New edition Jul 2022 of Enhancements Delivery Plan Scotland

[snowball]

There doesn't seem to be any still-open, recent general thread for enhancements in Scotland, so I'm creating one.

A few years ago there used to be regular published updates to Network Rail's Enhancements Delivery Plan. This process seems to have ended with respect to England and Wales, but continues in Scotland.

I've just discovered this Milestones Schedule dated July 2022.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Scotland-Enhancements-Delivery-Plan-September-2022.pdf

Network Rail is obliged to publish key investment milestones to support broader industry planning and delivery
of outputs which provide benefits to passengers and freight customers.
This is in accordance with the Rail Enhancements & Capital Investment Strategy (RECIS), which sets out the
Scottish Ministers’ commitment to investment in the rail network from Control Period 6 onwards and the specific
requirements of the ORR as set out in Enhancements in Control Period 6, Roles and Responsibilities (March 2019).
This schedule will be updated on an agreed basis with changes / updates formally agreed as per the Team
Scotland Execution Plan at the Programme Pipeline Board and other forums.

Sorry about the ugly format in which the foillowing quote has come out, but it's easy to read if you click the link above.

List of Entries

R e s t o n N e w S t a t i o n 1
E a s t L i n t o n N e w S t a t i o n 2
I n v e r n e s s A i r p o r t S t a t i o n 3
L e v e n m o u t h 4
G l a s g o w t o B a r r h e a d E l e c t r i f i c a t i o n 5
E a s t K i l b r i d e P r o j e c t E n h a n c e m e n t 6
B o r d e r s D e c a r b o n i s a t i o n 7
F i f e D e c a r b o n i s a t i o n 8
D u n b l a n e , B a r n h i l l a n d H i l t o n E n h a n c e m e n t s 9
A b e r d e e n t o C e n t r a l B e l t D e c a r b o n i s a t i o n 1 0
A b e r d e e n t o C e n t r a l 2 0 2 6 E n h a n c e m e n t 1 1
F a r N o r t h E n h a n c e m e n t s 1 2
S c o t l a n d A c c e s s i b i l i t y P r o j e c t s ( T S ) 1 3
S c o t l a n d A c c e s s i b i l i t y P r o j e c t s ( D F T ) 1 4
F o r t h B r i d g e E x p e r i e n c e 1 5
T r a c t i o n P o w e r E a s t – D e c a r b o n i s a t i o n 1 6
T r a c t i o n P o w e r W e s t – D e c a r b o n i s a t i o n 1 7
A p p e n d i x – E n h a n c e m e n t D e l i v e r y P l a n M i l e s t o n e s 1 8 - 2 0

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

There doesn't seem to be any still-open, recent general thread for enhancements in Scotland, so I'm creating one.

A few years ago there used to be regular published updates to Network Rail's Enhancements Delivery Plan. This process seems to have ended with respect to England and Wales, but continues in Scotland.

I've just discovered this Milestones Schedule dated July 2022.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Scotland-Enhancements-Delivery-Plan-September-2022.pdf

Sorry about the ugly format in which the foillowing quote has come out, but it's easy to read if you click the link above.

This is really useful document wonder if it has England/Wales counterparts. Anyhow you have to wonder why TS is getting NR to electrify Borders/Fife for Dec 24 but no stock until 2027 unless ScotRail are going to use some exiting stock converted to BEMU capability until new stock arrives.

 

[snowball]

This is really useful document wonder if it has England/Wales counterparts.

There may be some internal Network Rail documents but there's a shortage of ones involving the DfT. We're a few days short of the third anniversary of the last supposedly annual update.

Anyhow you have to wonder why TS is getting NR to electrify Borders/Fife for Dec 24 but no stock until 2027 unless ScotRail are going to use some exiting stock converted to BEMU capability until new stock arrives.

Probably the new stock procurement schedule has slipped more than the electrification has slipped. Hopefully once the Borders line is done they'll move on to Dunblane-Perth-Dundee. I think it unlikely any existing stock will be converted - it would be a diversion of resources.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Just do it as Tiger would say

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Probably the new stock procurement schedule has slipped more than the electrification has slipped. Hopefully once the Borders line is done they'll move on to Dunblane-Perth-Dundee. I think it unlikely any existing stock will be converted - it would be a diversion of resources.

Well we have to see but means the wiring could site there for several years with no stock to make use of it. If this is the case it would have been better to have pushed onto Kilmarnock first so diesel units could be eliminated once it was wired.

 

[Trainbike46]

This is really useful document wonder if it has England/Wales counterparts. Anyhow you have to wonder why TS is getting NR to electrify Borders/Fife for Dec 24 but no stock until 2027 unless ScotRail are going to use some exiting stock converted to BEMU capability until new stock arrives.

remember (some of) the fife lines (including Dalmeny) will likely get used by LNER from day 1

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

remember (some of) the fife lines (including Dalmeny) will likely get used by LNER from day 1

couple of trains a day each way hardly justifies building out infrastructure so early. More sensible would be to give Hitachi a follow on order for more 5 car 801's to replace the HSTs.

 

[Trainbike46]

couple of trains a day each way hardly justifies building out infrastructure so early. More sensible would be to give Hitachi a follow on order for more 5 car 801's to replace the HSTs.

not if you have to keep paying for the HSTs (and the Scottish government does have to keep paying for the HSTs, so they won't get replaced early)

trains are coming to use the infrastructure, just not quite from day one in all likelihood (other than LNER)

 

[Wynd]

5 new stations imminent is such good news.

 

[jopsuk]

better electrification finished (and fully tested, and lightly used) before the new stock arrives, than a new electric fleet arrives and it can't be used!

 

[snowball]

better electrification finished (and fully tested, and lightly used) before the new stock arrives, than a new electric fleet arrives and it can't be used!

Except that the purpose of the new fleet is not only to exploit new (full and partial) electrification, but also to replace old electrics on already electrified lines.

 

[gavin1985]

There doesn't seem to be any still-open, recent general thread for enhancements in Scotland, so I'm creating one.

A few years ago there used to be regular published updates to Network Rail's Enhancements Delivery Plan. This process seems to have ended with respect to England and Wales, but continues in Scotland.

I've just discovered this Milestones Schedule dated July 2022.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Scotland-Enhancements-Delivery-Plan-September-2022.pdf

Sorry about the ugly format in which the foillowing quote has come out, but it's easy to read if you click the link above.

That’s a great find with the document!

Not that I’ve used the train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen but a 20 minute reduction in time would be a big improvement. At most I’ve went to Dundee which is about an hour and 5, so wonder what the overall recursion for that journey would be too, probably about 10 minutes?

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

better electrification finished (and fully tested, and lightly used) before the new stock arrives, than a new electric fleet arrives and it can't be used!

tweedbank won't be used at all until the BEMUs turn up or perhaps Porterbrook will find someone else to take on the discarded 769s for a few years

 

[clc]

That’s a great find with the document!

Not that I’ve used the train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen but a 20 minute reduction in time would be a big improvement. At most I’ve went to Dundee which is about an hour and 5, so wonder what the overall recursion for that journey would be too, probably about 10 minutes?

It says a 3 minute reduction to Dundee so there must be a 17 minute reduction between Dundee and Edinburgh.

A 9 minute reduction to Glasgow doesn’t seem very ambitious compared with the improvement to Edinburgh.

 

[gavin1985]

It says a 3 minute reduction to Dundee so there must be a 17 minute reduction between Dundee and Edinburgh.

A 9 minute reduction to Glasgow doesn’t seem very ambitious compared with the improvement to Edinburgh.

Sorry for the naive question. Is that perhaps because most of the network is wired up between Dundee and Glasgow? Not sure how much is wired on that line to be honest.

 

[Wynd]

The reduction in time for Aberdeen to Edinburgh has some backstory.

First it was mooted to duel the single line section at Usan, then upon consultation, it was realised this would save 3 mins, for £200m.

Questionable use of capital.

The focus has shifted to where the real bottlenecks are, between Edinburgh and Dundee. Primarily, signalling.

The contentious part of all this is that the £200m was earmarked for spending in the North East, so there has been a slight change of plan.

A 20 minute reduction between Edinburgh and Aberdeen would be very welcome. ECML timings are painful if you live north of Edinburgh.

London to York, 1 hour 50. 210 miles.
York to Edinburgh 2.5 hrs. 205 miles.
Edinburgh to Aberdeen. 2.5 hrs. 130 miles.

 

[Tayway]

Interesting that electrification of the Maryhill branch has been omitted – will it be short enough to be served with BEMUs?

 

[clc]

The original plan was for express services giving journey times of 2 hours to Edinburgh and 2 hours 15 minutes to Glasgow:

• Recasting of the passenger timetable on the Aberdeen – Dundee – Edinburgh / Glasgow corridors to provide express and stopping services;
• Providing one express train per hour to Glasgow (two hour fifteen minute journey time);
• Providing one express train per hour to Edinburgh (two hour journey time); and
• No stops at intermediate settlements for express services (except Dundee).

j10194c-28 | Transport Scotland

www.transport.gov.scot

 

[Wynd]

The dropping of intermediate stops is always going to be contentious. I would be arguing for Stonehaven to remain and Dundee to be dropped. Dundee takes up a lot of time in the journey. Stonehaven is a better station for folk that are in the shire, but not the city.

 

[Bald Rick]

The dropping of intermediate stops is always going to be contentious. I would be arguing for Stonehaven to remain and Dundee to be dropped. Dundee takes up a lot of time in the journey. Stonehaven is a better station for folk that are in the shire, but not the city.

I‘m afraid that‘s not right, on almost every level.

Dundee is a slow speed layout: 15mph for half a mile through Dock St tunnel and into the platforms from the Aberdeen direction, 40mph for 3/4 mile towards Perth, and of course a long stretch at 25 round the curve on to the Tay Bridge towards Leuchars. Because of the low speed (especially that 15mph restriction), the time cost of a stop is about 30sec plus the dwell time, which is typically 2 minutes. Therefore a non stop train would save 2.5minutes.

Stonehaven, conversely, is in the middle of a stretch of 85mph. Fortunately, as some trains don’t stop there, we can see from the timetable that the time differential between stopping and non stopping is typically 3.5 minutes.

Therefore stopping at Stonehaven vice Dundee extends journey times.


Secondly, Stonehaven may well be better for folk ‘in the Shire’, which in this case is principally those who live in Banchory (pop 7,440 latest estimate), and the villages further up Deeside (perhaps another 10,000), almost all of whom have presumably chosen to live there, and for that reason very few will need to make the journey to the central belt regularly. For those that do need to get to the central belt, and choose to use the train, they will almost be certainly be travelling by car for at least 15 miles to get to a station, and therefore have a choice of stations, including Stonehaven, Laurencekirk and Montrose.

Dundee on the other hand has a population of almost 150,000 people, many of whom will have a need to get to the central belt regularly.

So perhaps you can see why it is better that all trains call at Dundee, and a few don’t call at Stonehaven.

 

[Wynd]

Deleted.

 

[Bald Rick]

You are making the argument precisely as I would expect.

it’s not my argument, it’s facts!

 

[Mag_seven]

Just a reminder that discussion in this thread should be confined to the actual Enhancements Delivery Plan itself.

If anyone wants to speculate or suggest what they would like to see rather than what is actually in the plan then they are welcome to start a new thread in the Speculative section of the forum.

 

[NotATrainspott]

Interesting that electrification of the Maryhill branch has been omitted – will it be short enough to be served with BEMUs?

If there's no plan to use pure EMUs on the route then it doesn't seem that important to get it wired up. It'll happen someday when it's worthwhile filling in electrification gaps, or if the Glasgow Metro plans mean big changes to service patterns.

couple of trains a day each way hardly justifies building out infrastructure so early. More sensible would be to give Hitachi a follow on order for more 5 car 801's to replace the HSTs.

It's not really a problem if infrastructure will be ready a few years before many trains can use it. There's a fair amount of the network needing wires before the decarbonisation deadlines and many services will need a good number of schemes done before they can switch over to (B)EMU operation. It'd be ideal if BEMUs could take over all non-long-distance services out of Edinburgh in one fell swoop, rather than each service pattern (Fife Circle, Borders, Perth, Dundee) switching one at a time and requiring its own microfleet.

 

[snowball]

Bumping this thread for the latest annual update in a slightly different document series, the Scottish Government's Infrastructure Investment Plan. Thanks to @clc for drawing attention to it in the Barrhead/EK thread. I'll list the latest on electrification schemes:

Barrhead: est cost remains £63M, completion remains Dec 2023.

EK: now estimated total cost £111M-£124M, completion still claimed Dec 2024.

Levenmouth: now estimated total cost £116M to reopen and electrify, completion still spring 2024 (though passenger services Dec 2023 are confusingly also mentioned).

Fife (excluding Levenmouth): Haymarket to Dalmeny £55.6M, completion Dec 2024. Work starts on Fife proper early 2023. Overall project £210M, completion Dec 2025.

Borders: cost £32M, start 2023, completion May 2027.

I don't know whether any of these figures include a share of the feeder stations programme or the trains procurement programme.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Bumping this thread for the latest annual update in a slightly different document series, the Scottish Government's Infrastructure Investment Plan. Thanks to @clc for drawing attention to it in the Barrhead/EK thread. I'll list the latest on electrification schemes:

Barrhead: est cost remains £63M, completion remains Dec 2023.

EK: now estimated total cost £111M-£124M, completion still claimed Dec 2024.

Levenmouth: now estimated total cost £116M to reopen and electrify, completion still spring 2024 (though passenger services Dec 2023 are confusingly also mentioned).

Fife (excluding Levenmouth): Haymarket to Dalmeny £55.6M, completion Dec 2024. Work starts on Fife proper early 2023. Overall project £210M, completion Dec 2025.

Borders: cost £32M, start 2023, completion May 2027.

I don't know whether any of these figures include a share of the feeder stations programme or the trains procurement programme.

Thanks for update in the documents section there is also a forward pipeline tracker but only rail project on that is the Aberdeen to Central belt journey time reduction project. Has £200m budgeted and its forecast to come to market Q1/23 so its curious as to where the new EMU project is hiding but maybe if they are going down the leasing route they don't need to make a CAPEX provision for it.

 

[waverley47]

Thanks for update in the documents section there is also a forward pipeline tracker but only rail project on that is the Aberdeen to Central belt journey time reduction project. Has £200m budgeted and its forecast to come to market Q1/23 so its curious as to where the new EMU project is hiding but maybe if they are going down the leasing route they don't need to make a CAPEX provision for it.

The new fleets will be leased under the same model as the 385s; an agreement to lease for X number of years, with an option to buy the fleet afterwards for a nominal sum.

This is useful for two reasons. Firstly, it stops the fleet being nicked or leased to someone else for a higher price if the lease expires. Secondly, it avoids any capex, instead spreading the cost over a fixed period of say 15 years.

I wouldn't expect the contract to be open for bids in the next six months though, as ScotGov will be conscious of current high inflation making it quite expensive to sign a lease.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

The new fleets will be leased under the same model as the 385s; an agreement to lease for X number of years, with an option to buy the fleet afterwards for a nominal sum.

This is useful for two reasons. Firstly, it stops the fleet being nicked or leased to someone else for a higher price if the lease expires. Secondly, it avoids any capex, instead spreading the cost over a fixed period of say 15 years.

I wouldn't expect the contract to be open for bids in the next six months though, as ScotGov will be conscious of current high inflation making it quite expensive to sign a lease.

Thanks for clarity that makes absolute sense and shame they didn't do that with CalMac ferries.

 

[snowball]

Thanks for clarity that makes absolute sense and shame they didn't do that with CalMac ferries.

Off topic but indeed the ferries are a staggering item in the document I linked in #25!

 

[MattRat]

couple of trains a day each way hardly justifies building out infrastructure so early. More sensible would be to give Hitachi a follow on order for more 5 car 801's to replace the HSTs.

Wasn't there talk on this forum of 350/2s having batteries added after they go into storage to open up more possibilities for them? Would they be suitable to replace the HSTs if possible? And therefore take advantage of the new infrastructure.