Great Western Main Line electrification - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

It has been reported in one of the mags (you can look it up) that the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))'s are being considered for life-extension until 2030, as suggested a few posts above......

Sounds good to me as nothing yet that has been built for IC^▸ (Inter City) services comes anywhere near the quality of an HST. Ohhh okay maybe class 91 and MK4, they're not bad either.

[stebbo]

Mk III coaches are good. Don't knock them - especially when you've got a few more tables in like the good ole days.

[anthony215]

I donmt see the concervatives scrapping the lectrification swcheme for teh great western simply because it will allow them to reduce the amount of subsidy they have to pay out as the electric trains are cheaper to operate.

also i have noticed that maybe the wires should be extended from Bristol to exeter st davids as this will mean that the Cardiff - Taunton & Weston Super Mare - Bristol Parkway services will be able to be operated using a few EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)'S thus meaning that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will be able to save at least 8 dmus which could help to boost capacity elsewhere

[Zoe]

also i have noticed that maybe the wires should be extended from Bristol to exeter st davids as this will mean that the Cardiff - Taunton & Weston Super Mare - Bristol Parkway services will be able to be operated using a few EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)'S thus meaning that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will be able to save at least 8 dmus which could help to boost capacity elsewhere

If you are going to electrify as far as Exeter St Davids you may as well continue though to Plymouth assuming the Dawlish Sea Wall does not prevent this.  Most intercity trains do not terminate at Exeter but continue through to Plymouth so if the electrification did end at Exeter diesel would be required for the section from Exeter to Plymouth.

[stebbo]

Which neatly brings us back to a topic I raised earlier/in another thread ie whether the old Southern route over Datmoor should be looked at or the old GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) route around the back of the coast?

The coastal route is great - and I spent many happy journeys on it in the late 50s and early 60s with steam - but I'm not sure it's good for long term electrification.

[XPT]

When it was announced back in July last year that the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) was to be electrified, on the news reports I watched it said that the work to begin electrifying the Great Western mainline would begin immediately. That was on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page), ITN, and Sky News. Now I didn't expect that to mean the work would begin that day or even that month.   But we are now some 9 months later in April, and there is still no sign of the physical work of the GWML actually being electrified.  So what's happening?   Is electrification of the GWML another of those things which never ends up actually going ahead?

[Timmer]

Suggest asking that question after the general election but me thinks it could be kicked into the long grass for a few more years now IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) looks dead in the water. So another refurb/refit for the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) fleet in a few years time?

[paul7575]

Work in the drawing office is still progress. It was always going to be ages ( a couple of years) before any masts started appearing beside the track IMHO^▸ ('in my humble opinion').

Paul

[Electric train]

Paul is correct there is a team working on the development, the process still has to follow GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects - Network Rail's process for project management of schemes through development and implementation) at each GRIP stage there are number of deliverables that have to be meet to secure funding for the next stage.  The GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) is being developed at the same time as the other routes announced.  There is also collaboration between the GWML project and Crossrail.

My guess is, provided GWML electrification gets the funding it will do the Crossrail electrification area first.

Post election may have an effect of the whole scheme, part of the scheme or have no effect at all as has been the case since the First World War the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) railway is in the hands of the vagaries of the politicians

[anthony215]

I have heard the welsh assembly have said they would be willing to put some money forward to have the wires through to Swansea.

[John R]

The approved scheme includes wiring as far as Swansea.

[IndustryInsider]

Well, the investment roller-coaster continues. 

GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification now looking in some doubt: http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/general/2010/06/16-electrification-looking-increasingly-unlikely-soon.html

Whilst Crossrail which was looking in some doubt (in terms of its full scope) now appears to be safe: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/10323035.stm

Whatever happens, for goodness sake let's get Crossrail extended to Reading!

We'll see what the situation is next week... 

[inspector_blakey]

Interesting... I'm sure I read in the last issue of RAIL (well, possibly the last but one because it takes them a few weeks to find their way into my mailbox Stateside) a quote from Phillip Hammond in which he indicated that they were committed to GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification.

What seems to be the prevailing attitude of "HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) at all costs and b*gg*r the rest of the network" seems to be utterly ludicrous to me. If there are limited resources available (which there most certainly are!) why on earth are huge sums being p*ssed up the wall on a "nice-to-have" vanity project like HS2 which will benefit a relatively limited number of people when that same amount of money could be making vast improvements for millions of passengers on the existing rail network?

Easy solution: ditch HS2 for now: it's not as if it was ever going to be in action quickly anyway, and what appears to be the current plan just to build London to Birmingham would result in a pretty vestigial high-speed line that just duplicates one of the country's fastest and most frequent rail services anyway. Instead, spend the money on GWML electrification/new rolling stock/RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context) and BHM upgrades. Is this really that complicated? HS2 is a project that we can always come back to in due course when the money's actually available.

[brompton rail]

A similar comment from the Press Association casting severe doubt on GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) electrification, and I guess too on North West fill in electrification.

HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) and DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) for ever it seems with Crossrail getting no further west than Maidenhead.

Happy times ahead!

[brompton rail]

Whoops - link here
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gfGpowdYRyv4vzIDAZAxhpMZD5SA

Sorry