Great Western Electrification Progress

[76020]

Does anyone know if all four lines between Newport and Cardiff will be electrified or if it will be just two?

There is also the four section between Didcot/Swindon and also some passing loops between Swindon and Bristol Parking to think about as well. The last time I went between Didcot and Swindon last July some pilling was completed on the four track section and this covered all four lines but this does not mean all will be wired. If the Great Western Electrification is to include freight then obviously all the above has got to electrified

 

[LexyBoy]

I am probably imagining things, but does anyone know whether the relief lines have been lowered between Tilehurst and Pangbourne?

 

[NX]

The Cross City electrification from Kings Norton only included the slow (outer) lines not the inner fast lines. The headspans cover all four roads but only have contact wires for the slows. After Longbridge, the mainlines cross to the inner roads, and the outer are the goods which aren't wired. Cost cutting in the extreme.

NX

 

[76020]

There is also the four section between Didcot/Swindon and also some passing loops between Swindon and Bristol Parking to think about as well. The last time I went between Didcot and Swindon last July some pilling was completed on the four track section and this covered all four lines but this does not mean all will be wired. If the Great Western Electrification is to include freight then obviously all the above has got to electrified

I forgot that the four track section in South Wales starts at Severn Tunnel Junction and goes through to Cardiff, silly me.
If we are to get a full scale electrification on the Great Western, surly a new breed of electric freight locomotives will be required, or will we see a Llanwern to Port Talbot freight halled by a 1965 vintage Class 86 in 2019, shortly to be followed in the early 2020's by a 1980 vintage Class 315 on Valley Services!

 

[w1bbl3]

Mainline electrification doesn't guarantee that Tata would then invest in electrification of their private sidings which number more than just Margam and Llanwern. Trostre comes to mind as a regular flow from Margam and Round Oak as a flow from Llanwern and Margam.

Also the small matter of overhead loading/unloading of coil and flat would need to be resolved.

The steel freights could well remain diesel loco's running under the wires.

 

[HSTEd]

You can easily electrify such things, the claims you cannot are a myth.

They have overhead rails in depots that can swing out of the way, so there is no reason you can't use those at loading docks that require crane access.

 

[edwin_m]

You can easily electrify such things, the claims you cannot are a myth.

They have overhead rails in depots that can swing out of the way, so there is no reason you can't use those at loading docks that require crane access.

Might be a bit tricky in a container terminal though, where there would need to be several hundred metres of the stuff, all kept out of the way of cranes, reach stackers etc. However container terminals sometimes have the wires running up to the start of the loading area with the loco running round before the terminal then pushing the train in.

 

[AM9]

Might be a bit tricky in a container terminal though, where there would need to be several hundred metres of the stuff, all kept out of the way of cranes, reach stackers etc. However container terminals sometimes have the wires running up to the start of the loading area with the loco running round before the terminal then pushing the train in.

Maybe NR should be told to slant track access charges toward electric traction once a line has been electrified with the ac power charges applied universally,

(reminds me of the Delboy joke: "well it was there so you could have used it")

 

[59CosG95]

Might be a bit tricky in a container terminal though, where there would need to be several hundred metres of the stuff, all kept out of the way of cranes, reach stackers etc. However container terminals sometimes have the wires running up to the start of the loading area with the loco running round before the terminal then pushing the train in.

Simplest thing to do in this case is to still use the swinging arms holding the contact rail, but position the mast further away-containers then have more clearance when being loaded.

 

[swt_passenger]

Isn't the above problem supposed to be solved by the Class 88?

I just don't see lengths of hinged movable contact rail appearing over a 800m container terminal, typically with half a dozen or more parallel tracks.

 

[Ironside]

Could you just use deisel/battery/hybrid shunters to move the freight around and an ele tric train to take the freight onto the mainline.

 

[59CosG95]

Could you just use deisel/battery/hybrid shunters to move the freight around and an ele tric train to take the freight onto the mainline.

An electric loco with a last-mile engine (in my preferences, biofuel or hydrogen) for shunting work would transform that facet.

But enough of new electric loco discussion; let's get back to GWML electrification. Any news?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I did another turn between Oxford and Paddington today to view electrification progress (ignoring the Reading station area).

West of Maidenhead (Amey):
Between Tilehurst and Moreton Cutting there are now 77 masts on the south side and 91 on the north - if I've counted right. An average of 84 structures.
I make that 28% complete - still no portals up, or wires of course.
Most of the remainder of the route is piled, but there are still many gaps, with piles lying around waiting to be driven.
Reading-Maidenhead: some marker pegs for eventual bases, and a few piles lying in the cess around Ruscombe on the south side.
Didcot-Oxford: a few piled bases on the curves northward (via the station and also on the avoiding line), but once past Appleford there's nothing except the odd yellow marker peg for eventual bases.
Progress in the 16 weeks since my last trip on July 7, when I recorded 41 structures, has been modest.
Maybe masts are multiplying west of Didcot and towards Newbury, which I didn't see.
Masts do extend round the Reading triangle, but I don't know how far they go.

On the Crossrail contract section (Balfour Beatty):
Between Maidenhead and east of Burnham (alongside the Slough Industrial Estate), there are plenty of piled bases but no masts yet.
Apart from a few bases around Iver there is no evidence of progress east of Burnham.

Plenty of work on the existing electrified route is in progress at Airport Jn (new flyover), Acton (underpass) and at Kensal Green (where the North Pole depot connection to the main line is now partially in place).
Most of these new routes already have masts up with some wiring in place.

 

[BananaRepublic]

The OHLE arrangements between Langley and Iver will be interesting, as the relief lines from Langley station eastwards will have to be dug up and re- routed to facilitate the new WRAtH grade separated junction, shortly after the Crossrail services are due to start on this stretch in 2018.

WRAtH construction work is due to begin in 2018.

 

[Class 170101]

Hopefully the design will be future proofed to allowed this link to happen with the minimum of disruption otherwise it will be a waste of money in a ripping the new OLE up and b more expense in installing the new design / layout.

 

[Taunton]

What can unfortunately happen is this :

Scheme is designed (in the case of the GW scheme probably some years ago). The budget for the design is fully spent on this.

Ideas for the future (like the Heathrow example here) come along afterwards.

Whoever did the design (either internal department or external consultant) is asked by the Project Manager to do a design variation. They quote a significant sum. Well, nobody else can do it, and the designer is probably looking for funding to cover their own shortfalls in other things. This cost would go against the original project. Future proofing cannot go against the new proposed project because that's not running yet.

Project Manager has a meeting with boss which is 2 minutes about the design itself and 2 hours about how they are going over budget but must not.

Project Manager thus decides not to progress the future proofing design and thus not to spend the money and not to go over their own budget, which is what they have been told to do. Somebody else's problem for future years. All this before a single mast has been even purchased.

 

[455driver]

Maybe NR should be told to slant track access charges toward electric traction once a line has been electrified with the ac power charges applied universally,

(reminds me of the Delboy joke: "well it was there so you could have used it")

But NR will be taking more of a financial risk because of the costs of buying the electricity and the risks of the OHLE going wrong!
OHLE saves the TOC money through lower operating costs of the locomotives and not having to buy the diesel fuel, but OHLE increases NRs costs.

 

[Chris125]

This document detailing proposed changes to the Enhancements Delivery Plan suggests Reading-Basingstoke electrification has been moved from the Electric Spine to the Thames Valley Branches programme, potentially bringing forward it's completion.

W003/ ES003 – Thames Valley Branches Electrification/ Electric Spine Development Programme

This request is to update the entry to add the Reading to Basingstoke scope into this
project. We welcome the visibility that this will give as it is removed from the Electric Spine
project and note the aspiration for an earlier delivery. You have also changed the delivery
milestone to the entry into service date which makes it clear that the infrastructure will be
available before the timetable change that was previously shown as the milestone. We
approve this change.

Chris

 

[adrock1976]

This will hopefully mean that the local Reading - Basingstoke shuttle will be operated with electric trains.

In peace

Adam

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Not good news for the Electric Spine though, as it removes the one "no brainer" section of it.
Nuneaton-Oxford and the DC-AC conversion seem further away than ever.

Separately, the recent GW Route Study likes the idea of Southampton-Heathrow-Paddington and Basingstoke-Reading-Guildford services, for which a wired Reading-Basingstoke line is essential.

 

[The Ham]

Not good news for the Electric Spine though, as it removes the one "no brainer" section of it.
Nuneaton-Oxford and the DC-AC conversion seem further away than ever.

Separately, the recent GW Route Study likes the idea of Southampton-Heathrow-Paddington and Basingstoke-Reading-Guildford services, for which a wired Reading-Basingstoke line is essential.

The electrification of the gap between Wokingham and Ash would also be required for the latter of those two services.

That would mean that all XC services south east of Birmingham could be run by dual voltage EMU's potentially freeing up a load of 22x's to be used elsewhere.

 

[HSTEd]

Ash-Wokingham would presumably be a third rail infil.
Having ~19 route kilometres of overhead surrounded by third rail on all sides would be problematic.

With clever design you can also partially parallel it with the SWML and other routes to cut down on the substation infrastructure. Especially considering the relatively low traffic levels over the route.
A handful of 3 or 4 car multiple units would all that be running even if XC started services.

 

[59CosG95]

The electrification of the gap between Wokingham and Ash would also be required for the latter of those two services.

That would mean that all XC services south east of Birmingham could be run by dual voltage EMU's potentially freeing up a load of 22x's to be used elsewhere.

Not too sure if 3rd rail shoes can be fitted to the Voyagers as a stopgap at first, along with a PTSO...but sounds like a plan!

 

[fgwrich]

Not too sure if 3rd rail shoes can be fitted to the Voyagers as a stopgap at first, along with a PTSO...but sounds like a plan!

They can't, see one of the arguments in the Thameslink Desiro City debates about that as the Flexx Eco bogie uses Inside Frames / Outside Bearings = No where to put a third rail pick up shoe. Not sure how the 221s would fair with their larger bogie but with all the tilt equipment still fitted, would it really be economical?

I've had a feeling that Basingstoke - Reading Thames Valley Electrification was on the cards for a while now, not just with the extra services mooted before and now in the Route Strategy, but recent lineside clearance work taking place seems to be more in common with the work going on along the Great Western Mainline than just the usual clearance work. And we are now cleared for W12 loading gauge which in part, no doubt have helped it's case.

 

[21C101]

Any word about the Greenford branch or the Newbury line electification being extended to Bedwyn or Westbury?

 

[59CosG95]

Any word about the Greenford branch or the Newbury line electification being extended to Bedwyn or Westbury?

I read in Modern Railways once that the DaFT were "considering" extensions of OHLE to Westbury, and potentially to Bathampton junction (turning the northern half of the Wessex Main Line electric) for a Class 801 diversionary route.

As for Greenford? I assume it's gonna remain diesel until such time as Chiltern gets wired.

 

[HSTEd]

Not too sure if 3rd rail shoes can be fitted to the Voyagers as a stopgap at first, along with a PTSO...but sounds like a plan!

Not a chance.

Electrification adn conversion of XC services would mean new units - probably something similar in conception to a 395.

 

[33Hz]

That would mean that all XC services south east of Birmingham could be run by dual voltage EMU's potentially freeing up a load of 22x's to be used elsewhere.

How do they get from Birmingham to Oxford?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

How do they get from Birmingham to Oxford?

The only electric spine route with a half-believable plan is WCML-Bletchley-Oxford.
That would work for freight, and could give you a Manchester-Southampton passenger route, but wouldn't serve Birmingham.
It would probably also have to tilt to work on the WCML.
Still too many imponderables.

 

[59CosG95]

How do they get from Birmingham to Oxford?

WCML Birmingham-Coventry; Coventry-Leamington line between Coventry and Leamington; Chiltern Main Line Leamington-Banbury; Cherwell Valley Line Banbury-Oxford.