MML Electrification: progress updates

[PJM]

As mentioned by Kneedown, 3 sets of piles north of the Wistow Road bridge at Newton Harcourt.



... and 3 maybe 4 sets south.

There are still no piles or masts through Desborough. Masts have gone up a bit closer to the Braybrooke Feeder site from the South,
View attachment 130195 but there is still a gap of around half a mile before Mkt Hbro. To the North of Hbro there is a half mile gap with no piles or masts through Gt Bowden where the old foot bridge is situated.View attachment 130196 Then the masts extend all the way to Kibworth. Most masts have booms or cantilevers fitted.
Through Kibworth to S Wigston there has only been vegetation clearance so far.

@Flying Phil, a quick drive from Harborough to Desborough confirms that masts and cantilevers extend all the way from this point by the Braybrooke feeder station all the way through Braybrooke village and as far as the Desborough `gap`.

 

[Flying Phil]

Going up through the Langtons, to the North of Market Harborough, I could see that several masts and cantilevers now have "stovepipes" as well.....those insulated dangly bits that support the actual wires!

 

[PJM]

More piles!

Shot taken over the high wall of the bridge `The Square` at Newton Harcourt looking back towards the bridge at Wistow Road NH.



Dodgy shot over the high wall looking north.


There are piles north of Newton lane towards Kilby Bridge, not sure quite how far yet, will take a trip to Kilby Bridge in the next few days.

SPL have possession of the line today and were working south of the Kibworth compound, piling as far as I could see.

 

[59CosG95]

The first wires have been run! Looks like they're in the Rushton area.

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[PJM]

The first wires have been run! Looks like they're in the Rushton area.

Excellent! The piling shots could well be around the Kibworth compound?

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The first wires have been run! Looks like they're in the Rushton area.

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Yes that is the Rushton compound on the right, at the back of the wiring shots.

 

[59CosG95]

Excellent! The piling shots could well be around the Kibworth compound?



Yes that is the Rushton compound on the right, at the back of the wiring shots.

Piles definitely look like they're going in near the Kibworth compound.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Absolutely fantastic news.

 

[YourMum666]

at this rate, how long till the wires reach leicester, and beyond to syston

 

[zwk500]

at this rate, how long till the wires reach leicester, and beyond to syston

Wires are likely to finish at Wigston South and then run from Syston northwards before Leicester itself is done.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Wires are likely to finish at Wigston South and then run from Syston northwards before Leicester itself is done.

Yes that was in a fairly recent modern railways magazine iirc. Syston to Trent to be done first. Has a Grid Feeder at Kegworth in that stretch too.

 

[Class 170101]

The drivers will get fed up long before.

Why? They won't need to do anything

I can't see the Erewash Valley line being wired any time soon. HS2 as planned would have bypassed it. The revised Govt plans for HS2 see it routed via Nottingham and Doncaster to Leeds with some possible new lines, assuming this ever happens. The case for the Erewash Valley would rest on either freight decarbonisation or a major upgrade of the Norwich - Peterborough - Nottingham - Sheffield - Manchester - Liverpool axis. That's a lot of miles to be electrified elsewhere first before the line via Alfreton.

Once the wires reach Sheffield via Derby, the priority is much more likely to be on to Doncaster and Leeds and from Derby to Birmingham, with Cross Country changing to bimode trains to make the most of the Edinburgh to Birmingham wiring so created, plus electric local stopping trains. Nottingham to Birmingham will use HS2 and be very fast indeed.

If Sheffield to Wakefield Westgate is done as you suggest you could turn over the Nottingham to Leeds service to EMUs if Erewash was done. Erewash might also allow for Bi-mode operation of the Norwich to Liverpool service.
Potentially wires Liverpool to Hazel Grove (via Newton Le Willows) between Sheffield and Nottingham as well as between Grantham and Peterborough.

The Erewash has several curves which are (by observation of the OS map) around 1000m radius, scattered along the route so that there isn't much chance to accelerate between them (though electrification would help with that). That via Derby has much gentler curves, except for the one just south of Derby itself where all trains would stop anyway. Any substantial upgrade to the Erewash would require realignment outside the railway boundary, some affecting river or canal crossings which are possibly the reason for the curve being there in the first place.

Electric trains tend to accelerate better than DMUs so there should be journey time savings even if only electrification was to be done and no other upgrades.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

duplicate deleted

 

[edwin_m]

Electric trains tend to accelerate better than DMUs so there should be journey time savings even if only electrification was to be done and no other upgrades.

This is true, especially in the higher speed ranges where the reduced on-board power of a diesel affects acceleration more. However, it wouldn't be worth more than a handful of minutes.

 

[zwk500]

If Sheffield to Wakefield Westgate is done as you suggest you could turn over the Nottingham to Leeds service to EMUs if Erewash was done. Erewash might also allow for Bi-mode operation of the Norwich to Liverpool service.
Potentially wires Liverpool to Hazel Grove (via Newton Le Willows) between Sheffield and Nottingham as well as between Grantham and Peterborough.

AIUI Erewash is not part of this scheme, perhaps @GRALISTAIR can confirm?
Bi-mode operation of the Norwich-Liverpool would be interesting, as it would only be on the wires for Liverpool-Stockport, Sheffield-Nottingham (if Erewash was done), and Grantham-Peterborough (the very short section at Ely would likely not even be used). That's still a significant mileage off the wires.

 

[Hairy Bear]

Why? They won't need to do anything

They will, because we have already been told that balises will not be provided due to the stop/start nature of the electrification.
The original posting was correct.

 

[snowball]

This thread is getting a bit speculational - I'm surprised there hasn't been a mods' warning.

The Erewash valley line is definitely not part of the current scheme. If I remember correctly it already wasn't part of the scheme even before Grayling cut it back to Kettering/Corby (which later became Market Harborough which ...). It was probably part of an earlier version of the scheme a few decades ago. However it will take several years for wires to get near Sheffield and by the time that happens there may have been changes of policy or of government.

If it's true that balises are not to be provided, that seems odd in relation to the fact that we've just heard in the last few days in the TRU thread that they have been put in at Colton, only to move soonish to Church Fenton.

 

[Nottingham59]

The Erewash valley line is definitely not part of the current scheme.

Nor should it be until the main line is electrified all the way. The bimode 810s can already use Erewash and Manton as diversionary routes, so there is no justification for electrifying these.

(Also, Liverpool-Nottingham and Leeds-Nottingham are well suited to BEMU operation. So that possibility would have to be ruled out before any decision to electify Erewash.)

 

[PJM]

Wires!!

Bridge SPS-41 Rushton Road, looking north/west.



south/east



towards Desborough.


wires not live just yet!


wires run from Rushton compound, both up and down and stop before Copelands Road, Desborough - not quite sure where.

 

[snowball]

Looks like autotransformer wires too.

 

[AM9]

That OLE looks pretty unobtrusive and sleek (as in simple). Maybe it being clean and fresh paint colour helps.

 

[YourMum666]

so how far exactly have the wires gotten as of this moment, are they at wigston

 

[zwk500]

so how far exactly have the wires gotten as of this moment, are they at wigston

Wires are authorised to Wigston South jn, the pictures above show them installed about 3 miles north of Kettering. AIUI Masts are in at Harborough and piles in along most of the route, but I'm not sure exactly what the construction progress is yet.
@59CosG95, @PJM can you shed any light?

 

[Nottingham59]

Wires!!

south/east

Technical question: in the second pic, there is a cable coming off the ATF feeder, which runs down the mast, on insulators. And a similar cable from the catenary. I assume these continue in insulated cables down to ground level. Does this mean that this is the site of an auto-transformer, or whatever it is that ATF uses to boost the voltage?

EDIT: the wire from the catenary might be an temporary earth wire. But the other one, from the ATF isn't.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Looks like autotransformer wires too.

Exactly what I was thinking. You can always tell by the much larger insulators needed.

 

[59CosG95]

Technical question: in the second pic, there is a cable coming off the ATF feeder, which runs down the mast, on insulators. And a similar cable from the catenary. I assume these continue in insulated cables down to ground level. Does this mean that this is the site of an auto-transformer, or whatever it is that ATF uses to boost the voltage?

The cable coming off the ATF in the second pic, on the insulators, is part of the ATF earthing arrangement; because the ATF is much higher up than the main OLE, longer poles are needed to apply the earths without this arrangement. This arrangement saves time by allowing NPs (Nominated Persons) to apply the earths with the same pole on both the main OLE & the ATF during an isolation.

 

[Nottingham59]

The cable coming off the ATF in the second pic, on the insulators, is part of the ATF earthing arrangement; because the ATF is much higher up than the main OLE, longer poles are needed to apply the earths without this arrangement. This arrangement saves time by allowing NPs (Nominated Persons) to apply the earths with the same pole on both the main OLE & the ATF during an isolation.

Thanks. That makes sense now.

 

[PJM]

Wires are authorised to Wigston South jn, the pictures above show them installed about 3 miles north of Kettering. AIUI Masts are in at Harborough and piles in along most of the route, but I'm not sure exactly what the construction progress is yet.
@59CosG95, @PJM can you shed any light?

So, yes the wires are authorised to Wigston South Jn but a lot of the route is at varying stages of completion. Checkout @Flying Phil #6013. Additions since then are the wires as shot around Rushton to Desborough, still absolutely nothing, not even a pile in Desborough itself. Desborough to Braybrooke feeder, masts and cantilevers, stove pipes and earth wire. Gap of half a mile. Market Harborough to just north of the station, masts cantilevers, earth wire (but not the station itself). Gap through Great Bowden then masts cantilevers from the A6 bridge north of G. Bowden to Kibworth then north of Kibworth piles around the Kibworth compound (yesterday) then more piles - not continuous - north Newton Harcourt.

 

[londonmidland]

What’s the reason for the new installations of portals between Radlett and St. Albans? Is this just to replace failing/at risk of failing headspans?

The ones replaced/to be replaced (headspans) are leaning over slightly I’ve noticed.

 

[Nottingham59]

Gap through Great Bowden

Does that correspond to the deviation between GtB and the A6?

I wonder if they have scheduled that section last, in case the powers that be decided at the last minute to straighten out the kink before putting up the wires?

 

[PJM]

Track lowering we think.

@59CosG95 Main St (Bridge 28D) *should* have its track lowering finished this weekend coming - I've seen on Flickr that trial holes have been dug in the area too.

Mind you that post was dated 25 Jan 23 and I don`t think that it has been done yet. Anyone know?