Great Western Coffee Shop

A NEW rail line is to built between Glasgow and Edinburgh that will see 140mph trains reduce the journey between the cities to 30minutes, the Scottish Government announced today.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/its-glasgow-edinburgh-at-140mph-in-30-mins-106868n.19386308

Haven't read the article as I don't want to register.

November Modern railways has had an  article on Scottish electrification and in fact they are  deffering  (cutting down) and not extending to  Cumbernald to Dunblane/Alloa/Grangemouth  or doing the Falkirk Grahamston loop and not building the Dalmeny chord to enable Glasgow and Striling trains to serve the proposed Edinburgh Gateway station.

So I assumme that the 140mph is a bit pf spin put on the direct via Falkirk line electrification.

Was there any mention of the signalling to be used. Presumably it can't be TVM 430 as on HS1 and will have to be some form of ERTMS.

Maybe not though.  The BBC website also reports this is being 'taken forward':

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-20296195

and it's well beyond the timescales of the current EGIP work, as was reported in MR.

Paul

Seems to be a bit of kite flying. Something to do with a referendum? 

There are already 4 lines between the two cities, so let's build a 5th in these times of austerity.    Hmmmm

We've recently descoped the improvement programme of the main route which means journey times won't be as fast, saving a couple of hundred million. So now, we're going to spend a couple of billion to get those savings back.    Hmmm again.

We're going to carry on electrifying a line when it's main use will be superseded in less than a decade.  More hmmm'ing.

We're going to build a 140mph "high speed" line, when the journey time saving over the distance involved against 125mph running would be less than 2 minutes (over, say 35 miles, assuming a pretty direct route, which any link with a HSL from England is unlikely to be anyway, as it would have two spurs both pointing south). 

This certainly seems to be a bit of political grandstanding that may have something to do with a forthcoming decision that the scottish people will be invited to take.   

And there is more,the Scotts also want HS2 extended north of the boarder as well!

http://profeng.com/news/scots-ministers-call-for-fast-rail-link-from-glasgow-to-edinburgh

Are there deeper pockets in kilts than in trousers? There is no end to the Scottish largesse.

I can only see it being affordable if linked with HS2 working southwards to meet in the middle somewhere to create a high speed network from north to south. More financially beneficial however if it creates strong links to Aberdeen with the oil industry and other high tech industries in that particular part of Scotland. HS between Glasgow and Edinburgh should be part of this as a long term strategy as opposed to a standalone project.

There are no pockets in kilts, all depends on the size of your sporran! To be fair I've never had a problem with the current 100mph running which takes just over forty five minutes with four stops.

Anyone know what the fastest time for the 70s push-pull sets...pair of 27s or 47+DVT?

Just wait for decanted 125s from ECML or FGW and run short-formed sets...bet it could be done in under 40 mins for a fraction of the cost.

My 1974 timetable lists two trains per hour on the fast Falkirk route, one taking 43 minutes (with one stop at Haymarket) and one taking 45 minutes (Haymarket and Falkirk calls).

It's every 15 minutes now, but and extra stop at Falkirk and Croy on the fastest trains, and Linlithgow and Polmont on the slower service has increased the journey time to a typical 49/51 minutes.  Even with the 10 minute planned reduction, that will only reduce the trip by a couple of minutes than what it was in the 70s!