 29
television-monitored crossings and
the adjacent MCB. The signaller
controls the EBI Gate crossing through
a seven-inch touch screen installed in
the push button panel. On the Ferriby
to Gilberdyke resignalling scheme,
with its new interlocking, the level
crossings are controlled from the
Westcad workstation at York ROC.
Arriving at Norton box we
passed the barrier equipment, with
the barrier operating mechanism
and counterweights exposed.
I remembered that the similar
components back at Selby Road had
been enclosed in mesh panels (as
shown in the photo at bottom right).
Here is a classic example of the UK
‘gold-plating’ European Directives.
It turns out that to comply with
the EU Machinery Directive, the
new crossing’s moving parts have
had to be enclosed. The Office
of Rail and Road’s argument was
that a small child might escape
from a parent while the crossing
was closing, run over and stick his
or her head in the mechanism.
As a result, the mesh enclosures
you can see have had to be
custom made. But, surely, with
around 1,000 EBI Gate 2000
units supplied since the first
entered service in Poland, such
guards are standard fitments on
European railways? (I’ll just set that
in Sarcastic Italic shall I? – Ed.)
MARKET
You might think that a new level
crossing was an odd choice of
kit to choose when bringing me
up to speed on RCS’s current
activities. However two elements
of Network Rail’s long-term
level crossing strategy are:
n developing and rolling out
automatic full barrier crossings
with obstacle detection to help
reduce pedestrian errors and
deliberate road vehicle user
violations on the network;
n prioritising the removal of AHBs
near to stations and schools.
Crossing barrier: in this example, the operating
mechanism and counterweights are exposed.
There are around 400 AHB
crossings on the network: in the
current Control Period (2019-24),
Network Rail’s signalling work-bank
includes over 200 upgrades. With
devolution these schemes are driven
at Route level. With a standard,
proven product, Bombardier reckons
there are some 60-100 potential
opportunities – either directly or as
supplier to one of the Signalling &
Telecomms Framework contractors.
PRODUCTS
Meanwhile, the Plymouth factory
continues to manufacture a range
of products for both the domestic
market and export. Such is the
reputation of the original TI21 track
circuit that, while the 21st century
digital version has been rebadged
‘EBI Track 200’, the transmitter case
still carries the TI21 designation.
Export sales include railways that
are life-extending signalling while
introducing new electric traction.
Building on the TI21 is the EBI
Track 400 coded jointless track circuit,
suitable for AC, DC or dual-voltage
electrification. Bombardier claims
it meets the ‘need for all known
track circuits’ with audio frequencies
available for metro and main line
application. It is also backwards
compatible with TI21 infrastructure.
Alongside the growing demand
for track circuits, Bombardier is
currently seeking UK approval
for an axle counter developed
by its Polish company. Testing
is taking place at Crewe.
ETCS UK
My previous meeting with
Bombardier’s signalling team
was when Infrasig was one of
the organisations demonstrating
SHAFTHOLME JUNCTION –
KNOTTINGLEY MCB-OD LOCATIONS
North to south
n Cridling Stubbs
n Spring Lodge
Informed Sources
its products at the press launch
of Network Rail’s ETCS National
Integration Facility (ENIF) in
2014. Subsequently Infrasig was
a bidder for the contract to install
ETCS in the southern section
of the ECML. This contract has
only recently been awarded.
However, Infrasig did receive the
contract to upgrade Network Rail’s
Rail Innovation & Development
Centre (RIDIC) – the former British
Rail Old Dalby test track – with
ETCS Level 2. Bombardier is
currently delivering this project.
Bombardier has also supplied its
EBI Cab on-train ETCS equipment
for Crossrail’s Class 345 Aventra
fleet and is similarly equipping
South Western Railway’s new
Aventras. The company’s ETCS
programme also includes
retrofitting existing Electrostar
trains. At Plymouth, the factory
has also begun manufacturing
that ubiquitous ETCS component,
the track mounted balise –
supplementing the output of
the group’s Swedish plant.
OPPORTUNITIES
While now a Tier 3 player in the UK
signalling market, Bombardier’s
RCS still sees substantial
opportunities for its technology
and products as a supplier to the
major framework contractors.
Equipment supply is also supported
by the Group’s Installation Test &
Commission (ITC) organisation.
In addition to UK schemes,
ITC has also supported projects
in Sweden and Poland. There
is scope here to ‘do a lot more’,
supporting Network Rail’s Tier 2
Signalling & Telecommunications
Framework Contract holders. a
n Womersley
n Selby Road
Childproof version: mesh panels
around the mechanism.
29
17/03/2020 12:18
 Informed Sources
THOSE WEREN’T THE DAYS
More confirmation that politicians inhabit a parallel universe
T
hey say of the 1960s that if
you remember them you
weren’t there. To judge by
his comments in this year’s George
Bradshaw lecture, when it comes
to the 1980s, former Transport
Secretary Sir Patrick McLoughlin
may remember them, but must
have been in a parallel universe.
DOLDRUMS
Patrick McLoughlin became a junior
Transport Minister in Margaret
Thatcher’s Government in July 1989,
holding the position until the
April 1992 general election. So how
does the real world, as reported
in Modern Railways, compare with
his dystopian recollections?
Take ‘a railway in the doldrums’.
When Sir Patrick arrived in 1989,
British Rail had just enjoyed six
years of uninterrupted growth,
with passenger miles reaching the
highest level since 1952. Following
the recession at the start of the
1990s, that level of ridership would
not be surpassed until 1997.
What about ‘managers
struggling against the odds
with minimal, unsustained
investment’? Well, how about route
modernisation and electrification
of the East Coast main line?
Presumably the inaugural
3hr 29min London to Edinburgh
30 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
030-034_MR_Apr 2020_informed 4-5.indd 30
Roger Ford
Clear spectacles? Sir Patrick McLoughlin record run in 1991 somehow passed
delivers the George Bradshaw address in him by. And wouldn’t you have
London on 25 February 2020. Phil Marsh expected a true-blue Tory to take any
opportunity to celebrate the fact that
more route miles of electrification were
commissioned during the blessed
Hilda Margaret’s reign than any other
administration before or since?
MISSED
His attention must have been
elsewhere, since he also missed the
re-equipment of the passenger and
freight rolling stock fleets – with
4,000 passenger vehicles delivered
in the decade before privatisation. Or
what about the birth of the Digital
Railway, with the first Integrated
RECOVERED MEMORIES Electronic Control Centre at
Liverpool Street going live as he
2016 LECTURE settled into his ministerial office?
‘Back in 1989, the railways were seen as yesterday’s industry. Remember what Then there’s total route
it was like. A difficult safety record. Managers struggling against the odds with modernisation of the Chiltern line and
minimal, unsustained investment. Government’s attention – elsewhere. (I think you’ve made your point – Ed).
‘What a difference today. It is an absolute pleasure to be able to work Can I just point out that Chris Green
with a confident, expanding rail industry and supply chain. Something and his fellow Sector Directors were
that would have been unimaginable to many of my predecessors.’ far more entrepreneurial than the
bureaucrats in charge of franchising
2020 LECTURE today? (Oh, all right then – Ed.)
‘Indeed, I sometimes compare my time in the Department for
Transport in the late 80s to my time there in the 2010s. In the 1980s COSTS
I saw a railway in the doldrums, run by bureaucrats not entrepreneurs, Anyway, with my blood well and
dirty and unsafe, and declining in the nation’s esteem. truly up, I thought it might be
‘Since then, it has been utterly transformed into a growing, thriving apposite to update my comparison
modern railway with more than double the number of passengers.’ of BR’s cost to the Government
Sir Patrick McLoughlin, George Bradshaw lectures with today’s railway. This always
NSE total route modernisation: Networker Turbo No 165030
alongside the defunct mechanical signal box at Princes
Risborough on the Chiltern line, 2 August 1997. Ken Brunt
17/03/2020 12:16
 Informed Sources

goes down well with the defenders

of Sir Patrick’s ‘growing, thriving
modern railway with more than
double the number of passengers’.
Table 3 shows the base
data from the ORR website.
You may be wondering why
I chose 1989-90 rather than the
elegance of a 20-year interval.
Simply because British Rail repaid
borrowing to the Government
in 1988-89, to the tune of
£340 million at 2018-19 prices.
I thought it a trifle unsporting to
take advantage of that bounty.
So, today’s railway costs the
taxpayer roughly four times as much
as Bob Reid’s business-led railway
needed in its pomp. But, of course,
this doesn’t allow for the fact that
today’s railway is much busier.
Hence Table 4 adds ridership
in passenger kilometres. As you BedPan electrification: British Rail Chairman Sir Peter Parker in the cab of No 317321 after arrival at St Pancras on 28 March 1983 as
can see, subsidy per passenger the first driver-only operated (DOO) EMU on the route, following resolution of an industrial dispute concerning DOO. Tony Miles
kilometre has roughly doubled.
So what about revenue? At TABLE 3: GRANTS AND SUPPORT FOR RAIL, 1989-90 AND 2018-19
today’s prices, passenger revenue
is 125% up on 1989-90. When Central Loans to
Financial Passenger Transport Direct rail 2018-19
corrected for ridership, revenue per Government Total Network
year Executive (PTE) grants support prices
passenger kilometre is up 27%. grants Rail
A final statistic is that the rolling 1989-90 479 84 0 563 1,088 0
stock fleet has not increased 2018-19 417 5 3,859 4,281 4,281 5,629
significantly. In 1989-90 British Source: ORR
Rail was running 12,500 vehicles.
Today the total is around
14,000 – a 12% increase. No doubt the privatisation
For completeness I have added ‘ultras’ at the Rail Delivery
separate columns including the Group have a perfectly good
‘other support’ category in the BR explanation for why this financial
data and loans made to Network situation is perfectly normal for
Rail in 2018-19. Call me a cynical old the best of all possible railways.
curmudgeon, but I can’t see these No doubt all will be explained
loans being repaid any-day soon. In in next month’s letters page.
this case the subsidy per passenger By chance, recently I came across
kilometre is still roughly double. this quote from Richard Bowker,
the Chairman of the Strategic
DISECONOMIES OF SCALE? Rail Authority, in 2002. That was
For an industry with a high the time when I was pointing out
fixed-cost base, essentially the that infrastructure project costs
same assets and growing demand, had risen to triple those under
you would expect the unit cost of British Rail. ‘Personally, I couldn’t
production, and thus subsidy, to fall care less what it cost BR. All that
as throughput increased and spare matters is what it costs now and
capacity was filled. You would have what we have to do to get it under
to be really clever to reorganise control’, Sir Richard told me.
such an industry in such a way that To mix a metaphor, not
when its throughput has doubled paying sufficient attention to
over 20 years, and revenue more pre-privatisation yardsticks
than doubled, so has the unit cost has seen the boiling frogs Rolling stock investment: the first Class 321 EMU to be completed at BREL York, No 321301,
in terms of subsidy needed. come home to roost. a is rolled out before the assembled workforce on 15 September 1988. Brian Morrison

TABLE 4: SUBSIDY AND REVENUE PER PASSENGER KILOMETRE

ALL AT 2018-19 PRICES
Subsidy per Revenue per Total support Subsidy per
Direct rail Passenger
passenger Revenue passenger including ‘other’ passenger
support kilometres
kilometre (£ million) kilometre and loans to kilometre
(£ million) (millions)
(pence) (pence) NR (£ million) (pence)
1989-90 1,088 33,500 3.2 3,965 11.8 1,537 4.6
2018-19 4,281 66,500 6.4 10,000 15.0 7,058 10.6
Source: ORR with ‘Informed Sources’ analysis.

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 31

030-034_MR_Apr 2020_informed 4-5.indd 31 17/03/2020 12:16
 Informed Sources
Software sinks performance hopes
If NASA has it right, a rethought approach to software
is the way to climb up the New Train TIN-Watch table
T
wo new entries from Greater
Anglia this month. A pair of
Stadler Class 745/0 inter-city
EMUs enter mid-table; meanwhile
the Class 755/3 three-car bi-modes
now appear in their own right.
According to informed sources,
among their various teething troubles
the Class 755 bi-modes have suffered
with engine problems, including oil
and fuel leaks. Each four-car ‘755/4’
has four Deutz diesel engines and can
remain in service with one, or even
two, shut down. The ‘755/3’ has only
two engines, and if one shuts down
it is a case of limp back to depot.
This month’s ‘benchmark of
embarrassment’ features the
least reliable Class 150. Entirely
coincidentally, it marks the dividing
line between ‘disappointing for
a new train’ and ‘truly awful’.
Similarly, Great Western’s Castle
Class ‘Pocket Rocket’ IC125s delineate
the stage in development where
15,000 MTIN, which rule-of-thumb
suggests is the point at which
reliability is no longer a major
factor in performance, is in sight.
Finally, six of the top 10 places
in the table are held by Hitachi
32 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
030-034_MR_Apr 2020_informed 4-5.indd 32
fleets. Which is not to say that
all is sweetness and light.
While concentrating on getting
the trains into service, Hitachi appears
to have lost focus on the fact it
was going to have to maintain the
two Intercity Express Programme
fleets for the next 27½ years.
One result is that daily service
is revealing that some routine
maintenance activities are taking up
to twice as long as anticipated – ‘more
trains than usual needing repair at
the same time’ in LNER social media
speak. This is being reflected in
cancellations and short formations.
DELTICS
I suppose the Deltic maintenance
contract pioneered the train
service provision deal. English
Electric guaranteed fleet mileage
and availability. We at the depots
supervised running maintenance
by British Rail staff, but also put
on our overalls when it came to
exams and modifications. The
depots were also maintaining
other types of locomotive, and the
English Electric/Napier teams were
in effect guests at the depots.
GEC Alsthom’s Northern Line rolling
stock contract was probably the first
Total Train Service Provision deal
where the manufacturer supplied
the trains, took over the depots and
the workforce and was responsible
for long-term maintenance. The train
service contract was signed in 1995
and runs until 2033, with options
to terminate in 2017 and 2027.
Rather like printer ink, with Train
Service Provision contracts the real
value to the manufacturer lies in the
ongoing payment for maintenance,
mid-life refurbishment and spares
supplies. Street-wise Metro-Cammell
realised efficient maintenance was
key to long-term profitability.
With the Northern Line fleet, this
was reflected in the contracts with
suppliers of major components
who were required to specify the
time to carry out maintenance
and repair tasks. For example,
Brecknell, Willis was required
to commit to the time taken to
replace a collector shoe beam.
So far, so prudent. But when
the first train was completed
sub-contractors were invited to
Washwood Heath and asked to
New train in the North: unit No 195119 forms the 16.30 Manchester
Airport to Barrow-in-Furness at Kents Bank on 18 July 2019. Rob France
Roger Ford
complete the specified tasks against
the stopwatch. Finding out how long
jobs take only when a train arrives
on the depot is not a good idea.
CURSE OF IEP
As with Great Western, LNER services
are also being affected by the
combination of fleets imposed by the
Department for Transport under the
Intercity Express Programme contract.
When deliveries are complete, LNER
will have 65 sets for 54 diagrams –
an undemanding 83% availability.
However, with four sub-classes
availability becomes tighter.
While Class 800 bi-modes can
substitute for Class 801 electrics,
depending on the duty, an electric
may not be able to step up for
a bi-mode. This is compounded by the
mix of five- and nine-car formations
in both traction flavours. In common
with Great Western, five vice nine or
five vice 10 has been all too common,
wrecking seat allocations and causing
chronic overcrowding. And that is
before you introduce IC225 sets.
As reported (‘Moving Wheels’, last
month), availability is particularly
demanding in the case of the
bi-modes, where 13x9-car and
10x5-car units have to cover
14 previous IC125 diagrams plus
Lincoln and other beyond-the-wires
17/03/2020 12:16
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www.modern-railways.co.uk April 2020 Modern Railways 33

033_MR_APR20_ad.indd 1 16/03/2020 09:55
 Informed Sources Roger Ford

TABLE 5: NEW TRAIN RELIABILITY, PERIOD 11 2019-20

Number of MTIN Moving
Number of Miles/Technical
TOC Class Traction Maker Technical Unit Miles Annual
units/ trainsets Incident (MTIN)
Incidents (TIN) Average
Hull Trains Class 802 Bi-mode Hitachi 2 1 54,544 54,544 39,420
ScotRail Class 385 EMU Hitachi 70 14 761,414 54,387 24,861
LNER Class 801 EMU Hitachi 23 7 358,634 19,924 14,773
GTR Class 700 EMU Siemens 115 83 1,339,329 16,136 14,186
TPE Nova 3 train set Diesel CAF 5 6 64,437 10,740 13,204
GWR Class 800 Bi-mode Hitachi 57 70 975,618 13,937 11,917
LNER Class 800 Bi-mode Hitachi 22 19 390,529 20,554 10,531
GTR Class 717 EMU Siemens 25 10 168,000 16,800 10,317
GWR PRM modified 2+4 HST set Diesel BREL/Wabtec 10 25 300,492 12,020 9,650
GWR Class 802 Bi-mode Hitachi 36 45 564,152 12,537 9,184
TPE Class 802 Bi-mode Hitachi 13 23 132,626 5,766 8,591
Greater Anglia Class 745/0 EMU Stadler 2 2 14,582 7,291 7,291
TfL Rail (Crossrail) Class 345 RLU EMU Bombardier 31 25 211,418 8,457 7,247
ScotRail HST Set* Diesel BREL/Wabtec 19 21 170,017 8,096 6,664
GWR Class 150** DMU BREL/Wabtec 22 33 174,485 5,287 6,588
Arriva Rail London Class 710 EMU Bombardier 15 16 86,910 5,432 3,930
Northern Class 195/1 DMU CAF 23 51 243,802 4,780 3,538
Northern Class 331/0 EMU CAF 16 41 152,889 3,729 3,490
Northern Class 195/0 DMU CAF 12 27 135,349 5,013 3,324
Greater Anglia Class 755/4 Bi-mode Stadler 19 62 194,206 3,132 2,662
TPE Class 397 EMU CAF 4 18 45,027 2,502 2,495
Northern Class 331/1 EMU CAF 12 35 111,651 3,190 2,408
Greater Anglia Class 755/3 Bi-mode Stadler 13 45 74,862 1,664 1,855
TfL Rail (Crossrail) Class 345 FLU EMU Bombardier 15 0 1,571 1,571 1,024
WMT Class 230 DMU Vivarail 3 10 13,250 1,325 777
*Includes non-refurbished sets ; **Benchmark heritage unit
TIN=Technical Incident, where a train is stopped for three minutes or more due to a vehicle problem.

services. The proposal is to acquire FAKE NEWS with state-of-the-art equipment, have to re-verify all one million
up to 10 more nine-car sets while A depressing corollary of all these those early units are now as reliable lines of software code.
also retaining up to 10 IC225 sets new trains entering service is as Northern’s existing fleet’. I thought this comment by the
until these have been delivered. the reluctance of train operators Table 5 shows the Chair of the NASA Aerospace Safety
Easily said. But fitting this to accept they are not running latest situation. Advisory Panel was apposite to our
additional maintenance workload the best of all possible trains industry’s current concerns. ‘We
into Bounds Green, Doncaster and from the best of all possible NOT ALONE are no longer building hardware
Craigentinny is going to give the suppliers. Take this statement from There is a tendency to assume in which we install a modicum of
depot planners some sleepless nights. Northern before the Operator the rolling stock manufacturers enabling software. We are actually
of Last Resort stepped in. are unique in having problems building software systems, which
TABLE 6: NORTHERN Announcing that 75 of the 101 with the new generation of what we wrap up in enabling hardware,
FLEET RELIABIITY AT new trains ordered are now carrying I term ‘software-enabled trains’. yet we have not matured to where
PERIOD 11 2019-20 Northern customers, Northern After a number of failures with we are uniformly applying rigorous
claimed ‘following early teething a test flight of its new manned systems engineering principles to
Fleet MTIN MTIN MAA problems which are to be expected space capsule, Boeing is going to the design of that software’. a
Class 185 2,166 31,043
Class 333 19,699 20,959
Class 322 11,730 11,968
Class 153 11,910 10,158
Class 156 9,204 10,136
Class 319 10,689 10,012
Class 158 8,714 9,429
Class 323 3,277 8,900
Class 150 6,766 8,433
Class 142 8,071 8,399
Class 321 1,386 7,507
Class 144 11,938 7,276
Class 170 5,724 7,266
Class 155 14,639 6,752
Class 195/1 4,780 3,538
Class 331/0 3,729 3,490
Complicating the rostering task: LNER is expanding its list of destinations, with Huddersfield set to gain
Class 195/0 5,013 3,324
a daily out-and-back service to King’s Cross in May. This is No 800210 at the West Yorkshire town on
Class 331/1 3,190 2,408 the evening of 26 February 2020, after arrival on a trial trip from Neville Hill. Russell Wykes

34 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

030-034_MR_Apr 2020_informed 4-5.indd 34 17/03/2020 12:17

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 Pan Up
Class 88 over Shap
No franchises or namby-pamby units; grunt if you want to go faster
L
ooking for someone? I guess
I’m doing that, standing on
a deserted platform 12 at
Crewe, roughly in the same spot
where I stood regularly waiting for
my train home, 2F73, an AM4 unit
from the old platform 2A. Today I’m
waiting for 4S44, the 12.16 Daventry –
Mossend Russell Logistics Intermodal,
headed by a Class 88. The train stops
here for a crew change, but as I count
down the arrival on Realtime Trains
the platform is deserted except for
Andy Grundy (my Direct Rail Services
minder), me and a pigeon, none
of whom is passed out on an ‘88’.
As the distant headlight pierces
the gloom, driver Andy Williams
arrives and after a quick handover
(‘1,183 tonnes, dangerous goods in
wagon four’) we are all in a warm
cab and away. Our 5,360 horses
(4,000kW) today are provided by
No 88003 (just for comparison,
a Class 86 is 2,680kW). This small class
of 10 Stadler-built locos share their
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038-043_MR_Apr 2020_pan up.indd 38
names with the EM2 (Class 77) locos
from the late lamented Woodhead
route, such as ‘Electra’, ‘Aurora’ and
other figures from Greek mythology,
but there were only seven of them –
so there were some spaces on the
scrap of paper on which the previous
DRS engineering management
scribbled the list. No 88003 is one
of them, and as I have been known
to use their prog-rock lyrics before,
Genesis will do nicely thank you.
HANDSOME CAB
The cab looks just like any of those
European locos I drool over at
InnoTrans, big windscreen, centre
driving position, ergonomic desk
layout and of course a clear space for
paperwork. The clever stuff is all on
the Selectron ruggedised computer
screen, which tells you what is going
on in all the grey wardrobes behind
us in the equipment room. Most of
the time you don’t need to know,
everything gets on with its job.
Just a couple of times the orange
Catherine wheel flashes, meaning
wheelslip, but it is automatically
corrected almost instantly. It isn’t
always this easy, witness a large
bag of sand in the back cab.
Also interesting is the way each
motor looks after itself as the front
wheelset slightly off-loads when
the bogie digs into the heavy load.
Motor currents change to optimise
tractive effort and change colour
when they are regenerating power
under braking. Good-sized side
windows help the cab environment,
but like most modern trains only
the driver gets a comfy seat. The
second seat is a wall mounted tip-up
so low you can’t see much from it at
all. In this case I am perfectly happy
to stand from Crewe to Carlisle.
After apparently effortless
acceleration along the down
relief we draw smoothly to
a stand where the four tracks
go down to two at Winsford,
Ian Walmsley
unlike No 142003 and 142008 on
23 June 1999. A Voyager snarls by,
burning diesel all the way to Glasgow.
How many tonnes of CO2 has been
produced from the decision not to
buy the short Pendolinos? You work
it out – I’ve got better things to do.
I’M BACK AGAIN
Superannuated Anorak member
Steve Morris brought his good lens
to Winsford station to get an outside
view as we pass, and by Winsford
box we are already up to 69mph.
The speed limit on the wagons is
75mph and we are soon spot on
that with speed set. We are now in
my old stamping ground north of
Hartford, and just where the main
line goes under the Cheshire Lines
(Manchester – Chester line) is the
scene of my earliest railway memory.
An immaculate ex-works Duchess
burst under here when I was on the
back of my dad’s bike at a very young
age. Wow. Would I have had a railway
16/03/2020 17:37

career had it been an AM4? Who
knows? Although I do remember
‘Big D’s’ (Class 40s) there as well.
As we pass through Hartford
Junction there are no spotters in
the field anymore, although as we
go along we see more and more
cameras. Good of so many to turn
out for the Class 88, although
they might also show a passing
interest in A4 steam loco Union
of South Africa following us as far
as Carnforth. I would say I know
every bush along here, but there
are a lot more of them than there
used to be. Various familiar fields
pass by before we cross the river
Weaver and out of my homeland.
The sun breaks through as we
climb to cross the Manchester Ship
Canal; this was the roughest bit
of track on the route when I was
doing some measurements on the
Motorail trains at Crewe Electric
depot, but as you would expect
after 50-odd years, they’d fixed it.
VULCAN FOUNDRY
Now we are in Andy Grundy’s
homeland. An unremarkable
housing estate to the left occupies
the hallowed ground of the Vulcan
Foundry at Newton-le-Willows
which gave us the Deltics, among
many other top-quality products.
Pan up: Genesis heads north at Winsford
with the 12.16 Daventry – Mossend
on 4 February 2020. Steve Morris
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We’ve got the road: Winsford Junction looking north, where four tracks slim into two. On 23 June 1999, Nos 142003 and 142008
came off worse in an argument here with No 87027 Wolf of Badenoch after the Pacers SPADded through signal WD12.
It became English Electric in 1957
and was still producing Class 50s and
73s in the late 1960s, the cause of
much celebration in the homeland
fields when they passed by on
delivery runs. The works stopped
building locomotives in 1970, but still
built diesel engines, becoming part
of MAN Diesel until it closed in 2002.
To follow up on the earlier discussion
of names, Vulcan was the Roman god
of fire, metalworking and the forge.
The works had nothing to do with
the V-Bomber of the same name.
It is worth comparing the fate of
Vulcan with Stadler, new rising star in
the traction and rolling stock world.
How has the Swiss company survived
the corporate manslaughter which
befell English Electric? While Stadler
has grown by acquisition, the pace
of this has been manageable; it is
still basically a family business and
has focused on more niche markets.
If you put out a technical specification
for your exact rolling stock needs,
the first thing the big boys will say is
‘Oh no, you don’t want that, you want
this’ (which is our standard platform
design with a new seat trim). They
will price what you asked for in such
a way that you will buy the standard
product and spend the next three
years trying to make it more like what
you wanted. Stadler actually listens to
the customer; this is really quite risky
in the UK, as we have some pretty
stupid customers. Fortunately, DRS/
Beacon Rail are not in this category
and have got a great bit of kit.
CORRIDOR OF POWER
Time to open the back-cab door
and look at what makes the ‘88’ tick
(or hum might be a better word).
Guts of the loco: brake frame and equipment compartment on No 88003.
The immediate shock is that you
can see right through to the back
cab; normally there is a massive
transformer in the middle, but
that is underframe mounted with
just a little ramp over the top of it.
Don’t tell me you couldn’t fit one of
these under a new Voyager car to
bi-mode them. The only thing that
looks familiar in here is the brake
frame, which is the usual tangle of
exposed pipes and valves, chuffing
every now and again as it goes
about its business. All modules
are designed for easy exchange
through removable roof sections.
Banks of low voltage isolators lurk
in another cupboard, all reassuringly
up, while opposite is the big lever
and maintenance locks for access to
the high voltage kit. The first electric
loco on which I ever went in the
equipment room was a Class 77 at
Sheffield Victoria, which looked more
like Frankenstein’s laboratory. The
driver opened the breaker while we
were in there just to scare us, and
Pan Up
yes, it worked. In later years working
at Crewe Electric depot the most
bewildering were the Class 84s, which
looked like someone had dropped
everything in through the roof and
bolted it down where it landed. It was
not until the Class 86 that things really
tidied up into logical motor groups.
SLEEPING CAT
This all looks so easy, big labels on
everything, logical layout and as
clean as a new Navy vessel up for
a royal visit. While we were in there
the compressor kicked in and that’s
a noisy little blighter – rotary of
course, not the gentle pop-pop of
the old ones. The power electronics
is from ABB, the company formed
by ASEA and Brown, Boverie & Cei
(BBC) in 1988. These companies
were regular advertisers in Modern
Railways when I was still at school and
their three-phase traction systems
I was sure would be standard by the
time I achieved my hoped-for career.
Three-phase drive locos arrived in
39
16/03/2020 17:37
 Pan Up
the UK about when I retired, but I did
get to visit the ABB Västerås works
when Porterbrook was buying the
first Electrostars. The ABB Bordline
dual water-cooled inverters for
traction and auxiliaries use the same
building blocks as the Class 68; the
Train Supply inverter and traction
motors are as on the ‘68’ as well.
But in the line of wardrobes it gets
better, there is a cat asleep in the end
one. A big, yellow Caterpillar V-12
950hp diesel engine, still pretty warm
from its exertions shifting the train
to the exchange sidings at Daventry.
This ‘last mile’ engine makes the ‘88’
a very versatile machine, allowing it
to work off the wires, within reason.
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Karl Watts from Rail Operations
Group referred to it disparagingly at
the Golden Whistles conference as
a lawnmower engine, but this is two
Class 08s in this wardrobe, almost
a Class 20, and connected through
an ABB traction package to modern
motors with creep control that makes
it more a ‘Chopper’ (Class 20) than
just a lawnmower, you can tell it by
the way it torques. Attached to the
engine is a traction motor acting as
an alternator, a clever idea to reduce
costs and spares requirements.
Cooling of the engine and the
inverters is by two towers either side
of the walkway with hydrostatic
fans in the roof. Customers lust for
more diesel power of course and
Stadler aspires towards a ‘Tractor’
(Class 37), although I know what I like:
Make Electrification Great Again.
FOLLOW ME
We emerge into the back cab near
Preston after returning some of the
power we used to get here via the
regen brake. The first few wagons
are empty, apparently it is always
quieter after Christmas as we are
mainly hauling domestic traffic.
A view down the train is really the
only reminder it is there; you wouldn’t
know from the front cab. Here we
can browse the levels of the Train
Control Systems, but it holds no
Ian Walmsley
drama, everything is working fine,
although it is odd seeing ‘coolant
temperature’ on an electric loco.
Also striking is the variability of the
line voltage, anywhere between
23.5 and 25.3kV while I was looking
at it. As soon as we exit Preston,
we are drawing power again as far
as Barton and Broughton where
we are looped again, normal life
for freight operators. Eventually
a Class 185 nips through and
we get the road to the hills.
Two things you don’t notice so
much when you are ‘on the cushions’
are how much the track rises and falls,
and how much work goes on in the
daytime. We must have passed half
a dozen small divisions of the orange
army at work along the way, and
in every case, it is reassuring when
every one of them acknowledges
the horn with an arm over the
head. Even some photographers
do it, although they fade away after
Carnforth, where the A4 is heading.
OLD STYLE FREIGHT
Running parallel with the M6 we
slide effortlessly past lorries of every
shape and size slogging north.
How ridiculous this old-fashioned
mode of transport looks; a driver for
every 40-odd tonnes, (well make
that 27 tonnes with their current
load factor), 30% of them empty,
and burning fossil fuel all the way.
HGVs in the UK produce around
20 billion tonnes of CO2 every year,
and I know the railway can’t replace
them all, but we will have a good
16/03/2020 17:37

RADIO,
DATA RECORDER
Control panel: the driver’s desk on No 88003.
try given the chance. Remember
the old ‘Smash’ advert with alien
robots laughing at old-fashioned
mash potato? I bet they’d laugh at
our long-distance road transport.
Our train today is replacing
20 lorries and has the potential to be
carbon neutral given a ‘clean’ grid.
But rail freight operators work on
wafer-thin margins, so even a gift like
the once-promised ‘electric spine’
doesn’t solve the issue as replacing
a beat-up but paid for Class 66 with
a £4 million electric loco isn’t an easy
case to make. The Government,
for dust on the table in its budget,
should set up a ‘scrappage’ scheme
for freight operators to swap ‘66s’
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038-043_MR_Apr 2020_pan up.indd 41
Pan Up
BRAKE TRAIN MANAGEMENT POWER SYSTEM
SPEEDOMETER TPWS, AWS
GAUGES SYSTEM INCLUDING PAN UP
BRAKE POWER
for ‘88s’, thus saving pollution and
reducing traffic. Why not? It would be
a tiny fraction of other environmental
subsidies, and car drivers would
love it. But for goodness’ sake
don’t let the Department for
Transport near the specification.
SHAP
As we pass through the Lune Gorge
steam locos of old would be building
up the fire, then taking on a banking
engine at Tebay – but all that is long
gone. We have been climbing since
Carnforth while barely noticing it,
but by the time we hit the five miles
of 1 in 75 speed starts falling off. We
cross the summit at 50mph on the Puss asleep: ‘last mile’ Caterpillar diesel.
Fine winter’s day: the view ahead from No 88003, with Andy Williams at the controls.
41
16/03/2020 17:37
 Pan Up Ian Walmsley

Green machine: mode select switch on No 88003. Health check: loco management system.

button, although the double-headed
Class 88 trains can keep to 75mph.
A similarly loaded Class 66 will gasp
over at 15mph, but at least it’s cheap.
Shadows creep towards their
master night by now, while
a pale water colour sky bathes the
approaching lowlands. There is a lot
less passing traffic now, but a short
DRS train breaks the monotony
with No 57307 hauling No 68014
back to Chiltern after an F-exam and
No 66433 hitching a ride south. The
twisting and turning track reminds
you that the Pendolino really is the
right train for this route, which is like
a country lane in places. Running
trains on from HS2 seems equally
silly, partly because the loadings
are small, but mainly because it
would be a waste of an HS2 set
for a day. Oh! Mr Porter what shall
I do? Change at Crewe, I suggest.
RAIL FREIGHT AND PIES
As we regenerate power descending
from the hills the never-ending
stream of lorries are putting their
headlights on, settling into cruise
control and the unnecessary
emission of more CO2. I have
mentioned a lot of old stuff I know,
but I’m not pretending everything
was better then. The technology
and ability of this loco is far ahead
of what we had then, more

Fell country: lorries on the parallel M6 in Cumbria.

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efficient, cheaper to maintain,
yet still not fully employed.
DRS exists to serve the nuclear
industry, but it wouldn’t make sense
to maintain a company just for such
intermittent traffic, so becoming
an independent operator was an
obvious next step. The company’s
collection of interesting but ageing
locomotives has entertained us over
the years but are slowly giving way
to new. Obsolescence, maintenance
and fuel costs will get them in
the end. Of the 10 Class 88s, one
runs the Stobart Tesco train, three
(one pair, one single) the Russell
intermodals (our train today), one
the Dagenham – Garston car train
(with GBRf until February) and
two on nuclear trains. I’m told it is
likely another two will find gainful
employment before too long. DRS
says it has enough nuclear work for
the next 100 years, or 0.06% of the
half-life of the stuff it carries around.
Where technology is little different
from my formative years is the wagon
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Citadel successfully stormed: Andy Grundy, Head of Fleet
Management and Stores for DRS, alongside the ‘88’.
fleet, which is still 75mph maximum
speed. Increasing that to 90 or even
100 would help keep the trains
How it used to be: Big D ‘40’ at Carlisle, July 1972.
moving and not sitting in loops, but
that also depends on displacing the
ubiquitous Class 66, a 75mph machine
(eventually). Also similar to the old
days of freight trains is the priority
given to passengers; a dogbox with
half a dozen passengers paying a few
quid gets priority over 2,000 tonnes of
high value freight. Why? Because the
passenger train has a penalty regime.
Rail freight, especially intermodal,
has such terrific potential yet can
still just nibble 11% of the pie
chart for long-distance freight.
We need a plan to increase that,
and it isn’t hard to see what needs
doing. HS2 for capacity, double
electrified track to Felixstowe and
Southampton. I’ll have to say it again:
Make Electrification Great Again.
THE CITADEL
As yet, passenger turns for these
100mph locos have been rare, yet
with so many Mk 3 and Mk 4 coaches
coming off lease it would be very
handy to set up some sets for use at
predictable peaks; public holidays,
concerts, air shows, fleet groundings
Pan Up
and so on. I know, this is the realms
of fantasy, because we would much
rather cut up this stock and just
apologise for the overcrowding. So
many tickets are booked in advance
these days we know which trains
will be overcrowded, but we choose
to do nothing about it. I say ‘choose’
deliberately; we have the resources,
but we choose not to keep them.
Maybe the powers that be don’t
want passengers being reminded
what a smooth ride felt like.
Our ride today has been good,
on time and without incident as
Carlisle Citadel comes into view.
We get ready for the next crew
change on platform 3 at Carlisle,
stopping just where I photographed
No 40052 in 1972, the year before
I started work. No 88003 pulls
away with 2½ times the power of
a Class 40, but with less than 1%
of the drama. It’s been a long, long
time – hasn’t it? Pan down. a
With special thanks to DRS for the
day, and Peter Gabriel of the original
Genesis for some of the lyrics.
43
16/03/2020 17:37
 Forum
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MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
ON EWR
While we should all rejoice at
the prospect of the reopening of
the railway between Oxford and
Cambridge, the article about the
proposed reopening in your March
issue (‘News Front’) suggests that
the potential of the new line has
not been properly examined. It is
proposed to provide for only five
trains per hour from Oxford (two to
Marylebone, one to Bedford, and
two to Milton Keynes, with one
additional train from Aylesbury to
Bletchley and only 60mph on the
Marston Vale section). There is no
electrification, presumably because
of the high costs associated with
the extravagant Great Western
electrification – although everyone
in the industry says that such costs
could be halved and in the certain
knowledge that subsequent
electrification, once the line is open,
would be more expensive and
disruptive. Platform lengths have
been shortened from eight to four
cars, making the costs of future
expansion of the service higher, and
the hourly freight paths from Oxford
to the West Coast main line have
been eliminated. Plans for an hourly
service from Aylesbury to Milton
Keynes have been abandoned.
Do people doing the planning not
appreciate that we have a climate
crisis? We should ensure the electric
railway, when it reaches Oxford
as it will, can join the East West
route to convey electrically hauled
trains mostly of containers to run
directly between Southampton
and inland container terminals
via the West Coast main line, the
Midland main line and eventually
the East Coast main line.
With passenger numbers almost
certain to rise with population
growth and increased congestion
on the road network, surely the
signalling and capacity of this
route, which will benefit the whole
country, should be built initially
to a good standard to meet the
demands which will soon be
upon us. Roads like the A34 are at
capacity and very dangerous, with
471 accidents between January 2012
and August 2017. We need urgent
relief and we should seize the
44 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
044-047_MR_Apr 2020_forum.indd 44
opportunity to cater adequately for
the bright future offered by this line.
LORD BRADSHAW
House of Lords, Westminster
MAKING THE TRAINS
RUN ON TIME
I read with interest David Horne and
Nigel G. Harris’s article in your March
issue, but was drawn to the statement
under platform management that
‘only about one in three platforms
in the UK have level boarding’.
This figure surprised me, knowing
the efforts being made to improve
the generally poor accessibility of
the network. From my figures, I note
that 332 of 5,927 platforms currently
have one or more measurements
with a height of between 1,000mm
and 1,200mm (ie around 6%), which
could conceivably be considered
level boarding against certain types
of rolling stock. We should note
that this does not imply whole
platforms nor does it consider the Mind the gap: passengers alighting from a Class 185 at
actual rolling stock itself, which Marsden on 1 September 2018. Rhodri Clark
has a wide variation of step/floor
heights; I have used 1,000mm to My conclusion is that level difficult for the elderly and those with
1,200mm as being ‘close’ to a typical boarding is a bad proxy for safe/ children or lots of heavy luggage.
1,100mm height of rolling stock. efficient boarding and that to The problem on LNER is as you
However, the statement does continue to use the term doesn’t say made much worse now by the
raise a number of issues. help achieve what we really need. different formations and though the
We have a standard platform I suggest that, in order to make the platform indicators do show where
height of 915mm in the UK; old Platform Train Interface (PTI) more coaches should be my experience
non-standard platforms (often efficient, a holistic approach to the at Peterborough is that dwell times
a result of track lowering to introduce problem is needed, rather than have increased as even regulars like
electrification) are gradually being suggesting the solution to be level myself are often not in the right place
brought to this standard. But, with access. This might involve those when the train arrives. What hope is
the exception of low-floor rolling new-fangled retractable footsteps. there for the very infrequent traveller?
stock, level boarding will not occur DR DAVID JOHNSON I was also interested in the location
using standard rolling stock where Technical Director, DGauge of luggage racks. My other regular
wheels must be accommodated route is Cambridge to King’s Cross
below a uniform height floor. Having As a regular user of LNER and my observations are that the
a standard platform height will be between Peterborough and passengers are more likely to use the
good for the future, but on its own Newcastle I was very interested racks if they are close to the doors as
will not enable level boarding. in the article by David Horne and on the ‘387s’. The racks on the ‘365s’
We then come to the issue of level Nigel G. Harris in your March issue. previously used on that route are
boarding itself, and what it actually I agree with all that is said but at the rear of the coach: as a result,
means. Even if we had a standard am surprised no mention has been passengers were far more likely to
platform of 915mm and a low floor made of the new problem of large leave their luggage at the doors.
vehicle with a 915mm high step, it gaps between train and platform at R. L. SKELTON
may not necessarily provide level Newcastle and I assume also at York. Cambridge
boarding due to passenger loading The 26m-long Azuma coaches just do
variations and the air suspension not fit the curved platforms and on Two fascinating articles last
compensation time. Not quite more than one occasion a passenger month showed how attention
level – and in the process providing has simply refused to jump across to detail is essential in achieving
a micro-trip hazard. There is anecdotal the gap and has had to go to another a right-time railway.
evidence that fewer accidents occur door, with obvious effects on dwell The Evening Standard recently
at a reasonable but distinct step than time. Matters are made worse by reported that at Lancaster no
one where it is barely noticeable. the step up also required. It is really fewer than 63.5% of trains were
16/03/2020 17:38

late in the past year. This certainly
includes delays of no more than
one or two minutes, but it is
a terrible statistic. I believe that part
of the problem is over-tight, if not
unrealistic, standard running times.
Preston to Lancaster is a few
yards short of 21 miles and
the start-to-stop schedule for
Pendolinos and Voyagers is just 13
minutes. But this takes no account
of the mandatory running brake
test after driver relief at Preston,
which costs 90 seconds to two
minutes. This means almost every
northbound Avanti West Coast
service is late arriving at Lancaster.
Some trains are advertised to depart
Preston a minute or two before
the working time and are thus
able to reach Lancaster on time.
But others, such as the 21.43 from
Preston, are advertised to arrive
a minute earlier, in an impossible
12 minutes (even if the driver
were to skip the brake test!).
I would suggest a review of
unrealistically optimistic standard
running times to take account of
brake test slowings and defensive
driving techniques (ie braking earlier
for permanent speed restrictions
and stops). Furthermore, at busy
stations the dwell time should be
two minutes at the very minimum,
and probably three at places like
Oxenholme in the summer months.
MARK DORAN
Oxford
Unrealistic SRTs? A down Pendolino service departs from
Preston in the rain, 11 August 2016. Steve Hobson
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044-047_MR_Apr 2020_forum.indd 45
OAKERVEE REVIEW
Whilst most of the Oakervee review
is rational and welcome (‘News Front’,
last month), there is considerable
confusion over train services and
frequency, suggesting that even
this august forum has been devoid
of serious input on operational and
commercial issues. This is unfortunate,
as rail infrastructure is only worth
the train service it delivers, and glib
talk of ‘trains per hour’ does not
capture the realities of preparing
a reliable, commercially attractive
and economical timetable.
First, there are suggestions that
planning should be based on only
14 trains per hour (tph) instead of the
17tph on which the HS2 business
case is based. This is alleged, with
negligible justification, to be ‘more
realistic’. The only logic appears to
be that, when questioned at Select
Committee sessions back in 2013,
representatives of SNCF (French
Railways) said they planned on
a lower figure than that proposed
by HS2 Ltd. Why, and what they
felt the binding constraint on train
frequency was, no-one ever seemed
to ask them! And nor has Oakervee.
What costs might be saved from
reducing the planning figure to
14tph is unclear. The railway would
still, like HS1, need to operate to
a three-minute planning headway,
so no saving of signalling costs could
arise. The only hint in the Oakervee
review report is that Euston might be
descoped from the grade-separated
configuration currently planned to
a flat throat layout which, without
evidence, is said to be capable
of handling 14tph. Maybe one
two-faced platform island could be
omitted, although I suspect that in
practice an irregularly structured
reduced service would simply use the
planned 11 platforms inefficiently so
as to continue meeting constraints
elsewhere on the rail network.
Apart from my doubt that
this operation could ever be as
reliable as an 18tph service on
the grade-separated layout, and
neglecting that any trains that HS2
does not run must operate in some
form on the classic network, thus
incurring costs there, Mr Oakervee
then suggests ‘passive provision’
for 16tph be made. As he does not
even try to suggest that a flat layout
could handle 16tph, this ‘passive
provision’ can only mean building
the grade separation and then not
using it. This of course would be
absurd, as given the passive provision
of tunnels and structures, any small
costs that might be avoided would
be fully justified by improving the
reliability of the descoped service.
Were only 14tph to operate,
Mr Oakervee remains silent as to
which the three missing trains would
be. However, as he also recommends
dropping the Handsacre junction with
the West Coast main line, it would be
impossible to operate the recently
Forum
promised service to Stoke-on-Trent
and Macclesfield, which also
provides the service at Stafford that
has been in the HS2 plans for ever.
Social media reports also suggest
the Prime Minister has turned
down this suggestion, but before
rejoicing too much, representatives
of Staffordshire must ensure Euston
is not descoped such that their train
can join HS2 but not run to London
due to lack of terminal capability.
Although, thankfully, the idea of
terminating HS2 at Old Oak Common
is dismissed, there are still hints that Old
Oak could be a temporary terminus
pending completion of Euston station
– three to seven years later depending
on which media report you believe.
Again, what service might be operated
is overlooked. I cannot see that
terminating the Phase 1/2A service at
Old Oak, even if practicable, provides
a sufficient substitute for existing
Inter-city West Coast services to Euston,
to an extent that allows significant
capacity to be released for improved
commuter and interurban services.
There are two implications of
this – primarily that the released
capacity benefits that are a major
(albeit underestimated) part of the
HS2 business case are postponed
until the Phase 1/2A station at
Euston is completed. Then, until
existing services are displaced and
Euston becomes an outer-suburban
terminus requiring only 13 platforms,
the site of platforms 14 to 18 cannot
45
16/03/2020 17:38
 Forum
be released for construction of the
additional HS2 Phase 2b platforms.
Hence delay in completing the initial
phase of Euston equally delays the
start of Phase 2b services, instead
of simply being absorbed within
a construction programme.
Clearly, this makes a long delay
to completion of Euston highly
undesirable. Moreover, as the timings
of trains handed over to Network
Rail would be completely different
if originating at Old Oak Common
rather than Euston due primarily
to the difference in running time
but also to the less flexible throat
possible at Old Oak, the implication of
a short delay to Euston whilst trying
to operate the Phase 1/2A service
from Old Oak is that there would be
two major timetable changes for
the nation’s principal multi-purpose
trunk route within a few years, either
of which would have wide-ranging
consequential changes almost
throughout the whole country, whilst
stretching the national resources
of timetable planners to their limits
and risking making May 2018
look like a vicarage tea party.
One also wonders whether the
architects of Old Oak Common
station have planned all the
provision necessary for activities
that would have been undertaken
at Euston – train crew booking on
and off, and facilities for meal breaks,
for instance, and rubbish clearance
Thameslink in north Kent: No 700039 passes
Denton, Gravesend, while on working 9P23, the 10.16
Luton to Rainham, on 21 September 2018. David Andrews
46 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
044-047_MR_Apr 2020_forum.indd 46
from platforms after train cleaning
(50 black bags an hour at a rough
estimate), which sound trivial until
you actually try to provide for them.
All in all, I can only see a realistic
temporary use of Old Oak as catering
for a London – Birmingham shuttle
running in parallel with effectively the
full West Coast service as now. Whilst
Oakervee’s suggestion that time
should be taken to get Euston right is
attractive, its operating functionality
is right already, and commercially
there must be pressure to complete
to a level that supports Phase 1/2A
services as soon as possible. Creating
a functioning station at Euston for
trains and their passengers must
not be delayed by issues arising
from oversite development.
WILLIAM BARTER
Towcester
PIECEMEAL POLICY
Aren’t TransPennine Express’s new
Nova fleets a neat illustration of
the additional costs incurred by
piecemeal electrification and a lack
of electrification policy? Altogether
TPE procured 44 new trainsets for
its inter-city services. But instead of
being able to buy one homogenous
fleet, with all the operational and
maintenance advantages that would
bring (including training!), it was
necessary to split the trains into three
fleets, with about 30% electric, about
30% diesel and about 40% bi-mode.
I also found it interesting that
TPE found it worth pointing out
that the EMUs have 60% bay seats
and all seats aligned with windows.
No such claim was made for the
other two fleets. Does that mean
the other two fleets (and especially
the bi-modes, which appear to
squeeze 50 extra seats in the same
five carriages) don’t have that many
bays or seats aligned with windows?
CHRISTIAN SCHMIDT
Newport, Gwent
RAILCARDS ON OYSTER
In the thoughtful piece on digital
ticketing (p22, last month) the authors
seem to be unaware of a fundamental
difference in London between Oyster
cards and EMV (bank cards and
phone payments). In advertising the
use of the latter, Transport for London
is careful to ensure no attention
is drawn to the fact that railcard
discounts are lost. The ability to ‘synch’
one’s Oyster card with a railcard,
and to receive the same discounts,
is a precious right. The inability to
use Oyster to travel on the Elizabeth
Line to Reading requires a clear
statement as to how discounts are
to be obtained. Without a joined-up
fare system that encompasses
both national rail services and local
transport systems, I for one will
continue to use paper tickets.
REVD DR PETER HOWSON
Andover
Andrew Anderson, Head of
Transformation Portfolio: Payments at
TfL, responds: ‘For journeys beyond the
Oyster boundary, we took the view that
there are suitable alternatives currently
available with magnetic tickets as part
of the National Rail ticketing system.
We anticipate that the migration to
smart ticketing for Railcard users will
be addressed as part of the DfT and
RDG’s broader moves to support smart
ticketing outside the London area.’
LIGHT RAIL BEST FOR
BLACKPOOL
Although I was initially sceptical
about the suggested conversion
of the Blackpool South branch
to tram operation, I think Alex
Green makes a persuasive case
for it (p74, last month).
However, I am not convinced
that tram is the right solution for
the Fleetwood branch, which is
very different geographically to the
Blackpool South line. Whereas the
latter would cater predominantly
for local traffic along the coast into
Blackpool, I suspect the Fleetwood
line would have negligible value
for self-contained local traffic, as
it doesn’t go anywhere useful.
Its primary purpose would be
to connect into the main line at
Poulton. In which case it would make
more sense to run a heavy rail service
through to Preston, which is not
only a significant traffic objective in
16/03/2020 17:38

its own right, but also an important
hub connecting into a variety
of long-distance services. Such
a service would seem to be an ideal
candidate for Northern’s proposed
battery-equipped Class 331s, which
would have ample opportunity to
recharge their batteries between
Poulton and Preston. Therefore,
no electric infrastructure would
be required on the branch itself.
PAUL SILVESTRI
Newton Abbot
SAFETY CRITICAL
COMMUNICATIONS
Reading the ‘Informed Sources’
article dealing with Safety Critical
Communications (last month), if
the transcripts are to be believed,
I am amazed at the slack level of
information exchange shown in
them, whether or not possessions
were in place at the time.
Having spent the last 20 years
as an air traffic control engineer
in control centres worldwide, I am
fully conversant with the contents
of the Civil Aviation Authority’s
CAP413 Radio Telephony Manual.
Importantly, the contents are
not only applicable in the CAA’s
area of jurisdiction, ie the UK, but
worldwide. Not only that, all verbal
communications between pilots
and controllers must be in English.
I recall seeing notices in Tehran
Control Centre, Iran, to the effect
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
044-047_MR_Apr 2020_forum.indd 47
that ‘All communications in this
room MUST be made in English’.
It does not matter if both pilot and
controller share the same nationality
and language – all dialogue must be
in English, and CAP413-compliant
English. In Cambodia, a full-time
member of staff is responsible
for ensuring that standards of
‘aviation English’ are maintained.
If signaller-driver communications
are to be made increasingly via
radio, it is essential that use of
the Rail Safety & Standards Board
equivalent of CAP413 is mandatory,
otherwise something worse than
the Balham near-miss is likely
to happen sooner or later.
MALCOLM R. JONES
London SW19
THAMESLINK
TROUBLES IN KENT
I was amazed to read that problems
with Thameslink have been resolved
and performance has settled
down (‘Railtalk’, last month).
Because there was insufficient
capacity north of East Croydon, two
trains per hour (tph) were diverted
to Rainham in Kent to replace the
Charing Cross to Gillingham service.
That might have worked had not
Southeastern added a Gravesend to
Charing Cross service, running fast
from New Eltham to London Bridge.
This added 4tph over the junctions
west of Dartford, which handle
three routes to Lewisham as well as
the Cannon Street loop service and
freights. This is a perfect example of not
thinking of the implications on others.
The sequence of events is that the
train from Victoria to Gravesend is
late through Lewisham, even though
time was added in the last timetable,
and delays the Rainham train at Slade
Green. There is then a good chance
that the service from St Pancras will
be given priority at Gravesend. Then
there is the service from Victoria with
which to contend at Rochester.
Almost on a daily basis, this results in
it being turned back at Gillingham
or even Rochester. The service is
perceived as not to be trusted.
TERRY HACKETT
Rainham, Kent
AGAINST FAR NORTH
CHANGES
I read Mike Lunan’s letter about
the Far North line passenger
statistics, and the output of the
Far North Line Review Team’s
deliberations (‘Forum’, last month).
I must register very serious concern
with the Helmsdale hub interchange
proposals, where people are forced
to change trains at Helmsdale on rail
services which were previously direct
between Caithness and Inverness.
Why is this even being considered?
Not only will the already far too long
rail journey times be lengthened
even more, but also there will be
very serious difficulties caused to
passengers changing trains on an
unsheltered platform at Helmsdale,
particularly if they have a lot of
luggage, young children, babies
with prams or pushchairs or if they
are disabled in any way. This rapidly
becomes impossible if people then
have to cross a rickety bridge to a train
on the other platform at Helmsdale.
It’s good to see the two direct rail
services, but people on the four other
services to Caithness may vote with
their feet if they are made to change
at Helmsdale. This reverses any small
increase in passenger usage at the
Caithness stations and trains going
to them and may call the future of
Caithness rail services into question.
Make all six trains direct and squash
the Helmsdale hub proposal, please!
MARK W. NORTON
Thurso, Caithness
CLASS NUMBERING
I found Ian Walmsley’s article about
new class numbers interesting
(‘Pan Up’, last month). But I am not
a gricer and I had hoped I might
find an explanation for the rationale
of the new numbering system.
I understand the old system –
classes in the range 100 to 499, but
I don’t understand the 700 and 800
series. Some new trains take up
places in the old system, eg ‘195’ and
‘331’, but others are placed in the
new system, such as ‘777’ – why?
IAN K. WATSON
Carlisle
Ian Walmsley comments: ‘There is a code
of practice on numbering, but it is not
a statutory document. I used to treat
it as statutory on the basis that I saw
no reason to move away from it. I had
a disagreement with Gatwick Express,
which wanted to call the Class 460s
‘707’s; for other classes I was involved
with, operators just accepted my call
and numbers. Since the Department
for Transport took over new build it
assumed it was breaking the mould and
its stock would be a class apart, although
there is the bi-mode issue which was
not covered in the code of practice. The
short answer is nobody cares anymore,
although the rolling stock library will be
trying to keep some semblance of order.’
POINTS
The photograph of an Azuma on
Knaresborough viaduct (p6, last
month) confirms my suspicion that
the Azuma captioned on page 14
of your February issue as on this
Forum
viaduct is actually on Crimple
viaduct south of Harrogate.
STEPHEN G. ABBOTT
Skipton
Thank you for publishing my letter
and photos (‘Forum’, last month)
but there is still a small caption error
in the top photo (reproduced on
p88 this month – Ed): the camera is
actually facing eastwards, towards
Bletchley, as it is in both pictures.
JOHN ELVIN
Winslow, Buckingham
William Barter’s idea of closing Heaton
Chapel and Levenshulme stations in
favour of a Metrolink service (‘Forum’,
February issue) may speed up the
West Coast main line but is of almost
zero benefit to Heaton Chapel’s
estimated one million users. In the
station’s walking/cycling catchment
area there’s no appeal in trekking
1.5 miles outbound to pick up an
inbound multi-stop tram service when
the one-stop train to Piccadilly takes
just 11 minutes (cancellations, short
formed trains and Castlefield Corridor
congestion notwithstanding). Our
enthusiastic Friends group is actively
lobbying for more services. Station
closure is definitely not on our agenda!
PHIL ROWBOTHAM
Chairman, Friends of
Heaton Chapel Station
A passing motorist has, no doubt
unwittingly, done his/her bit towards
achieving Beeching reversal. The
road sign of Beeching Close, on the
site of Halwill Junction station, has
been completely demolished.
PHILIP SHELTON
Barnstaple
One of the delights of LNER retaining
InterCity 225s (‘Moving Wheels’, last
month) will be some tables for four
on the east side of first class coaches.
At the moment on Azumas there
are none, and the best views are
limited and of course blocked by
high-backed unidirectional seats.
Perhaps the new build can bear this
in mind! It’s amazing how nearly all
the best views on the East Coast main
line are on the east side, whether
coast, cathedrals or power stations!
THEO STEEL
Southend-on-Sea
Bon voyage to James Abbott!
I hope he can be retained in
‘shortened formation’ to regale
us, on a ‘clockface’ basis, with the
pithy journey descriptions that
have so entertainingly opened
Modern Railways down the years.
MICHAEL PEARSON
Burton-on-Trent
47
16/03/2020 17:38
 Blood and Custard

Guard remembered: (left to right) Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy;
David Daniels, Community Rail Development Officer, North Downs Line CRP;
and Matthew Golton, Interim Managing Director of Great Western Railway
with the special train at Reading on 29 February 2020. Inset: Jessie’s Seat.
JESSIE’S SEAT
ON LEAP Day, 29 February 1892 ,
a South Eastern & Chatham Railway
goods train travelling between Redhill
and Guildford on what is now known
as the North Downs line became
divided and the rear portion made
up of 40 wagons caught up with
and collided with the main train on
the approach to Chilworth (formerly
Chilworth and Albury) station. Sadly,
the guard – Henry Wicks – was killed
in the accident, and in his memory the
planting of a box bush was organised
at the lineside as a topiary memorial
by his son and daughter-in-law. The
topiary survives in 2020 on the south
side of the line and is lovingly cared
for by Network Rail volunteers.
The topiary is known as Jessie’s Seat
after the guard’s daughter-in-law and
comprises a seat upon which Guard
Wicks’ spirit can sit, and a pheasant
perches on the back of the seat. Less
respectfully, it is also known to some
railway staff as the Chilworth Chicken.
Leap days at weekends are rare,
but this year 29 February fell on
a Saturday. To mark the occasion,
the North Downs Line Community
Rail Partnership and Great Western
organised a special train from
Reading to Redhill and back, which
paused adjacent to Jessie’s Seat in
both directions. A minute’s silence
was observed on the outward
journey, and a posy of primroses
was placed on the seat by the
driver on the return journey.
Amongst the passengers on board
were Sir Peter Hendy (Chairman
of Network Rail); Matthew Golton
(Acting MD of GWR); John Ellis (the
last General Manager of the Southern
Region of BR); and representatives
of the CRP and local communities.
Class 165 No 165124 was adorned
with a headboard at Reading,
but unfortunately the absence
of a lamp bracket on a Class 165
and modern Health and Safety
requirements meant it had to be
removed before the train left.
It is hoped that the headboard
will in due course be erected
either next to the topiary or at
Chilworth station. Chris Heaps
PICK YOUR
OPERATOR
HEDGING THEIR bets: our thanks
to a reader who sent in a copy of
a West Coast timetable booklet he
picked up in Derby station. Seems
a batch was printed with Virgin
logos, then when the franchise
went to Avanti, rather than pulp
them, they were sent to offline
locations where the wrong logo
might not be so noticeable. A cover
from the main batch, picked up at
an information office on the West
Coast, is reproduced alongside.
Shock: the monarch is a woman
CASUAL MISOGYNISM, 1950s
style: our thanks to reader Barry Jones
of Plymouth for these extracts from
a 1957 British Transport Commission
copy of ‘Instructions to be observed
in connection with the working of
trains designated by the code words
“Grove”, “Deepdene” or “Deeplus” ’,
words that those following our ‘Forum’
columns (p47, February issue) will
recognise as denoting royal trains.
One can understand a desire to save
the royal family a soaking through
an open window, and doubtless the
Queen would have been one for not
frightening the horses; but as for the
one about female crossing keepers…
BATTER PIS LOOPY PIS

BENIGN FAMILY GHOST

READER MIKE Lamport writes
to let us know that his railway
family history is about to begin
a new chapter when his son
Andrew starts as a guard with
South Western Railway at the
beginning of May. ‘He will be
following in the family tradition of
starting our careers on the South
Western, as I and my father before
me did’ writes Mike. ‘What was
even more of a coincidence was
that his initial successful interview
for a guard’s position based at
Waterloo took place on 18 January,
159 years ago to the day since
his great, great grandfather, also
a Waterloo-based guard, found
himself the unwonted hero of
the Raynes Park crash!’ Spooky.
In the 1861 Epsom Junction
(as it was then) crash, a down
Portsmouth express derailed at
speed. ‘I have to report that the gold
watch and chain presented to my
grandfather by a grateful Spanish
politician involved in the accident
has gone AWOL’ writes Mike.
Shrove Tuesday fun: this was the
passenger information system
display at Ashford International
on 25 February 2020.
Steam-powered Class 315s
‘I’M DELIGHTED that London
Overground services into
London Liverpool Street are now
being served by electric trains’.
Too much information? This was the
train indicator at Reading’s platform 3
on 9 February 2020, notifying a South
Western Railway westbound service
via Tisbury Loop. Richard Brown
Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor
for Transport, omits the word
‘new’ when welcoming Class 710s
to north east London.

48 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

048_MR_Apr 2020_BnC.indd 48 17/03/2020 15:38

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 DUCHY DELIGHTS
A selection of photographs from Cornwall

Semaphores and china clay: as Cornish as pasties and clotted cream. No 66104 has just
passed a lower quadrant peg after arriving at Lostwithiel to run round while working the
12.55 Goonbarrow Junction to Fowey Dock Carne Point on 14 February 2020. Ken Brunt

Viaduct over the Tiddy: IETs Nos 802022 and 802014 form the 10.03 Paddington
to Penzance service at St Germans on 14 February 2019. Ken Brunt

50 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

050-051_MR_Apr 2020_pic spread.indd 50 16/03/2020 17:38

 Branch line heaven: the westernmost county is famous for its
secondary routes. This is Penryn on the Falmouth branch with
Carrick Roads in the background on 14 February 2019. Ken Brunt

Right: Damp Cornish autumn morning: on

4 October 2018, No 70807 prepares to leave the
former Moorswater clay dries site that is now
a distribution centre for cement products. The site
is accessed from Coombe Junction on the Liskeard
to Looe branch line and served by a weekly train
from Aberthaw in South Wales. With the cessation
of clay sand trains from Burngullow to east London
last October, this cement train is now the only rail
freight in Cornwall save for china clay. John Vaughan

Western dawn: No 57306 Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate arrives at Penzance with the
‘Night Riviera’ sleeper service from Paddington on 17 December 2018. John Whitehouse

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 51

050-051_MR_Apr 2020_pic spread.indd 51 16/03/2020 17:39
 COLLABORATION
IS THE KEY
When an extended dwell in Goring & Streatley can cause a delay in Seer Green, it’s essential
to talk to the neighbours, Chiltern’s TOM MILNES tells Editor JAMES ABBOTT

P
rivatisation 25 years ago fragmented
the railway. Growth in the subsequent
quarter century has resulted in
a congested network, with implications for
performance. These are mundane truisms.
Hand-wringing is not the answer. Just
because your neighbour introduces more
trains with implications for your own services,
that’s no reason to despair. The answer is to talk
to the other players and work out operating
procedures that can benefit everyone.
That’s the advice of one enterprising young
operator, Tom Milnes, Current Performance
Manager at Chiltern Railways, whose can-do
attitude so impressed the Institution of Railway
Operators’ judges that they awarded him the
Golden Whistle for an Outstanding Individual
Operator at this year’s Whistles ceremony (p68,
last month). I went along to Banbury control
centre to find out more about his approach.
Mr Milnes concedes that Chiltern has
an easy ride compared to some other train
operating companies (TOCs), as it works over
a single-operator railway south of Aynho
Junction (save for the odd Calvert-bound
freight). But there’s still potential for imported
delays and, with a three-minute headway into
Marylebone in the peak, knock-on delays can
have a crucial impact on Chiltern’s performance.
BOURNEMOUTH BLUES
It is no secret that West Midlands Trains’ May 2019
timetable turned out to be a nightmare to operate,
not only for WMT but also the many other TOCs
with which it interacts, and now there are plans
in place to unwind the most difficult aspects of it
(p17, January issue). For Chiltern, WMT’s revamped
timetable had service implications on the Moor
Street route, where service intensification in
the cross-Birmingham tunnels removed white
space in the timetable that had previously been
a valuable buffer when things started to fall apart.
The route which attracted more attention,
though, was the New Street to Euston line,
where overly-complex splitting and joining
moves in Birmingham caused lateness that
impacted on all operators on the busy West
Coast route. Less well-publicised were the
implications for Chiltern, but, as an operator
well-versed in delving into the minutiae of train
running detail, Tom Milnes was on the case.

Oxford route loco-haulage: making use of the Oxford to Bicester line’s bi-directional
capabilities, DVT No 82303 leads the morning peak 1Y12 Oxford Parkway to Marylebone
service past Oddington, near Islip, on 20 April 2016. No 68012, which had earlier
brought the empty stock from Wembley, is pushing at the rear. Martin Loader

52 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

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TO KIDDERMINSTER
TO WOLVERHAMPTON Birmingham Snow Hill
Birmingham New St.
Birmingham Moor St.
TO BROMSGROVE
Solihull
TO STRATFORD
UPONAVON
Dorridge
CrossCountry’s hourly Manchester to
Bournemouth service takes the Euston route out
of New Street, calling at Birmingham International
prior to turning right at Coventry and joining
the Chiltern route at Leamington. With the
Coventry corridor hard hit by the WMT changes,
CrossCountry was finding increasing difficulty in
presenting on time at Leamington.
This has important implications TO STRATFORDUPONAVON
for Chiltern, as its 1Hxx services,
the Marylebone fasts off Moor Street, follow
CrossCountry’s 1Oxx Manchester to Bournemouth
services from Leamington to Aynho Junction.
Chiltern’s 1Hxx services lead a flight of services into
Marylebone – if the lead train is disrupted, that
ripples through into the stopping trains behind it.
Thus Chiltern is keen to have its 1Hxx trains leaving
Banbury at the correct time if possible – so if the
1Oxx is a lost cause as a result of Coventry corridor
disruption, there needs to be an arrangement to
have the Moor Street express run in front of it.
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052-055_MR_Apr 2020_chiltern.indd 53
BIRMINGHAM TO OXFORD
TO NUNEATON
Birmingham International
Coventry
Beechwood Tun.
TO LONDON EUSTON
Kenilworth
Warwick Leamington Spa
Warwick Parkway
The timetable is designed so that, if all
is running smoothly, there is 13 minutes
separating the two services. ‘Nine minutes’
lateness is just about manageable for the 1Oxx
to remain in front’ explains Mr Milnes. ‘Anything
beyond that and Chiltern is impacted.’
Bearing this in mind, Tom Milnes spoke to
colleagues in Network Rail and CrossCountry and
together a new operating instruction was devised:
‘If the 1Oxx service is nine minutes or more
late passing Kenilworth and the 1Hxx service is
on time from Warwick Parkway then the 1Hxx Banbury
service is to be run first at Leamington Spa.
‘Consideration needs to be given to any
lateness on the 1Hxx service. If the difference in
lateness between the two services is nine minutes
or greater, then the 1Hxx is to be run first.’
This neatly ensures that late-running on the
part of the Manchester – Bournemouth service is
not needlessly imported into the Chiltern service.
Operating instructions like this are common
across the network, but they do need champions:
someone has to spot the problem and act on
it. In this case, Tom Milnes was that person.
OXFORD LAYOUT
Even more impressive is seeing a problem coming.
Great Western Railway introduced wholesale change
in the December 2019 timetable: you might think
TO WORCESTER
that would have little relevance for Chiltern. But Tom
Milnes combed the proposed schedules to see just
what was planned and where conflicts might arise.
One new development was a Cherwell
Valley service to London. Seeking a slice of the
valuable Banbury commuter market, GWR
planned an out-and-back Intercity Express Train
from Paddington to Banbury via Oxford in the
morning peak, with another in the evening.
The potential conflict point was at Oxford.
Generally, Oxford has worked much better
since the 2018 resignalling, which saw the area
moved into the Thames Valley Signalling Centre
at Didcot and Oxford panel box closed (p72,
November 2018 issue). Chiltern, which uses the bay
platforms 1 and 2 throughout
TO BRISTOL
the day for its half-hourly service
to Marylebone, has been a major beneficiary.
The usual method of working is for both the
up and down services to use the bi-directional
Up Oxford Relief (‘Jericho’ line) from Oxford
North Junction to both get to and leave the bay
platforms. One development in the resignalling is
a second entrance to the platforms from the Up
Oxford Relief, further away from the buffer stops.
With the old layout, with just one set of points
into the bays, the signaller could face a conundrum
if there was, say, a southbound CrossCountry
approaching Oxford off the Cherwell Valley at
the same time as a Chiltern service was coming
in from Bicester Village. Would it be best to give
priority to the CrossCountry on the Up
Oxford, routeing it over the crossover,
onto the Up Oxford Relief and into through
platform 3, before sending the Chiltern service
over the points into the bays, or vice versa?
The new layout (overleaf) solves the problem
with parallel working. The Chiltern service can
proceed on the Up Oxford Relief at the same
time as the CrossCountry comes in on the Up
Oxford, with the train from Bicester turning
off the Up Oxford Relief into the bays before
the CrossCountry train joins that line.
STREATLEY TO SEER GREEN
So far, so good. The problem comes in the
morning peak. Chiltern’s Oxford service has
been a riproaring success and there are
three services (one Class 68-hauled
service and two Class 168 formations)
in the morning peak that load to
more than the six carriages that
can be accommodated in the
bay platforms. Thus trains
for these services have to
go through the Oxford
layout to Hinksey yard
south of the station,
where the driver
can change
Aynho Junc. ends, before
(Aynho Park Junc.)
Ardley Tunnel
Bicester North
Bicester South Junc.
Bicester Village
TO LONDON
MARYLEBONE
Islip
Wolvercot Junc. Wolvercot Tun.
Oxford North Junc.
Oxford
Hinksey Yard
Didcot Parkway
TO LONDON PADDINGTON
53
17/03/2020 12:09
 Exit from Oxford: Class 172 No 172101 leaving the university city with 1Y41, the 12.41
Oxford to London Marylebone service, on 30 October 2019, with a GWR Class 800
IET at right. Chiltern’s four-strong pool of Class 172s is a valuable resource as they
have 100mph capability (against a Class 165’s 75mph), but flexibility is limited as
only Marylebone and Banbury drivers are qualified to drive them. Ken Brunt

starting for Marylebone from Oxford’s
down through platform 4.
Enter the Banbury IET. Last summer, Tom
Milnes studied GWR’s intended timetable and
saw the new down Banbury morning IET service
would be taking up some of the scarce white
space in the timetable graph from Didcot and
posed a risk to Chiltern’s loco-hauled London
starter (1Y12), as it would run around the time
that the Class 68-hauled Chiltern train would be
leaving Hinksey yard for the trip to Marylebone.
It gets more complicated. Around the
same time GWR has a Class 165 service that
runs all-stations Reading to Didcot (including
Goring & Streatley), then fast to Oxford for
commuters from the Thames Valley wanting
to get to work early in the university city.
The sequence of trains passing Didcot
North Junction in a brief window in
the early morning is as follows:
n 2L08, the 06.23 Reading to Oxford Class 165,
passes at 06.50 from Didcot Parkway;
n 1E79, CrossCountry’s 06.01 Guildford
to Newcastle service, passes at 06.57
from the Didcot avoiding line;
n 1M90, the new 06.19 Paddington to Banbury
IET, passes at 07.04 from Didcot Parkway.
The ‘68’ hauled train that will form 1Y12, the
07.12 from Oxford to Marylebone, has to slip out
of Hinksey yard in the middle of this sequence,
between the CrossCountry and the IET. So the
sequence at Oxford’s platform 4 should be:
n 2L08 terminates at 07.00 and shunts into
down side carriage sidings north of the
station as 5L15 at 07.02, prior to forming 2L15,
a southbound stopper from platform 3 at 07.21;
n 1E79 arrives at 07.06 and departs at 07.08;
n 1Y12 arrives as 5Y12 ex-Hinksey
yard at 07.11, departs 07.12;
n 1M90 arrives at 07.15 and departs at 07.17.
A slick operation if you can make it work. Now,
throw a bit of disruption into the mix – say an
extended dwell at Goring & Streatley with 2L08
presenting late at Didcot. 1E79 could be run in
front of it, fine, but then what do we do with 2L08
when it gets to Oxford? Now it will be wanting
platform 4 at the same time as the Marylebone
service, with a delay implication for 1Y12 and 1M90.
At this point Mr Milnes spins his Rubik’s cube
in another direction to get the colours aligned.
A platform change for 2L08 gets it out of the
way of 1Y12: by routeing the Class 165 into the
south end of the Up Oxford Relief line, it can be
held there until platform 3 can take it, with the
driver changing ends on the platform before
heading south as 2L15. Chiltern’s 1Y12 can leave
Hinksey yard and run into Oxford platform 4
while the Class 165 is waiting for platform 3.
‘We need to get one Yankee twelve presenting
on time on the Chiltern main line at Bicester South
Junction,’ explains Mr Milnes, ‘as it heads a flight
of trains into Marylebone in the morning peak’.
1Y12 joins the main line ahead of a Class 168 from
Moor Street at Bicester and a train that runs in
empty stock from Banbury and starts from Princes
Risborough’s platform 2. There are also interactions
with a stopper that comes out of the bay at High
Wycombe and another train that starts at Gerrards
Cross – and that’s how a delay at Goring & Streatley
can have an impact on commuters from Seer
Green & Jordans. The tale underlines the importance
of having a plan and being prepared to take
avoiding action when things start going wrong.

NEW LAYOUT AT OXFORD

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 What is particularly impressive about this for earthmoving machinery – although Mother
example is that Mr Milnes’ summary of the key Nature has intervened again, with the wet winter
interactions described here was presented to of 2020 resulting in flooding that has held up work.
fellow operators in Network Rail and other TOCs Tom Milnes is the Chiltern manager who
on 15 October 2019, a couple of months before ‘owns’ the hotline relationship on the part of
the introduction of the Banbury IET service. That the TOC; he has a weekly meeting with the
way everyone could be ready with the plan in maintenance unit, reviewing hotline reports
advance, rather than seeking to firefight if things and the workload on the track. He ensures all
had gone awry after the timetable change. drivers who make a hotline report get feedback
on what’s happening about their report. ‘Some
NETWORK RAIL CO-OPERATION drivers are more engaged with the hotline than
The operating strategies described above depend others – that’s human nature’ reports Mr Milnes.
on people from various companies – other TOCs ‘But that doesn’t matter too much, so long
and Network Rail – pulling together to make as we have a core of people who are making
the railway work better. Chiltern is lucky in that reports – I like to go out on cab rides with the
Marylebone Integrated Electronic Control Centre, drivers who are most engaged so they can
controlling Marylebone to Aynho Junction and point out to me what they are seeing’ he says.
the Met line beyond Amersham, deals almost The close relationship between Banbury Golden Whistle winner: Tom Milnes (left)
exclusively with Chiltern services, so there is p way team and Chiltern represents industry best receives his award from IRO South East chair
inevitably a close relationship between signallers practice. Again, it is more difficult to replicate Glen Merryman on 24 January 2020. Tony Miles
and Chiltern’s control centre in Banbury. Since this when there are multiple operators and
the 2016 resignalling at Banbury, the former drivers covering large distances, as for example to deploy a Network Rail Mobile Operations
island of semaphores there is now under the CrossCountry drivers do – but the Chiltern Manager or even a British Transport Police
control of the West Midlands Signalling Centre approach does give something to aspire to. contingent. Regular perpetrators have been
at Saltley, and there are efforts to keep in touch In a related initiative, Mr Milnes has been caught a couple of times by this method.
with signallers there too. ‘I like to visit signallers circulating weekly track updates to drivers, The proactive attitude shown by Tom
whenever I can to get feedback on the way which covers issues like trespassing. As with the Milnes exemplifies the enthusiasm found in
things are working,’ reports Mr Milnes. state of the track, drivers often spot trends in many young operators around the network,
He is keen on expanding this philosophy in trespassing that can be valuable information. boding well for the future of the railway. He
other areas, with permanent way monitoring If trespass is seen to take place at the same time is a worthy recipient of the IRO’s Outstanding
top of the list. There are expensive automated of day or day of the week, it may be possible Individual Operator Golden Whistle. a
monitoring systems available nowadays that
can be attached to service trains, but each
and every train goes out with a pair of Mk 1
human eyes in the cab. Drivers going up and
down the route every day know a lot about
the way the track should look and can feel
soft spots developing through the ride.
If there is an obvious problem with safety
implications, plainly the signaller has to be told
immediately and trains have to run under caution
until p way has visited the site. What is perhaps
of more interest is the slight deterioration that
might be a harbinger of worse to come.
‘It’s a big credit to Network Rail’s Banbury p way
team that they have come up with a method for
capitalising on drivers’ knowledge’ says Mr Milnes.
The team has produced a booklet for drivers
with a sliding scale for categorising the severity
of a fault and a method of logging its location.
There is a hotline number for fault reporting: CrossCountry at Banbury: a Voyager
drivers are encouraged to report not only track calls on 15 August 2018. Philip Sherratt
issues like poor top and developing wet spots,
but also lineside issues like blocked drains and
encroaching vegetation. The booklet also has
pictures of the Network Rail people responsible
for each stretch, encouraging drivers to get to
know the relevant people; the NR managers are
encouraged to take cab rides to develop rapport.
‘Chiltern had a lot of track problems in
the hot summer of 2018,’ recalls Mr Milnes,
‘when there was a hotline in place but it
wasn’t used much. There was a less prolonged
heatwave in the summer of 2019, but even so
there were some hot days and the advance
warning the drivers gave of problems
meant we suffered less delay as a result.’
The hot summer of 2018 saw a 20mph
temporary speed restriction imposed at
Piddington, between Bicester and Princes
Risborough, where the embankment was breaking
down. Major works are underway at Piddington Retaining walls at High Wycombe: at left, No 165024 calls with a Banbury-bound service,
now, with a haul road installed alongside the line while at right No 168004 passes with a train for London Marylebone. Alan Wallwork

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 ANGLIA IN THE
MIDST OF CHANGE
Greater Anglia Managing Director JAMIE BURLES updates PHILIP SHERRATT
on progress with the operator’s modernisation plan

T
he rail network in East Anglia is in the
throes of change. Greater Anglia is now
over three years into a nine-year franchise
which includes ambitious plans to replace every
train and provide faster and more frequent
services on a number of routes across the region.
There has been no shortage of obstacles so
far, with delays to the introduction of new trains
and infrastructure issues affecting potential
timetable enhancements. But with two of the
three new train types in service and plans for
a timetable recast becoming clearer, GA’s Managing
Director Jamie Burles remains positive about the
improvements already delivered and still to come.
EVERY TRAIN REPLACED
The highlight of the franchise is the
£1.4 billion plan to replace every train in
the fleet with 1,043 new carriages.
First into service were Stadler-built Class 755
bi-modes, one of two types supplied by the
Swiss manufacturer and financed by Rock Rail.
The ‘755’ fleet comprises 38 trains – 24x4-car
and 14x3-car sets, which first carried passengers
in July 2019. GA’s last remaining legacy DMUs
have now transferred to other operators, and
since the start of February regional services
have been solely operated by the bi-modes.
The introduction has not been without issues,
chiefly during December when concerns over track
circuit activation led to the fleet being withdrawn
while investigations took place. With this issue now
resolved, which included installation by Network
Rail of treadles at level crossings on the Sheringham
branch, GA has been playing catch-up with its
training and introduction plan and by early March
had accepted 33 of the 38 bi-mode sets from
Stadler, with just one still to be delivered to the UK.
‘They are having a huge impact when they are
operating successfully and reliably’ says Mr Burles.
‘The capacity increase is hugely beneficial,
particularly on peak trains into Cambridge, and
they offer the highest possible level of quality for
our regional routes.’This has been reflected in the
positive customer feedback GA has received, which
followed proactive consultation with customers
and stakeholders during the design phase.
Punctuality is also benefiting – the ‘755s’ can
comfortably better the schedules of their DMU
predecessors, aiding recovery from delays.
‘We’ve seen some days of 100% PPM (Public
Performance Measure) on Norwich to Cambridge,
which is a very busy railway’ says Mr Burles.
The challenge now is to grow the reliability of
the trains, to achieve what Jamie Burles believes the
fleet is capable of. ‘We still have further to go and
are ironing out software issues’ he reports. ‘We’ve
had 72 software upgrades so far and are making
good progress with the engine management
software. A major benefit of Stadler having an
in-house software team is that they can turn
around an update in three days. We have a weekly
reliability improvement programme call with
Stadler and believe we will get to multiples of the
reliability of the DMUs they replaced.’ For the final
five units not yet accepted, Mr Burles explains GA

New inter-city train: Stadler Flirt EMU No 745010 has just departed from the Manningtree stop as the
09.00 Liverpool Street to Norwich on 12 February 2020 and crosses the river Stour at Cattawade. Antony Guppy

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 has agreed with Stadler to embed recent software
modifications before carrying out fault-free running
and looking to accept the trains into its fleet.

INTER-CITY FLEET
The second new fleet followed the bi-modes into
service in January, in the shape of the Class 745
EMUs also built by Stadler. GA has ordered 20x12-car
‘745s’ – 10 for the Norwich to London inter-city
route with First Class and a café-bar and 10 standard
class-only variants for the Stansted Express.
The priority is introducing the inter-city units
for the Norwich route first, with the legacy
Class 90/Mk 3 loco-hauled sets operating under
a dispensation against Persons with Reduced
Mobility (PRM) regulations. Two ‘745s’ entered
service in mid-January, with another two in place
by early March, but this still left an increasing
challenge to meet the PRM deadline, which
Mr Burles admitted was at ‘significant risk’.
The MD is positive about the introduction, Replacement suburban fleet: Aventra EMU No 720515, wearing full Greater Anglia livery, in
highlighting that the vast majority of trips with ‘G’ shop at Bombardier’s Litchurch Lane works in Derby on 6 March 2020. Philip Sherratt
the ‘745s’ have been without incident. The
most significant failure occurred on 28 January include a further dispensation for the loco-hauled Bombardier’s Aventra EMU contracts, but
at Forest Gate, where passengers had to be sets or subbing in EMUs for a short period.’ resolution appears to be on the horizon at last.
evacuated trackside from a stricken unit; Mr Burles Only a few of the Mk 3 carriages have new homes On 24 February the first pair of Class 710 Aventra
reports the cause was a software issue relating to transfer to, and indeed owner Porterbrook EMUs entered service on London Overground’s
to activation of a fire alarm in a neutral section, sent its first rake for scrap on 20 February. The West Anglia route, with regular service starting
a one-off fault which has now been rectified. Class 90s are on sub-lease from Freightliner, in the first week in March (‘News Front’). ‘This
Mr Burles says GA is doubling up its resource which is to take 13 of the 15 locos, with the other is really important as the setup on the “710s” is
to introduce more ‘745s’ into service, and by two to move to Locomotive Services Ltd. very similar to that on the “720s”’ says Mr Burles.
early March five sets had been accepted with ‘Multi-unit operation is so important – introducing
four in service. ‘The signalling issues on our rural SUBURBAN FLEET NEXT five-car sets on their own is not helpful and we’ll
routes in December diverted Stadler’s and our The biggest delay has affected the replacement be running them in pairs from the outset.’
resources for around three weeks, and that has suburban fleet of 111 Class 720 EMUs. Built The first Class 720 moved to Ilford depot on
had ramifications for the programme’ he reports. by Bombardier and financed by Angel Trains, 13 January, enabling GA to prepare the training,
‘We’re regularly updating the Department for the 89x5-car and 22x10-car sets have suffered commissioning and testing programme to get
Transport about contingency plans, which could from the software problems plaguing all the trains into service. As of the end of February,

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 rebuild of the depot is nearly complete, with one
final phase left. ‘We were going to install a 12-car
lift facility, but we’ve agreed with Stadler that
a bogie drop will be more useful, and we’ll be
letting the contract for that imminently’ he says.
Nearby, Wensum sidings are already in use
to provide additional stabling space, as are the
Victoria sidings which opened in early March,
providing an electrified stabling facility suitable
for both Stadler and Bombardier units.
Further south, with GA having abandoned
its original franchise plan to build a depot at
Brantham near Manningtree, attention is focused
on a replacement facility at Harwich Parkeston,
primarily for the Aventra fleet. This will feature
a wheel lathe, providing valuable additional
capacity for tyre-turning; there is a lathe at Ilford
depot, while GA also sends some sets to Bounds
Green depot in north London for this purpose.

Platform extension planned: No 317666 departs from Ware as the
12.39 Hertford East to Liverpool Street on 19 July 2017. Antony Guppy
Bombardier had built 220 carriages, roughly
one-third of the total fleet, with two production
lines at Litchurch Lane now dedicated to Class 720s.
Mr Burles says once the software issues are
overcome introduction can be accelerated.
Entry into service for the ‘720s’ is now expected in
the autumn, with the Southend Victoria line likely to
be the first to see the new EMUs, although Mr Burles
says GA is sense-checking that plan. Introduction
will then spread from the east of the network to
the west until the full fleet is in place during 2022.
As we have previously reported (‘Informed
Sources’, February issue), there is also a PRM
challenge facing GA’s legacy EMU fleet. The
30 Class 379s used in West Anglia are compliant,
as are the 21 Class 360s on the Great Eastern,
but the latter will move to East Midlands Railway
over the second half of this year to operate
the new electric service between St Pancras
and Corby which starts in December. There
are 30 compliant Class 321s that have been
treated in Eversholt Rail’s ‘Renatus’ programme,
and 27 Class 317s are also being modified,
with 15 completed by the end of February.
This leaves 28 ‘317s’ and 72 ‘321s’ operating
under a PRM dispensation. Mr Burles confirms
there are currently no plans to modify any
further trains for compliance and says scenario
planning is underway for how the cascade will be
managed as ‘720s’ enter service. A boost on the
West Anglia side will come with the introduction
of the Class 745s for the Stansted Express, which
Mr Burles says will follow ‘hot on the heels’ of the
inter-city sets and would allow the ‘379s’ released
from airport duties to replace some of the ‘317s’.
DEPOT UPGRADES
Supporting the new fleets is a suite
of depot and stabling works.
The main base for the Stadler fleets is Crown
Point depot in Norwich; for this reason, Stansted
Express ‘745s’ will work a small number of London
to Norwich services to cycle these sets through
the depot for maintenance. Mr Burles reports the
TIMETABLE IMPROVEMENTS
The new trains are key to plans to recast
timetables in East Anglia, although there have
been some notable milestones already.
In May 2019 Greater Anglia met its franchise
commitment to introduce ‘Norwich in 90’
services, with two services each way on Mondays
to Saturdays calling only at Ipswich to meet
the headline journey time. The operator says
these trains are popular, particularly the 09.00
from Norwich in the morning and the 19.00
evening return; laying them over the existing
timetable meant scheduling them in the heart
of the peaks was not possible. They have been
operated with the existing loco-hauled sets,
which makes achieving the 90-minute schedules
tight, although some tweaks in December
had a positive impact. The major benefit will
come when the Class 745s take over these
services – they have much better performance
characteristics, while dwell times will benefit
from the elimination of slam-door operation.
Improvements to regional services in
December 2019 included the extension of the
Norwich to Cambridge service to Stansted

On borrowed time: loco No 90006 Modern Railways Magazine/Roger Ford accelerates

the 11.00 Liverpool Street to Norwich away from the long-term 50mph speed
restriction at Gypsy Lane past Badley Hill on 12 February 2020. Antony Guppy

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 Level crossing challenges: the Southend Victoria line is one of several routes
where frequency enhancements require infrastructure interventions.
No 321315 departs from Rochford and passes the local golf course forming the
13.35 Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria on 6 April 2017. Antony Guppy

Airport and the provision of additional
Sunday services on several rural routes.
Planning is now focused on major overhauls of
timetables on the Great Eastern and West Anglia
main lines, taking advantage of the new trains
and their improved performance. ‘We’re almost
certain the West Anglia recast will take place in
December 2021’ reports Mr Burles. ‘We’re currently
debating whether to do the Great Eastern at
the same time. While we applaud the ambition
of doing so, we’re aware of the risk involved.’
To aid timetable planning, Greater Anglia is
using Trueline, a Japanese system developed
by Toshiba in conjunction with Mitsui, Abellio’s
40% owning partner in the franchise. ‘In the
past performance analysis by Network Rail and
operators has been relatively rudimentary in
terms of detail’ explains Mr Burles. ‘Trueline maps
routes to an intricate level of detail, so we can
see to the millisecond what happens on each
journey. The granularity is brilliant, and you get
a much higher level of accuracy as a result.’
A simulation of the recast West Anglia timetable
has taken some 14 months to complete, and
Mr Burles reports the Great Eastern is not
far behind. GA is now using the system to
introduce tweaks which optimise the benefits
of improved journey times and revenue.
One likely output of this is that the Norwich in 90
schedules can be moved closer to core peak periods,
highlighting the benefit of building a timetable
from scratch. Given the scale of the changes, for
a December 2021 recast GA will need to give
notice to Network Rail before the end of this year
as well as undertaking a statutory consultation.
INFRASTRUCTURE CHALLENGES
While a timetable overhaul is definitely on the cards,
some of the franchise ambitions have been affected
by infrastructure challenges, particularly concerning
level crossings. Mr Burles explains Network Rail is
working to establish the interventions required to
make feasible these changes, and outputs from that
work were expected during March. ‘There is funding
available, both within the franchise and from
a separate pot, and we need to work out where we’ll
get the biggest bang for our buck’ says Mr Burles.
Among the ambitions affected are extension
of the London to Ipswich service to Norwich to
provide a third train per hour north of Ipswich,
which would be operated by the ‘720s’. Also on
the list is an increase from three to four trains
per hour (tph) off-peak on the Southend Victoria
line, although Mr Burles suggests this is an easier
issue to solve. The Hertford East branch also has
challenges with going from 2tph to 3tph – Mr Burles
explains this would likely involve closures rather
than modifications to the crossings, which would
require consultation with affected stakeholders.
The franchise plan also included ambitions to
double the Ipswich to Peterborough frequency
to hourly. This is GA’s only regional service not
currently operating at an hourly frequency, but
the key blocker to this is the congested layout
at Ely, for which Network Rail is developing
a congestion relief project. ‘We’re huge supporters

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 Compliant EMU fleet: Nos 379029/009 approach Tottenham Hale forming the 15.00 Stansted Airport to Liverpool
Street service on 3 September 2018. Class 745s will soon replace these units on the airport shuttle. Antony Guppy

of the Ely scheme – it’s a national strategic issue
as it affects freight coming from Felixstowe
bound for the Midlands and the North, and it has
very strong political support’ says Mr Burles.
The full planned intervention is likely to be
costly – upwards of £500 million, but Mr Burles says
there is the possibility of an initial intervention short
of the full scheme costing around £200 million,
potentially starting during Control Period 6
(2019-24). Network Rail is currently working through
options for this, but meanwhile GA is looking at
the art of the possible as regards the planned
service enhancement; for example, capacity
issues are less troublesome at weekends.
One improvement which should be delivered
as part of the recast is provision of direct services
between Lowestoft and Liverpool Street via
the East Suffolk line. GA’s commitment is for
four direct trains per day using bi-modes, and
work is ongoing to determine the logistics of
the operation, balancing the need to avoid
running short trains south of Ipswich with
platform constraints on the East Suffolk line.
PLATFORM WORKS
Also supporting the introduction of the new trains
are platform extension works, although Mr Burles
points out that the more significant element is
associated signalling alterations and track slewing.
‘For reasons of cost and time, we’re going to be
self-delivering these works with Network Rail’s
blessing under its asset protection’ Mr Burles
explains. ‘We’ve taken over the GRIP designs
and will be contracting with suppliers shortly.’
Mr Burles says GA will still make use of
Automatic Selective Door Opening (ASDO) on
its new trains wherever possible, but there are
some locations where infrastructure interventions
are unavoidable. The majority of these are on
the West Anglia route, with platform or linked
signalling works to support the introduction
of the new trains planned at Cambridge,
Hertford East, Ware, St Margarets, Broxbourne
and Enfield Lock, whilst works are also needed
further east at Stratford and Wickford.
The scope of works has changed compared to
the original franchise bid; a further scheme but
not linked specifically to the introduction of new
trains will be at Northumberland Park, one of the
stations nearest to the new Tottenham Hotspur
stadium. ‘We could use ASDO, but we’ve agreed it
will be better operationally to extend the platforms
to support crowd management’ says Mr Burles;
the station is not best equipped to handle the
large football crowds, requiring carefully planned
strategies to be employed on matchdays.
GREAT EASTERN ENHANCEMENT
Meanwhile, work continues to develop
a plan for future enhancements, particularly

Bi-mode crossing the Fens: No 755422 forms the 15.50 Peterborough

to Ipswich service near Whittlesea on 18 January 2020. Ken Brunt

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 on the Great Eastern side, where the Great
Eastern main line taskforce is pressing for
infrastructure interventions (a similar taskforce
exists on the West Anglia route as well).
This includes recognition of the need for
more capacity on the busy two-track railway
north of Shenfield, where the aim is to provide
loops. The new station north of Chelmsford at
Beaulieu Park, which recently secured Housing
Infrastructure Fund (HIF) support and is due
to open in 2025, is a likely location for a loop,
but there is also the possibility of a second
new loop further north at Mark’s Tey.
Other constraints include flat junctions, and
from a Great Eastern perspective Bow Junction
on the approach to Liverpool Street is probably
top of the list. Haughley Junction, north of
Stowmarket, is a separate scheme associated
with the Felixstowe to Nuneaton (F2N) project
(which in turn is bound up with enhancements
at Ely). Also a constraint is the single-track swing
bridge at Trowse, outside Norwich; this is not
critical to Great Eastern main line capacity in
itself but is likely to be addressed separately.
Another possibility is introduction of digital
signalling on the Great Eastern south of
Chelmsford but potentially as far as Colchester.
‘We put a proposal to the Department for
Transport last year for us to undertake a digital
signalling project on sections of the Great Eastern
and West Anglia routes, although it didn’t go
ahead’ says Mr Burles. ‘There’s work still to be
done about how that could be financed off
the balance sheet, and discussions continue.’
PERFORMANCE DRIVE
As with any operator, performance is a key
challenge for Greater Anglia. Mr Burles points to
2019 as a very positive year; overall the operator
improved its Public Performance Measure (PPM)
to 89.7%, up from 87.0% in 2018. The Great Eastern
main line saw some of its best ever performance in
the first half of the year, with four periods in a row
over 94.5% PPM between March and June and one
of the highest annual results at 91.9% for the full
year. These achievements were recognised at the
Golden Whistles awards in January, when GA picked
up Silver Whistles for performance improvement
on both its inter-city and commuter services.
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
056-061_MR_Apr 2020_greater anglia.indd 61
‘Network Rail improved significantly last year,
and we can’t say that every year’ says Mr Burles.
‘The improved performance was a result of the
higher level of constructive pressure Network Rail
was placing on itself. Putting passengers first is
an easy phrase to throw about, but last year we
saw evidence of the result of good collaboration
and a focus on improved asset reliability.’
Recent changes of personnel accompanying
NR’s restructure have included the appointment
of Ellie Burrows as Route Director for Anglia.
‘We’re very pleased with her appointment – Ellie
has rich Network Rail experience and rich train
operating experience and genuinely wants to
achieve the objective of putting passengers first.’
For Greater Anglia’s part, Mr Burles points
out that the strong performance last year also
reflects well on his engineering team, with
a particular focus on improving reliability of the
legacy EMU fleet. The number of delay minutes
attributed to fleet issues fell by 26% during
2019, but for the Class 317s, traditionally one of
the most troublesome fleets, the improvement
was higher at 34%, the result of a series of
targeted interventions covering areas such as air
systems, traction motors, doors and couplers.
After the high of the first half of 2019 PPM has
fallen away a little and Mr Burles says both GA and
Network Rail are keen to regain the momentum of
early 2019. This includes a particular focus on the
‘golden mile’ between the buffer stops at Liverpool
Street and Bethnal Green. ‘Liverpool Street has not
necessarily been given the TLC that the importance
of the location requires, and an investment of
several million pounds is planned to give it the
respect and attention it deserves’ says Mr Burles.
‘It’s really important because a failure here has
a disproportionate impact on performance.’
However, Mr Burles highlights that the
achievements of 2019 show what is possible.
‘The most important lesson of last year for Greater
Anglia and Network Rail is that we can do it’
he says. ‘Every year we introduce more trains
without any infrastructure enhancements and
performance had deteriorated steadily. But last
year showed in black and white that it is possible
to improve if you work together, confront the
root causes of delay and hold each other’s feet
to the fire to deliver against those plans.’
Mr Burles is particularly proud that the impact
of this improvement was reflected in passenger
satisfaction scores. In the autumn 2019 survey,
GA recorded an 8% year-on-year improvement,
at a time when only a handful of the regional
routes (and therefore a very small percentage
of passengers surveyed) hosted the new trains.
In parallel with the performance progress,
GA had also been working hard to deliver other
customer-focused improvements, such as station
and car park upgrades (including the new station
at Meridian Water on the West Anglia main
line and a new platform at Sheringham), the
extensive rollout of smart ticketing and the early
introduction of Delay Repay 15 compensation.
CLE STILL AN ISSUE
Speaking before the coronavirus crisis hit, Mr Burles
was positive about GA’s prospects. ‘The good
news is that in 2019 we hit the budget we’d set
the previous year and the franchise was profitable’
he reports. ‘We had to do a lot of things right to
achieve that, and it’s the result of a lot of hard work.’
But the challenge of the Central London
Employment (CLE) mechanism still remains for
Greater Anglia. This is written into the franchise
agreement as a measure of future revenue growth
but is now widely accepted as no longer being
a good comparator. ‘There used to be a good
correlation but changing working habits have
led to a disconnect between Central London
employment growth and revenue’ says Mr Burles –
and this is only likely to get worse as people get
more used to working from home as a result of
coronavirus.. ‘It’s been hurting us since day one
of the franchise and we continue to talk with DfT
about it. It’s a flawed and frustrating model, and we
believe the right thing is to change the mechanism
to ensure it’s operating in the way it’s intended
to for both sides.’ Mr Burles points out that not
all mechanisms are bad, with the link between
GDP and revenue still strong and fit for purpose.
Despite the impact of changing work patterns,
Mr Burles says passenger growth in Anglia remains
healthy, although this was before the impact of
coronavirus hit the economy. ‘There is a positive
economic backdrop to the region – East Anglia
is prospering, and the railway has an important
role to play in maintaining that trend.’ a
61
17/03/2020 12:10
 WHERRY LINES
RESIGNALLED
Semaphores have been replaced on the branches east of Norwich
O
ver 130 years of signalling history came to
an end on the Wherry lines on 17 February
2020 with the reopening of the Norwich
to Yarmouth line following completion of work
to introduce a new computerised signalling
system, with the Lowestoft line coming back
a week later. The lines had been closed for
an engineering blockade since 1 February to
facilitate the switchover from semaphore signals
to the modern computer-based system.
The commissioning marks the culmination of
a long-running saga for the lines running east out of
Norwich. Four years ago, the lines were earmarked
to act as a ‘proof of concept’ scheme for the Digital
Railway. Digital systems including European Train
Control System (ETCS), Connected Driver Advisory
System (C-DAS) and Traffic Management (TM) were
all to be tested on these branch lines – including the
interface between the systems (p24, March 2016
62 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
062-065_MR_Apr 2020_wherry lines.indd 62
issue). ETCS had already been working on the
Cambrian lines in Wales since 2010, while C-DAS
and TM were in various stages of development.
But there were serious doubts, articulated by this
magazine’s Roger Ford, about whether the Wherry
lines were the right place to test such systems.
In the event the plan to use the Wherry lines
as a digital pioneer was scrapped in favour
of resignalling with colour lights. But a novel
system was chosen: Alstom’s ElectroLogIXS
digitally-enabled interlocking system, which comes
with a General Electric / Harmon pedigree via a
series of takeovers and for which Atkins is the agent
in the UK. ElectroLogIXS was first commissioned
in passenger deployment by Atkins on the
Shepperton branch in June last year, as an early
stage of the Feltham resignalling (p22, July 2019
issue). This followed the first UK application, in
Crossrail’s Old Oak Common depot, in 2018.
CONTRACT
A £29 million contract was awarded to
Atkins on 15 August 2017 to resignal the
42km of the Wherry lines, with an aim of
completion in March 2019. This date was
missed by 11 months: the Wherry lines’ many
level crossings made this project a more
complicated proposition than the Shepperton
and Old Oak schemes that preceded it.
The delay hit the single line through Berney
Arms (a station without road access frequented
by birdwatchers), which ended up being
shut for 18 months. Scheduled to close from
October 2018 to March 2019 to allow works at
Reedham Junction to take place, the line did
not reopen until the end of February 2020.
The new digital control centre for the route is
at Colchester signalling centre. There has been
some rowing back of late on Network Rail’s
17/03/2020 15:39
 Preparing for change: a bagged-up starter signal
is in shot at Brundall as No 755331 departs
with the 14.40 Norwich to Great Yarmouth
service on 29 January 2020. Antony Guppy
LEVEL CROSSINGS
Level crossing upgrades were a key feature of
the Wherry project. Control of six road level
crossings (Lingwood Station Road and Chapel
Road; Cantley; Brundall; Strumpsall; Oulton
Broad North) transferred from local boxes to
Colchester. While the locals miss the cheery
interaction with crossing keepers, Network Rail
was finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and
retain staff for this work. Considerable stakeholder
awareness work was undertaken to publicise
the fact that the Colchester signallers would be
monitoring the crossings with controlled circuit
television and safety would be maintained.
The flat East Anglian countryside traversed
by the Wherry lines features large arable farms;
user worked crossings (UWC) are important
facilities for the agricultural community. Eleven
UWCs have been upgraded under the project.
A typical example is Acle Marsh UWC, connecting
a barn on one side of the line with the main road
on the other. This used to be an old-fashioned UWC
with a phone, where tractor drivers had to call the
signaller for advice on whether it was safe to cross.
Now, miniature red/green lights advise whether
or not it is safe to cross. Schweizer’s Vamos level
crossing system uses advice from the Frauscher
axle counters to advise on the status of the line,
without any need for signaller involvement.
Innovative technology has been used, with solar
panels supplying electricity for the equipment
at this remote crossing, far from any power
supply. On sunny days, the solar panels charge
batteries to store power for use on dull days.
A fuel cell converting methanol into electricity
provides back-up power; the methanol only has
to be refilled about once a year. Three remote
condition monitoring systems, covering the Vamos,
solar system and batteries, advise technicians
should there be any need for intervention.
BRUNDALL
The work at Brundall, where the single line to Great
Yarmouth diverges from the double-track Norwich
to Lowestoft route, typifies the many problems
that can confront Network Rail and its contractors
when seeking to upgrade to modern standards
a line that has not changed much in decades.
The station’s platforms are offset, one on
either side of a lane running over a level crossing
to a boatyard. Replacing the locally-operated
crossing gates with automated barriers controlled

original plan to centralise control of the nation’s

signalling in a handful of Rail Operating Centres.
The ROC at Romford is majoring on control of
the coming Elizabeth Line and current thinking is
that Colchester is likely to retain a role in control
of the Norwich main line and its branches.
Using Safety Integrity Level (SIL) software, the
new ElectroLogIXS system is revolutionising the
way the signalling system on the Wherry lines is
run. Mechanical signal boxes at Brundall, Acle,
Yarmouth, Cantley, Reedham, Oulton Broad LED signalling: this example is at Lingwood on the Yarmouth line. Two-aspect colour light signalling is
North and Lowestoft have closed, with all the achieved with red and green light-emitting diodes sharing the single lens. Courtesy Network Rail
new hardware remote-monitored and controlled
from Colchester. The system uses Frauscher axle
counters for train detection. The GSM-R (railway
mobile telecommunications) on the route is
solar-powered, with diesel generator back-up.
While Atkins was lead contractor on the signal
and telecommunications work, the opportunity
was taken during the blockades to relay some
track and renew points, with the Southern
Rail Systems Alliance (Colas) undertaking this
work. Track renewal and modifications were
made at Lowestoft station and additional track
renewal work completed at Hassingham, Acle
and Oulton Broad North. There are hopes that
aggregates/spoil traffic may come to Lowestoft
in the future, so some simple freight facilities
were retained there in the resignalling.
Maintenance of Reedham and Somerleyton
swing bridges was completed during the
blockade, including the upgrading of detection
systems that had been in use since the 1940s. The
boxes controlling these swing bridges (and also
the bridge at Oulton Broad) have been retained. Crossing the Broads: the swing bridge at Reedham. Courtesy Network Rail

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 63

062-065_MR_Apr 2020_wherry lines.indd 63 17/03/2020 15:39
 their length, while negotiations were required
with British Telecom over clearances between the
raised barriers and overhead cables over the line.
Another small parcel of land had to be
acquired from the edge of a neighbouring
garden to allow a ramp to be put in to
meet disabled access requirements.
To meet today’s standards, new signals
had to be further back from the crossing than
the ones they replaced – requiring some
platform lengthening work. New station
lighting required power supply works.
The junction was remodelled and the
track through the station relaid. All this at
a tiny station in the Norfolk countryside.

Acle Marsh UWC: miniature red and green lights now give advice on when it is safe to cross. The new
equipment is solar-powered; the grey cabinets house the batteries and methanol back-up.
from Colchester required a few square metres
of extra land for the barrier mechanisms.
Despite the small area required, acquisition
was complicated as the land was found to be
in the ownership of three different parties,
with a corner where ownership was unclear.
Then negotiations were required with the
boatyard to ensure that access by lorry, requiring
a right angle turn as soon as the level crossing has
been negotiated, would be no worse than before.
Complicating this was that boats are narrow at
the keel, broadening out as they rise – while the
level crossing barriers are widest at the bottom,
with the angle of the raised barriers narrowing the
space at the top. The barriers, over nine metres
long, required special design approval due to
STORMS
Further complicating the team’s work were heavy
storms that hit during the blockade in February. It
had been intended that advantage would be taken
of the blockade to renew a road bridge at Postwick,
but this has been deferred due to the poor weather.
The Norwich to Yarmouth line and the north
end of the East Suffolk line, from Beccles to
Lowestoft, reopened following the blockade
on 17 February 2020. The line from Norwich to
Lowestoft, along with the route through Berney
Arms, reopened on 24 February following
completion of track works in the Hassingham area.
The abolition of semaphore signals on
the route marks the end of an era. Ironically,
resignalling schemes that see the replacement
of semaphores are few and far between: the
basic mechanical equipment makes patch and
mend an option, meaning that relay systems
with degraded cabling and early computerised
systems with unsupported software often jump
mechanically-signalled lines in the queue.
Scott Kelley, a Director at engineering
consultancy Atkins, said of the Wherry lines: ‘This
is a pioneering project which has seen us working
alongside Network Rail and our supply chain
partners to complete the biggest ever deployment
of a new cutting-edge signalling system that will
help transform rail travel right across the region.’ a

Brundall: the new level crossing barriers can be seen here, with a BT cable close by and the
boatyard to which access had to be maintained in the background. Courtesy Network Rail

64 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com

062-065_MR_Apr 2020_wherry lines.indd 64 17/03/2020 15:39

 TO CROMER

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65
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www.modern-railways.com1 2 April 2020 Modern Railways
AFTER
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Coke Oven Jn DN LOWESTOFT5 2 LOWESTOFT17/03/2020
062-065_MR_Apr 2020_wherry lines.indd 65
UP LOWESTOFT 3 TO REEDHAM & IPSWICH Lowestoft SB
15:39
 The decarbonisation challenge
RICHARD HARPER, Associate Director at Steer, examines the opportunity and challenge facing UK rail

A
re you playing your part in decarbonising
the railway? I ask this simple question
because it appears to me that the
railway industry has a lot to do collectively
and collaboratively in this new decade to
set us on the path to deliver change.
What matters is making a difference to climate
change. Rail is already responsible for just 1.6%
of UK domestic transport emissions so has
a huge advantage and role to play. And if you
don’t happen to believe in the climate crisis,
Government policy and public opinion have
TABLE 1: RAIL CO2
EMISSIONS BY SOURCE
Traction power 63%
Subsystems 21%
Offices, depots and stations 16%
Source: Decarbonisation Task Force
both shifted markedly in the last year, laying the
foundation for a significant programme of work.
Last year, Britain was the first major country to
commit to zero (or carbon neutral) CO2 emissions,
by a target date of 2050. UK passenger rail produced
2.5 million tonnes and rail freight 0.5 million tonnes
of CO2 in 2018-19, but it’s fine, don’t worry – we have
got 30 years to reduce that to zero. It’s a real concern
that the Great Western and North West electrification
schemes took a decade from concept to completion.
The new policy adds to the commitment made
in 2018 to cease operation of diesel-only trains
by 2040, a date which may be brought forward
given the parallel policy consultation on new road
vehicles which could see sales of vehicles with
internal combustion engines banned from 2032.
CARBON REDUCTION
The rail carbon challenge isn’t just about traction
power, although that makes up the lion’s share
at 63% of emissions (Table 1). The remaining
37% comes from subsystems and assets that are
static, and therefore easier to power by renewable
sources on site or from the national grid. Whilst
we still need plans to address these emissions,
I want to focus on the real challenge of providing
traction power to the highly mobile fleet of trains.
The truth is there is a very long action list to
complete before the industry is in a position to
confidently demonstrate it will deliver against
the 2050 zero target for traction power. We need
research and development of alternative prime
mover technology to shift into quantity production,
we need an agreed implementation plan for both
electrification and the alternatives beyond the
electrified network, and we need committed funds
to deliver the programme and then collaborate
together to deliver it. All of which will challenge
every part of the industry to play its part.
There has been some progress in the last
decade to start transport – not just rail – on a path
to carbon reduction, but it’s nothing like the

Electrification underway: an East Midlands Railway HST working the 11.34 St Pancras
to Nottingham passes Kettering North Junction on 21 December 2019. Mick Alderman

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 progress made in other UK sectors, notably energy.
The growth of the climate protest movement in
the last two years has created a new urgency –
do nothing and the protestors will come.
Yet this is also a massive opportunity for rail,
which is also recognised by governments and
the public. Right now, rail has a much lower
carbon footprint than its major competitors
(Table 2). Where there is potential for rail to
be competitive on end-to-end journey time,
there is growing evidence of modal shift.
Flygskam – flight shaming – drove a 9%
reduction in domestic air travel in Sweden
last year, and provoked a surge in rail travel,
especially for time-competitive routes such as
Stockholm to Gothenburg. Elsewhere across
Europe, government policy is moving in favour
of financial support for sleeper services, which is
reversing some of the last decade’s severe cuts.
UK rail needs a clear strategy to take
advantage of this position as well as removing
the remaining carbon emissions – both the car
and air sectors are already investing billions
globally to deliver a zero-carbon future.
TIME PRESSURE
Taking all this together I have been searching
for the answer to a very basic question: how
CrossCountry challenge: how should long journeys such as this be operated in a zero-carbon
world? Voyager No 221139 runs through Kinghorn along the north side of the Forth
estuary on 3 May 2016 with the 08.20 Aberdeen to Penzance service. Ian Lothian
long have we got? This is the same question TABLE 2: UK DOMESTIC
posed by the climatologist and activist James TRANSPORT CARBON
Hansen in 2006 as he led the charge to raise EMISSIONS BY MODE, 2015
awareness of global warming. For me, however, Cars and taxis 57.6%
the question is less about the philosophical
HGVs and LGVs 31.4%
existential crisis created by climate change and
Buses and coaches 3.1%
much more practical. How long have we got
before we need to be executing a co-ordinated Other road 0.8%
industry plan to deliver the 2050 target? Rail 1.6%
To answer this, we first need to get under the Domestic aviation 1.3%
skin of the problem. Don’t be fooled by some Domestic shipping 2.1%
of the statistics around current industry carbon Other 2.1%
performance. There has been a 50% reduction
Source: Department for Transport
in carbon emissions per passenger mile in the
last decade, but much of that is due to rising
passenger numbers – rail’s share of surface and concluded that the removal of diesel-only trains
transport CO2 emissions has fallen only slightly. by 2040 was feasible, and that for long-distance
The fact that 80% of UK passenger miles high-speed and freight the only credible alternative
are carried on electric trains is also an easy trap to diesel is conventional electrification.
awaiting the unwary. The scope of the problem There are still a number of notable high-speed
to decarbonise the remaining 20% is significant. and high density routes yet to be fully electrified –
In 2018 the UK network comprised 19,291 track Midland main line, trans-Pennine, Chiltern, commuter
miles of which 8,106 were electrified, which routes in the Midlands and North – and beyond
makes up 40% of the network. Enough of this there is a huge route mileage of disparate,
the percentages – it’s the 11,185 track miles low-speed and low frequency railways.
which are not electrified that need focus. There is a further problem though. Complex
service patterns across our network make the
TASK FORCE transition and end state difficult to pin down at the
Progress has been made. Last year the rail moment. Do you want CrossCountry to be 100%
Decarbonisation Task Force issued its final report electric in 2050? That would mean electrifying

FIGURE 1: THE APPROACH OF THE DECARBONISATION TASK FORCE

Likelihood of Most likely long

Key decision issue(s)
electrification term traction mode

Existing
Always run electric None
electrified network
Top down case
for electrification
Case for infill Transition to Timing, transition
electrification always run electric arrangement

Squeeze sub-optimal
Limited access to Uncertain solution; Final traction option(s); solutions in geography
electrified network not pure electric transitional arrangements and time may depend
on policy rather than
cost and other factors

Will never run on Best non-electric option Least cost, lowest carbon
the electrified network Bottom up case for
other traction modes

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 FIGURE 2: REQUIRED RATE TO ELECTRIFY 70% OF TRACK MILES from the ‘bottom’ (Figure 1). All very sensible, except
the scale of the challenge makes it immediately
20
apparent that squeezing out the ‘middle’ is the
19
really challenging task. Last year’s report noted the
18
path for these routes was uncertain, final traction
17
options were unclear and there may be a need
16 for policy rather than cost to drive the solution.
Electric

15
14 REQUIRED RATE
13
Track miles (thousands)

No question then that a detailed plan is needed

Electric
12 to answer these questions. Conventional
11 electrification is acknowledged as an important
10 180 track miles p.a.
part of the solution, and the next question is
9 what is the rate of electrification required?
8 The UK’s first main line electrification was the
Non electric - diesel

7 Mersey Railway in 1903 and in the 115 years to 2018

6 we reached 8,106 miles of electrification – a long
5 run rate of 70 track miles each year. The intervening

Not electric - zero

4

carbon fuel
years have been impacted by many factors
3 including war, affordability and deliverability, which
2 has led to inevitable periods of famine and feast.
1 In the last 70 years a handful of years have
0 seen more than 350 track miles of electrification
2018 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 End State commissioned. These have included the
Year period of the original West Coast main line
electrification in the mid-1960s, the programme
to Aberdeen and Penzance or cutting back the doing it again. How do you handle 30 return trips of Network SouthEast infill and East Coast
service pattern. Or alternatively, CrossCountry a day on the St Ives branch? Detailed questions like main line electrification in the late-1980s, and
would need a fleet of next-generation bi-mode these, which are a blend of market requirements more recently as the Great Western and North
trains by 2050, but does it really make sense and technology capability, all need to be answered West schemes have been completed.
for every train to carry a tank of hydrogen right before the policy can be turned into a strategy
across the country for a handful of workings over and a detailed plan for implementation. CHALLENGING
the last 80 miles from Plymouth to Penzance? The Task Force summed up the task as So let’s look at the rate required in the next three
At the other end of the scale, what are the a ‘top down bottom up’ approach, expanding decades. Let’s not pre-empt the detailed planning
options for a zero-carbon train that has the range electrification where there was a clear case to do of the network – we could all draw exciting maps
to cover 350 miles from Inverness to Wick and back, so from the ‘top’, and by relying on zero carbon showing the extent of electrification in 2050 –
and without taking a long time to refuel before alternative prime-movers like hydrogen and battery but let’s instead make a few assumptions.

Far North line: remote routes such as this present a challenge for decarbonisation. No 158724 forming the first train of the day
from Inverness to Wick crosses the Oykel / Shin Viaduct between Culrain and Invershin on 26 June 2018. Niall Laybourne

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 First, let’s consider what would be required if FIGURE 3: REQUIRED RATE TO ELECTRIFY 85% OF TRACK MILES
the extent of electrification rises from 40% of track
20
miles to 70% of track miles. That leaves the final
19
30% of track miles to alternative fuels or battery.
18
Which makes the electrification task 5,400 track
17
miles across 30 years at a rate of 180 miles per
annum (Figure 2). Are you worried yet? You should 16

Electric
be, because I’m not sure we haven’t made a few 15
too many optimistic assumptions in this scenario. 14
13

Track miles (thousands)

First, we need to examine the problem posed
by energy density. Put simply, this relates energy 12
11

Electric
requirements and the available energy from the
fuel source. The more energy you require, or the 10
9 276 track miles p.a.
lower the energy density of your fuel, the bigger
your fuel tank needs to be. For diesel, hydrogen, 8

Non electric - diesel

battery and other energy sources provided 7
at the point of use, energy density is critical to 6
capability and range between refuelling. If you 5
want to go at a high speed, or if you need to shift 4
a heavy freight load, you need a lot of energy. 3

electric - zero
2

carbon fuel
This is where diesel shows its worth, with

lots of horsepower available per tonne of fuel.
Hydrogen and battery can’t match this at the
moment, so you would need to take a larger
supply of fuel with you – this mobile fuel tank
could be called a ‘tender’, it seems a natural name
for it. Technologists will point to the potential for
improvement to deliver future solutions, such
as higher-pressure hydrogen and continually
improving battery capability, but we need a strategy
now grounded in deliverable technology.
I’m starting to feel our assumption that 30% of
track miles remain non-electrified in 2050 might be
a bit optimistic. If we cut that in half and assume the
extent of electrification rises to 85% of total track
miles, then the electrification task has risen and
we’ve got to deliver 8,300 newly electrified track
1
0
2018
miles by 2050. The rate has risen to 276 track miles
per annum (Figure 3) and we are in the process of
establishing the biggest sustained programme of
electrification in the history of the UK rail network.
CONTINGENCY
The trouble is, I’ve still got a few worries about
the assumptions made so far. We aren’t making
a start on this programme any time soon.
True, there are some projects in delivery and in
development. Electrification to Corby will be
Not
2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 End State
Year
commissioned later this year, and South Wales
Metro and trans-Pennine should see further track
miles commissioned in the next few years.
Beyond that, a comprehensive programme
to 2050 is going to need development,
design and funding before the first masts are
erected. Shall we say five years before it starts
delivering in earnest? I’m concerned even that
sounds optimistic, but let’s be positive about
the ability of the whole of the industry and
Government to mobilise to deliver this.

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 Intensive shuttle: a pair of GWR Class 150s approach Carbis Bay with
the 14.48 St Erth to St Ives service on 2 July 2018. Philip Sherratt
I still have a nagging doubt though. It’s
called contingency. If there’s one thing
I’ve learned from delivering projects in rail,
it’s that the unexpected will happen, and
the result is delay to the programme.
We have a hard deadline in 2050. Does that
sound familiar? 31 December 2019 is a date that
was etched on everyone’s calendar for decades to
ensure the completion of Persons with Reduced
Mobility modifications to rail vehicles, and whilst
the derogations now granted this year are for
months not years, how much risk do you want to
place on the confident delivery of a decarbonised
railway in 2050? From this far back, how does
five years sound? That would mean a target
to complete the electrification programme by
2045, offering contingency for the inevitable
bumps along the way which cause delay, and
also creating capacity to deliver more than 85%
if the alternative prime movers come up short.
Here’s the point: this scenario requires
the electrification of 8,300 track miles in the
20 years from 2025 to 2045, which equates
to a rate of 415 track miles per annum
(Figure 4). Not just the biggest programme
of UK rail electrification ever, but delivered
at an unprecedented and sustained rate.
So now’s the time to start getting worried
about the size of the programme of works
that might be required. Every month that goes
by, we risk the delivery rate rising from that
already impressive 415 track miles annually.
PLANNING UNDERWAY
Fortunately, this isn’t just a call to arms –
the industry has already started planning.
Following on from last year’s Decarbonisation
Task Force, Network Rail’s System Operator
Freight challenge: GB Railfreight loco No 66767 passes over Elmswell Hall user-worked crossing powering the
4L28 08.40 Doncaster Railport to Felixstowe South intermodal service on 7 February 2020. Antony Guppy
70 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
066-070_MR_Apr 2020_harper.indd 70
If you’re thinking that might lead to an
outcome which fails to meet the 2050 target,
the second question is pertinent, which is what
would a programme and cost be to decarbonise
traction power by 2050, and also by 2040? So not
just the hard target, but a stretch target too.
The third question to be answered by TDNS is
what industry actions are recommended, which
ensures the tasks that will be required by operators,
manufacturers and suppliers to support delivery
of the strategy can be identified. I resisted the
urge to start drawing maps, but that’s exactly
what the TDNS is doing – and a map of the
recommended future network traction source
by source will be an output of the programme.
The TDNS team is due to report later this
year, and its strategy will be a foundation for the
development of individual scheme business
cases, helping to provide justification and
a reference point for funding bids. This promises
function is leading the development of to be a watershed moment on the road to
a Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy achievement of the 2050 target. The Williams Rail
(TDNS for short). The TDNS team is building on Review is also important, enabling an industry
previous work to identify which technology better geared up to deliver major change.
out of electrification, battery or hydrogen Returning to James Hansen’s question, how long
should be deployed where and when. have we got? This is a massive opportunity for rail
The programme is answering three critical to demonstrate low carbon credentials. We need
questions. Firstly, using an efficient renewal- and the outputs of the TDNS programme this year and
enhancement-led approach, how long would it to immediately start developing business cases
take to complete, how much would it cost and to and design work, so implementation can start
what extent would CO2 emissions be reduced? delivering results by the middle of the decade. a
FIGURE 4: REQUIRED RATE TO ELECTRIFY 85% OF
TRACK MILES WITH CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE
20
19
18
17
16
Electric
15
14
13
Track miles (thousands)
12
11
Electric
10
9
415 track miles p.a.
8
Non electric - diesel
7
6
5
4
3
electric - zero
2
carbon fuel
Not
1
0
2018 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 End State
Year
17/03/2020 12:10
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 Cardiff Queen Street: track and signalling changes are required here, where
tram-trains from Cardiff Bay to Pontypridd and beyond will cross the paths
of Rhymney and Coryton services. Currently Cardiff Bay is served by a shuttle
which turns around at this bay platform at Queen Street. Rhodri Clark

CORE VALLEY LINES

MODERNISATION
The Core Valley Lines are transferring to the Welsh Government. RHODRI CLARK reports on
the tasks and challenges ahead for the teams tasked with modernising the infrastructure

I
nfrastructure works to modernise the Core
Valley Lines will soon get underway in
earnest, following conclusion of the process
to transfer the infrastructure from Network
Rail to the Welsh Government. The aim of the
£738 million modernisation is to provide four
trains per hour to Cardiff from each Heads of
the Valleys terminus, operated by tram-trains
and tri-mode units with no use of diesel over
Core Valley Lines (CVL) infrastructure.
The CVL comprise Cardiff Queen Street
station and all lines north thereof, including
the freight-only line from Ystrad Mynach
to Cwmbargoed and the disused line from
Aberdare to Hirwaun (Tower). Also included
in the asset transfer are the City line, from
Radyr to near Ninian Park station (north of
Grangetown, close to Cardiff Canton depot),
and the spur from Queen Street to Cardiff Bay.
In June 2018, KeolisAmey was awarded the
contract to operate Wales & Borders services,
to implement the CVL modernisation in
conjunction with Transport for Wales (TfW), and
to operate the CVL on a vertically integrated
model. The asset transfer was expected to
occur in September 2019 but the process
was delayed by various factors, including the
December 2019 general election. Objections
by freight operators, who were concerned
that the CVL could set a precedent for other
Network Rail divestments, had to be addressed.
The transfer was formally triggered at the end
of January, to take effect on 28 March, through
a transfer scheme enabled by a Transport and
Works Act Order. A transfer scheme enables
the assets, rights and liabilities of one entity
be transferred in their entirety to another.
Amey Keolis Infrastructure Ltd (AKIL) is the
new network licence holder for the CVL and
will become the infrastructure manager.
EUROPEAN FUNDING
The broad plan of attack is to work on the Taff
lines from Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr
Tydfil first. Funding from the European Union
remains available for this work, but the Welsh
Government would need to demonstrate in
2023 that the investment is delivering the
expected benefits, which in turn requires
tram-trains to be running by the end of 2022.
TfW chief executive James Price recently told
Assembly Members that he was confident the EU
funding deadline would be met. The six-month
delay had enabled more design work to be done
before construction commenced, and therefore
‘we should have designed out some of the issues
that we would have faced in an earlier start’.
However, he admitted: ‘We are now more tight
on the programme than I wanted us to be’.
The current aim is for teams to turn their
attention to the Rhymney and Coryton lines
as they finish on the Taff lines. However, Karl
Gilmore, TfW’s rail programme director, says:
‘There may be a programme benefit which
is currently being evaluated to accelerate
some of the Rhymney line works’.
The Rhymney line is due to be operated
by Stadler Flirt tri-mode units from late 2023.
They will draw power from the overhead
line equipment (OLE) and their batteries
as far south as Cardiff Queen Street, then
use their diesel engines to continue over
Network Rail metals to Barry and Penarth.
This will ensure that commuters and shoppers
from south-west of Cardiff continue to
have through trains to Queen Street.
TfW and AKIL have undertaken some
preparatory works on the CVL through access
negotiated with Network Rail. ‘There are
a number of ongoing works such as vegetation
clearance, along with starting to tackle a number
of invasive species, such as knotweed,’ says
Mr Gilmore. ‘These works have been ongoing
for the last year and will continue throughout
the lifespan of the programme before being
taken over by the infrastructure manager.
‘The first construction, albeit minor,
has been the construction of new
passenger waiting shelters at both
Abercynon and Mountain Ash stations.’
Installation of foundations for OLE masts
will commence this summer. The same 25kV
OLE will be installed for tram-trains as for

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 the heavy rail tri-modes. Mr Gilmore says trains will automatically switch to battery power. will drop their pantographs on approach
the design is not significantly different from This will avoid reconstruction of road bridges and continue using battery power.
Network Rail OLE but will be lighter than to provide adequate clearance for live OLE, an Conversion of heavy rail lines to light rail
the OLE on the Great Western Main Line. activity which caused substantial disruption to operation in Greater Manchester took place
New crossing loops will be needed for the passengers and communities during the Great during prolonged suspension of rail services.
enhanced frequency north of Abercynon Western main line (GWML) electrification. The CVL tram-trains should allow TfW to avoid
and Porth, where the track was singled by Electrification in tunnels also contributed long closures, since they are designed to share
British Rail. This is likely to entail construction significantly to the cost of the GWML works, tracks with heavy rail stock. However, TfW is
of second platforms at some stations. but no OLE will be fitted in Caerphilly currently unable to say whether tram-trains can
There may also be opportunities to tunnel, on the CVL. The tri-mode units be phased in alongside Class 150 Sprinters, for
slew the existing track in places, for
example to enable higher linespeeds
or reduce vulnerability to landslips.
The planned operating pattern will increase
conflicting movements at Cardiff Queen Street,
where frequent tram-trains between the
Taff lines and Cardiff Bay will cross the route
of services from Rhymney and Coryton to
Cardiff Central and beyond. Changes to track
and signalling are required at Queen Street,
where there will also be alterations to what
Mr Gilmore describes as ‘smaller furniture items’.

DEPOTS
Delays to the asset transfer did not hinder
progress on two new depots. The infrastructure
hub at Treforest, officially opened on Tri-mode Flirt: Stadler units capable of working in diesel, electric or battery
8 January 2020, will distribute materials for modes will operate cross-Cardiff services from the Rhymney line.
CVL modernisation for the next five years and
subsequently become a maintenance facility.
At Taff’s Well, work is underway on
a £100 million tram-train depot and CVL control
centre. The brownfield site was acquired by Llanwrtyd Llangammarch

the Welsh Government for the purpose.

Sugar Loaf Tun. Sugar Loaf
‘There has been significant demolition Summit and
Moorfields Midlands-Electricity
Shelwick Junc.

Sidings
ground remediation at Taff’s Well depot, the site
Cynghordy
Bulmers Works (Scottish Hereford
& Newcastle) (Disused) HF
of our new train depot and signalling control
centre,’ reports Mr Gilmore. ‘The first major
ENGLAND
construction will be the bridge interventions
Llandovery

at the south end Llanwrdaof the Taff’s Well site, which

will allowLlangadog
access from the train [running] line, WALES
beneath the highways into the depot.’
The impact on passengers of electrification Pontrilas Timber Terminal

andLlandeilo
other works will be minimised by the use of
electrically
Ffairfach isolated OLE under bridges, where CVL Citylink: these light rail vehicles will operate on the Core Valley Lines.
ENGLAND

Llandybie
Gwaun-cae-Gurwen BRECON MOUNTAIN
RAIL ROUTES IN
Coal Loading Terminal Abergavenny
Ammanford RAILWAY (1’11¾”) Timber Terminal
Torpantau

SOUTH WALES
Onllwyn-Celtic Energy
Pantyffynnon Dolygaer PONTYPOOL &
(Pantyffynnon is a Block Post) Brynteg-Onyx Land Technology Pontsticill Ebbw Vale Whistle Halt BLENAVON
Pant Town RAILWAY SOC.
Cwm Rhymney Blaenavon Furnace Siding Parkend
Tower - Coal Loading Merthyr Tydfil Bargoed C.S. Impress Packaging Ebbw Vale
Parkway Blaenavon
-- Double trackWALES DEAN FOREST
Pontlottyn High Level -ı- Single track RAILWAY
Cwmgwrach-Unity Millar
Argent
-- Freight lines Norchard
Pentre-bach -- Preserved railways Lydney Town Depot
Sidings St Mary's Halt
Aberdare Troed-y-rhiw Lydney Junction
Tir-phil
Cwmbach Lydney
Penllergaer Tun. Brithdir
Abercwmboi Merthyr Vale Llanhilleth Pontypool & New Inn
Llangyfelach Tun Skewen C.S. Treherbert Fernhill Black Lion Junc. Bargoed
Neath & Brecon Junc. Panteg-Outokumbu
(1m 193yds). Neath Ynyswen Mountain Ash Gilfach Fargoed
Llansamlet Penrhiwceiber
Treorchy Quaker's Yard Pengam
Cockett Tun.
Ton Pentre Ystrad Rhondda Cwmbran
Cockett Briton Ferry Abercynon Newbridge
West Pontycymer
Llwynypia Hengoed
Swansea Maesteg Chepstow Sidings
Tonypandy Ystrad Mynach
Trehafod Ystrad Mynach S. Junc. Cross Keys
Caerwent-MoD &
Baglan Maesteg Ewenny Road Asbestos Removal Plant
Dinas Rhondda
Port Talbot Parkway Garth (Mid Porth Pontypridd Risca & Pontymister
Docks ABP Glamorgan) Trefforest Llanbradach Newport Severn Tunnel
Margam Yard Junc. Machen-ARC
Rogerstone Junction
Corus-Ore Terminal(Disused) Pye Bishton Severn Tunnel
Corus-Abbey & Margam Wks. Trefforest Estate Corner Caldicot (4m. 628yds.)
Cwm Caerphilly
Margam Yard Brynmenyn Aber
Margam Abbey Works East Junc. Tondu Middle Junc. Caerphilly Tun. 1m 173yds. Llanwern-Corus Pilning
Tondu Llanharan
(Disused) Severn Beach
(Not in regular use) Sarn
CE Sidings Llantrisant Sidings Lisvane & Thornhill
Wildmill Taffs Well
Pyle Bridgend Pencoed Pontyclun
Bridgend LIynfi Junc.
Coryton Patchway Bristol
Bridgend E. Junc.
Radyr Parkway
Bridgend-Ford Works St. Andrew's Road
Ewenny Fords Siding Junc.
Avonmouth Filton
St. Georges Fairwater CARDIFF Portishead (Disused) Shirehampton Abbey
Queen St Wood
Sea Mills
St. Fagans Central
Cardiff Bay Stapleton
Grangetown Clifton Down Road

Llantwit Penarth
Major Aberthaw - Lafarge
Cement Wks (Disused)
Aberthaw Sidings
Barry
Aberthaw-
RWE Npower
Rhoose Cardiff Barry Island
International Airport

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 Radyr: on 19 February 2020, passengers alight from a Class 150 from Pontypridd (right). The Pacer at left awaits
its next working to Cardiff Central and Coryton via the City line through Fairwater; tram-trains will not usually
turn around at Radyr, the City line being served by workings from Pontypridd and beyond. Rhodri Clark

example with tram-trains operating Treherbert to
Cardiff services while Sprinters continue for a little
longer on the Aberdare and Merthyr services.
Mr Gilmore says the construction activity
will require a blend of midweek night working,
weekend possessions and longer blockades.
Following storms in February which severed the
Ebbw Vale line north of Llanhilleth, replacement
bus services connected Ebbw Vale to Rhymney,
taking advantage of the proximity of parallel valleys
to each other. Could this be replicated during CVL
blockades, for example with buses to Pontyclun
or Caerphilly stations during blockades on the Taff
lines, or to Taff’s Well when the Rhymney line is
closed? It would keep rail passengers off Cardiff’s
congested roads, but additional rail capacity
could be needed for the displaced passengers.
Mr Gilmore says: ‘TfW is working with our
train operator, local authorities and Network Rail
to ensure disruption is minimised as much as
possible whilst the works are underway. There
will be bus replacement services as required.’
TESTING TIME
One of the early CVL construction milestones will
be commissioning of a section of track in the Taff’s
Well area on which tram-trains can be tested.
Testing and systems integration are likely to be
critical to achieving the deadlines for introducing
the tram-trains and tri-modes into service. Many
train operators have suffered delays to new
rolling stock. TfW has attempted to sidestep the
difficulties by predominantly ordering types of train
which other British operators have introduced.
However, the 36x3-car Citylink tram-trains
on order from Stadler are a new type for the UK
and introduce new concepts that will require
testing and verification. The tri-modes will be
similar to Greater Anglia’s Class 755 bi-modes,
but with the addition of battery packs.
Richard Parry-Jones, formerly chief technology
officer for Ford worldwide and chair of Network
Rail, has reviewed the deliverability of the CVL
programme. His advice, according to TfW chief
executive James Price, was that in some ways ‘what
we are doing, in terms of systems, is as complex as
Crossrail’ but also that the team is strong and there
is enough time to ‘close off’ outstanding issues.
The CVL transfer creates new interfaces with
Network Rail, either side of Cardiff Central.
Currently the CVL are overseen from the Wales
Rail Operating Centre (WROC) in Cardiff, where
Network Rail and KeolisAmey employees work
side by side. After the modernisation, CVL services
and signalling will be controlled from Taff’s Well.
While services between the Taff lines and Cardiff
Bay will remain within Taff’s Well control throughout,
others will cross into the WROC’s domain during
their journeys. Services from Pontypridd to
Pontypridd (and beyond), which loop round via
the City line and Cardiff Central, will briefly enter
WROC control before reverting to Taff’s Well control.
Another potential risk TfW is now reviewing
is that the new trains on order for Wales and
Borders as a whole could be inadequate, despite
delivering a 65% increase in capacity compared
with the fleet inherited from Arriva Trains Wales.
The review is particularly considering capacity
on the Rhymney line. A Freedom of Information
Act request has brought into the public domain
that the tri-mode units represent a small reduction
in seating capacity compared with the four-car
Class 769s that are due to operate temporarily
on the line, starting in May. Stadler is contracted
to supply 7x3-car and 17x4-car tri-mode units.
In February, Mr Price said: ‘When the franchise
was let, we were quite ambitious in terms of the
number of people we thought would use the
service in future. We’ve got a 65% uplift in capacity
in five years, which is really quite significant growth.’
Since then, factors such as the climate change
emergency and Cardiff council’s proposed road
pricing scheme have emerged. ‘Clearly I think we
have underestimated the potential growth, and
those things weren’t on the table at the time that
that [franchise] was awarded. So we need to think
about ordering some new rolling stock now such
that it can come on board in time.’That said, the
most recent passenger figures show a notable
decline in TfW’s passenger numbers last autumn.
LIABILITIES
A succession of storms in February provided
a reminder of the risks of infrastructure failures in
the South Wales Valleys, particularly with climate
change bringing more severe weather events.

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 The valleys are narrow and steep sided, resulting
in rapid run-off of rainwater and consequential
flooding. In places the railways are at the foot
of, or on the top of, steep earth slopes.
After Storm Dennis, trains were unable to
operate from Aberdare, Treherbert and Ebbw
Vale to Cardiff, and the new infrastructure hub
alongside the river Taff at Treforest was flooded.
At the end of February, a landslip at
Mountain Ash had closed the Aberdare line
and TfW was also unable to operate trains
on the Rhymney and Treherbert lines.
Legal action by householders in Maesteg, also
in the South Wales Valleys, established at the
Court of Appeal in 2018 that landowners could
claim damages from Network Rail for the effects
of knotweed encroaching from railway land.
Knotweed is also widespread along the CVL.
Taking on such liabilities might be a daunting
prospect for devolved bodies. However, the
Welsh Government already has more than
20 years’ experience of owning and managing
the Welsh trunk road infrastructure, including
the M4 motorway across South Wales.
An agreed portion of Network Rail’s funding
will be diverted to the Welsh Government to cover
operation, maintenance and renewal of the CVL. The
amount takes into account the current condition
of CVL assets. Welsh transport minister Ken Skates
explained in 2018: ‘There will also be an agreed
process in place with the Department for Transport
for handling latent defects during an initial period.’ a

Rhymney line: TfW is reviewing future peak capacity on this route, seen here at Heath High
Level as passengers alight from a three-car Class 153 formation on 19 February 2020. On
current plans, the Class 769s that will temporarily work the route will have slightly more seating
capacity than the Stadler Flirt units which are due to take over in 2023. Rhodri Clark

Mixed working: freight operators will continue to have access to the Core Valley Lines
following the asset transfer, which includes the Cwmbargoed branch. Here a coal train
from Cwmbargoed is seen at Llanishen on 19 February 2020. Rhodri Clark

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 Ready for all weather
KEITH FENDER visits the Vienna climate testing centre
M
ost of Europe’s main train builders
use the world leading climate testing
centre in Vienna to prove new trains
can sustain extremes of temperature and
weather. Modern Railways was given a rare
opportunity to look inside the centre when the
new Siemens/Stadler-built EMU for the Berlin
S-Bahn system was being tested in late 2019.
OLD NAME – NEW SITE
The Rail Tec Arsenal site takes its name from
the previous rail vehicle climatic testing station
which was located on part of the former
Austro-Hungarian empire era Vienna Arsenal
(near the former Südbahnhof stations). The
original site was established in 1961, funded by
the International Union of Railways (UIC) plus the
Austrian government. It operated until the end of
2002, when the new purpose-built testing centre
in the northern suburbs of the city opened.
Many iconic European trains, including the
French TGV, German ICE and the Channel Tunnel
Class 92 locos, underwent their tests at the old
site. For many years the old Vienna Arsenal had
Swiss-built, British Rail gas turbine loco No 18000
on a plinth near the entrance; this was used by the
UIC for tests in Europe between 1964 and 1975. The
loco is now preserved at Didcot railway centre.
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076-077_MR_Apr 2020_vienna arsenal.indd 76
NEW SITE – NEW OWNERS
Reflecting the changes to the railway industry
across Europe, the new facility that opened in
2003 located in the northern suburbs of Vienna
was funded as a Public Private Partnership
project with the Austrian government acting as
the public partner, pre-financing the €65 million
cost of the new facility. The private partner, Rail
Tec Arsenal Fahrzeugversuchsanlage (meaning
vehicle research site) is owned primarily by private
rolling stock manufacturers. The manufacturers
involved have changed as some have been
involved in mergers or acquisitions and the
ownership is currently split: Bombardier (29.6%),
Siemens (14.8%), Alstom (14.8%) and Hitachi
Rail Italy / Firema (14.8%). The 26% balance is
held by AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology),
which is majority owned by the government.
Rail Tec Arsenal (RTA) pays a €3 million lease
annually, meaning the payback for the project for
the original funder (the Austrian government) will
be around 30 years. As a research institute the RTA
is operated on a not-for-profit basis, reinvesting
any profits with no dividends to its owners.
The majority or RTA’s work is on rail vehicles, but
it also conducts tests on road vehicles, components
of larger equipment, cable car gondolas and
even light aircraft. Several UK trains have been
Chilly: with the temperature at -10oC, No 484005 freezes in
the large wind tunnel climate chamber on 24 October 2019,
in week five of 12 for tests. The lighting system beside and
tested at the new site, including the Class 350
Desiro-UK and Class 700/717 Desiro City EMUs.
TWO CLIMATIC WIND TUNNELS
The new site has two separate climatic wind
tunnels side by side. The operation of each
is independent, so one might be simulating
summer desert conditions of 60oC whilst the
other simulates Arctic winter conditions of -45oC.
Both are equipped with not only wind tunnel
equipment (fans and an enclosed loop system
so air temperatures remain at whatever level
is required, whilst the air used is recycled) but
also systems to simulate sunshine (both on the
front and side of the train) and to create snow
and ice at a wide range of humidity levels.
The large wind tunnel, with a test area 100 metres
in length, can accommodate three vehicles
easily. It is equipped with a roller jig comprising
one driven axle and one non-driven, which can
operate wheelsets at up to 280km/h. The large
wind tunnel is equipped with very powerful fans
that can produce windspeeds of up to 300km/h.
The smaller wind tunnel has a test area that is
33.8 metres in length, suitable for a single loco
or vehicle. It has a dynamometer rig for road
vehicles with one driven axle allowing speeds
of 160km/h. Maximum windspeed is 120km/h.
above the train is used to simulate sunshine. Keith Fender
16/03/2020 17:40
 How it works: diagram on display at RTA showing
operation of large wind tunnel. Keith Fender

Both climatic wind tunnels are built with 15cm

of insulation to ensure separation from external
air temperature and are equipped with exhaust
extraction systems for testing diesel (or other
combustion engined) rail and road vehicles.
In addition, preparation halls are provided
adjacent to both wind tunnels. All the testing
is controlled remotely from a control room.

THE TESTING REGIME FOR

PASSENGER TRAINS
The RTA site enables manufacturers to test critical
components under a wide variety of scenarios.
Examples include power unit performance in
extreme heat or cold, pantographs, door opening
and windscreen wipers in severe weather
situations to prove their ability to cope with
torrential rain, wind or snow. Snow conditions
are simulated via artificial snow sprayed at the
vehicle from a distance of 3.5 metres. A rain/
icing system covers the length of the train.
The site also enables standardised testing
to determine energy consumption and
can be used for customer specified tests,
for example rapid temperature variations
when passing through tunnels.
In addition, the test centre enables
manufacturers to prove new rolling stock
meets international standards for passenger
comfort in terms of heat loss, insulation
and actual interior temperatures in a wide
range of external climate conditions.
Testing programmes vary in length depending
upon the train concerned and the climate it is
designed for, but most last around four weeks;
the daily charge for the large wind tunnel is
€30,000! Energy costs are the key cost driver:
for a high-speed train / low temperature test
these can be as much as €11,000 a day! The
site typically handles around 12-17 rail projects
a year and up to 30, typically much shorter (five
days), tests for road vehicles of various types.
TESTING THE BERLIN S-BAHN EMU
A consortium of Stadler and Siemens won
a contract to supply up to 1,380 vehicles to operate
on the Berlin S-Bahn (suburban railway) system in
2015. A firm order for the first 106 trains (85x4-car
Class 484s and 21x2-car Class 483s) was placed in
2015, with subsequent orders dependent upon
tendering for operation of services (which has
since stalled). The trains were jointly designed by
Siemens and Stadler and incorporate Siemens
traction equipment. The vehicles are manufactured
Testing passenger comfort: humidifiers on board the Class 484 at RTA Vienna. Keith Fender
at Stadler’s Szolnok factory in Hungary, with
final assembly in that company’s Berlin area
factories operated by Stadler Pankow GmbH.
Ten pre-series Class 483/484 EMUs have
been built and are now all being tested prior
to scheduled passenger services beginning
in January 2021. Six trains are undergoing
tests at the PCW Wildenrath test circuit in
western Germany whilst three are in Berlin,
where they are being tested for compatibility
with signalling systems. These trains are also
being used to train S-Bahn Berlin staff.
ON TEST IN VIENNA
In October, four-car train No 484005 was
moved to the RTA site in Vienna for a 12-week
testing programme, which would evaluate
the train and its components in temperatures
ranging from -25oC to +45oC with wind, rain,
sun and snow all added to the mix. The testing
programme was broken into three parts, with
four weeks’ preparation followed by four weeks
of intensive testing in the large wind tunnel.
The Berlin S-Bahn test programme simulated:
n -15oC and dry snow;
n -10oC and ice;
n -7oC and sleet;
n +20oC and torrential rain;
n +45oC sunshine.
The final four weeks of the programme
were to compile and finalise all the results.
AIR-CONDITIONED TRAINS
The Class 483/484s are the first Berlin S-Bahn
trains to be equipped with air-conditioning
and the functionality of the system in extreme
weather has also been tested. To test thermal
comfort inside the vehicles for passengers,
heated seat weights representing passengers
plus 50 humidifiers to replicate the effect of the
body heat of passengers in crowded trains were
installed in the two vehicles that were tested.
350 measurement sensors were used inside the
vehicles to monitor specific data and components.
Tests specific to the Berlin S-Bahn trains
include establishing that the external loud
speakers mounted on the roof of the cars work
in extremes of weather and that the on-board
passenger information screens function
whatever the weather. Icing tests for the trains’
third rail pick-up shoes were also included.
Siemens confirmed the new tube trains
being built for London’s Piccadilly Line will be
tested at the RTA site – the slot has already
been booked for mid-2022! a Keith Fender
Our thanks to Rail Tec Arsenal and Siemens
for assistance preparing this feature.

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 Europe View
EUROPE
COVID-19 IMPACTS
RAIL SERVICES
The ‘Coronavirus’, now named Covid-19, broke out
in Wuhan in central China in late December 2019
and appeared to be initially contained within
China, not least due to extraordinary restrictions on
movement for millions of people and extension of
nationwide lunar new year holidays in January. By
February 2020 the virus had been spread by people
travelling to multiple countries, including the UK,
although the impact was most severe in Italy, South
Korea and Iran at the time of writing in early March.
By mid-March the virus was causing
governments around the world to make plans
for public health related restrictions on travel and
activity. Initially the impact on Europe’s rail system
was chiefly the reduction in the number of freight
trains from China, which in late 2019 were being
despatched three or four times a day westward.
Whilst the lunar new year holidays would have
reduced the number anyway in January, the
prolonged closure into February of many factories
in China and inability to dispatch trains as parts of
the Chinese rail system effectively shut down led
to a steep decline in the number of trains operated,
with most routes closed during January until late
February – although some remained closed into
March as parts of China remained quarantined.
The resumption of transport links from China
to Europe has posed problems for rail freight
operators, not least a shortage of containers with
large numbers still in China or effectively trapped
in Chinese ports by the effects of the long shut
down period after the lunar new year. These
problems have also affected shipping lines as new
cargo could not in some cases be loaded before
Before the virus: after an 11,000km journey, Chinese containers originating from Chengdu pass through Bremen Hbf
en route to Bremerhaven on 28 October 2019 behind PKP Cargo-owned Vectron loco EU46 511 (No 193 511). Services
from Chengdu to Nuremberg in Germany were extended to Bremerhaven in October 2019. Keith Fender
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078-081_MR_Apr 2020_europe.indd 78
the backlog of previously unloaded containers
was moved. Air freight prices from China in March
were substantially higher than previously as
European-based manufacturers sought to keep
open production lines reliant on Chinese-made
components. It is likely in the medium term that
rail freight volumes between China and Europe
will increase as manufacturers seek to rebuild
their stocks of Chinese-sourced components.
ITALY IN LOCKDOWN
The Covid-19 outbreak in Italy began in early
February and was initially confined to a number
of small towns in the north of the country,
between which it had been spread before being
first detected. Local restrictions on activities were
followed by a nationwide lockdown on 9 March,
with travel opportunities severely limited.
Neighbouring countries put in place new
arrangements for travel to and from Italy. All
passenger services from Austria to Italy were
suspended on 11 March until (at least) 3 April and
whilst freight trains were still running these were
changing locomotives at the border to minimise
any risk of the infection being spread inadvertently.
The Swiss Government closed most border
crossings with Italy from 11 March, although by the
following day multiple EU countries were closing
borders or severely restricting transport links; in
most cases freight services continued to operate.
Many operators and infrastructure managers
instituted procedures to minimise disruption
in the event that large numbers of employees
become unwell. In the Netherlands national
infrastructure manager ProRail set up two parallel
operations centres in different locations to
minimise disruption if one had to shut temporarily.
In Austria national operator ÖBB required all
non-frontline employees to work from home and
Keith Fender
instituted a one metre minimum distance between
members of staff working on trains and stations.
Urban transport operators across Europe
introduced more frequent cleaning of commonly
touched surfaces. These measures, including
spraying of anti-viral compounds, were first seen
in China and South Korea and by mid-March
similar processes were underway on metro
systems in most major cities worldwide.
AKIEM ACQUIRES
MACQUARIE FLEET
Rolling stock leasing company Akiem agreed to
acquire Macquarie European Rail’s rolling stock
leasing business in mid-February, subject to
competition law approvals. The Macquarie fleet
being bought includes 137 diesel and electric
locomotives used by 21 freight and passenger
operators, including Class 66 and UK Class 70 diesel
locos plus Bombardier Traxx / Alstom Prima electric
locos. In addition, Macquarie owns 30 Class 379
EMUs currently leased to Greater Anglia in the UK
and 16 Stadler GTW DMUs in use in the Netherlands.
Akiem, originally owned by French Railways
(SNCF), has since 2016 been 50%-owned by
SNCF subsidiary Transport Logistique Partenaire
and 50% by Eurotraction, a subsidiary of the
Deutsche Bank-owned Deutsche Asset & Wealth
Management (DWS) private equity fund. In 2017
Akiem bought mgw Service, a pan-European rolling
stock maintenance company based in Germany.
Since the DWS investment in the business Akiem
has expanded its fleet by around 200 locomotives;
many of them Bombardier Traxx electric locos.
With the addition of the Macquarie fleet Akiem
will now have over 600 locomotives in use with
65 different operators. In August 2019 Akiem agreed
a €1.2 billion financing package with a consortium
of European banks, refinancing its existing debt and
16/03/2020 17:41
 Europe View

Akiem locos in passenger service: the company bought all 45 Class 186

Traxx MS locos owned by Dutch operator NS in June 2018 and leases
them back to NS. A top ’n’ tail Amsterdam to Breda train is seen on the
HSL Zuid south of Dordrecht on 13 September 2018 with loco No 186 031
leading. Loco-hauled operation of these services is due to end in
2021-22 when new Alstom-built EMUs enter service. Keith Fender

providing a €400 million fund to invest in future
acquisitions or asset purchases; the Macquarie
acquisition was funded from this new borrowing.
ALSTOM ACQUISITION OF
BOMBARDIER TARGETED
FOR MID-2021
As we reported last month, on 17 February 2020
Alstom signed an agreement to buy Bombardier
Transportation with Bombardier’s parent
company in Canada and its biggest investor,
Québec provincial government-owned Caisse
de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
This announcement followed a month of market
speculation about a potential sale and was just
hours after the Bombardier group announced
poor financial results for 2019 (Earnings Before
Interest and Taxes, at under €20 million, was
down by around 97% compared to 2018) and
the sale of the remaining stake in its mid-sized
airliner aerospace business to Airbus. The failure
of Bombardier Transportation to meet pre-agreed
targets resulted in CDPQ increasing its stake at
Bombardier’s expense to 32.5% of the company.
The planned transaction values Bombardier
Transportation at between €5.8 billion and
€6.2 billion. As a result of share changes following
the deal, CDPQ will become Alstom’s biggest
shareholder, with around 18% of the company.
Bombardier Transportation parent company
Bombardier Inc will buy €500 million of Alstom
shares to help fund the transaction, giving it a stake
in the financial turnaround of the business.
Alstom plans to issue new shares in 2021 to
cover around €2 billion of the acquisition costs –
which until then will be covered by borrowing,
although any cash available in Bombardier
Transportation itself at completion will also be used.
The expanded Alstom group will have an order
backlog of €79 billion and combined annual sales of
€15.5 billion. Alstom expects the deal to be finalised
by June 2021 at the latest, subject to regulatory
clearance by competition authorities in Europe and
multiple other countries. It appears probable that
the European Commission will require some sales
of either production facilities or possibly product
lines as a condition for approval of the deal.
The takeover of Bombardier by Alstom
will probably lead to a rationalisation of
manufacturing sites, especially in Germany
where Bombardier has multiple sites and
Alstom two main ones at Salzgitter and Stendal.
Similar rationalisation is possible in France,
where both companies have multiple sites and
their main assembly plants are located within
a few miles of each other near Valenciennes.
Matt Byrne, Bombardier Transportation’s
President, UK Region, told Modern Railways he is
more confident that the tie-up with Alstom will
be approved compared to the previously mooted
deal between Alstom and Siemens, which didn’t
receive backing from competition authorities.
‘The Alstom and Bombardier businesses are much
more complementary and I believe it would be
highly positive for the UK’ Mr Byrne said, although
he accepted there are areas of the business where
there is more overlap that will be scrutinised closely.
AUSTRIA
ACHENSEEBAHN TO CLOSE?
In 2018 the 6.7km steam-operated Achenseebahn
metre-gauge rack-equipped line from Jenbach
to the Achensee lake, over 400 metres above
the town, announced plans to operate all year
round using second-hand EMUs converted to
diesel-electric multiple-units. In early March 2020
the railway, owned since 1991 primarily by the
local governments in the area it serves, announced
it was likely to become insolvent within days
following the refusal of further funding by the
Tyrol regional government – bringing into
question whether services will resume after
the winter break as scheduled on 25 April.
The line’s operator had been in discussion
with the Tyrol regional government to secure
funding to enable operation this year and to
fund the conversion of the five rack-fitted EMUs
bought second-hand from the Appenzeller Bahn
in Switzerland to DEMUs; in total €1.2 million
had been provided in 2019-20. The discussions
ended with regional politicians telling the local
media they would be ‘negligent’ to allow any

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 Europe View
further funding to the Achenseebahn as it had
failed to produce realistic long-term operating
plans. The line currently operates only in summer
as both snow and operating costs prevent any
prospect of winter operation, but by introducing
year-round services the railway had hoped to attract
regional funding for providing public transport
services – which it had not received until 2019.
CZECH REPUBLIC
ČD AND ÖBB ‘COLLUSION’
UNDER INVESTIGATION
Czech investigative news service Seznam
Zprávy reported early in March that Czech
national operator ČD is facing potential fines
of up to CZK4 billion (€158 million) from the
European Commission for allegedly colluding
with Austrian national operator ÖBB to prevent
Czech open access operator Regiojet from buying
second-hand coaches to expand its services.
The apparently incriminating emails from
February 2015 published by Seznam Zprávy were in
English, as that was the common language for the
Czech and Austrian managers involved – and reveal
an explicit request by ČD to ÖBB to not sell rolling
stock to Regiojet, despite the Regiojet offer being
33% higher than that of the Slovakian overnight
train operator WGS. In the reply ÖBB agreed to
ensure Regiojet does not buy the coaches.
The emails were among thousands seized
in 2016 dawn raids by investigators looking
into different accusations of predatory pricing
by ČD against Regiojet and fellow open access
competitor Leo Express. The emails were then the
subject of a long-running legal battle, with ČD
arguing the EU Commission had no powers to
undertake the dawn raids; this was dismissed by
the European Court of Justice in January this year.
It appears ÖBB is co-operating with the
EU investigation and according to local
media reports ČD is now considering doing
the same. Perhaps complicating the issue,
the Czech manager responsible for writing
the February 2015 emails is Radek Dvořák,
who is currently deputy chairman of ČD.
Regiojet had until 2015 bought around
80 second-hand coaches from ÖBB; after 2015 the
company was unable to buy any more, according
to comments from the company’s owner to the
Czech media. The vehicles bought from ÖBB came
with a contractual clause prohibiting their use in
Austria – Regiojet has ignored this, as the restriction
is unlawful, and has used the stock for services to
Vienna daily since 2017. Since 2015 Regiojet has
obtained second-hand long-distance coaches
from both SBB of Switzerland and DB of Germany.
IRELAND
RECORD PASSENGER NUMBERS
Iarnrod Éireann (IÉ) recorded record numbers
of passengers during 2019 with 50.1 million
journeys being made across its three business
sectors (InterCity, DART and Commuter), a growth
of 4.4% on the preceding year. Several routes
saw the highest passenger numbers ever.
The flagship Dublin to Cork route saw a 6%
increase to a record 3.66 million passenger
80 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
078-081_MR_Apr 2020_europe.indd 80
Keith Fender
journeys recorded. The Dublin – Cork main line The increase in passenger numbers on all routes
benefited from the opening of the new down has seen overcrowding on many services and
platform at Limerick Junction which improved this will not be alleviated until the 41 additional
operating efficiency, removing the need for Class 22000 InterCity DMU carriages ordered
down trains calling at Limerick Junction to in 2019 are delivered from 2023. An order for
cross over to the up line platform. Further track additional DART trains is due to be placed in
improvements will take place on the route during Q3 2020. Modern Railways understands the
2020. Cork’s suburban services also broke records initial tender resulted in significant interest from
with the Midleton line showing a 10% increase manufacturers in Europe and Asia. Tim Casterton
of 480,000 journeys on the 10th anniversary
of the reopening. Traffic on the Cork – Cobh
line increased by 7% to 971,000, with the route FRANCE
benefiting from additional services catering
for cruise traffic. 1.1 million passengers used TGV DERAILS ON
through and connecting trains between Limerick HIGH-SPEED LINE
(Colbert) and Dublin; this was the highest number A TGV Euroduplex set forming the 06.38
ever recorded and a 6.7% increase on 2018. Colmar to Paris Est (via Strasbourg) TGV service
Both the Dublin and Limerick ‘Western Rail derailed when it hit a landslide on the LGV Est
Corridor’ (‘WRC’) routes from Galway carried Européenne high-speed line near Ingenheim
record passenger numbers in 2018 with in the Bas-Rhin département around 25km
numbers on the Dublin line increasing 4.1% northwest of Strasbourg on 5 March. The train was
to 2.13 million passengers. The Limerick route carrying 348 passengers and derailed at around
marked the 10th anniversary of its reopening 270km/h, according to local media reports.
by exceeding the half-million passenger mark The train remained upright and only the first
for the first time with 531,000 trips being made four vehicles derailed, although the leading power
(up 16% on 2018). Oranmore station, reopened car ended up fouling the opposite line. The driver
as a part of the WRC project, saw a 40% rise suffered several broken bones and was airlifted
in usage over the year. With the report on the to hospital whilst 20 other people on board were
proposed reopening of the next stage of the injured and taken to local hospitals. The landslide,
WRC to Tuam and Claremorris still unfinished, in a cutting, was significant, although most of it
the large increase in use on the route surely did not cover the track. The section of the LGV on
cannot go unnoticed – although the economic which the accident occurred only opened in 2016.
turmoil unleashed by Covid-19 may affect this.
Waterford’s two lines also saw increased use,
with 1.49 million passenger journeys on the Dublin SLOVAKIA
route in 2019 (up 7.2%). Increased tourism to the
Waterford region contributed to this increase in VTG BUYS CARBO RAIL
passenger numbers. Even the ‘Cinderella’ route Wagon leasing firm VTG has expanded its
from Waterford to Limerick Junction recorded ‘Retrack’ freight train operating company
a 3.7% increase with 43,000 passengers carried. by acquiring a majority stake in Slovakian
A new Waterford station is to be built as a part
of the ‘North Quays’ development, this replacing To be replaced: most MGB loco-hauled regional
the present Waterford Plunkett station. It will trains will be supplanted by the new Orion units.
have two 200m-long platforms and will form MGB rack-equipped HGe4/4 II loco No 108,
part of the new transport interchange. named Channel Tunnel, arrives at Oberalppass
The Dublin Connolly-based group of InterCity with the 12.28 Andermatt to Disentis/Mustér
services also performed well, with the Rosslare service on 18 December 2018. Keith Fender
line (including Wicklow commuter services)
carrying 723,000 passengers (up 1.7%). This year
IÉ is looking at options for further capacity and
service enhancements on the route as part of
the DART Expansion programme. The Sligo route
continued to grow with passenger numbers up
3.3% (1.45 million passenger journeys), in part due
to the additional train pair added last year. The
‘Northern Line’ to Drogheda had a 4.4% increase in
passengers with 5.75 million journeys made. The
extension of the DART to Drogheda will be carried
out as part of the National Development Plan.
The Kildare route, including the service via
Phoenix tunnel to Dublin Connolly, experienced
strong growth with 3.1 million journeys in
2019 (up 6.5%), whilst the Maynooth line
saw a 4.9% increase to 4.6 million passenger
journeys. The interchange at Hazelhatch,
where trains to the financial district via the
Phoenix Park Tunnel can be accessed, has
proved very popular. This year design work for
the extension of the DART to Maynooth and
Hazelhatch (including electrification works) will
begin and a Railway Order will be drawn up.
16/03/2020 17:41
 Europe View

New owner: Carbo Rail diesel No 770 511 at Margecany

open access freight operator Carbo Rail. This
in eastern Slovakia on 4 July 2018. Keith Fender
company, based in Bratislava, was founded
in 2017 through the merger of Czech-based
Cargosped with Slovakian firm Rail Sped. The
company, which employs around 150 people,
operates in Slovakia and Hungary in conjunction
with Czech national freight operator ČD Cargo,
using a fleet of around 25 mostly second-hand
ČD Cargo diesel and electric locos.
VTG’s core business remains wagon leasing
across Europe and also in Russia, plus China.
Its VTG Rail Logistics business, which trades
under the ‘Retrack’ brand name, has been active
since 2012 operating block and wagonload
services from Germany to a number of European
countries. VTG Rail Logistics is planning to
expand its trans-European corridor operations
and the addition of Carbo Rail will enable more
of central Europe to be covered by directly
operated trains. It is likely that more of the
modern leased Traxx and Vectron locos used
for ‘Retrack’ services radiating from Germany
will be used for services in the Czech Republic, trains, which can operate anywhere on the MGB POLARIS FOR GORNERGRAT
Slovakia and Hungary with Carbo Rail crews in network, in multiples of up to three if required, BVZ Holding has also ordered 5x2-car Abt
future, replacing some of the older locos currently will replace loco-hauled stock operating regional rack 34.6-metre EMUs from Stadler at a cost
used and eliminating loco changes at borders. trains and some of the MGB loco fleet from of CHF45 million (£38 million) for use on its
VTG was listed on the Frankfurt Stock 2022-23. An option for 15 more units has been 9.4km Gornergrat mountain railway from 2021.
Exchange until April 2019, when it was agreed; these are likely to be ordered in 2028. The units, which will replace EMUs built in the
acquired by an investment fund owned The new MGB trains have been named ‘Orion’ by early 1960s, will operate from the line’s unusual
by US bank Morgan Stanley. Stadler following the company’s love of platform 725V 50Hz AC two-wire traction current. The
names with multi-lingual acronyms. Orion in the new trains will be equipped with regenerative
original German is Optimaler Regionalzug Im braking, which according to Stadler will
SWITZERLAND Oeffentlichen Nahverkehr (which translates less generate enough power in three descents
well as ‘optimal regional train in public regional (from 3,089m above sea level to 1,605m in
STADLER WINS transport’). MGB is part of the BVZ Holding Zermatt) to power two ascents of the mountain
RACK EMU ORDERS group (formed in 1999 by combining several line, reducing the energy costs of operation.
Swiss metre-gauge operator Matterhorn metre-gauge operators). The group includes The Gornergrat units will be branded Polaris –
Gotthard Bahn (MGB) has ordered 12x3-car the metre-gauge routes from Disentis/Mustér perhaps reflecting the high usage by foreign
11kV 16.7Hz AC EMUs from Stadler in an order to Zermatt, Andermatt to Göschenen and the tourists; this Stadler acronym is in English
worth CHF149 million (£124 million). The new Zermatt to Gornergrat mountain railway. (POpular LAndscape Railway In Switzerland)! a

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 81

078-081_MR_Apr 2020_europe.indd 81 16/03/2020 17:41
 Moving Wheels
Grand Central prepares for Blackpool launch
GRAND CENTRAL is leasing five
Class 90 locomotives and 24 Mk 4
vehicles to operate its new open
access service between Blackpool and
London Euston. A partial service is
due to launch this spring, with the full
service to be introduced in December.
The ‘90s’ are from DB Cargo,
with four to be in service at a time
with one maintenance spare, with
maintenance by DBC at Crewe
Electric Maintenance Depot. They
will haul four rakes, each comprising
five Mk 4 carriages and a driving van
trailer. These have been leased from
Eversholt Rail until December 2026
and will be maintained at Alstom’s
Wembley depot and serviced
overnight at Northern’s Blackpool
depot. The coaches are receiving
Taste of things to come: Nos 90019 and 90036 top’n’tail with DVT No 82231
on working 3K83, the 11.51 Blackpool North to Crewe carriage sidings,
east of Kirkham & Wesham on 6 March 2020. Jamie Squibbs
Northern improves depots
NORTHERN HAS invested
in its depots at Newton
Heath in Manchester and
Allerton near Liverpool.
The £20 million revamp at
Newton Heath is due to be
completed in June. A new
maintenance shed has been
built and four maintenance bays
equipped with examination pits
and heavy lifting equipment
installed. The new shed will
have 16 15-tonne power jacks
EWR SEEKS SELF-POWERED TRAINS
EAST WEST Rail will initially be
operated using second-hand trains
after the EWR Company launched
an Invitation to Tender in the Official
Journal of the European Union.
A fleet of a 12 or 14 three-car
self-powered units is sought with
modifications including European
Train Control System (ETCS)
82 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
082-085_MR_Apr 2020_moving wheels.indd 82
Fresh livery: ex-works No 90026 is hauled through Barrow-upon-Trent by No 66183
as working 0Z69, the 15.20 Toton to Crewe move on 18 February 2020. Steve Donald
a £1.5 million refurbishment at
Alstom’s Widnes technology centre,
which will include application
fitted, enabling a complete
four-car train to be lifted.
At Allerton £6 million has been
invested on features including
high level access platforms, an
undercarriage bogie drop and
trolley and new shore supplies.
The depot houses Northern’s
new Class 331 EMUs as well as
Class 319s and 323s and will soon
be the base for its Class 769s.
Further expansion will include
installation of a new wheel lathe.
Level 2 and Driver Controlled
Operation capability, supported
by a full maintenance package
(under a wet lease). The lease
duration is four years, with an
option to extend for two years.
The trains will be used to
operate initial services on EWR
between Oxford/Aylesbury
of GC’s livery and an interior
refresh. Facilities will include
first class carriages, free Wi-Fi
The changing scene at Newton Heath: withdrawn Pacers, about
to be moved to Heaton, crowd the foreground of this shot of the
Manchester depot on 15 February 2020. Rob France
and Milton Keynes/Bedford
which are planned to start in the
mid-2020s. The decision to lease
self-powered units as an interim
solution means passenger services
can be launched as quickly as
possible, allowing time to explore
green energy technologies to
power trains and for a smoother
throughout, a buffet, accessible
toilets and wheelchair spaces.
GC says it has successfully
recruited drivers and is in the final
stages of recruiting on-board staff
for its Blackpool traincrew hub.
Driver training is due to begin
in March using coaches secured
under short-term lease from
Eversholt Rail, with the first ‘90’
now outshopped in GC livery.
The open access service was
approved by the Office of Rail
and Road in June 2018. Up to
five services will operate each
day between London Euston and
Blackpool North, calling at Milton
Keynes Central (most trains),
Nuneaton, Preston, Kirkham &
Wesham and Poulton-le-Fylde.
transition to electrification across
the line, should this be chosen
as a longer-term solution.
EWR is aiming to be a net
zero carbon railway by the time
passenger services run along
the full length of the route
between Oxford and Cambridge,
targeted for the late 2020s.
17/03/2020 17:18
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154 Canon Cam Comp fp.indd 83 16/03/2020 11:15

 Moving Wheels
HYDROGEN ‘314’ EXAMINED
NON-DEPARTMENTAL PUBLIC
body Scottish Enterprise is leading
a project to retrofit a Class 314
to try out alternative forms of
traction technology, including
battery and hydrogen power.
The organisation is working
with Brodie Engineering in
Kilmarnock to look at the feasibility
of refitting a ‘314’ to create battery
and battery/hydrogen-powered
Wabtec catches up on HST and Flex work
WABTEC HAS changed its ways
of working to improve delivery of
modified HSTs and Class 769 Flex
units, programmes which have
both fallen behind schedule.
The company has been
refurbishing and modifying HSTs
for GWR, CrossCountry and ScotRail
at its works in Doncaster, while the
Class 769 bi-mode conversions
of Class 319s for Porterbrook for
delivery to Northern, Transport
for Wales and GWR are being
carried out at Brush Traction in
Loughborough. Wabtec’s UK
Managing Director Andy Derbyshire
told Modern Railways the company
accepted that in the past it had
taken on too much work in a short
timescale but has sought to restore
discipline to the programmes.
The HST work includes fitting
power doors and modifying vehicles
to comply with Persons with
Reduced Mobility (PRM) regulations.
The programmes for GWR and
CrossCountry are nearly complete,
and Mr Derbyshire said completion
of all 26 sets for ScotRail is targeted
for the end of the third quarter
of this year. By the end of April
84 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
082-085_MR_Apr 2020_moving wheels.indd 84
Hydrogen test bed? Unit No 314216 prepares to form a service to Paisley Canal
at Glasgow Central High Level on 14 December 2019. David Andrews
trains for non-electrified and
discontinuous electrified routes.
The ‘314s’ previously worked on
suburban routes in the Glasgow
area but were fully withdrawn
at the end of 2019 as ScotRail
completed the rollout of its
new Hitachi Class 385 EMUs.
The Scottish Government has
an ambition to decarbonise its
passenger rail services by 2035.
Flex on test: the first proving run of a Class 769 for Transport for Wales took place
on 16 March 2020; No 769008 arrives into platform 6 at Cardiff Central working
the 3Z39 10.29 Cardiff Canton Sidings to Rhymney. The unit unfortunately ran into
difficulty at Heath Junction, resulting in it having to return to Canton. Martin Turner
Wabtec aims to have completed
16 modified sets for ScotRail,
and 18 by early May. All sets for
ScotRail are initially being delivered
in 2+4 formation, but 17 spare
vehicles will be treated at the end
of the programme to enable the
majority of sets to work as 2+5.
For the Class 769 conversions,
Mr Derbyshire says a second
production line is being built
at Brush in Loughborough. The
aim is to deliver all eight units to
An action plan to achieve this is
due to be published this spring;
it is likely to feature plans to
continue with electrification,
including the East Kilbride and
Barrhead routes. However, for
non-electrified routes the Scottish
Government intends to procure
battery EMUs and investigate the
potential for hydrogen power
as an emerging technology.
Northern for the May timetable
with TfW’s nine sets following by
early June; both operators have
already accepted their first ‘769s’
from owner Porterbrook. The first
of 19 tri-mode sets for GWR has
been completed, with a further
order to follow for Rail Operations
Group’s logistics business.
Mr Derbyshire says the Flex product
is ‘absolutely superb’ and the
focus now is on getting units into
service and operating reliably.
TfW withdraws
‘37s’to Rhymney
LOCO-HAULED TRAINS
on peak services between
Cardiff and Rhymney were
withdrawn after the evening
peak service on 6 March.
Two sets comprising Class 37s
hauling Mk 2 coaches were
introduced in June 2019 to
provide cover following delays
with introduction of Class 769s.
It is understood concerns
about their reliability prompted
Transport for Wales to seek
their withdrawal at the earliest
opportunity. TfW told Modern
Railways the loco-hauled sets
were being placed into storage
following the arrival of additional
Class 153s and a much-improved
fleet position, but that they
would remain available in case of
unexpected capacity problems.
It is understood that in
addition to reliability concerns
a key factor in the change
is that a trio of Class 153s
provides more seats than the
loco-hauled sets; TfW has been
modifying ‘153s’ to comply with
Persons with Reduced Mobility
(PRM) regulations. The ‘769s’
supplied by Porterbrook will
be introduced on Rhymney
to Penarth services, with
introduction targeted from
the May timetable change.
Meanwhile, it is understood
Class 230 units supplied by
Vivarail will not be ready for the
May timetable change. The first of
5x3-car battery-diesel hybrid sets
was due to begin testing on the
Cotswold line in mid-March, near
to Vivarail’s Long Marston base.
Original plans to operate
‘230s’ on the Conwy Valley and
Chester to Crewe lines have been
dropped, and they will solely be
dedicated to the Wrexham to
Bidston line. Initially this means
only two of the five ‘230s’ will be
required to maintain the hourly
timetable, with this requirement
rising to four from five when the
service is doubled to half-hourly,
planned for December 2021.
Introduction of the ‘230s’ will
release Class 150s currently
used on the line for cascade to
South Wales, helping facilitate
the withdrawal of Class 142/143
Pacer units, which have a PRM
dispensation until the end of
July. TfW is facing a race against
time to meet this deadline,
with timely introduction of
‘230s’ and ‘769s’ crucial.
17/03/2020 17:18
 Moving Wheels

EMR AWAITS ‘170s’ HEx PREVIEWS ‘387s’

AND CASCADED HSTs
THE FIRST Class 170 DMU
to transfer to East Midlands
Railway was expected to leave
ScotRail in mid-March.
A batch of 5x3-car sets owned by
Eversholt Rail will be the first Turbostars
to join the EMR fleet. A pair of units
is planned to arrive first, with the
remaining three following in June. They
will first go for painting into full EMR
livery before being delivered to Etches
Park depot in Derby for driver training
and preparation for service entry. They
are planned to be deployed first on
the Robin Hood line from Nottingham
to Mansfield and Worksop, where
it is understood the use of‘170s’is
a requirement for the December 2020
timetable change, which includes
some reorganisation of EMR’s
regional services ahead of a more
substantial uplift in December 2021.
EMR’s franchise plan includes the
transfer of Class 171s used by Govia
Thameslink Railway on the Uckfield
and Marshlink lines as part of its
regional fleet, although these will only
move once a suitable replacement
for them has been identified. While
fitment of batteries to an Electrostar
is being explored by GTR, it is
understood the current technology is
HEATHROW EXPRESS has The ‘387s’ will replace the
released images of the Class 387s 14 Class 332s that have operated the
which it will introduce this summer airport shuttle since it was introduced
limited to three-car operation, which to replace its current Class 332s. in 1998. The change of rolling stock
is not useful from an operational Twelve four-car sets are being avoids the need for a new depot to be
perspective. Instead an extension of refurbished and fitted with European built for the ‘332s’, with the current site
third rail is now looking more likely, Train Control System (ETCS) to being repurposed as part of plans for
with a short extension on Merseyrail work the airport shuttle. The trains HS2 to serve Old Oak Common. The
potentially setting a precedent. will run in pairs, offering a total of 12 ‘387s’ come from GWR’s fleet of 45,
Meanwhile, introduction of ex-LNER 374 seats including 44 in Business and the operator has a management
HSTs on EMR has been delayed as First. Other features touted by the contract running until 2028 to
more work has been required on the operator include luggage space, operate the service, maintaining
sets than originally anticipated. The at-seat USB power, faster Wi-Fi and the airport fleet alongside its
first two sets have been at Neville on-board high-definition TVs. other ‘387s’ at Reading depot.
Hill depot in Leeds undergoing
preparatory works and were expected
to be introduced by the end of
March. EMR is due to introduce nine
sets cascaded from LNER in 2+8
formation to replace the nine 2+8 sets
currently operated, as the former are
more compliant with Persons with
Reduced Mobility (PRM) regulations.
The length of time taken to prepare
the first two sets has cast doubt on
whether introducing all nine will be
possible before the PRM dispensation
on the current sets expires on
28 July 2020. The use of cascaded
HSTs was not proposed by EMR in
its franchise bid but is being funded
by the Department for Transport to
improve the level of PRM compliance,
even though EMR is due to withdraw
all its HSTs at the end of this year.

TfL plans new trams for Croydon

TRANSPORT FOR London is
looking to replace the original
Bombardier-built trams used on
the network around Croydon.
A ‘Future Trams’ programme
has been initiated to explore
options for replacing the
23 vehicles (the 24th having
been involved in the Sandilands
derailment in November 2016).
TfL’s latest Business Plan has set
aside £100 million for the project over
the five years of the plan. A key part
of this will be learning lessons from
the Sandilands incident, in terms of
both the exterior and interior design
of any new vehicles. A like-for-like
replacement is expected, with
the 12 Stadler Variobahn vehicles
delivered later to be retained. HEx new look: Class 387 adapted for airport work.

2024 DEBUT FOR NEW PICCADILLY LINE FLEET

THE FIRST new train for
London Underground’s
Piccadilly Line is planned to
enter service in autumn 2024.
Papers to Transport for London’s
Programmes and Investment
Committee set out further details
about the specification of the
94 trains, to be built by Siemens.
The concept design was completed
in November 2019, with detailed
design now underway.
The new trains will be of nine-car
formation and will be seven
metres longer than the existing
six-car 1973 stock trains. They
will be fully accessible and will
feature walk-through interiors, all
double-doorways and, for the first
time on a deep tube train, saloon
air cooling. A new closed circuit
television (CCTV) system will monitor
the platform train interface.
Train production is due to start
from August 2021, with the first
train introduced in autumn 2024
and the 1973 stock replaced by
mid-2026. The first trains will be
built at Siemens’Vienna plant in
Austria, but around half of the
fleet is expected to be built at the
company’s new facility at Goole.
A 9.5% capacity increase on
the line will be provided through
introduction of the new trains
alone, and when a peak service
uplift from 24 to 27 trains per hour
(tph) is added this becomes a 23%
capacity increase. Replacement
of the signalling system and
procurement of seven additional
trains would allow automatic
train operation with a 36tph
service; this is targeted for 2030
but is currently unfunded.
In addition to the procurement
of the new fleet a variety of
infrastructure works is required
on the line. These include
modifications at 125 platforms with
‘humps’ to be provided at step-free
stations, provision of a new
CCTV system providing images
to cabs, the construction of new
maintenance and stabling facilities
at Cockfosters and Northfields
depots and increased stabling
capacity at South Harrow sidings,
upgrades to traction power supply
including works at 12 substations
and installation of around 50km of
cabling, and modifications to the
legacy signalling system to ensure
compatibility with the new trains.

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 85

082-085_MR_Apr 2020_moving wheels.indd 85 17/03/2020 17:18
 New materials: composite platforms at the new Robroyston
station. No 385103 arrives on 27 February 2020 with the
10.25 from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley
via Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamston. Ian Lothian
UNLOCKING INNOVATION
The Railway Industry Association is set on harnessing the potential of technology
T
he Railway Industry Association (RIA)
is moving up a gear in its promotion
of innovation with a series of meetings
around the MADE (materials, automation,
data, energy) theme. In February, researchers
and railway managers congregated at the
University of Southampton, the centre of
excellence for infrastructure in the UK Rail
Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN),
for the MADE for Infrastructure event.
Much of the focus was on how to make rail
infrastructure, which traditionally has used
large quantities of carbon-intensive steel and
concrete, more environmentally friendly. As an
example, Neil Appleton, Market Development
Lead with the National Composites Centre, points
to geopolymer (cement-free) concrete and
reinforcement rebar made from composites, which
unlike conventional steel rebar, won’t corrode.
That’s a key benefit on for example highways in
the US Midwest, where large quantities of road
salt are used in the harsh winters there and where
the Interstate system is in need of renewal.
Jonathan Howard, Sales Manager at Dura
Composites, a firm that has successfully introduced
composites as a material for platform extensions,
reports that there were considerable hurdles to
overcome in getting new materials approved
for rail use – he cites fire testing as a big issue,
with a lot of money spent on demonstrating the
fire-resistant properties of the material. Andy
Doherty, Chief Technology Officer of Network
Rail, concurs that composites have potential,
but he says NR has so far had mixed results:
one of the chief problems is bonding with old
materials, in bridge deck renewal for instance.
New materials could also have potential in
rolling stock applications, with for example
a carbon fibre bogie to be tried out on a Class 180
DMU. A development like this poses a standards
challenge for the industry, as many standards
are based on traditional materials such as steel.
86 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
086_MR_Apr 2020_RIA.indd 86
COST CONTAINMENT
‘We’re awash with innovations, it’s how we get to
use them that’s the challenge’ says David Rowe,
Head of Strategy – Network Rail RD&I. ‘There’s
a mindset towards conservatism and risk aversion’
agrees RIA Technical Director David Clarke. This can
push up costs, as the over-specified piles on the
Great Western main line electrification showed.
David Shipman, Innovations Engineering
Manager at Network Rail, cites the example
of composite troughing, which has a higher
material cost than concrete but lower
installation costs, as it can be carried by one
person. ‘The Tier 1s wouldn’t touch it’ he says,
fingering the big contractors in the industry.
Often existing technology can overcome
problems if it can just be applied: NR Programme
Manager Rob Forde points to a programme to deal
with voiding under switch and crossing panels on
Wessex Route. ‘There’s lots of remote condition
monitoring equipment out there: can we answer
80% of the questions with what’s on the market?’
It’s important to bring in innovations at an early
stage: ‘By the time the shovel goes in the ground,
it is too late’ according to Fredrik van der Linde of
Aecom. Once innovations have been introduced,
maintenance activities need to change: ‘You don’t
want a candle maker to support a lightbulb, but we
do that all the time in the rail industry’ says Mr Rowe.
INSPECTION
One area susceptible to increased automation
is infrastructure asset inspection, where
developments include the use of drones,
automated tunnel inspection and overhead line
pattern recognition software. ‘Our aim is to shift
away from inspection by people on the line’ says
Andy Doherty. More continuous monitoring is
also a target: on quieter routes, where an asset
inspection train might only visit once every three
to six months, p way teams come to dread the
subsequent report on track defects as it sets up
a massive bank of work to be done. A steadier flow
of information would smooth the workload.
Also requiring improved monitoring is
lineside vegetation, where current methods of
establishing priorities in the workbank are crude.
‘We use a hammer to crack an egg: the work is
not prioritised or targeted as we don’t have the
tools for that’ reports Alan Cooke, NR’s Principal
Engineer for Lineside. NR is working with Atkins
on digitised lineside inspection, with software
capable of mimicking summer conditions from
aerial survey data shot in winter. A bonus of the
system, whose worth was displayed by this winter’s
storms, is that the surveys can detect trampolines
in lineside gardens, giving NR the opportunity
to contact householders to request that the
trampolines are secured to the ground to prevent
them blowing on to the line in high winds.
Drones are proposed when work is required
on inaccessible areas. Cambridge-based Plextex is
working on heavy-lift drones, capable of moving
up to 200kg and with a 45-minute flying range:
this could be very useful for dropping materials in
areas where lorries and road-railers can’t get in.
WORTHWHILE RETURN
Mr Forde says NR seeks to increase the scale
and pace of innovation, not least because it’s
a good investment. The company estimates its
£357 million innovation programme (£245 million
from NR and the balance from third parties) has
a benefit-cost ratio of 2.8, so will be returning
over £1 billion in value to the industry.
One key lesson is that innovators have to be
prepared to fail. Mr Forde says he is working
on a way to use fibre optic sensing to combat
wheel flats in South Wales. The area has suffered
in recent autumns and while the programme
has not proved successful thus far, the client is
sufficiently encouraged to commission Mr Forde
to carry on with the work. ‘You’re not being
ambitious enough if you don’t fail’ he says. a
17/03/2020 12:11
 RESCHEDULED
DUE TO
CORONAVIRUS
CRISIS

ENTRIES ARE INVITED FOR THE MODERN RAILWAYS

RAILWAY INDUSTRY
INNOVATION AWARDS 2020
The Railway Industry Innovation Awards, organised by
Modern Railways and run in conjunction with the Fourth
Friday Club, are the longest-standing award scheme in the
industry. Winning an award can generate great kudos for
the winner and does wonders for company morale.
Entries should be submitted online; the form can be
found here: www.4thfriday.co.uk/riia-form/
AWARD CATEGORIES
Outstanding examples of innovation are sought
in the following award categories:
n Engineering and Safety n Passenger Experience
AFTER-LUNCH SPEAKER: HELEN WATERS
Guest of honour at this year’s Railway
Industry Innovation Awards luncheon at the
Hilton Canary Wharf on Friday 23 October
2020 will be Helen Waters, Associate Director
with Steer Group. Since 1992, Helen has
worked in a wide range of consultancy,
TOC and owning group roles. She has
experience of all aspects of rail operations,
along with rolling stock and infrastructure
specification and delivery. She is passionate
Tony Miles

about the benefits that innovation can

n Environment n Operations and Performance
unlock and seeks to overcome institutional
n Cross-Industry Partnership n Major Project
barriers to application of new ideas.
n Small Scale Project
AWARDS LUNCHEON
SUPPORTED BY
The awards will be presented after a Fourth Friday Club
luncheon on Friday 23 October 2020. Companies interested
in taking tables at the lunch should contact Chris Shilling
on 01778 421550, e-mail: chris@shillingmedia.co.uk

FOURTH FRIDAY CLUB

THE ORIGINAL RAIL INDUSTRY MEETING FORUM

MORE DETAILS ON 4THFRIDAY.CO.UK

087_MR_Apr 2020_FFC_RIIA.indd 25 17/03/2020 17:17
 Trackwatch
A digest of the main changes
on Network Rail, London
Underground and Northern
Ireland Railways infrastructure
during January 2020; compiled by
Martyn Brailsford of the Branch
Line Society (www.branchline.uk).
January, as is the norm, was a quiet
month, however alterations took
place at a number of locations,
including Claydon LN&E Junction
and Norwich Victoria Sidings.
ANGLIA
Ripple Lane Area (2:4A)
As part of the Barking Riverside
project, Ripple Lane West Yard
Siding 3 has now been removed.
Dullingham (1:11C)
Due to the introduction of new rolling
stock, new ‘S Car’ marker boards at
Dullingham (10M 54ch) have been
introduced, these have altered the
operational lengths of the platforms.
Platform 1 now has an operational
length of 85 metres (93 yards).
Platform 2 now has an operational
length of 80 metres (88 yards) in
the Up direction, whilst the boards
in the Down direction remain
unaltered (77 metres/84 yards).
Norwich Area (2:7)
Victoria Sidings, accessed off the
Down Main at Trowse Junction
(113M 68ch), have been brought
back into use. They consist
of four sidings each having
an operational standage of
260 metres (284 yards) and have
been equipped with Overhead
Line Equipment energised at 25kV.
LONDON NORTH WESTERN
Claydon LNE Junction (4:15C/17A)
As part of East West Rail Phase Two,
Claydon L&NE Junction signal box
(0M 41ch) has been closed and its
functions have been transferred
New Claydon box: a spoil train for Calvert passes the portacabin housing
the signalling equipment at the site of Waddesdon Manor station on
the former Great Central main line on 22 January 2020. Phil Marsh
88 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
088_MR_Apr 2020_trackwatch.indd 88
to a new Claydon L&NE Junction
signal box (43M 05ch) located
near the closed Waddesdon
station (between Quainton Road
and Aylesbury Vale Parkway). All
signals and points controlled by
the old Claydon L&NE Junction SB
have been recovered, along with
all other trackwork in the Claydon
area. As part of the transfer of
control to the new signal box,
the former Up & Down Aylesbury
running line has been redesignated
thus: between the new SB and Old Claydon box: power cable recovery
Calvert South GF (157M 63ch) under way on 22 January 2020. Phil Marsh
to Up & Down Aylesbury Siding,
between Calvert South GF and
Calvert North GF (157M 05ch)
to Calvert Siding 3 and between
Calvert North GF and a new
buffer stop at 0M 11ch to Calvert
Siding 4. The recently installed
crossover at 158M 09ch to Calvert
Reception Siding has now been
brought into use. Note: to assist
in understanding this there are
changes of mileage north of
Quainton Road at 44M 48ch (to
161M 50ch) and again north of Claydon loop, looking east towards Bletchley: Aylesbury and the Calvert freight
Calvert at 156M 72ch (to 0M 00ch). sidings are off to the right, Bicester is behind the photographer. This area is now
being worked on by HS2 and East West Rail construction teams. John Elvin
LONDON NORTH EASTERN
Blyth and Tyne line (2:23C) in operational use. The Ferryhill to operational use with a new
The out of use trailing crossover line, giving access to the turntable end of line at 6M 20ch.
at Bedlington South, 15M 50ch, on the Down side, has also been Frome (3:13A)
has been removed and the Up brought back into operational use. The headshunt at the end of the Up
Blyth & Tyne and Down Blyth & Oban (1:21C) Goods Loop at Frome North Junction
Tyne lines have both been plain The official platforms numbers (115M 19ch) has been recovered.
lined at this location. at Oban (71M 44ch) have been
updated to now be 3 and 4, Information has been grouped
SCOTLAND platform 3 being the right most according to the current Sectional
Aberdeen Area (1:17A) platform on entering the station Appendix / Weekly Operating Notice
The previously installed trailing on a train from Glasgow. areas. All details can be subject to
crossover at Craiginches South subsequent amendment. Books
Junction (239M 30ch) has now WESTERN and Diagram Reference Numbers
been commissioned. In addition, Tytherington Quarry (3:17A) (in brackets) relate to the latest
the previously out of use Biscuit Following refurbishment work, relevant Quail Track Diagram
Siding at Craiginches North (Up Grovesend sidings (Tytherington books obtainable from Trackmaps
Side at 240M 00ch) is now back Quarry) have been returned at www.trackmaps.co.uk. a
17/03/2020 12:13

Back at the sharp end: Nick Donovan. Tony Miles
Donovan for Northern MD
NICK DONOVAN has joined
Northern Trains as Managing Director
following the operator’s move into
public ownership on 1 March 2020.
Mr Donovan has been appointed
by the Operator of Last Resort,
which took over the franchise from
Arriva on 1 March. He was MD of
TransPennine Express from 2011 to
2015 and has more recently been
independent Chair of the Network
Performance Board. Mr Donovan
No longer with TPE: Leo Goodwin.
GOODWIN
LEAVES TPE
TRANSPENNINE EXPRESS
Managing Director Leo Goodwin left
the company on 5 March to pursue
opportunities outside FirstGroup.
Mr Goodwin has held various
positions in First Rail since 1999,
including key roles in train operating
companies, bid teams and in
development of the East Coast
open access service First is planning
to introduce in 2021. He became
Managing Director at TPE in 2016
following First’s winning franchise bid.
TPE’s Finance Director
Liz Collins is acting as interim
MD pending appointment of
a permanent successor.
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
089_MR_Apr 2020_people.indd 89
has also advised the ScotRail Alliance
on train service performance
and was interim Engineering
Director at Northern in 2016.
David Brown, who had led
the Arriva Rail North franchise
since September 2017,
moves to the Department for
Transport’s Operator of Last
Resort holding company, where
other senior level opportunities
for him will be explored.
POLE FOR PERPETUUM JENNINGS
PERPETUUM HAS
appointed Stephen Pole as
Sales Manager UK & Ireland.
Based in Derby, Mr Pole’s role will
be to evolve and execute the sales
and product marketing strategies
for Perpetuum. He has almost
30 years’ experience working in
high technology companies both in
the UK and internationally and was
previously a Key Account Manager
at SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit Ltd,
responsible for commercial and
business development activities
with clients such as Network Rail.
GBRf PROMOTES DAY
GB RAILFREIGHT has appointed
Liam Day as its Commercial Director.
Mr Day was previously Head of
Contracts for the freight operator.
He joined GBRf in August 2014 as
Terminal Development Manager;
following a short spell as Head of
Estates he moved to the position
of Business Manager (and latterly
General Manager) in the Commercial
Department team in April 2016. He
began his career on the railways in
Network Rail’s graduate management
training programme before joining
the Freight and National Passenger
Operator (FNPO), where he held
Regional directors for CrossCountry
CROSSCOUNTRY HAS
appointed four Regional Directors,
responsible for operational
and financial performance
within their respective areas.
John Robson becomes director
for the West Midlands and North
West region, Richard Morris for the
East Midlands and East Anglia, Sarah
Kelley for the West and Anna Weeks
for the North East and Scotland.
Mr Robson has nearly 30 years’ rail
experience, having held operational
roles for West Midlands Trains and
Virgin Trains as well as working for
rail consultancies. He joins in May.
Mr Morris has almost 20 years’
experience in managing fleet and
engineering teams; he has most
recently been Interim Service
McGowan joins Porterbrook
PORTERBROOK HAS appointed
James McGowan as Director of
Public Affairs; he joined on 2 March.
Mr McGowan was most recently
transport policy advisor to Shadow
Transport Secretary Andy McDonald.
Sales role: Perpetuum’s Stephen Pole.
the positions of Customer Manager
and Route Freight Manager.
Mr Day replaces Lee Armstrong,
who is joining Associated British Ports
(ABP) as Group Head of Commercial
(Rail). This is a new role ABP has
created to develop and drive the
new company strategy around rail
and support its customers’ broader
logistics requirements. Mr Armstrong
has over 30 years’ experience in the
rail sector in different roles across
operations, general management,
programme management,
strategy, business development
and commercial functions.
People
Delivery Director at CrossCountry,
leading on fleet, engineering and
driver management. Ms Kelley
is also an internal appointment,
having been Planning Performance
Director at CrossCountry since
October 2019. She has over
20 years’ operational and strategic
expertise both at Network Rail
and train operator level, including
heading up operations at London
Overground operator Arriva
Rail London. Both take on their
new roles at the end of April.
Ms Weeks joined at the beginning
of March from Northern, where
she was also Regional Director.
She began as a graduate at
FirstGroup and has also worked
for First Glasgow and ScotRail.
Prior to that he was Head of Policy
and Communications at rail union
ASLEF. He will work alongside Rupert
Brennan Brown, who takes up
a new role as Porterbrook’s Director
of Stakeholder Engagement.
JOINS RIA
THE RAILWAY Industry Association
has appointed Kate Jennings as
Policy Director, joining on 2 March.
Ms Jennings latterly worked in
Government. From October 2016
to November 2019 she was the
Department for Transport’s Head
of Rail Strategy Projects Division,
before working most recently on the
development of transport policy for
EU exit. She has an extensive career
in the civil service, beginning at the
Foreign & Commonwealth Office and
also working in the Cabinet Office.
BRUNSKILL FOR
WEST COAST ROLE
FIRST TRENITALIA has appointed
Pete Brunskill as Regional Growth
Manager for the West Midlands
within the West Coast Partnership
franchise. Mr Brunskill, who previously
worked at the West Midlands Rail
Executive and Rail North Ltd on
station development, franchise bid
evaluation, strategy and stakeholder
management, joined in mid-March.
In his new role he will work closely
with partners across the region
on development opportunities
and assist on the realisation of the
national high-speed network.
89
17/03/2020 12:12
 In Business
Future uncertain: steel slab from British Steel’s plant at Scunthorpe to its Continental rolling mill at Hayange, near Metz in north east
France, is one of the principal conventional rail freight flows through the Channel Tunnel, but the future relationship between the
two plants is now unclear. Here No 66118 takes the empties from Ebange through Brookmans Park on 15 May 2019. Ken Brunt
CHINESE FIRM BUYS BRITISH STEEL
CHINESE STEELMAKER Jingye
Group has acquired British Steel, a
major supplier of rails to Network Rail.
The firm has pledged to invest
£1.2 billion to place the business on
a more competitive and sustainable
footing, including returning the
company to industry comparable
TOTALKARE SUPPLIES JACKS TO HITACHI
RAIL LIFTING jacks supplied by
Totalkare have been installed at
Hitachi’s rail vehicle manufacturing
facility at Newton Aycliffe in County
Durham. The eight new 15,000kg
lifting jacks will provide Hitachi Rail
TRACSIS ACQUIRES IBLOCKS
SOFTWARE PROVIDER Tracsis
has acquired rail software and
technology business iBlocks.
Established in 2000, iBlocks is
a UK-based software company
Local supply chains can contribute to decarbonisation agenda
DECARBONISATION IS the new
imperative with ever growing media
coverage as we embark on the
mission to reduce our emissions to
net zero as a country. In this era of
ensuring real sustainability in all that
we do, Rail Forum Midlands (RFM)
believes we need to ask ourselves
whether relying on significant
numbers of overseas suppliers
is the best and most sustainable
solution or whether reshoring some
design, engineering services and
manufacturing to the UK can help us
achieve our decarbonisation targets.
For example, how should we
take account of the reduced carbon
footprint created by a local supplier
delivering its parts to a UK factory
compared to shipping large items
90 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
090-091_MR_Apr 2020_in business.indd 90
margins within five years. Assets
included in the transaction
include British Steel’s steelworks at
Scunthorpe and UK mills at Teesside
Beam Mill and Skinningrove, as well
as subsidiary businesses FN Steel in
the Netherlands and TSP Engineering.
It does not include British Steel’s
with flexibility for future projects,
with the jacks initially being used
to lift metro-style carriages during
the manufacturing process. The
jacks will be supported through the
company’s Afterkare service package,
that specialises in the provision
of smart ticketing solutions,
automated delay repay and the
development of mission critical
back office systems used in the rail
halfway round the world? And
what about the positive emissions
impact of not having to jet off to
those client-supplier meetings?
Surely we should be starting to
put greater emphasis on these
wider measures when making
decisions about suppliers and be
looking to build these into the
whole life cycle cost concept.
This isn’t straightforward or
easy – developing (or redeveloping)
local supply chains can take many
years and there is still a very heavy
emphasis on initial cost rather than
taking into account the whole life
picture. But in a post-Brexit economy
French operations at Hayange, the
acquisition of which is still subject
to further negotiations with the
relevant authorities in France and is
hoped to be concluded separately.
Around 100 jobs will transfer to
Barrett Steel following the sale of four
British Steel distribution centres.
which includes two visits per year.
Totalkare partnered with Italian
manufacturer Emanuel in early 2019
as it entered the rail industry; Emanuel
had previously supplied lifting
jacks for Hitachi in Italy.
industry. Tracsis says the acquisition
strategically aligns with its objective
of strengthening its rail product
portfolio in areas where it can offer
a unique market proposition and
will enhance the group’s overall
technology and software offering.
we would argue it’s essential for the
UK to nurture homegrown suppliers
significantly more than we have
in recent years and government
needs to play a part in that. It’s also
important to measure progress.
For example, a number of recent
rolling stock contracts have included
original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) ‘commitments’ to use UK
suppliers – this is a great first step,
but who’s monitoring the OEMs
to ensure they deliver on these?
Before the December 2019
general election, RFM set out four
key asks of the new government,
one of which is ‘commitment to
transparent, auditable targets
for UK content with progress
being published annually’.
Plans submitted
for Goole factory
NEW IMAGES have been released
of Siemens Mobility’s £200 million
manufacturing site planned to be
built at Goole in East Yorkshire.
Detailed planning proposals
have been submitted to East
Riding of Yorkshire Council
for the facility at the Goole
enterprise zone site. Outline
planning consent was granted in
July 2019, and pending planning
approval construction is expected
to begin in early summer.
The application seeks approval
for 55,000 square metres of
manufacturing, assembly,
warehouse, testing and ancillary
office and welfare buildings,
proposed to be delivered in two
phases. The first phase will provide
facilities for the production of
new Underground trains for the
Piccadilly Line, and subject to order
income a further proposed phase
could enable expansion to service
potential future contracts awarded
to Siemens Mobility. The company
says the proposals have been
carefully considered to enable the
first phase to become operational
in isolation while the second
can be delivered in a way that is
complementary to the ongoing
operations of the original facilities.
The first phase is scheduled to
become operational in 2023.
A separate planning application
has been submitted to East
Riding of Yorkshire Council for
an innovation hub as the first
phase of an innovation cluster
known as the Rail Accelerator
and Innovation Solutions
Hub for Enterprise (RaisE).
We believe this is a key step
in creating a landscape that will
enable UK suppliers to flourish
and grow, but it isn’t the only
step. Clients and OEMs should be
identifying opportunities for UK
companies and supporting their
development. As an industry we
should be challenging ourselves
to change our thinking away from
‘lowest cost’ to one of creating
better experiences for passengers.
We should be embracing a world
in which rail has a key role to play
in the UK’s wider decarbonisation
agenda. So what part can RFM
play in helping our OEMs and
small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) rise to these challenges?
More on this in the next issue.
17/03/2020 15:40
 In Business

NEW BOGIE WORKSHOP

WILLIAM COOK Rail owners and operators with a wide
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
In light of the Coronavirus outbreak the events listed below are subject to change
and you are strongly advised to check with the organisers prior to attending.
has commissioned a new range of heavy overhaul services. Anti-Counterfeit Forum annual seminar, 1 April, Farnborough
8,000 square foot bogie overhaul The facility can undertake cleaning, Details at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/11th-anti-
workshop at its site in Leeds. shot blasting, non-destructive counterfeiting-forum-seminar-tickets-90150076305
The company supplies complex testing, repair welding, component The Settle Carlisle Railway – Past, Present and
cast-steel for components for replacement, painting and rebuild Future, lecture, 2 April, Darwen
trains, including to builders work for bogies. These services are Details at https://events.theiet.org/the-settle-carlisle-railway/
Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens. complemented by state-of-the-art Vivarail: designing and building emission-free
Increasingly UK revenues come machining centres capable trains for the UK, lecture, 8 April, Derby
from supporting in-service trains, of accommodating complete Details at https://nearyou.imeche.org/eventdetail?id=16907
with London Underground bogie frames after repair. Introducing the Azuma, lecture, 16 April, Edinburgh
the biggest customer. William Cook, the company’s Details at https://nearyou.imeche.org/eventdetail?id=17042
The bogie overhaul workshop director, said: ‘The new bogie Platform-train interface, lecture, 20 April, London
is a natural extension of the overhaul workshop is only one part Details at https://nearyou.imeche.org/eventdetail?id=16836
company’s existing coupler of an ongoing, multi-million pound Direct Rail Services: Class 68 / 88 Engineering,
workshop, supporting rolling stock investment plan for our Leeds site.’ technical visit, 23 April, Carlisle
Details at https://nearyou.imeche.org/eventdetail?id=17702
EMC in Railways 2020, seminar, 29 April, London
Details at https://events.theiet.org/emc-in-railways-2020/
Electrification or bust – the challenge for Britain’s
Operations, Planning, Economics and Management Railways, lecture, 30 April, Milton Keynes
Details at https://events.theiet.org/rail-electrification/
Our key areas of expertise include:
Innovating Wheelsets: Maintenance, Sustainability
• Demand Forecasting and Value, seminar, 4 May, London
• Data Collection and Analysis 1st Floor South Tower
• Timetable and Service Planning
Details at https://events.imeche.org/ViewEvent?e=7067
Crystal Palace Station
• Operational Performance Audits London SE19 2AZ Investigating the Sandilands tram accident, lecture, 6 May, York
• Operational Simulation Details at https://events.theiet.org/investigating-the-sandilands-tram-accident/
• Industry Economics
T +44 20 8676 0395
F +44 20 8778 7439 Infrarail 12-14 May, London
• Project Appraisal E info@railwayconsultancy.com Details at https://www.infrarail.com/
How can we help your business?
www.railwayconsultancy.com Engineering and Social Aspects of the Cumbria
Please contact us for more information on our services. Coast Railway, lecture, 21 May, Penrith
Registered Office: 43a Palace Square, Crystal Palace, London SE19 2LT Registered in England & Wales no. 3270536
Details at https://events.theiet.org/engineering-and-social-
aspects-of-the-cumbria-coast-railway/

Gantry milling machine for complete bogie frames

www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways 91

090-091_MR_Apr 2020_in business.indd 91 17/03/2020 15:40
 Crossrail Update
CLASS 345s
345s TO HEATHROW
P
lans to run Class 345s between
Paddington and Heathrow
Terminal 4 were put on hold
last year to allow train manufacturer
Bombardier to concentrate on
getting trains to work within the
tunnels that make up the core of
the Elizabeth Line. Two years after
the Stage 2 Crossrail launch was
supposed to see ‘345s’ serve the
airport, the indications are they
are almost ready to do just that.
Problems with the reliability of
using the European Train Control
System (ETCS) in the Heathrow
tunnels has resulted in the present
situation where Class 345s can run
between Paddington and Reading
but Class 360s, with their legacy
Automatic Train Protection (ATP)
system, have been retained to operate
TfL Rail services on the Heathrow spur.
Now, the word within the industry
is that issues with the reliability of
the ETCS overlay in the Heathrow
tunnels have been resolved. Driver
training featuring Class 345s on the
Heathrow spur is underway and
the launch of Stage 2B, which will
see operator MTR start running
a passenger service, is expected
with the national rail biannual
timetable change this May.
92 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
092_MR_Apr 2020_crossrail.indd 92
Taplow: now step-free. No 345014 arrives while en route from Reading to London Paddington on
6 February 2020. Two rail pastors can be seen talking with the TfL staff member; rail pastors are trained
volunteers who are based in areas which experience of high numbers of suicide incidents. Ken Brunt
POLL POSTPONED
Judging by events around the
world, the Stage 2B launch could
see few people using the new
trains to Heathrow as people stay
away from airports. Even before
Crossrail launches, the effect
of the coronavirus could prove
significant. Of all the variables
considered by planners, how
many saw this one coming?
One political repercussion is
the decision, because of the virus,
to postpone the London mayoral
elections by a year to May 2021.
With a summer 2021 opening of
Stage 3 – the Elizabeth Line proper,
Abbey Wood to Paddington – having
been projected by Crossrail Ltd
Chief Executive Mark Wild, coupled
with a commitment to open at
the earliest opportunity, there’s
now a chance the new railway
could open before the end of the
current mayor’s term in office.
How much that matters is moot,
but perhaps it will focus minds.
Which would Mayor Sadiq Khan
prefer – to have London’s highest
profile rail project for decades open
before Londoners go to the polls or
shortly after (by which time a new
mayor may have been appointed)?
POWER UP
When the Elizabeth Line does open
there is the not insignificant matter of
providing the electricity trains need to
run. Transport for London calculates
it will cost around £10 million a year
to supply the electricity required to
run a 24 trains per hour service.
To prepare for this, TfL is set to
authorise a 150-year electricity supply
agreement to provide traction power
for the Crossrail Central Operating
Section. The full-term cost is expected
to amount to approximately
£1.5 billion – although this translates
to a more modest £40 million over the
life of the current TfL Business Plan.
The Crossrail programme has
funded new bulk supply points
(connecting to the National Grid),
autotransformer feeder stations and
autotransformer sites at Pudding Mill
Lane in the east and Kensal Green/
Westbourne Park in the west. Pudding
Mill Lane will be the main supply
point for the Elizabeth Line, with
Westbourne Park serving as a back
up. Both connections also supply
power for Network Rail infrastructure.
ANOTHER LEVEL
All 41 Elizabeth line stations will,
one day soon, offer step-free
access from street to platform
level. Four more can now
be checked off the list with
Transport for London reporting
that Hanwell, Iver, Langley and
Taplow are now step-free.
Towards the end of 2017 TfL
awarded contractor Murphy the
job of providing step-free access at
these stations, on the route west of
Paddington. All four now have lifts,
despite step-free improvements
at these locations being omitted
from the main Crossrail funding
package. TfL and the Department
for Transport have paid for most
of the extra work with Network
Rail’s Western Route stumping up
for some of the work at Taplow.
Historic Hanwell retains its
Grade II-listed features but these
can now be enjoyed via two totally
modern lifts. The station gains a new
and a refurbished waiting room
and the existing toilet has been
converted into an accessible facility.
Iver has an all-new station building
plus three new lifts to complement
improvements previously delivered
at platform level. Langley and
Taplow each have three new lifts
and new footbridges to complete
the step-free package. a Dan Harvey
17/03/2020 12:13
 A
Bo AND DVE

2020 Edition OUT NOW! o R

DE for k yo SPO TISE
AD the ur s NS RS
LIN 20 pa OR
E: 21 ce N S
THE INDISPENSABLE, HANDS-ON REVIEW Oc Edi O
tob tio W
n
AND DIRECTORY OF THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY er
22
nd
Edited by Modern Railways’ Editor Philip
Sherratt, with contributions from Roger Ford,
Tony Miles, Alan Williams and other members
of the team, The Modern Railway 2020
hardback runs to 208 pages and provides an
in-depth examination of:
■ Industry structure and key organisations
■ Policy and finance
■ Train operation (passenger and freight)
■ Train fleet maintenance and manufacture
■ Major projects
■ Infrastructure enhancement and renewal
■ Signalling and control
■ Light rail and metro systems
■ European developments

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 High Speed 2
QUESTION MARK OVER LEEDS ARM
Birmingham Interchange works: trial placement of the first modular bridge component
over the M42 on 7 January 2020. These units are manufactured offsite at the Explore
Manufacturing facility near Worksop, and then brought to site by road. Courtesy HS2
‘MANCHESTER FIRST’ STRATEGY POSSIBLE
C
hancellor of the Exchequer
Rishi Sunak talked of ‘spades
going in the ground on HS2’
when he made his Budget speech
to Parliament on 11 March after
the Government recommitted
to High Speed 2. As we reported
last month, Prime Minister Boris
Johnson backed the full Y-shaped
network from London to Leeds
and Manchester. But while Phase
One to Birmingham (as well as the
short Phase 2a extension to Crewe)
remains, on the whole, as planned,
Phase Two is now the focus of
a review and, as the announcements
say, remains subject to change.
The Government’s go-ahead
for HS2 has been followed by
publication of ‘Terms of reference for
an integrated rail plan for the North
and Midlands’. This provides a short
summary of how ministers intend
to consider the HS2 Phase 2b route
alongside Northern Powerhouse
Rail, Midlands Rail Hub and other
major Network Rail schemes to
ensure these are coherently scoped,
designed and delivered and can be
operated as an integrated network.
Douglas Oakervee, who
led the HS2 review to inform
the Government’s decision on
the scheme earlier this year,
recommended such a course of
action, noting that current plans for
Northern Powerhouse Rail services
make use of up to around 110km
of the proposed HS2 Phase 2b
94 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
094_MR_Apr 2020_HS2.indd 94
tracks. Mr Oakervee called for
this review to report back in the
summer to minimise the potential
for further delay to building HS2
but, according to the integrated
rail plan terms of reference for
HS2 Phase 2b/NPR/MRH, or High
Speed North, the plans will be
published by the end of the year.
Until then we cannot say for
certain if Phase 2b is going ahead in
full, in part or in some shape-shifted
form yet to be revealed. However,
the terms of reference present the
prospect of Phase 2b being split
into separate schemes. They state:
‘The Government will also proceed
with the legislation to allow for the
development of the Western Leg
provided it does not prejudge any
recommendations or decisions
that will be taken in this plan,
and noting that Phase 2b can be
legislated for in two or more hybrid
bills, which may run concurrently.’
While there is no reason
to believe the Government is
backtracking on plans to provide
a high-speed rail route to Leeds, this
statement does raise the prospect
of the simpler Manchester leg
overtaking delivery of its Leeds
counterpart, where routing issues
in Sheffield and the East Midlands
have proved more contentious.
West Yorkshire transport
chiefs appear sanguine but rail
reviews have a tendency to drag
on. As things stand Manchester
has received a commitment
from Government for an
HS2 bill but Leeds hasn’t.
According to Baroness Vere
of Norbiton, responding to
a parliamentary question from
Lord Greaves, high-speed services
between London and Manchester
and Leeds are currently expected
to start between 2036 and 2040.
But the integrated rail plan
will explore how the benefits
could be delivered more
quickly and cost effectively.
INTERCHANGE ACTIVITY
HS2 contractors have begun
building a bridge over the
M42, the first permanent
works for the Birmingham
Interchange station site.
HS2 Ltd early works contractor
LM, a joint venture between Laing
O’Rourke and Murphy, is planning
to increase staff numbers over the
coming months as construction of
new bridges and access roads for
the Interchange site gets underway.
The Birmingham Interchange site
covers an area of 150 hectares and
is located within a triangle of land
formed by the M42, A45 and A452.
Current work includes construction
of modular bridges over the M42
and A446 and remodelling of
the road network in the area to
facilitate access to the new station
as well as easing access to and
from Birmingham Business Park.
Placement of the structural
support components and
construction of the bridges is
being carried out by Expanded,
a company in the LM supply
chain. The modular components
are made in Nottinghamshire
by Explore Manufacturing,
near Worksop. Each abutment
shell weighs four or seven
tonnes. Two bridges are being
built initially – the M42 bridge
will comprise 115 shells
while the A446 bridge will
be made up of 80 shells.
According to Simon Russell, LM
Project Director: ‘Much of our early
works programme has now been
completed on the site by the LM
team, including habitat creation,
archaeological investigations, site
clearance, and utilities diversions.
We are now pressing ahead with
the project’s first permanent works
near the A452, A45 and M42,
including a bridge over the M42.’
PEOPLE MOVER PLANS LODGED
Meanwhile, HS2 Ltd has submitted
a planning application to Solihull
Council to build a transit system
between Birmingham Interchange
station and Birmingham Airport.
The driverless people mover
vehicles, which will travel along
a 2.3km raised viaduct, would
stop at the NEC and Birmingham
International station during their
six-minute journey. Vehicles are
set to run every three minutes
and the transit will have capacity
to carry 2,100 passengers an
hour in each direction.
According to the planning
documents: ‘The people mover
will be either a cable-pulled
or self-propelled system.’ They
add: ‘The exact form of system
will be confirmed following
competitive tender in the
next stage of the project.’
The four stations along the route
will have partial-height platform
screen doors and will each have
a signature colour, to be decided
following consultation with
stakeholders. The viaduct deck is to
be constructed using weathering
steel ‘to ensure a durable and
long-lasting structure which
requires minimal maintenance’.
According to the plans: ‘The
material will age and weather to
a deep brown colour over time.’
Solihull Council’s planning
committee is expected to decide
on the planning application
later this year. a Dan Harvey
17/03/2020 12:13
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 Chris Stokes
1
0 years after the initial in
principle decision to build
High Speed 2, the current
government has confirmed that
the project will go ahead.
This has been a long and tortuous
saga, during which time China
has planned and built thousands
of miles of high-speed railway. In
contrast, we have spent a lot of
money and created a number of
building sites! China is of course
a very different country; in the early
stages of the coronavirus outbreak,
it constructed two large hospitals
in Wuhan in 10 days, although
probably riding roughshod over
some of its citizens in the process –
there must be a happy mid-point.
It’s largely been forgotten that
HS2’s original scope was significantly
greater, with a branch to Heathrow
and a link to High Speed 1. The
business case for both branches
was clearly dreadful right from the
start, but both were defended at
the time as vitally important. Both
have since been quietly dropped,
yet the price of the HS2 network has
exploded from around £32 billion
to something like £100 billion. If
the scheme had had that price-tag
initially, it would probably have
been strangled at birth, but so
much time, money and political
capital has already been invested in
the project that it was unlikely the
Government would have pulled the
plug, whatever the Oakervee report
had concluded. Certainly, the West
Midlands in particular has based
many of its plans around HS2 and
would have had to go back to the
drawing board if the scheme had
www.modern-railways.com April 2020 Modern Railways
097_MR_Apr 2020_BtL.indd 97
been cancelled – and Andy Street,
the Conservative West Midlands
Mayor, is a passionate supporter,
and up for re-election this year.
The Oakervee Review has some
interesting nuggets buried in it.
The report hints that HS2 was
over-specified, with an alignment
designed for operation at 400km/h,
which dictated both the route
and the adoption of slab track –
but suggests that the scope for
specification savings on Phase One
is likely to be limited. The proposal
to allow for the fastest speeds in the
world was frankly daft, given the
relatively short end-to-end distances
in this country. The potential journey
time savings over, say, a maximum
speed of 300km/h are small,
and can’t conceivably justify the
additional energy and maintenance
costs involved. This lesson seems
to have been learnt for Phase Two,
as the routes published to date are
less straight, so have less impact on
the parts of the country affected.
There is also an admission that
18 trains an hour is almost certainly
an unrealistic target, and planning
should be based on 14 trains an
hour, which is the best that is
achieved anywhere in the world.
This will inevitably mean lower
frequencies to some destinations,
and less revenue. However, there
will also be a reduction in operating
and rolling stock capital costs, so it’s
not clear how much damage this
change will do to the business case.
The major issue at the south end
of the route is about Euston, where
the development will be taken out
of the hands of HS2 Ltd. It also seems
Old Oak Common station site: this shot was taken in July 2019, after demolition of the former Great Western HST
maintenance shed. The HS2 station will take its place. At right is the Crossrail rolling stock maintenance depot and at left
the Heathrow Express maintenance shed, with the Great Western main line out of shot on the far left. Courtesy HS2
certain that Old Oak Common will
be the initial terminus. Transport
for London (TfL) is reported as
being concerned at the capacity of
Crossrail from there, even though
on current plans 12 Class 345 trains
an hour will start empty from Old
Oak. So TfL still supports going
through to Euston, even though the
challenges of passenger dispersal are
acute today, with two of the three
Underground routes serving Euston
already crush loaded at peak periods.
This suggest Crossrail 2 is essential
in the longer term, although it’s not
authorised, may not be affordable
and, post the election, has the
major political disadvantage of
not being in the North! I would
speculate that it’s still possible HS2
may never get to Euston, despite the
enormous open spaces there now.
Blessedly, Phase 2a, the extension
of the first phase to Crewe, is to go
ahead, to the same timescale as Phase
One. This is a relatively inexpensive
section, largely through open
country, which delivers significant
further journey time savings and,
equally importantly, stops HS2
trains rejoining the classic route in
the teeth of the bottlenecks in the
Colwich/Stafford area. The review
questions whether Handsacre
Junction, where the Phase One route
was to rejoin the West Coast main
line, should be built at all, although
taking out this junction would
prevent the operation of high-speed
services to Stafford and Stoke.
The most significant issues are
for Phase 2b, the legs to Manchester
and Leeds. These routes are to be
reviewed to achieve maximum
Between the Lines
synergy with Northern Powerhouse
Rail, with the region having a major
role going forward. In reality, the
scale of synergy between routes on
north-south and east-west axes is
likely to be limited, although Andy
Burnham, Greater Manchester’s
mayor, has already said he believes
the Manchester Piccadilly high-speed
platforms need to be redesigned.
If Liverpool – Manchester – Leeds
trains join the high-speed route
west of Manchester Airport, it would
certainly be sensible if the Manchester
station has through platforms,
rather than being a terminal station,
requiring through trains to reverse.
The North can potentially shape the
network and prioritise its delivery
to deliver the earliest and greatest
possible economic benefits.
Finally, there is a wild card.
Chris Packham, the broadcaster
and naturalist, is seeking a judicial
review of the project, on the grounds
that it fails to take into account the
current carbon emissions target, the
issue that may well derail the plans
for the third runway at Heathrow.
The challenge seems unlikely to
succeed, but we live in strange times.
We’ve just suffered the wettest
February on record, with numerous
closures due to flooding. As I write,
there are five route closures for
landslips, for between six and
10 weeks’ duration. It’s increasingly
clear that climate change is
having a real impact. a
chrisjstokes@btopenworld.com
William Barter puts an alternative view
in our ‘Forum’ pages this month – Ed.
97
16/03/2020 17:42
 XX
S
omething strange happened
last month. Several readers
complained that I had not
been sufficiently critical of rail
services in the North! Could it be
that, after a decade of everyday
exposure to the shortcomings
of services hereabouts, I had
become inured to the constant
delays and cancellations, the
long waits and the need to travel
before you really need to, simply
to allow recovery time in case of
need? Had I forgotten just how
efficient a half-decently operated
railway can be, as practised
not only in parts of Europe,
but ‘down south’ as outlined
by David Horne last month?
So, with the excuse of a meeting
in London, I set forth to find out,
with an early start on the 06.34
TransPennine from Scarborough
as far as York. A Nova 3 duly
appeared from the nearby
new stabling point, its Class 68
growling so loudly that I began
to realise the local inhabitants
who have complained about
their incessant noise may not
be the nimbys I had dismissed
them to be. In recent years,
TransPennine practice had
been to both close down the
engines of the Class 185s then
in use while stationary at the
terminus and to boast about
the environmental advantages
of so doing. Not only are the
‘68s’ much, much more noisy,
train crews seem loathed to shut
them down during the 45-plus
minutes allowed for turnaround.
Worse, during one of TPE’s recent
many perturbations, with two
successive departures cancelled
for want of crews, two ‘68s’ sat
side by side deafening a large part
of Scarborough town centre for
several hours. And it is worse still,
both noise and fumes-wise, when
they get inside the train shed.
But I digress. 06.34 came. And
went. But my train didn’t. A gaggle
of TPE staff formed, anxiously
speaking to their Control about
the rostered workings it was
increasingly clear they were not
going to make. It seemed the
old-fashioned level crossing gates
along the line at Weaverthorpe
had been damaged by wind
during the night and could not
now be secured. The signaller
had apparently held them in
place for the passage of the first
train at 05.34 but had, perhaps
understandably in view of the
darkness, wind and rain, declined
to repeat the performance. A long
delay seemed inevitable as we
98 Modern Railways April 2020 www.modern-railways.com
098_MR_Apr 2020_williams.indd 98
waited for a Network Rail person in
a van. So, what about the recently
introduced Northern 06.53 from
Scarborough to Sheffield via Hull
and Doncaster? That would get
me into Doncaster, further south
on the East Coast route, at 09.19.
But one word on the departure
indicator said it all: cancelled! No
staff around, no announcement,
so no reason and no replacement
bus. Is that acceptable?
(Pause for ironic laughter.)
Eventually Network Rail found
a piece of string or whatever and
we were underway, now well
over 60 minutes late. There was
some discussion among the TPE
gaggle as to whether this was
now the extremely late-running
06.34, or the rather less late
07.34. Control decreed that we
were indeed the much delayed
06.34 because the down train
which had been standing around
at Malton even longer than us
would now terminate there and
become the 07.34 in front of us.
That seemed sensible as it already
had the following down train
standing outside also waiting for
the single dual-direction platform.
But it meant my train was further
delayed and eventually arrived at
York, where to the disgust of many
passengers for Leeds, Manchester
and beyond it too was terminated,
now over 80 minutes late. Luckily,
LNER’s 08.31 departure was
running late so a quick sprint
the length of platform 2 and
over the footbridge had me
climbing aboard the very last
coach, allowing an arrival at King’s
Cross at 11.00, an end-to-end
journey time, with a ‘connection’
at York that could surely not
have been bettered, of a shade
under four and a half hours. So
75 minutes late for my meeting
with the Office of Rail and Road –
ironically about level crossings!
Downstairs beneath St
Pancras, now that the 20 trains
per hour timetable is in place,
the constant procession of
Thameslink trains is impressive
for the rail traveller more used
to northern standards – as is
their length. On the Thameslink
core the signalling has been
improved. But not so on the
next part of my journey from
Waterloo, where the four-aspect
signalling out to Surbiton remains
basically the same in terms of
spacing and headways as it was
when introduced in 1937. The
working timetables of the day
reveal that even 60 years ago,
the then Southern Region was
punching 20 trains an hour over
the down fast line in the evening
peak. Granted, this was start to
pass rather than start to stop
for some, but no less than half
diverged over various low-speed
crossovers, and of the remainder,
five were still steam-hauled.
Today, further electrification and
more modern trains has enabled
South Western Railway to push
that up to the mid-20s, but still
with the same bog-standard
four-aspect signalling at
conventional spacing, the only
sop to modern innovation being
Train Protection & Warning
System. To maximise capacity,
most trains were and still are
formed of either 12 or 10 cars,
except those to Exeter, which
are now nine. On the slow lines
there were a mere 18 in the
same hour, with various calling
patterns and divergences at slow
speed junctions at Raynes Park,
New Malden and Surbiton.
So 60 years later, why cannot
this experience be replicated
in the North? One obvious
explanation is the single
ownership of the service and
the operating cohesion that
comes with it. Contrast with
York or Leeds or Manchester
with up to five different train
operating companies (TOCs),
each with their own priorities and
operating methods and regimes
and no great interest in the fate
of others. It is also absurd that,
even after the recent influx of
new rolling stock, most trains
scuttling in and out of Northern
cities – apart from those bound
for London – are still formed
of no more than four or five
coaches, and some as few as
two, but each one nevertheless
gobbling up line capacity.
Manchester’s double-track
Castlefield Corridor is said to be
the epicentre of delays across
the north. But it is in essence
no different to the Thameslink
core in London, which also has
complicated flat junctions at each
end. The proposed quadrupling
seems unlikely, and would take
years, many millions of pounds
and huge disruption along the
way to achieve. Depressingly,
we are now hearing calls for the
existing service to be reduced
in the meantime. That seems
very defeatist. Where instead
are the proposals for stage
one of a ‘Manchesterlink’, with
significantly longer trains running
to a strictly clockface timetable?
With the departure in the first
Alan Williams
week of March of the leaders of
both Northern and TransPennine,
the Department for Transport
has a golden opportunity to act
swiftly (yes, I know that’s unlikely
but you can but ask!) to kick over
the traces. DfT could start the
ball rolling by making its own
currently unemployed Class 365s
available for the electrified routes,
with perhaps equally spare ‘185s’
with their rapid acceleration
deployed on diesel routes. Trains
with narrow carriage end doors
only should be discouraged.
Longer, more uniform types
of train and a ban on anything
terminating within the core, all
preferably operated by just one
operator, and with sufficient
crews to eradicate the curse of
trains stranded mid-journey for
want of relief, could substantially
increase Castlefield Corridor
throughput per hour, with little
need for signalling alterations.
But a step-change in pace and
operating discipline, with the
sort of unswerving, relentless
emphasis on performance that
has brought Thameslink back
to credibility from the 2018
timetable chaos, would also
be vital, as would a sustained
improvement in morale.
Yes, of course Northern could
have done better. Far too often it
left its passengers stranded with
no information. However, let us
also remember where it came
from. Northern Mk 1 was saddled
for a decade with a ‘no growth’
franchise, operating one of the
oldest and most disparate fleets of
rolling stock around. Nevertheless,
it grew by 30%, only to have
Northern Mk 2 burdened with
a franchise commitment it was
impossible to deliver, a poisoned
industrial relations chalice from
DfT, infrastructure and timetabling
shortcomings, and late delivery of
new rolling stock, pretty much all
of which were beyond its control.
Add in ongoing budget cuts
and the consequent failure to
fill posts vacated by those able
to depart elsewhere, and the
widespread low morale of recent
months was inevitably reflected
in day-to-day performance. It
simply no longer had the culture
necessary to succeed. Turning
Northern around in short order
is going to be a much greater
task for DfT’s Operator of Last
Resort than simply managing an
already reasonably performing
LNER under good leadership.
I told you it wouldn’t be easy! a
awrailways@yorkshire.net
16/03/2020 17:41
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