Rail Announcement issue 4 July 2014

ii9h_Rail AnnouncementAnnouncing all the news from the rail industry

July 2014

Hitachi unveils AT200 in London

Watford blockade plans

New trams are go

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Another month draws to a close and it’s been a facinating one for sure, with plenty happening across the rail industry.

Hitaci has unveiled its AT200 mock-ups in London, plans for the Watford blockades have been announced and funding to extend the Midland Metro even further has been secured.

As ever, Rail Announcement has been around the UK to report on these exciting developments and talk to the people involved in making them happen.

Enjoy the issue.

Jonathan Webb Editor

[email protected]

Rail Announcement 2 News

Hitachi unveils new mock-ups in London

Two new mock-ups of train designs for the European market have been unveiled by Hitachi Rail Europe during a launch event in London on July 21.

The AT100 metro train , with its 20m-long body and wide inter-car gangways, is target-ed at inner-suburban stopping services and metros. The train will have a maximum speed of between 120 and 160km/h. . The AT200, which has a 23m-long body is aimed at lon-ger-distance regional services and incorpo-rates a new design of sliding plug door that has been developed by IFE in Austria. The AT200 will have a maximum speed of be-tween 160 and 200km/h and features canti-levered seats and tables. This not only assists in the ease of maintenance of cleaning, but allows for the interior layout to be changed.

During the private event a mock up of a sec-tion of each vehicle was displayed to potential operators, demonstrating how each coach has new technology designed for this new family of trains. This includes passenger information screens that can be used to display passenger information or adverts and an app, designed by Aporta Digital, which enables passengers to locate their reserved seat or find unre-served seats.

The AT200 has seats that are fitted with QR codes, allowing passengers to log in using the app and sensors supplied by Rechner Sensors can determine which seats are occupied. The overall design of the AT100 and AT200 is the responsibility of Schoenemann Design.

The trains, which are of a modular design, will be constructed from aluminium alloy extrusion using friction stir welding, which

will give the vehicles both strength and light-ness. The new trains will also feature a high level of on-board diagnostics to provide operators with real-time performance data. This will reduce down time as it allows for great feedback and predictive maintenance. In the words of Hitachi’s chief operating offi-cer Andy Barr: “ “Operators don’t want to be having to take the train apart.”

It is planned for a prototype AT200 to be con-structed so that it may be offered to compa-nies bidding for the new ScotRail franchise. Hitachi has already been shorlisted for the construction of 39 four-car EMUs for Lon-don Overground , which will absorb services from London Liverpool Street to the north-eastern suburbs.

Initially the vehicle bodies will be shipped over from Japan, as Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe facility, which opens next year, does not have friction stir welding capability. However , should there be sufficient orders for the new rolling stock the requisite welding equipment will be invested in.

News Rail Announcement 3


Memorial for Jack Mills to be unveiled in September

A memorial to Driver Jack Mills and his as-sistant David Whitby, both from Crewe, will be unveiled on platform 12, near their former booking on point, at Crewe station during September.

Driver Mills, who was 57 years old and been a driver since 1942, was coshed unconcious during the August 1963 robbery and never drove another train again. Memorial service for Jack Mills and David

Whitby in their former booking on point in 2013.

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Network Rail to invest £12m in Euston

Over £12 million is to be invested by Net-work Rail to enhance the food and beverage options available to passengers at London Euston station.

As part of phase 1 an 8,000ft2 balcony will be created to house bars, dining outlets and a passenger seating area that overlooks the main concourse. Initially passengers will see Euston’s existing kiosks replaced with ‘grad and go’ outlets. This part of the project is scheduled open by late next year.

Phase 2 of the scheme will see the station’s existing food court become an expanded and improved retail area. Inspiration for this latest design comes from the award-winning sta-tion developments at both King’s Cross and Waterloo.

Network Rail says over a million people use the station every week and that the planned

improvements will see more space and a bet-ter atmosphere for passengers.


Network Rail lays out options for route west of ExeterFollowing the devastating storm damage done to the sea wall at Dawlish in February, when 100 metres of track was washed away, Network Rail has published its West of Exeter Route Resilience Study which has explored the various options available to the infra-structure owner.

Option 1: The base case of continuing the current maintenance regime on the existing route.

Option 2: Further strengthening the existing railway. An early estimated cost of between £398 million and £659 million

Option 3: (Alternative Route A)- The former London & South Western Railway route from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton would be reconstructed at an estimated cost of £875 million.

Option 4: (Alternative Route B)- Construct-ing a modern double- track railway on the alignment of the former Teign Valley branch line from Exeter to New ton Abbot. This has an estimated cost of £470 million. There is doubt as to whether a resilient railway is practical on this route.

Option 5 : Five alternative direct routes would provide a new line between Exeter and Newton Abbot at an estimated cost between £1.49 billion and £3.10 billion.

The estimated costs have been uplifted by 66% in order to provide a level of contingen-cy.

In addition to the main damage at Dawlish, there were five other locations along the sea wall between Dawlish and Dawlish Warren where the sea wall had been breached.

A separate study into option 2 is currently being carried out by Network Rail , with the results expected to be published during the first half of next year.

Since opening in 1846 the route, which cur-rently sees 134 passenger trains and two freight services a day, has suffered from storm damage, with the first recorded major inci-dent being in the opening year when train services were suspended for three days.


Government pledges huge investment in rail

The government has announced huge invest-ment in numerous rail and metro schemes across the UK as part of the Local Growth Fund.

Over £300 million alone is being invested in the West Midlands, with plans for a second Birmingham city tram route linking New Street to the Curzon Street HS2 terminus and then on to Adderley Park. Another extension will take trams up the city’s vibrant Broad Street to Edgbaston.

At the other end of the Midland Metro route, trams will be able to carry passengers to Wolverhampton railway station, they current-ly terminate some distance away.

Birmingham Snow Hill, University and Kid-derminster stations will also be enhanced and Coventry station will have a bay platform created, allowing for services on the Nunea-ton route to be upgraded.

Away from the Midlands , Manchester will receive an extra 12 Metrolink vehicles and Blackpool will see its tram system extended to Blackpool North station, something that locals have been pressing for for years.

Cornish rail passengers will see most of the current semaphore signals and signal boxes swept away and replaced by colour lights, al-lowing for more frequent services. The Night Riviera sleeper service that connects the re-gion with London will also be upgraded, with the current fleet of sleeper carriages being refurbished and sleeper maintenance facilities being transferred from Old Oak Common to Penzance.

Commitment from the government has also been received regarding a new rail link from the Great Western Main Line, east of Slough, to Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

Reading will also see a new station construct-ed on the Basingstoke line at Green park.

Elsewhere there is government funding available for phases 1 and 2 of the Bristol MetroWest project that will see half-hourly cross-Bristol train services introduced and include reopening the Henbury and Portis-head lines.

There was also much joy in Worcestershire when it was announced that the long cam-paigned for Worcester Parkway station is to go ahead. This will see Arriva CrossCountry trains on the Nottingham to Cardiff route call at Worcester for the first time. Currently the city is only served by First Great Western and London Midland services.


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TfL announces shortlist for EMU order

Hitachi, CAF, Siemens and Bombardier have been shortlisted to supply 39x4 car EMUs for London Overground services.

Tenders for the contract are to be submitted by the end of October, with the successful bidder being announced by March 6 2015, with deliveries envisaged to take place be-tween summer 2017 and spring 2018.

Of the 39 EMUs, 31 will be deployed on services from London Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt (via Seven Sisters) and Chingford, in addition to the Romford – Upminster route. From May 31 2015 these services will be run on an interim basis by TfL’s London Overground concessionaire LOROL before being merged into the overall

London Overground concession when it ends in November 2016 and is re-let.

The remaining eight EMUs will replace the diesel class 172s on the Gospel Oak to Bark-ing line, which will be electrified by summer 2017.

Bombardier’s new strategy will not affect its transportation business

Bombardier has said that there will be no direct affect on its transportation business following the completion of the company’s ‘OneBT’ cost reduction and standardisation strategy which is scheduled for completion by January 1 2015.

This will see Bombardier divided into four business segments all reporting directly to Bombardier Inc President and CEO Pierre Beaudoin:

Bombardier Transportation;Bombardier Business Aircraft;Bombardier Commercial Aircraft;Bombardier Aerostructures and Engineering Services.

Beaudoin said that the new structure l : “ Will enable us to be more agile and flexible in addressing customer needs, while increasing our focus on growth areas.’


A ‘good news’ culture was bad news for sig-nalling contractA ‘good news’ culture has been found partly to blame for a major London Underground signalling contract collapsing, resulting in an extra bill of at least £100 million.

The KPMG report, commissioned by Trans-port for London, follows Bombardier’s failure to complete the £354 million contract and the appointment of Thales to complete the work.

London Underground awarded Bombardier the automatic train control (ATC) contract for the Hammersmith and City, Metropol-itan, Circle and District lines in June 2011, but by 2013 severe delays culminated in the realisation that Bombardier would not be able to deliver the project within any form of acceptable cost envelope.

In December of that year agreement was reached on settlement terms allowing Bom-bardier to exit from their contract and for TfL to commence re-procurtement.

The report highlighted that a ‘good news culture’ resulted in managers being slow to react when the project began to hit serious issues and that not enough research had been carried out by London Underground on a similar upgrade in Spain, in which Bombar-dier was involved, regarding disruption to rail services.

The £354 million contract was to see Bom-bardier introduce its Cityflo 650 moving block automatic train control system on the Sub Surface Line (SSL) network, enabling capacity, especially on the Circle and Ham-mersmith and City lines, to increase.

Despite the delays, which have added at least another £100 million to the project’s cost, it is hoped that a delivery date of 2018 can still be achieved.


Plans announced for Watford blockades

Over three weekends next month the West Coast Main Line through Watford Junction will be closed to allow for essential upgrade work to take place.

Over the weekends of August 9-10, 16-17 and the Bank Holiday weekend (23-26) there will be no train services serving the station as the first of a series of major infrastructure improvement works commences along a worksite that stretches from Bushey to Kings Langley. There will be further blockades at Christmas, which will see Watford Junction PSB close, and in February and April next year. Control of the Watford area will pass to Wembley Signalling Centre and all signals will be replaced by Dorman LED heads. Wat-ford PSB has already seen much of its control area north of the station migrate to Rugby Signalling Centre.

Once finished the Watford area will benefit from bi-directional signalling, new power supplies and the ability for better headways. One of the main changes that will be imme-diately noticeable will be the removal of the South Junction ladder, just south of the sta-tion, as it was realised that it was only being used once or twice a year and that, operation-ally, there was not any reason to retain it. A ground frame that controls access to sidings near the station will also be abolished.

A main bugbear over recent years has been Orphanage Road bridge just south of the sta-tion. This bridge is beyond economic repair and has been the limiting factor in not raising line speeds to 125 mph. As a result it will be lifted out and replaced.

Initially it was planned to do the work as

one large blockade over 16 days in August, but this led to protests from from TOCs and FOCs. The only other alternative to closing the line over a number of weekends was to carry out the work without blockades and which would have seen the work take 2 years to complete.

The first two weekend blockades will see the line have two 54 hour blockades, with all lines closed. On Monday 11 and 18 August there will be just two lines, the up fast and down slow, open to traffic until 16.30.

During the blockade the Caledonian sleeper will still run out of Euston, but via the East Coast Main Line and Southern services to Milton Keynes will terminate at Shepherd’s Bush.

In addition Virgin will run a blockade bust-ing Voyager service over the Chiltern route and East Midlands Trains will run a Man-chester Piccadilly (dep 0845) to London St Pancras and return (dep 1735) HST service. Chiltern will also lengthen a number of their services.


Rail travel continues to grow

According to new research from the Rail Delivery Group people in Britain are now making as much use of the rail network as the Germans and more than the Dutch or French.

This equates to the average British person using the train 24 times a year, with the figure dropping to 17 in France and 19 in the Neth-erlands.

It’s been revealed that a passenger will travel 940km by train each year, when 15 years ago this figure was just 612km. This is as a result of an average increase of 4% every year since the late 1990s, a huge leap from the 0.3% in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The report shows that almost 50p in every pound spent on rail fares is for a discounted ticket, compared to 36p a decade ago.

However, rail profits have dipped slightly standing at £270 million in real terms when private operators took over the running of routes in the 1990s, but now stand at £250 million. The government has benefitted from the money generated from train operators with the figure rising from £390 million to £1.96 billion over the same period. Part of this 400% increase is due to the fact that train operators now pay a reduced share of track access charges, with the remainder passing to Network rail via a direct grant from the DfT. With track access charges being significantly lower it means that operators can pay higher premiums or need lower subsidies.

Compared to 15 years ago there are now 1.6 million more rail services a year, a rise of 28%, with 1.4 billion punctual journeys , a

rise of 600 million compared to 1997-1998.

Martin Griffiths, chairman of the Rail Deliv-ery Group and Stagecoach Group chief exec-utive, said: “Passengers in Britain are flocking to board Europe’s best railway, attracted by newer trains, more services and great deals.

“Rail’s transformation comes from a winning combination of private sector innovation and government policy. Operators have used commercial acumen to attract passengers, and the growth in revenue has played a cru-cial role in enabling government to invest record sums through Network Rail.

“As passengers are at the heart of what we do, we know we must keep improving and in-vesting, driving up the quality of services to respond to our customers’ needs.”


Contract awarded for Paddington’s renovation

Network Rail has awarded a £20 million con-tract to complete the refurbishment of Lon-don Paddington’s historic roof.

Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016, the latest phase follows completion of the first phase in July 2011 when the bar-rel roof above platforms nine to 12, known as span four, was renovated. The station’s original spans one to three, which are above platforms one to eight, will be similarly refur-bished using a suspended scaffold above the platforms , so as to minimise any disruption to passengers.

The contract has been awarded to the Colas Rail and Morgan Sindall Joint Venture, who already have experience of renovation work at Paddington.

__________________________________________________________Reunification project gets £1 million boost

A plan to create an eighteen mile heritage line linking Leicester with Nottingham has been given a £1 million boost from the govern-ment’s Local Growth Deal initiative.

The funding will enable the Great Central Railway’s Bridging the Gap project, which will see a rail bridge constructed over the Midland Main Line at Loughborough allow-ing it to link up with the Great Central Rail-way Nottingham line, go ahead.

Total cost for reunification is expected to be £6 1/2 million and could see trains running along the whole route within five years. In addition to the main bridge, a canal bridge has to be restored and a new bridge over an

access road constructed.

One main problem that still has to be ad-dressed is what will happen to the locomotive depot at Loughborough, as it stands on the formation towards the Midland Main Line station.

With the impending electrification of the MML, this is seen as the only opportunity to install a new bridge at Loughborough before the wires go up, as to carry out the work post electrification would be hugely expensive and significantly more complex.


MTR wins Crossrail

Transport for London has awarded the con-tract to run Crossrail to MTR.

Arriva, National Express and a joint venture between Keolis and Go-Ahead had also been shortlisted for the contract.

MTR will commence running the first ser-vices from May next year between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, with the central route beneath London scheduled to open in late 2018 and a full service from December of the following year. In total 40 stations will be served along the 118km route. which is de-signed to relieve pressure on the increasingly busy underground network.

The Hong Kong government has a 77% share in MTR, which also runs Melbourne’s urban rail system along with five metro lines in mainland China. Crossrail is not MTR’s first foray into Europe as it won a deal in 2007, as part of a 50:50 joint venture, to run London Overground.

Subway systems in Hong Kong have a 99,9% punctuality record, much better than either London Underground or the New York sub-way.

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HS2 HQ to be in BirminghamIt has been announced that the headquarters for the construction of Phase 1 of HS2 is to be based in Birmingham.

When the HQ opens next year, as part of a wider regeneration scheme involving the site of the future HS2 station at Curzon Street, it is expected that around 1,500 people will be employed in the city.

Despite the move to Birmingham some HS2 functions will still be carried out in London, mainly relating to ensuring the necessary legislation can pass through Parliament.


Nottingham’s new trams enter service

The first of the new Citadis trams has entered passenger service.

In the late 1990s Nottingham was recognised as the core of the UK’s seventh largest and third fastest growing urban area, It also had the second highest bus usage after London. It was against this background that Nottingham Express Transit was created as means of not only tackling a stagnation in urban renewal, caused by the decline of mining and manu-facturing, but the increasing road congestion.Line 1 connecting Nottingham station with Hucknall, including a short branch to Phoe-nix Park, opened in March 2004 . However, the benefits of a single line were finite and to further increase the use of public transport and provide increased mobility for residents in Nottingham’s suburbs it was deemed im-perative that a second line be built.

Line 2 linking Station Street with Chilwell, Beeston and Clifton is scheduled to open in early 2015 and as a result 22 Citadis trams have been ordered from Alston to supple-ment the current fleet of 15 Bombardier built Incentro trams.

The new low floor trams have an expected life of 35 years and are capable of operating at 70 km/h, 10 km/h slower than the Incentro model.

Unlike the Midland Metro system, which uses trams that are just 5 years older, there are no plans to replace the existing fleet and a project to refurbish them has just reached the half way stage.

Powered by two motored bogies, with each motor axle being independent, the Citadis has a maximum starting acceleration of > 1.8 m/s2 and an average acceleration from 0 to 70 km/h of 0.7 m/s + / - 5%. The new vehi-cles also have an impressive efficiency rating ( ratio: mechanical effort at wheel flange level / electrical power input of traction system) of > 90% .

The Citadis body shell has been designed to withstand compressive forces of 40 tons, higher than the minimum required for this class of vehicle, and has a bumper to reduce damage should two trams collide at low speed. This bumper is also capable of absorb-ing shock should the tram collide with a road vehicle weighing up to 3 tons and travelling up to 8 km/h.

Able to convey 58 seated passengers, 68 with seats unfolded, and 144 standing passengers, 133 with seats unfolded, the Citadis offers a small increase in capacity compared to the current fleet of trams that can carry 131 standing passengers, with 62 seated, with seats unfolded.

The current fleet is adopting the livery of the Citadis trams so as to present a uniform fleet and so that passengers will not, as has been noted elsewhere in the UK, reject travelling on an ‘old’ tram and wait for a Citadis to ap-pear.

The new trams will also herald a change for many of NET’s staff , with the role of conduc-tor being abolished across the system and the displaced staff being given the opportunity to retrain as drivers. Passengers will be able to


purchase tickets from ticket machines lo-cated at tram stops. When Line 1 opened in 2004 just 116 staff were employed , but Line 2 along with the introduction of the new roll-ing stock, will see that figure rise by 100.

To combat fare evasion there will be a roving team of inspectors with the aim of ensuring a passenger makes no more than six journeys without having their ticket checked. Staff have said that when the trams were first in-troduced fare evasion was rife, but once court cases were publicised and staff got to know the faces of regular offenders the figure soon plummeted, although not before documented cases of staff being bitten by aggressive pas-sengers.

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More trains for Stansted

In her first engagement since being promoted to rail minister Claire Perry has unveiled new rail services between Cambridge and Stansted Airport.

The increase in rail services follows the pub-lishing of a report by the Airports Commis-sion into airport capacity, which highlighted the importance of surface access to the UK’s airports.

In addition Cambridge station will benefit from an extra 3,000 cycle spaces and Stansted Airport station has seen new lighting make it a brighter place for passengers.

Over the last 12 months passenger figures on the London to Stansted route have risen by 15,000.


Boris outlines rail plans for London

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has pub-lished his plans for infrastructure improve-ments in the capital over the next three and a half decades.

It’s been estimated that the population of London will increase by 37% over this period to more tan 11 million and Johnson argues that the only way London will cope is by making a huge investment in its infrastruc-ture, enabling continued efficient and suc-cessful operation of the capital.

Currently only in draft form, the report states that demand for public transport will in-crease by 50%, with the underground likely to see a 60% increase and other rail services by 80%.

The report recommends that not only should Crossrail 2 be approved, but other Crossrail projects may be required to increase rail ca-pacity across London. There is also mention of Johnson’s pet project for a four runway hub located in the Thames estuary and the associ-ated rail links that would be needed to serve it.

A proposal to extend the Bakerloo line to Hayes via Lewisham by 2040 is also included, along with a plan to fully automate the line by 2045.

To deliver the full benefits of the New Tube for London project , it has been suggested that platform edge doors will be required at London Underground stations and the Docklands Light Railway station at Tower Gateway should be closed and replaced by a new underground interchange at Tower Hill. This will allow for an increased DLR service

to Bank.

Johnson said: “This plan is a real wake up call to the stark needs that face London over the next half century. Infrastructure under-pins everything we do and we all use it every day. Without a long term plan for investment , and the political will to implement it , this city will falter.”

Following three months of consultation a final version of the infrastructure plan will be published early next year.


New Street to open in September 2015

Network Rail has announced that the rebuilt Birmingham New Street station is to open in September next year, following a £600 million rebuild.

Opened in June 1854, the station was last rebuilt in 1967, which saw its 12 platforms covered by a large concrete slab on which sat the passenger concourse on one side and a multi-story car park on the other, with the Pallasades shopping centre located above the station.

With New Street being the busiest station outside of the capital and its location con-straining any attempts to extend the plat-forms, although platform 5 was reduced in width at the B end to create a bay platform 4C, the only way to increase capacity was to reduce platform dwell times which means decreasing the time passengers spend on the platforms.

To enhance the station environment for passengers, and at long last do away with the infamous dark and dingy image that the station has had to endure for decades, it was decided to drive upwards through the Palla-sades and install a transparent Ethylene Tetra Fluoro Ethylene dome, allowing the area to be flooded with natural daylight and trans-form the exterior by cladding it with stainless steel. The material for the dome is the same that was used for the Bejing Olympic Aquat-ics Centre.

One of only two, the other is Liverpool Street, Network Rail managed stations classified as an underground station means that the sta-tion has to adopt fireproofing and fire pre-vention measures similar to that for any other

underground station. These include smoke-proof cables and fire resistant cladding.

Another complication occurred in February 2011, when John Lewis announced that it would open a new store at Birmingham New Street. This major change to the plan required a lot more detailed design work. In reality the design team was aware of this possibility back in 2009, when the feasibility of adding a major store to the station rebuild project was looked at. Initially this was to have been built on the north-east corner of the station, but was then put on the back burner before being back on the agenda again, but this time the plans saw the store being located in the south-east corner of the station.

Currently tram tracks are being laid between the current Midland Metro terminus at Bir-mingham Snow Hill and New Street and a new tram stop is being constructed outside of the main New Street station entrance. This will open at the same time as the rebuilt sta-tion.


Victoria line passengers have the most frequent service

Following the latest timetable enhancement passengers on the London Underground Vic-toria line now have the most frequent service in the UK.

Last year the number of trains on the Victoria line reached 33 an hour and has now, during peak periods, reached 34 an hour, leaving less than two minutes between trains.

Modernisation of the Northern line will be completed later this year and LU says it is already using the new Thales signalling sys-tem to increase service frequency. During the peak periods 22 trains per hour run on the line, up from a previous figure of 20. The off peak has risen from 16 to 18 trains per hour.

The Jubilee line currently has a frequency of 33 trains per hour and it is hoped that in due course both this and the Victoria line will see the frequency increase to 36 trains per hour.

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Iconic images of the

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Rail Announcement issue 4 July 2014

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