MML Electrification: progress updates

[Flying Phil]

What is really fascinating is wondering whether the GCR (heritage railway) will be running trains over the MML (having completed "Bridging the Gap") before the section to Loughborough is electrified!

 

[LTJ87]

The MML will be closed between London St Pancras and Bedford for 9 days from 21 - 29 December 2024:

Railway upgrades between London St Pancras and Bedford this Christmas

Passengers are being advised to plan ahead this festive period as vital engineering work will be taking place to improve reliability for passengers.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Network Rail engineers will be working during this time to carry out a number of projects between London St Pancras and Bedford, including:

• Replacing the bridge deck on a road over rail bridge at Agar Grove in Camden.
• Continuing work to upgrade the overhead lines, which power trains, between London St Pancras and Bedford.
• Installing a new bridge under the railway to provide access to Radlett Strategic Freight interchange.
• Lots of other maintenance and renewal jobs to improve safety and the reliability of the railway network.

As a result of this work passenger services are severely disrupted. Between Saturday 21 and Sunday 29 December, there will be no East Midlands Railway (EMR) services between London St Pancras and Bedford. Thameslink train services will not run between London St Pancras and Harpenden.

 

[Edvid]

I take it certain section breaks are deemed sufficiently secure live/dead boundaries for long possessions related to OLE works, then? The operation of Thameslink services up to Harpenden would imply the Long Meadow Farm-fed OLE will be energised up to Napsbury TSC as opposed to its usual limit (the phase break / neutral section at East Hyde MPTSC).

No mention of Wixams suggests the planned track slews there will not take advantage of the Christmas possession after all.

Also, the KO1a/RS1 additions are noted in the September 2024 LNE Sectional Appendix (note - it's a 131MB PDF).

 

[takno]

I take it certain section breaks are deemed sufficiently secure live/dead boundaries for long possessions related to OLE works, then? The operation of Thameslink services up to Harpenden would imply the Long Meadow Farm-fed OLE will be energised up to Napsbury TSC as opposed to its usual limit (the phase break / neutral section at East Hyde MPTSC).

No mention of Wixams suggests the planned track slews there will not take advantage of the Christmas possession after all.

Also, the KO1a/RS1 additions are noted in the September 2024 LNE Sectional Appendix.

Surely worth putting a warning that this is a direct link to 131mb PDF in case anybody doesn't feel like having their data allowance swallowed up?

 

[Edvid]

Ah, fair point. I tend to rely on WiFi for the most part so that hadn't occurred to me.

 

[Bald Rick]

Now that this section is electrified, does it mean that bimode freight locomotives (classes 88, 93, 99) will be able to use this route and avoid the longer way round through Manton?

The constraint on that section is the top speed of a Class 6 - 60 mph, rather than what is pulling it. An electric would have slightly better acceleration away from Leicester or Wigston southbound which might save a minute or two, yes there’s Desborough to get over but it’s not like it is Shap or Beattock.

I take it certain section breaks are deemed sufficiently secure live/dead boundaries for long possessions related to OLE works, then? The operation of Thameslink services up to Harpenden would imply the Long Meadow Farm-fed OLE will be energised up to Napsbury TSC as opposed to its usual limit (the phase break / neutral section at East Hyde MPTSC).

Yes, works are done in all manner of isolated sections, and feeding changed as necessary. The sections that can be isolated are much smaller than the feeding sections. OLE will be off af St Albans (but as ever, always treat it as live!)

The TL services are running Bedford to Harpenden. Theres nothing south of Harpenden.

 

[duffield]

I'm pretty sure the loading on the London ends of the WCML and ECML will be foul at that time of year anyhow, and with the MML closure added in I'll make sure my regular trips dpn't take me anywhere near the capital during that period.

 

[Bald Rick]

I'm pretty sure the loading on the London ends of the WCML and ECML will be foul at that time of year anyhow, and with the MML closure added in I'll make sure my regular trips dpn't take me anywhere near the capital during that period.

Quietest time of year, especially for the commuter operators. I routinely shae a carriage with 2-3 people at most on the morning of Christmas eve on peak trains inbound. Its not much busier on the working days between Christmas and New Year. (compared to 1500 people on the train on a normal day).

 

[59CosG95]

Headspan renewals and BWA upgrades have formed the bulk of the project's first year AFAICT; I think adjustments to OLE tension / registration / grading will ramp up in the second year. In any case, I don't believe any of the EMU100 differentials have been lifted, or will be lifted until project completion.

Where I have seen the changes to registrations, it's very hard to tell if the droppers have been changed unless you're out on shift! From experience, grading adjustments and new droppers tend to be done at the same time.
As for the re-tensioning, I don't believe I've seen any of it, if indeed it's still happening.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Sep 2024 ==

Ash Johnson on LinkedIn: #trimblex9 #trimblegedoims #trimbler12 #trimbles9 #leicadna03 | 14 comments

Making Strides at Nottingham Station! Last night, five dedicated survey teams from SPL POWERLINES UK Ltd. were hard at work on Phase 3 of the Midland Mainline… | 14 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com

Surveys have started at Nottingham Station to aid the design of the OLE there.

 

[Nottingham59]

Surveys have started at Nottingham Station to aid the design of the OLE there.

Encouraging to see the comment about the challenge of the low bridge clearance.

a large proportion of the infrastructure is challenging to electrify but with the ongoing research into Voltage Controlled Clearance, innovative coatings, managed and high fixity track positions we're finding a way.
The starting point for this in all cases is the highest accuracy survey data that we can possibly get.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Surveys have started at Nottingham Station to aid the design of the OLE there.

absolutely fantastic news.

 

[Nottingham59]

Surveys have started at Nottingham Station to aid the design of the OLE there.

Can we assume that equivalent surveys have already been done of Leicester station?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Can we assume that equivalent surveys have already been done of Leicester station?

I don’t have a link and can’t remember the source but I am almost certain that they have.

 

[Elecman]

Can we assume that equivalent surveys have already been done of Leicester station?

Yes

 

[Class 170101]

The MML will be closed between London St Pancras and Bedford for 9 days from 21 - 29 December 2024:

Railway upgrades between London St Pancras and Bedford this Christmas

Passengers are being advised to plan ahead this festive period as vital engineering work will be taking place to improve reliability for passengers.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Quietest time of year, especially for the commuter operators. I routinely shae a carriage with 2-3 people at most on the morning of Christmas eve on peak trains inbound. Its not much busier on the working days between Christmas and New Year. (compared to 1500 people on the train on a normal day).

All I'll say is this weekend's closure didn't make a Derby to London easy or pleasant. I really hope the operators have conferred with LNER, Avanti and LNWR as insufficient capacity was provided between Derby, Tamworth and Euston on the trains I was on this weekend.

 

[Edvid]

SPL / NR were kind enough to share Modern Railways' latest (October 2024) article on MMLE. It's quite a substantial article, so I'll quote a few paragraphs.

Modern Railways Oct 24 | SPL POWERLINES UK&I

Great article from Modern Railways on The East Midlands Bright Spark story! Latest updates on the Midland Main Line #electrification programme & quotes from our Regional Director - England & Wales Steve McWhan & our Engineering Director Simon Skinner C.Eng FIET FPWI

www.linkedin.com

‘K2W is the first time we’ve fully applied [Voltage Control Clearances], enabling us to get wires closer to structures without having to demolish them’ says Mr Crook. On K2W, this technique has been used at three bridges: Great Bowden footbridge and Main Street (both in Market Harborough) and Wistow Road at Newton Harcourt (south of Wigston), with just minor track lowers needed. ‘We’ve seen the benefits of this and will look to roll this technology out as electrification continues north of Wigston’ Mr Crook adds.

Mr Crook says K2W’s outturn cost is towards the lower end of the £3.1 to £3.5 million per stk range for complex electrification programmes, including the implementation of a full autotransformer electrical system and substations to feed future electrified sections. While there has been positive progress with efficiencies, he says there is still work to be done as NR looks towards the continuation of electrification towards Nottingham and Sheffield.

Another example is at Leicester, where there have been longstanding concerns that the low height of the overbridge on which the current station building sits and the presence of drainage below the tracks would make installing conventional electrification difficult. Thankfully, design work, which is well advanced here, has shown it is feasible: ‘This is where VCC comes into effect and enables us to minimise the amount of major construction work needed’ says Mr Crook. ‘We believe we can deal with all the challenging areas, although the design isn’t as advanced on the northern stretches of the route.’

There's a PDF download link in the top right when the viewer is maximised, but the generated URL expires after a while (hence why I've shared the LinkedIn address instead).

As for the re-tensioning, I don't believe I've seen any of it, if indeed it's still happening.

In the video below (during last weekend's possession) you can see someone on a MEWP (Mobile Elevated Work Platform) lowering a wire run - was that retensioning? They were positioned at an overlap where a pair of wire runs were retensioned in March.

 

[59CosG95]

SPL / NR were kind enough to share Modern Railways' latest (October 2024) article on MMLE. It's quite a substantial article, so I'll quote a few paragraphs.

Modern Railways Oct 24 | SPL POWERLINES UK&I

Great article from Modern Railways on The East Midlands Bright Spark story! Latest updates on the Midland Main Line #electrification programme & quotes from our Regional Director - England & Wales Steve McWhan & our Engineering Director Simon Skinner C.Eng FIET FPWI

www.linkedin.com

There's a PDF download link in the top right when the viewer is maximised, but the generated URL expires after a while (hence why I've shared the LinkedIn address instead).


In the video below (during last weekend's possession) you can see someone on a MEWP (Mobile Elevated Work Platform) lowering a wire run - was that retensioning? They were positioned at an overlap where a pair of wire runs were retensioned in March.

AFAIK these structures going in are all with Wixams in mind, rather than re-tensioning. I think the overlap is going to be repositioned, based on the pile spacings, but don't shoot the messenger who hasn't seen the layout plan!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Oct 2024 ==

RS3 update: travelling west on a PBO-BHM train, I saw that there are a few wooden pegs with kilometrage points written on them in the DF cess near Syston, which leads me to believe that work might begin soon...

(Nothing, sadly, for RS2 north of Leicester)

RS2 update: just seen 3 similarly annotated pegs in the DF cess between Leicester & Knighton Tunnel.

 

[Merle Haggard]

AFAIK these structures going in are all with Wixams in mind, rather than re-tensioning. I think the overlap is going to be repositioned, based on the pile spacings, but don't shoot the messenger who hasn't seen the layout plan!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Oct 2024 ==

RS3 update: travelling west on a PBO-BHM train, I saw that there are a few wooden pegs with kilometrage points written on them in the DF cess near Syston, which leads me to believe that work might begin soon...

(Nothing, sadly, for RS2 north of Leicester)

RS2 update: just seen 3 similarly annotated pegs in the DF cess between Leicester & Knighton Tunnel.

I'm not sure if it's the same sort of thing, but I noticed last week on the Up side just South of East Mid. P'way carefully levelled squares in the slope beyond the cess. These had posts in, and were about the distance apart that you would expect masts to be.

 

[Edvid]

OLE125 progress to date in terms of headspan renewals and wire retensioning is 37% / 15% respectively (NR Eastern Region quote below).

#teamspl | SPL POWERLINES UK&I

Update from Network Rail Eastern Region all works completed for South of Bedford upgrade on Midland Main Line last weekend. Luton-Bedford section completed 37% headspans, 15% wire retensioning. Well done #TeamSPL

www.linkedin.com

We are pleased to share that we successfully completed all work planned for the south of Bedford upgrade on the Midland Main Line last weekend (28-29 Sept) plus some additional work we postponed from the week before (21-22 Sept) due to bad weather. Overall from London to Bedford we have now completed 37% of headspans and 15% of wire retensioning. Thank you to partners East Midlands Railway, GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway) and SPL POWERLINES UK for their support while we continue this vital upgrade which will allow trains to travel at up to 125mph once complete in Summer 2025.

After yesterday's travels I've attached a few video frames of the new Mk3 cantilevers that were installed recently.

On a marginally-related subject I've also attached pictures (sorry about the quality) of the upcoming Millbrook gas power station and a National Grid pylon on the Sundon-Grendon circuits being modified* (like the Braybrooke GSP pylon was) for the connection. When operational it'll help shoulder a bit of the peak demand burden previously borne by the recently shutdown Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power station.

[* StreetView August 2024 frame pre-mod]

 

[alanc]

The constraint on that section is the top speed of a Class 6 - 60 mph, rather than what is pulling it. An electric would have slightly better acceleration away from Leicester or Wigston southbound which might save a minute or two, yes there’s Desborough to get over but it’s not like it is Shap or Beattock.



Yes, works are done in all manner of isolated sections, and feeding changed as necessary. The sections that can be isolated are much smaller than the feeding sections. OLE will be off af St Albans (but as ever, always treat it as live!)

The TL services are running Bedford to Harpenden. Theres nothing south of Harpenden.

 

[Edvid]

^ @alanc, your reply in the post above is missing.

 

[Flying Phil]

Just to complete the story of the construction of the feeder station at Braybrooke, here are a couple of views showing the completed work and gap where the Three Arches bridge was situated (The view from it is missed!!)

 

[Edvid]

Great shots, as ever. The only thing that would have made them better is a Class 810 on Midland rails with the pan raised; speaking of, here's a tweet by Modern Railways!

She's electric! @EastMidRailway @HitachiRailENG Aurora bi-mode No 810001 has just completed its first test run on the Midland main line in electric mode. First time I've seen one of these in St Pancras!

 

[PJM]

Nice shots Phil, miss the bridge!

 

[jfowkes]

Was the Aurora test run at full line speed? I guess not because the tensioning hasn't been finished yet right? Or did I miss that?

 

[GraphitProjekt]

OLE125 progress to date in terms of headspan renewals and wire retensioning is 37% / 15% respectively (NR Eastern Region quote below).

#teamspl | SPL POWERLINES UK&I

Update from Network Rail Eastern Region all works completed for South of Bedford upgrade on Midland Main Line last weekend. Luton-Bedford section completed 37% headspans, 15% wire retensioning. Well done #TeamSPL

www.linkedin.com

After yesterday's travels I've attached a few video frames of the new Mk3 cantilevers that were installed recently.

On a marginally-related subject I've also attached pictures (sorry about the quality) of the upcoming Millbrook gas power station and a National Grid pylon on the Sundon-Grendon circuits being modified* (like the Braybrooke GSP pylon was) for the connection. When operational it'll help shoulder a bit of the peak demand burden previously borne by the recently shutdown Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power station.

[* StreetView August 2024 frame pre-mod]

how did you identify that you were looking at a TSC? Is there some source somewhere for the locations of TSC/MPTSC/FS locations or are you inferring from the presence of switching equipment without a neutral section? Just asking because I've gotten quite interested recently in documenting feeding arrangements.

 

[Edvid]

how did you identify that you were looking at a TSC? Is there some source somewhere for the locations of TSC/MPTSC/FS locations or are you inferring from the presence of switching equipment without a neutral section? Just asking because I've gotten quite interested recently in documenting feeding arrangements.

My knowledge of substations on the MML comes from maps, listings* and pictures of substations posted on this thread over the years. Usually by @59CosG95.

In terms of feeding arrangements, or indeed most things OLE-related in general, Garry Keenor's guide (6th Edition, 2021 - a 171MB PDF) is an excellent source of information.

[* Example post (feeding & sectioning arrangements have since changed, but still useful as a point of reference)]

 

[12LDA28C]

Was the Aurora test run at full line speed? I guess not because the tensioning hasn't been finished yet right? Or did I miss that?

125mph running is not possible currently as far as I know.

 

[zwk500]

how did you identify that you were looking at a TSC? Is there some source somewhere for the locations of TSC/MPTSC/FS locations or are you inferring from the presence of switching equipment without a neutral section? Just asking because I've gotten quite interested recently in documenting feeding arrangements.

Aren't they documented in at least some of the Sectional Appendix tables?

 

[59CosG95]

Aren't they documented in at least some of the Sectional Appendix tables?

The Neutral Sections are documented in the SAs, so that covers FSs/ATFSs, MPTSCs/MPATSs, and some (but not all) TSCs/SATSs.
The remaining SATSs/TSCs (located at overlaps) and all the standalone ATSs (e.g. East Langton) aren't listed.