Cornwall and Liverpool investment

[WatcherZero]

Two small funding announcements by the Government today.

Liverpool
£10.4m to fund the Halton Curve
£5.6m for road safety around Knowsley Industrial Park
£4 million of improvements to A5300 Knowsley Expressway
£14.4m upgrade of car parking and public transport access at Newton-Le-Willows
(and £5m towards the £15m cost of a University Enterprize zone focussing on sensor technology, Bradford (digital healthcare), bristol (robotics and biosciences) and Nottingham (big digital, i.e. spacecraft communication and aerospace manufacting) will also get University Enterprize zones)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...for-science-and-atlantic-gateway-in-liverpool

Cornwall
The Government is contributing £9m towards a £146.6m package of works including:
Night Riviera Sleeper trains to be refurbished.
Long Rock train maintenance site at Penzance will be expanded to maintain the sleepers.
Penzance to Totnes signalling improvements broought forward five years allowing the possibility of 30 minute frequency services on the Cornish mainline.

(Of course the reason for this package is because of the negative PR from the line being severed and the South West thinks its missing out on GWML improvements)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-package-of-rail-improvements-for-cornwall

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Two small funding announcements by the Government today.

Liverpool
£10.4m to fund the Halton Curve
£14.4m upgrade of car parking and public transport access at Newton-Le-Willows

Cornwall
Penzance to Totnes signalling improvements brought forward five years allowing the possibility of 30 minute frequency services on the Cornish mainline.

Strictly, the £10.4m for the Halton Curve is to fund the up-front planning and design, but it looks a very positive move.
That's a lot of money to spend on a car park at NLW - but it's currently very small.
Seemingly they will build it with a bus station on the Parkside colliery site (which was to have been a rail freight terminal).

And is the £103.5m Network Rail money for the SW resignalling an addition to CP5 or will something else have to make way for it?

 

[38Cto15E]

The PM who holidays in Cornwall was asked at PMQs yesterday by a Cornish MP about future rail improvements in Cornwall, now we know.

 

[cle]

So more on one not-too-busy station than the Halton Curve?

What does £10.4m get you? Ideally it'd be a double tracked curve with the appropriate signalling, but that wouldn't get close to any grade separation. Could a dive-under fit?

Great scheme - does more for North Wales I'd say, but useful for Chester and Liverpool too.

 

[PhilipW]

Penzance to Totnes signalling improvements broought forward five years allowing the possibility of 30 minute frequency services on the Cornish mainline.

Given that the line between Plymouth and Penzance is two-track, what is there is stop a half hourly frequency along the route already ?

Is the signalling really that bad that only 1 train per hour can run in each direction ?
Surely not.

 

[merlodlliw]

So more on one not-too-busy station than the Halton Curve?

What does £10.4m get you? Ideally it'd be a double tracked curve with the appropriate signalling, but that wouldn't get close to any grade separation. Could a dive-under fit?

Great scheme - does more for North Wales I'd say, but useful for Chester and Liverpool too.

Indeed very useful for North Wales,thanks to very proactive work by several AMs & especially MP David Jones.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

So more on one not-too-busy station than the Halton Curve?
What does £10.4m get you? Ideally it'd be a double tracked curve with the appropriate signalling, but that wouldn't get close to any grade separation. Could a dive-under fit?
Great scheme - does more for North Wales I'd say, but useful for Chester and Liverpool too.

It gets you a GRIP 3 plan, nothing on the ground.
The full project is more like £50m, something for the next government.

 

[TEW]

Given that the line between Plymouth and Penzance is two-track, what is there is stop a half hourly frequency along the route already ?

Is the signalling really that bad that only 1 train per hour can run in each direction ?
Surely not.

At the moment the longest signalling headways are around 20 minutes so it is possible to run 2tph. However it does start to get more difficult if you want a mix of fast and slow trains or if you want any overtaking. The timetable has to fit in with the three single track sections too; Long Rock, Largin Viaduct and Saltash.

 

[Olaf]

Strictly, the £10.4m for the Halton Curve is to fund the up-front planning and design, but it looks a very positive move.

The £10.4M is close to the figure that MerseyTravel requested to actually complete the funding for the changes in 2016/17, not just the planning and design work.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The £10.4M is close to the figure that MerseyTravel requested to actually complete the funding for the changes in 2016/17, not just the planning and design work.

So it is (although the reduced cost assumes it is piggy-backed onto the area resignalling project).
Good news.

 

[merlodlliw]

So it is (although the reduced cost assumes it is piggy-backed onto the area resignalling project).
Good news.

NR staff told us, if the curve is piggybacked with equipment on site, the cost reduces considerably.

 

[WatcherZero]

And is the £103.5m Network Rail money for the SW resignalling an addition to CP5 or will something else have to make way for it?

Presumably an addition, possibly through the NR operating profit? Though I suppose if it was going to be spent in CP6 anyway you could book it as a offset and then you just have to finance the cost of capital partially offset by savings from avoiding inflation.

 

[ainsworth74]

Night Riviera Sleeper trains to be refurbished.

That probably means that we won't be seeing this CAF sleeper stock that's being built for the Caledonian taking over on the Night Riviera as well. Not ruled out but seems unlikely if they're refurbishing the existing stock.

 

[jopsuk]

On the other hand it does show a commitment to keep the Night Riveria running.

 

[frodshamfella]

V pleases to read of funding for Halton Curve, very worthy project, Im v pleased.

 

[fgwrich]

That probably means that we won't be seeing this CAF sleeper stock that's being built for the Caledonian taking over on the Night Riviera as well. Not ruled out but seems unlikely if they're refurbishing the existing stock.

Two small funding announcements by the Government today.

Cornwall
The Government is contributing £9m towards a £146.6m package of works including:
Night Riviera Sleeper trains to be refurbished.
Long Rock train maintenance site at Penzance will be expanded to maintain the sleepers.
Penzance to Totnes signalling improvements broought forward five years allowing the possibility of 30 minute frequency services on the Cornish mainline.

(Of course the reason for this package is because of the negative PR from the line being severed and the South West thinks its missing out on GWML improvements)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-package-of-rail-improvements-for-cornwall

The main reason for the Night Riviera & Long Rock upgrade is in essence down to the planned retreat from OOC depot happening over the next few years. This being down to the IEP Maintenance being spread across several new depots and subcontracted out to Hitachi - who's London base will be in the former North Pole Depot across the GWML, and because of the proposed OOC HS2 Station site and associated construction works. So as part of the project, the Night Riviera will be reallocated to Long Rock Depot - The first time anything has been allocated out of Long Rock for a very long time, where upon the depot site is to be heavily upgraded with newer maintenance facilities for the rolling stock and 57s, Ponsandine Sidings will be flattened and amalgamated into Long Rock, where upon the depot will also gain a Wheel Lathe and expanded sidings.

As for the Night Riviera Sleeper itself, FGW Has for a while had a mock up prepared in Bristol which has been used in consultation with the various authorities along the route - most notably Cornwall County Council who have part funded the extra SLEP And TSO-D that have been used as the trail coaches for the project and will most likely be the first out in service. The Mk3s used as the day coaches - RFM/TSO/TSO-D & BFO are to gain the ex First Class seats from FGWs HST TFs and IIRC power sockets at last. They are also currently undergoing WIFI Fitment and the first 3 Mk3s have now been fitted with this at Long Rock.

The Penzance to Totnes signalling upgrades are also very much welcomed as well, something that has been needed for a while and should happen when the 166s arrive from Reading after the TV upgrade and electrification.

It's also interesting to note that this has come a day after the majority of the class 57/3s were reallocated over to Direct Rail Services - Now giving DRS 57301 up to 57312. So we may also be seeing more DRS & Network Rail 57s appearing on the Night Riviera over the next few years as well as the FGW fleet.

 

[sn1975]

Really excited especially with regards the Night Riviera.

Found two links that may be helpful -

FGW press release -
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/...jor-package-of-rail-improvements-for-cornwall

BBC News article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-28135030

 

[Aictos]

Cornwall
Penzance to Totnes signalling improvements broought forward five years allowing the possibility of 30 minute frequency services on the Cornish mainline.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-package-of-rail-improvements-for-cornwall

Just wondering but will this mean a end to the existing semaphone signalling with Multiple Aspect Signalling being used instead?

What improvements can be done reasonably to decrease the signalling headways which have the longest ones at about 20 minutes I believe and will we see any improvements to these single track sections of Long Rock, Largin Viaduct and Saltash?

 

[The Planner]

If it is an actual resignalling then yes the semaphores will go.

 

[TEW]

Just wondering but will this mean a end to the existing semaphone signalling with Multiple Aspect Signalling being used instead?

What improvements can be done reasonably to decrease the signalling headways which have the longest ones at about 20 minutes I believe and will we see any improvements to these single track sections of Long Rock, Largin Viaduct and Saltash?

The longest blocks are all controlled under 'absolute block' regulations. The resignalling presumably mean 'track circuit block' throughout Cornwall with either track circuits, or more likely axle counters, used for train detection. That means that signal blocks won't be dictated by the location of the signal boxes, necessary to observe that a train is complete after leaving an absolute block section, any more. That should allow more signals to be installed to break up the sections more. If the resignalling just replaces the current signals and blocks like for like with new signals and detection by axle counters, which would probably be the cheapest option, then the benefits are obviously going to be pretty limited.

 

[Tomnick]

Intermediate block signals are a relatively cheap way of improving headway on AB lines though, and probably achievable in a much shorter timescale than full resignalling.

 

[Grumpy]

That probably means that we won't be seeing this CAF sleeper stock that's being built for the Caledonian taking over on the Night Riviera as well. Not ruled out but seems unlikely if they're refurbishing the existing stock.

One law for the Scots and one for the English provinces

 

[edwin_m]

Intermediate block signals are a relatively cheap way of improving headway on AB lines though, and probably achievable in a much shorter timescale than full resignalling.

I think Network Rail now considers it cheaper (on a whole-life basis) to re-signal the whole route with modular signaling than to add intermediate blocks.

 

[jopsuk]

One law for the Scots and one for the English provinces

Well yes. The Scottish Sleeper franchise has its subsidy paid from the transport budget of the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland selected a bid that included this new stock.

That the DfT who are responsible for the FGW franchise which includes the Night Riviera service, have not chosen to pursue that route is indeed a wholly separate, unrelated matter.

 

[Tomnick]

I think Network Rail now considers it cheaper (on a whole-life basis) to re-signal the whole route with modular signaling than to add intermediate blocks.

Possibly so, but only if they've got the resources available to do the work in the desired timescale! It's not very long since they installed a load of IBs on the Settle & Carlisle. Also, when's ERTMS meant to be commissioned down there? I know of at least one resignalling scheme that's almost certain to be postponed for the foreseeable future (and well beyond the current control period) because it can't be justified if substantial further work will then be required for ERTMS.

 

[edwin_m]

I don't know about the resources, although it may be that messing around with the existing equipment to add IBs makes more use of scarce skills than getting a contractor in to replace the whole lot. And I believe all new interlockings including modular ones are "ERTMS-ready" - whatever that means.

 

[Tomnick]

Adding an IB doesn't require many changes to the existing installation though - the mechanical locking ought to be able to remain unchanged, with just some changes to the electric locking. In terms of kit on the ground, normally no more than a TC (or axle counter section) from the section signal to the IBH and another to the end of the overlap. Obviously there's still a fair chunk of design and installation work there, but there's often far more changes at the fringe box to a resignalling scheme, and that's sometimes effectively stageworks, only lasting a couple of years!

 

[Grumpy]

Well yes. The Scottish Sleeper franchise has its subsidy paid from the transport budget of the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland selected a bid that included this new stock.

That the DfT who are responsible for the FGW franchise which includes the Night Riviera service, have not chosen to pursue that route is indeed a wholly separate, unrelated matter.

That the UK politicians at Westminster have seen fit to gift £50m to help fund the replacement of the Scottish fleet and next to nothing on the West of England fleet is the crux of the matter.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

That the UK politicians at Westminster have seen fit to gift £50m to help fund the replacement of the Scottish fleet and next to nothing on the West of England fleet is the crux of the matter.

Serco has a 15-year franchise for the Caley sleepers though.
FGW only has a franchise up to 2016.
To make a big investment you need a longer franchise.

 

[ainsworth74]

Serco has a 15-year franchise for the Caley sleepers though.
FGW only has a franchise up to 2016.
To make a big investment you need a longer franchise.

To be fair the next franchise originally had the Sleepers in as a requirement and would have been reasonably long (10 years?). Though, of course, at that time there was no new fleet to tap into. I wouldn't rule out a new fleet at franchise replacement if the Sleepers are a requirement again rather than an option but a refurbishment at this point makes it seem unlikely.