Levenmouth rail link to reopen: project updates

[najaB]

So we’re still a distance away from BEMUs being the answer.

To be specific, we are some distance from class 777s being the answer.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The Merseyrail project isn't comparable. The batteries on the 777 fleet are really just to allow incremental extensions of existing electrified Merseyrail services, but without the regulatory complexity of new third rail installations. The most direct analogy I can think of for Headbolt Lane is the Drumgelloch extension from Airdrie, but that was solved fairly easily by reusing OHLE equipment cut back from the Balloch branch.

Purely in the interests of historical accuracy I can say that Airdrie-Drumgelloch used new equipment. The Balloch branch had been singled many years previously although I do seem to recall reading in Modern Railways that some of the equipment was used for the Hamilton Circle or Lanark add-ons to the Weaver-Glasgow electrification in the early 1970s.

Drumgelloch was one of a group of small projects that were done at about the same time as the ECML and Edinburgh-Carstairs schemes, made easier because skills and the supply chain were active locally. The Whifflet-Coatbridge Sunnyside link, Newton re-modelling and Drem-North Berwick were other cases.

 

[MadMac]

Purely in the interests of historical accuracy I can say that Airdrie-Drumgelloch used new equipment. The Balloch branch had been singled many years previously although I do seem to recall reading in Modern Railways that some of the equipment was used for the Hamilton Circle or Lanark add-ons to the Weaver-Glasgow electrification in the early 1970s.

Drumgelloch was one of a group of small projects that were done at about the same time as the ECML and Edinburgh-Carstairs schemes, made easier because skills and the supply chain were active locally. The Whifflet-Coatbridge Sunnyside link, Newton re-modelling and Drem-North Berwick were other cases.

The Balloch equipment was reused on the Lanark Branch. When the idea of cutting the Neilston branch back to Whitecraigs and closing Busby Junction-Clarkston was mooted in the “Strathclyde Rail Review“ of the early 80s, it was intended to reuse recovered equipment from beyond Whitecraigs to wire to East Kilbride via a new spur from Muirend-Clarkston. By that time, the equipment was over 20 years old and probably unsuitable for reuse.

 

[takno]

There’s an article in this months Modern Railways about the 777s which references the battery range. Whilst the manufacturer claims 50km+, the operator thinks only 20km (just 12 miles) is more realistic in average operational conditions. So we’re still a distance away from BEMUs being the answer.

The units are specified to do about 2 miles off the juice, so the 20km is really all just gravy from the operator's point of view, and they are clearly going to be super-conservative about it. 20km is basically takes a unit which isn't specified for distance running anyway, and gives you contingency for the worst possible running conditions, loss of battery capacity over its life, and probably a fairly lengthy delay off the wires. Even then there are a significant numbers of gaps and branches which could be served by the unit. If they doubled the number of batteries in it then you can do 25 miles to a terminus with rapid-charging. That covers a huge proportion of the early deployment cases.

 

[Diedinium]

To me BEMU for long sections of non-electrified lines feels more like yet another excuse (just like Diesel trains were in the 60's, and like bi-mode diesels are now) to not just do electrification properly in the first place. It's again just another time where we're hoping some future technology will come along and prevent the need to electrify like we always should have done.

Instead we should be following the more sane footsteps of most other European countries (or even India) and just be electrifying our railways with OHLE en masse, via rolling programmes that at least electrify the busiest routes.

Germany has 61% of their network electrified, France has 59%, Belgium 86%, Netherlands 74%, Poland 62%. Meanwhile we're on a pathetic 38%, and a large percentage of that isn't even OHLE, but 3rd rail which is going to need replacing in the long term on safety grounds alone. Countries that have a similar rate of electrification to us are Croatia and Turkey, is that really how bad we are?

 

[najaB]

Germany has 61% of their network electrified, France has 59%, Belgium 86%, Netherlands 74%, Poland 62%. Meanwhile we're on a pathetic 38%, and a large percentage of that isn't even OHLE, but 3rd rail which is going to need replacing in the long term on safety grounds alone.

How much of those networks are (a) branch and rural lines that get only a couple of trains a day, and (b) was built to a restrictive structures guage that makes electrification challenging.

Neither of those are reasons not to electrify, obviously, but they are both reasons why progress has been glacial.

 

[Diedinium]

How much of those networks are (a) branch and rural lines that get only a couple of trains a day, and (b) was built to a restrictive structures guage that makes electrification challenging.

In the case of the Leven line I wouldn't call an initial hourly service, with plans to go to half hourly as "only a couple of trains a day". That's ~32 train movements a day and ~64 if it goes half hourly.

And plenty of European countries have old rail networks as well, the difference is they've had the political will to do something about it. Meanwhile in the UK the cycle of boom and bust around electrification has resulted in skills being lost and high prices. If we just consistently kept at it then not only would it be cheaper, but we would have reached a much higher overall % of electrified lines - even on branch lines like Leven.

This is probably a discussion for another thread though, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[najaB]

In the case of the Leven line...

Oh, sorry. I didn't know we were comparing the Leven line to the entire rail networks of several countries. My bad.

And, for completeness, the problem isn't that the UK network is old, but that it has a very restrictive structures guage. Almost any electrification project requires rebuilding bridges, reboring tunnels and/or altering buildings. That's the expensive bit.

 

[yorkie]

This thread is to discuss updates relating to the reopening of the Levenmouth line specifically.

If anyone wishes to post anything else (such as timetabling or rolling stock matters, comparisons etc), please create or use an alternative thread, as appropriate. The forum has plenty of capacity for such threads, and you are welcome to link to them from here.

Anything that is speculative in nature should be posted exclusively in the Speculative Discussion section.

Thanks

 

[norbitonflyer]

Back on thread - when will it be known whether the initial service will be via Kirkcaldy or via Dunfermline?

 

[najaB]

Back on thread - when will it be known whether the initial service will be via Kirkcaldy or via Dunfermline?

ISTR that it's going to be an extension of the via Dunfermline services. But that may well have changed.

 

[och aye]

100 days to go until Cameron Bridge and Leven are reconnected to the rail network.

There is a video of the countdown clock starting with comments from Fiona Hyslop and Alex Hinds: https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/z9pyxyvox9

100-day countdown to Levenmouth rail return begins

With 100 days to go until the return of rail services to Levenmouth, Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop today (Friday, February 23) switched on an official countdown clock at Edinburgh Waverley to mark the milestone.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

100-day countdown to Levenmouth rail return begins​

With 100 days to go until the return of rail services to Levenmouth, Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop today (Friday, February 23) switched on an official countdown clock at Edinburgh Waverley to mark the milestone.


Countdown clocks were also unveiled at the new stations in Leven and Cameron Bridge, ahead of ScotRail services starting on June 2.


The Scottish Government-funded £116m Levenmouth Rail Link project will see a new six-mile double-tracked line reconnect the Fife communities to the railway after a gap of 55 years.

 

[stuu]

100 days to go until Cameron Bridge and Leven are reconnected to the rail network.

There is a video of the countdown clock starting with comments from Fiona Hyslop and Alex Hinds: https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/z9pyxyvox9

100-day countdown to Levenmouth rail return begins

With 100 days to go until the return of rail services to Levenmouth, Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop today (Friday, February 23) switched on an official countdown clock at Edinburgh Waverley to mark the milestone.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

100-day countdown to Levenmouth rail return begins​

That's a very brave choice!

 

[snowball]

I calculated that they'd started the clock a day late, then I remembered it's a leap year.

 

[H&I]

100 days to go until Cameron Bridge and Leven are reconnected to the rail network.

There is a video of the countdown clock starting with comments from Fiona Hyslop and Alex Hinds: https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/z9pyxyvox9

100-day countdown to Levenmouth rail return begins

With 100 days to go until the return of rail services to Levenmouth, Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop today (Friday, February 23) switched on an official countdown clock at Edinburgh Waverley to mark the milestone.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

100-day countdown to Levenmouth rail return begins​

Wonderful news! Do we know what the timetable is going to be on the day, specifically the timings of the first trains? Thanks!

 

[zwk500]

Wonderful news! Do we know what the timetable is going to be on the day, specifically the timings of the first trains? Thanks!

Times are in RTT: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...24-06-05/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

Journey times approximately 70 minutes, the exact times move around a bit but a rough guide is 5 past the hour from Edinburgh, and 15-20 past each hour from Leven. Turnrounds are pretty short, so it will be interesting to see how delays are managed.

 

[najaB]

Journey times approximately 70 minutes, the exact times move around a bit but a rough guide is 5 past the hour from Edinburgh, and 15-20 past each hour from Leven. Turnrounds are pretty short, so it will be interesting to see how delays are managed.

So is Glenrothes with Thornton losing a service via Kirkcaldy, or are the Fife coast stations gaining one?

 

[hux385]

Glenrothes hasn't had a service via Kirkcaldy in ages so no one will be missing out from the new timetable. The hourly Leven service will pick up all of the Fife coast stations, whilst the service to Dundee becomes semi-fast.

 

[lachlan]

Glenrothes hasn't had a service via Kirkcaldy in ages so no one will be missing out from the new timetable. The hourly Leven service will pick up all of the Fife coast stations, whilst the service to Dundee becomes semi-fast.

Was there not a plan to run services via Dunfermline as well?

Up until a few years ago there were services around the Fife circle so you could travel from Glenrothes to Kirkcaldy

 

[snowball]

Was there not a plan to run services via Dunfermline as well?

To happen from next year if I remember correctly. There was a consultation in which the initial service pattern was distinguished from the ultimate one. There was a thread about it in the Allocations and Timetables section of the board.

 

[najaB]

Glenrothes hasn't had a service via Kirkcaldy in ages so no one will be missing out from the new timetable.

Must confess that I didn't realise that. What became of those services, are they what became the Dundee stoppers?

 

[InOban]

Must confess that I didn't realise that. What became of those services, are they what became the Dundee stoppers?

No viable demand for an occasional train between these places. Almost all the traffic is to Edinburgh

 

[jadmor]

This pdf should explain why the Fife Circle service was discontinued..

 

[najaB]

Thanks all for the info.

 

[stevieinselby]

This pdf should explain why the Fife Circle service was discontinued..

I can see that there might not be enough demand for direct services to Kirkcaldy from the north side of the Fife Circle (especially with Glenrothes station being of less use to most people in Glenrothes than Markinch), although I think it's disappointing – especially to say there's no direct service between Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy. But I still don't understand why some trains terminate at Cowdenbeath, then run out of service to Glenrothes and back again. It doesn't save any unit or crew diagrams, it doesn't save any mileage, so why not just run the units in service and maintain a half-hourly service to Lochgelly, Cardenden and Glenrothes?

 

[takno]

But I still don't understand why some trains terminate at Cowdenbeath, then run out of service to Glenrothes and back again. It doesn't save any unit or crew diagrams, it doesn't save any mileage, so why not just run the units in service and maintain a half-hourly service to Lochgelly, Cardenden and Glenrothes?

IIRC the analysis was all done based on the rather deranged metric of number of empty seats. Presumably empty seats on a train running empty didn't count....

More practically, the signalling is there to turn a service at Cowdenbeath, so if longer term that proves to be a sensible diagram they will presumably make the timetable changes necessary to do the turn there.

 

[H&I]

Times are in RTT: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...24-06-05/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

Journey times approximately 70 minutes, the exact times move around a bit but a rough guide is 5 past the hour from Edinburgh, and 15-20 past each hour from Leven. Turnrounds are pretty short, so it will be interesting to see how delays are managed.

It seems like some workings are missing. On the 2nd of June, the first departures from Leven to Edinburgh are at 08:30 and 09:32 with nothing earlier than that. They also both depart from platform 1. There are no earlier workings that explain how these trains get to Leven in the first place.

 

[chuff chuff]

It seems like some workings are missing. On the 2nd of June, the first departures from Leven to Edinburgh are at 08:30 and 09:32 with nothing earlier than that. They also both depart from platform 1. There are no earlier workings that explain how these trains get to Leven in the first place.

For sunday those timings are probably the first trains out.

 

[H&I]

For sunday those timings are probably the first trains out.

However, there is no corresponding ECS working to get those trains to Leven in the first place. That is why I am wondering if the timetable is incomplete and whether there are actually earlier workings.

 

[snowball]

However, there is no corresponding ECS working to get those trains to Leven in the first place. That is why I am wondering if the timetable is incomplete and whether there are actually earlier workings.

According to a post on one of the Facebook sites, linked and quoted in #422, three trains will be stabled at Leven.