Borders Railway - Now Open

[cjt0131]

But even if they don't, I wouldn't get too concerned by the possible lack of tanks on a handful of trains. You won't have rivers of turds floating down your street or anything!

possibly not but I have seen the affect of dumping waste in the form of bits of dirty toilet paper stuck on bushes and plants in a garden close to a railway line

 

[fegguk]

Top up ballasting under the city bypass. Only the S&T to hook up and the stations to finish now.

https://youtu.be/Su1cL2T6vzc

 

[matchmaker]

I doubt it. They'll be 158s, and possibly some 170s, both of which are fitted with retention tanks. Class 156s do not have retention tanks, but I'm not aware of any plans to use them on the line.

Not sure about the steam specials, mind. I doubt they'll have tanks.

But even if they don't, I wouldn't get too concerned by the possible lack of tanks on a handful of trains. You won't have rivers of turds floating down your street or anything!

But do all Scotrails 158s have retention tanks yet?

 

[Ploughman]

Top up ballasting under the city bypass. Only the S&T to hook up and the stations to finish now.

https://youtu.be/Su1cL2T6vzc

What's the purpose of the van midway in the formation?

 

[fegguk]

It's some sort of generator van

 

[Ploughman]

Wonder why?
The hoppers when they were first introduced had a generator built into one of the wagons in each set of 5.
Has this generator now been removed? or proved unreliable.

 

[QueensCurve]

Top up ballasting under the city bypass. Only the S&T to hook up and the stations to finish now.

https://youtu.be/Su1cL2T6vzc

That clip appears to have fallen backwards through a time warp.

 

[mcmad]

The hoppers shown predate the autoballasters and discharge the ballast by means of a small moveable conveyor belt underneath each wagon.

They were originally purchased by Network SouthEast but now mainly work in Scotland and are known as the skako train as that is the manufacturer of the conveyor system.

 

[Ploughman]

Thanks I should have spotted that.
Worked around Ballast trains enough that I should have seen the difference.

 

[fegguk]

Recent calls for a Hawick extension to the Borders Railway have spurred me on the finish editing this video that looks at how it might make its way out of Hawick to the north. Filmed at the end of last year.

http://www.bordertelegraph.com/news...use-not-to-look-at-extending-borders-railway/

https://youtu.be/WXY39WGWBS4

 

[Mark62]

I would have thought that a single 153 will be sufficient for this line off peak when the novelty has worn off.

 

[thealexweb]

I would have thought that a single 153 will be sufficient for this line off peak when the novelty has worn off.

Its certainly enough to manage the current loadings of the Newcraighall shuttle. Every single day I see several four car 158s waiting at Newcraighall. When I return to Lancashire and have to squeeze my way on to a single Class 142 at Bolton its just "what the hell?"

 

[fegguk]

Two of the new foot bridges in Gala are now open for business. We can see why the save Plumtree Brae campaign was such a non starter. Also shows how the station and interchange are developing.

https://youtu.be/eYGpBBMLQHA

Also following on for the a previous post the next section of the out of the old line Hawick takes us as far as Hassendean. This was filmed in December 2014
https://youtu.be/LapKHk1COps

 

[mcmad]

I would have thought that a single 153 will be sufficient for this line off peak when the novelty has worn off.

Would that be in the same way the novelty wore off on the Larkhall, Alloa and Airdrie-Bathgate openings ?

 

[route:oxford]

Its certainly enough to manage the current loadings of the Newcraighall shuttle. Every single day I see several four car 158s waiting at Newcraighall. When I return to Lancashire and have to squeeze my way on to a single Class 142 at Bolton its just "what the hell?"

You're forgetting to consider how heavily utilised the units were on the portion of the earlier diagram into Edinburgh and next diagram portion out of Edinburgh. Waverley is too busy to abandon a unit on the through platforms for 30 minutes.

Despite many anti-rail activists forecasting that the trains will be empty on the route as the elderly all have free bus passes and will automatically boycott the railway, I don't think this will be the case. I know my own parents choose the train over the bus for the benefit of comfort, reliability, smoothness of travel and the fact that with age knowing there is a working lavatory is a considerable comfort. I suspect many Border residents will do the same.

 

[thealexweb]

You're forgetting to consider how heavily utilised the units were on the portion of the earlier diagram into Edinburgh and next diagram portion out of Edinburgh. Waverley is too busy to abandon a unit on the through platforms for 30 minutes.

Despite many anti-rail activists forecasting that the trains will be empty on the route as the elderly all have free bus passes and will automatically boycott the railway, I don't think this will be the case. I know my own parents choose the train over the bus for the benefit of comfort, reliability, smoothness of travel and the fact that with age knowing there is a working lavatory is a considerable comfort. I suspect many Border residents will do the same.

Last time I mentioned this I was told to go back and count the passengers in and out. I counted five off and five in on a weekday service at 9:12. Not exactly peak time but thats just too little to justify four cars on the diagram.

 

[380gk]

So where would you put it then?

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Despite many anti-rail activists forecasting that the trains will be empty on the route as the elderly all have free bus passes and will automatically boycott the railway, I don't think this will be the case. I know my own parents choose the train over the bus for the benefit of comfort, reliability, smoothness of travel and the fact that with age knowing there is a working lavatory is a considerable comfort. I suspect many Border residents will do the same.

An interesting point regarding the holders of Bus Passes. Will they use the trains? I know that I’m not comparing like with like but here, in south Wales, any trip on the Valleys Network will reveal that a considerable proportion of passengers fall into the sixty plus age group. This is, of course, helped by the Valleys Senior Railcard which, for £5 a year, offers a fifty per cent discount on fares throughout the local network. It should be remembered that Wales was the first constituent of the UK to introduce free bus passes to the over sixties. However, from personal observation, it seems that the bus pass is usually chosen for short journeys within towns rather than getting from, say, Maesteg to Cardiff or Pontypridd to Barry Island where the train offers a superior service in terms of comfort or time.

I don’t know if a similar local Railcard for Seniors is available in Scotland but it would certainly help establish the new service.

 

[najaB]

I don’t know if a similar local Railcard for Seniors is available in Scotland but it would certainly help establish the new service.

There isn't, but previous operators have been very good at promoting off-peak travel among seniors. I believe that Abellio have also said they will also be offering discounted fares similar to the old Club 55.

Edit: Just had a look at the website and it looks like an even better deal in the offing: Club 50

 

[Altnabreac]

Two of the new foot bridges in Gala are now open for business. We can see why the save Plumtree Brae campaign was such a non starter. Also shows how the station and interchange are developing.

https://youtu.be/eYGpBBMLQHA

Also following on for the a previous post the next section of the out of the old line Hawick takes us as far as Hassendean. This was filmed in December 2014
https://youtu.be/LapKHk1COps

It's very interesting to see the bridges fully prepared for electrification with solid parapets and full clearances on all structures.

With no structures work, no interaction with the mainline because Newcraighall is already wired and a fair quantity of single track it will be a technically simple and fairly cheap electrification job in future.

Although it's not in current plans I expect it might well move up the agenda in CP6 of early CP7 as a quick win scheme that would release a fair few DMUs for a relatively small cost.

 

[yorkie]

For discussion about the new timetable, use Borders Railway Timetables

If anyone wishes to discuss Scotrail's decision to translate station names into Gaelic please use Scotrail using Gaelic translations in places which Lowland Scots was spoken

Thanks

 

[najaB]

It's very interesting to see the bridges fully prepared for electrification with solid parapets and full clearances on all structures.

It would be crazy if they hadn't designed it with provision for wiring.

 

[edwin_m]

It would be crazy if they hadn't designed it with provision for wiring.

Are there any pre-existing overbridges that could have been used by diesel trains without modification but have been modified to be compatible with electrification anyway?

 

[najaB]

Are there any pre-existing overbridges that could have been used by diesel trains without modification but have been modified to be compatible with electrification anyway?

Not sure about existing bridges, but the new bridges were built higher than they needed to be for diesel trains, and there's the slab track through Bowshank tunnel.

 

[NotATrainspott]

Not sure about existing bridges, but the new bridges were built higher than they needed to be for diesel trains, and there's the slab track through Bowshank tunnel.

I believe they've raised bridge parapets to electrification standard even when no other clearance work would need done. I think Network Rail have done the sensible thing in getting everything ready for electrification while they still can.

 

[snowball]

Are there any pre-existing overbridges that could have been used by diesel trains without modification but have been modified to be compatible with electrification anyway?

Raising parapets, yes. And if you count slewing the track to the middle of an arch as modifying the bridge, yes.

I think it very unlikely they would have modified a bridge in any more fundamental way if the sole reason was to allow headroom for possible future electrification.

 

[edwin_m]

Raising parapets, yes. And if you count slewing the track to the middle of an arch as modifying the bridge, yes.

I think it very unlikely they would have modified a bridge in any more fundamental way if the sole reason was to allow headroom for possible future electrification.

Seems sensible, unlike building overbridges to single line dimensions when clearance for a double line would have cost very little more.

 

[thealexweb]

So where would you put it then?

Sorry for the slow reply.

Essentially any other route in the central belt would benefit more than what the second 158 is currently being used for, e.g. strengthening a Glasgow Queen Street service.

 

[edwin_m]

Sorry for the slow reply.

Essentially any other route in the central belt would benefit more than what the second 158 is currently being used for, e.g. strengthening a Glasgow Queen Street service.

Queen Street services are being reduced from 6-car to 3-car at about that time. If there is a need for more space at that time then they could be left as 6-car for one journey longer. Besides, adding a 158* to a Queen Street service would limit it to 90mph.

It's often surprisingly difficult to add and remove peak strengthening units at the "optimum" time to match rising and falling demand. Usually for "de-strengthening" it's better to split one arriving service in a terminus platform to form the next two departures, and run the next arrival to the depot as two coupled units. This reduces the number of uncouplings and empty workings compared with splitting two trains and running two single units back to depot. However it needs two platforms, and Newcraighall has only one. Dropping units at a through station is awkward because staff have to make sure there are no passengers in the unit that is dropped. And sometimes there isn't a path to the depot at the required time and the train would block something else while waiting for a path. The above applies in reverse to re-coupling units for the evening peak, with the extra complication that not all platforms have the signalling to allow coupling to take place.

I don't know the reason why this particular train runs as a four-car but I'm sure Scotrail management wouldn't be reducing their profits by running extra unit mileage without a good reason.

*I assume we're talking about a 158, but it's too far back to check.

 

[overthewater]

First X95 is safe for now...


http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/it-s-slow-speed-ahead-for-borders-rail-commuters-1-3754627

PASSENGERS on the new Borders Railway face longer journeys and will travel at an average speed of just 37mph, its timetable has revealed.

Most trains will take longer than the promised 55 minutes between Edinburgh and Tweedbank, near Galashiels, with some completing the 35-mile trip in up to one hour six minutes.

‘The campaign repeatedly raised these issues’
The blow for commuters hoping for a speedy ride comes on top of the decision to operate ScotRail’s most unreliable trains on the route when it opens in September.
In addition, the timetable has indicated that six services are expected to be cancelled two days a week for the first six weeks to make room for steam trains because much of the line is single track.

The Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency, which is charge of the £350 million project, stated on its website: “The majority of end-to-end journeys will be achieved in 55 minutes or less.”

However, the just-published timetable showed that 42 of the 66 weekday services in either direction will take longer.

The average journey time is some 57 minutes – but 58 minutes on southbound trains.

Rail consultant David Spaven blamed the longer journeys on cutbacks to the project which he said also threatened to delay trains.

The author of Waverley Route said: “The writing was on the wall for the maximum 55-minute journey time promised in 2009 when Transport Scotland decided two years later to slash the provision of double track from 16 miles to 9.5 miles.

“A reliable 55-minute time*table became impossible. To ensure trains run as close to schedule as possible, Network Rail has been forced to add a time buffer.

“Even with this precaution, Network Rail and ScotRail will need to devote meticulous attention to train management.”

Network Rail said the lengthened journeys were mainly caused by congestion on lines in Edinburgh.

Campaign for Borders Rail chairman Simon Walton said: “While the Borders Railway still represents a reliable, sustainable and much more productive means of travel than road, it would undoubtedly be an even more attractive proposition for commuters if the installed infrastructure allowed for faster journey times, particularly benefiting peak-hour commuters.

“The campaign repeatedly raised these issues on behalf of the communities to be served by the line before and during the construction phase, particularly noting the reduction in proposed double-track length and the obstacles to future enhancement such as new bridges designed only to permit a single track to pass underneath.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “Transport Scotland presented the draft timetable last year, and was very clear that this was subject to industry processes, which have now been completed and agreement reached between Network Rail and operator ScotRail.

“The communities who will be served by the railway will welcome the news the opening timetable is now published and confirms daytime trains every half-hour through the week, and hourly on Sundays, as well as provision for the steam train experience.

He added: “In a matter of months, the people of Midlothian and the Borders will be able to enjoy the benefits of a railway for the first time in almost half a century, including an average end-to-end journey time of under an hour.”

The ScotRail class 158 diesel trains to be used on the route are nearly twice as unreliable as the type used on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line.

They have a notorious record on other lines and the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership co-ordinating body has said they had caused “well-documented problems” on routes such as Inverness to Aberdeen and Wick.

Dominic Booth, UK managing director of new ScotRail operator Abellio, has pledged to make “continuous improvement” to its trains but said there was “not a significant risk” of reliability problems.