Recent content by Nottingham59

If a flat rail junction is to be replaced by a flyover, say at Newark flat crossing, then how high does that flyover have to be? Obviously, it will need to accommodate W12 gauge rolling stock on the lower track, plus an allowance for electrification. Add the depth of the upper beam supporting...

If Waymo robotaxis can operate without a driver, then so can trains. (As is already done for the Pilbara iron ore trains in Australia) But I agree, it's unlikely to happen in this country for a long time, for reasons that are social, not technological. Driverless busses are likely to come...

Yes, of course. That's why the abilty to reverse a freight train to be able to take a run up a short but steep gradient is a pre-requisite for building a shorter and therefore cheaper ECML flyover at Newark Crossing. A train going at 10mph has enough energy to climb 1 metre. At 30mph, it can...

It ought to be possible for train to set back a short distance without the driver having to change ends. If all freight trains had that capability, it would save a fortune in the design and construction of flyovers at places like Newark Crossing, where the approach gradients could be built at...

My best guess would be that someone broke down, maybe put up bonnet to look at the engine, and then went off to get help. Only to find they were blocked from getting back to the car as the bomb squad used their robot to blow the boot open, And then someone very brave went checked that the boot...

Only if you've got OHLE in place. Otherwise it's £2-3 million per single track km to install it.

Does your pricing include CIV tickets for the Chesterfield-London leg? These do not have peak time restrictions, and are only valid for connecting to/from Eurostar.

See at 8m30s in the video in this post https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/transpennine-route-upgrade-and-electrification-updates.88054/page-268#post-6805299

Interesting thanks. I can see the argument for electrifying the platforms at Tweedbank to provide hotel power and battery top up for trains stranded there in times of disruption. But that doesn't need a £14m grid feeder and £16m of other works. And I don't agree that anyone would need 26...

Can you say how big that subsidy to Ember was? And how it compares to the subsidy provided every year to keep the Far North Line going? Maybe. But will Ember's battery technology be applied to rail? And what does this mean for future electrification investment? I'm much more interested in the...

Driving to John O'Groats last week, I was struck by the Ember electric coach service that now runs from Inverness to Wick and Thurso. I was genuinely surprised to see these EVs, as the Far North Line has always been held up as an example of a route that would be impossibly far for battery...

Thank you, that's informative and helpful. Apologies, but I think we may have to differ on this. (For what it's worth, my view is that they should seen sense at some point and realise that 30-mile branch lines can be served by Battery trains with a worst-case operating range of 61 miles or...

This idea would have to use SFCs (Static Frequency Converters) which convert three-phase grid supply to DC and then back to 25kV AC. The battery would fit naturally into the DC part of the circuitry. I don't know what the firm supply capacity is, but the grid feeder cost £14.4 million. That's...

Many grid feeders are in continuous use - supplying relativel steady levels of power to a succession of trains, such as around London or on the WCML north of Weaver. But grid feeders on less intensively used parts of the network have a much peakier demand curve. They may need to supply tens of...

Yes, if you measure cost effectiveness in terms of pounds per kilometre of electrified route. But for recharging battery trains, the measure of cost effectiveness is pounds per minute spent in contact with the overhead wire. And those efficiencies come at station platforms, where a terminating...