As was recently said at the Transport Select Committee, decarbonization is not the way to promote electrification. The railway's emissions are a rounding error. However electrification enables a more efficient railway and that needs to be how it's case must be made.
I think this isn’t good news. Last time Graying cancelled it, I had a glimmer of hope because the movement towards decarbonisation was very real and may have sparked electrification (excuse the pun!). But this time round, we have bi-mode trains which will do a good chunk of the journey on electric; so I am far less hopeful of this being reactivated.
My thoughts exactly. This seems very 'half-arsed', as the electrification itself doesn't even start or end in a logical location.
In that situation the programme would probably end up more focussed on power supply upgrades on already electric lines. A large fraction of railway traffic is already electric after all.
The best way to enable efficient battery operations is to electrify around key stations, with the first 2 key targets being Dore-Meadowhall and the Bristol area.
I guess there's a reason why Nat Express and Flixbus are now doing about 35 Leicester to London services a day
Wow. I'm surprised it's anywhere near that high. With 5 car 222s it's equivalent in Standard class seat wise to around 10 a day, so an extra 1tph.
Assuming the electrification to Leicester stays cancelled, how about a BEMU fleet running 2tph 12 car London to Kettering, then 8 car to Leicester and 4 to Melton Mowbray via Corby (or maybe Kettering to Leicester via Melton Mowbray? Maybe pushing the batteries there).
The problem is that with electric road vehicles gaining ground the railway needs to decarbonise if it wants to make the "modal shift from cars to trains reduces carbon emissions" argument.
I have no idea of the passenger numbers using Leicester - St Pancras services but the the people using the coach are certainly not deserting EMR to do it as trains look well populated every day from what i can see.
Shows that there is substantial suppressed demand due to lack of capacity.
There's been another article about her in the Telegraph.
I suggest trunks 'n hubs. Premier mainlines all largely continuously wired eventually, though work programme may be flexibly phased to meet expediencies, taking advantage of bimodes on diesel for significant distances between electric islands while they last. Islands around major hubs are beneficial as trains often have long layovers there, an opportunity to take a good charge while waiting, using little onboard. Aim to reach a tipping point where batteries can bridge most remaining gaps and large scale removal of diesel power packs can commence on IC stock in favour of battery modules. Different subfleets may have different solutions and timings for this step. For example, Devon and Cornwall route units may need to retain more diesels on board for longer.
The range that can be gained from modern batteries is incredible, so wiring mainlines in their entirely is unnecessary for passenger operations (there is still a reason to do it for Freight, since batteries can only really fulfill a last few miles role). For Cornwall services, charging at Penzance alongside wiring between Taunton and Exeter is probably enough, but this would effectively require batteries the size of the GUs on the 80x. However batteries that size would enable equivalent performance on OHL and battery.
KIngs Norton and Longbridge. After Longbridge it was a 2 track railway to Barnt Green. Unless they have changed it in the last 8 years. But they did bromsgrove electrification after I left the W Mids.
I was able to button hole former Rail Minister Huw Merriman a couple of times about electrification to Sheffield, most recently in April 2024. Nailing him to a date was impossible. Early 2030s, to which I suggested 2035 would be my earliest estimate. He didn't disagree, hence my lack of surprise to hear it's not happening.
