Leccy trains

Are we really going to get them in my commuting life time?

Newbury to Paddington would be nice, maybe I could get there faster than
the bike, with a seat and everything.

 

I thought this posting was going to have a Hornby theme, actually.

 

Maybe:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/25/rail-network-new-carriages

 

You need to define your commuting lifetime.

Yes this has been announced today as the initial phase of what might
become a wider scheme to electrify the Great Western Main Line. The
government have announced the extension of electrification from
Maidenhead (being done as part of Crossrail) via Reading to Newbury,
Didcot and up to Oxford by 2016. You won't, though, get new trains. You
will get the shit heaps off Thameslink although I am sure they'll have
been refurbished before being used out of Paddington. The diesel trains
will be cascaded elsewhere and the 125s will also die the death - see
below.

Plans for extending beyond Didcot to Swindon, Bristol and Cardiff remain
on hold. This is because the rolling stock strategy has not been
confirmed yet. However some decisions have been taken - the existing
IC125s will not be refurbished or life extended and a policy of forcing
people to change from electric to diesel services where electrification
stops will not be adopted. Therefore the government has to decide
between an amended bid from Hitachi who won the contest to deliver
something called Inter City Express ( a disastrous mongrel train
specified by morons in the DfT ) or else buy electric trains which would
have a diesel loco stuck on them for the sections of route which will
remain unelectrified - i.e. the Berks and Hants line via Westbury to
Penzance, beyond Oxford to Hereford / Birmingham, beyond Swindon to
Gloucester, beyond Bristol to Weston / Taunton and beyond Cardiff to
Swansea and Fishguard.

http://nds.coi.gov.uk/clientmicrosi...02&NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=416742&SubjectId=36

I suspect there are some very sensitive commercial discussions going on
with Hitachi (Agility Trains consortium) and procurement lawyers to
avoid a challenge from Bombardier who came second in the previous
procurement process. Government can't fundamentally change the nature
of the procurement or else Bombardier will cry foul.

On the whole the decision to electrify is a good one as is the decision
to electrify local lines in the North West and to complete Thameslink.
It could have been far, far worse. There is still lots to do and I'd
like to see a rolling programme of electrification but that will depend
entirely on the economy coming right and the government feeling that it
has the money and that Network Rail can deliver the proposed schemes in
a value for money and efficient way. If they cock up and costs rise
then any future prospects will be killed off by the Treasury.

 

<boggle>
Good grief, I had assumed the GWML had been electrified decades ago.

 

*West* Coast Main Line then yes. The East Coast line and Anglia Main
line were picked up in the 1980s plus sundry bits to places like
Cambridge and Kings Lynn and Thameslink as far as Bedford. The only bit
of the GWML that has electric wires is the bit between Paddington and
Heathrow Junction (beyond Hayes and Harlington) to allow the Heathrow
Express service to operate.

When Crossrail is built it will provide electric services as far as
Maidenhead in the west thus the wires will stretch that far. Ironically
it seems that the government will have stretched the wires to Oxford etc
by 2016 and yet Crossrail won't be ready until 2018. It'll be
interesting to see exactly what transpires "on the ground" in terms of
services and trains.

All the little branches off the main line to Windsor, Marlow, Henley etc
will retain diesel trains as we don't believe in doing things properly!

 

You are a gem and a mine of useful information, of this there is no
doubt. I do wonder about electrification however. While I perceive
significant benefits to fast long distance services I cannot see the
same arguments for local services. It seems to me that independent units
work perfectly well and save on the building and maintenance of an
incredibly complex power infrastructure. Choice of fuel and powerplants
seems relevant. Trains seem like a great candidate for turbine electric
power units.

 

Bloody expensive though. And you'll need a lot of very highly
qualified maintenance staff. Plus you can't have proper regen braking
with turbine/diesel trains.

Plain leccy trains are well proven, plus they're a piece of piss to
have maintained. All you need to do is spread out the leccy
infrastructure and train new staff in existing disciplines.

 

...but you can have rheostatic braking - which is pretty wasteful.

 

Is certainly the current situation. Leccy trains are supposed to have
more seats/space, Mr. Spurious question, Mark.

 

Indeed it is. I suppose you could store your regenerated energy in big
capacitor banks, but then you have loads more weight to lug about. And
expense.

 

We're had 'em up here for ages.

--


Nige,

'Candygram for Mongo'

R1