Great Western Coffee Shop

Given the seemingly un-ending rise in ridership over SWT's routes this Network Rail Western Routes Study offers hope to stoical travellers and freight operators alike. I wonder if electrifying Worting Jc-Salisbury might be part of a wider scheme to take the juice, or more likely, knitting, around Laverstock, destination Southampton. And on the subject of electrifying,  why is there no mention of wiring west of Salisbury? After all the 159s aren't going to last until 2043.

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/News-Releases/Have-your-say-on-rail-industry-plan-for-growth-on-routes-to-London-Waterloo-21ce.aspx

The full report does recommend wiring Worting Jn to Southampton via Laverstock, and into Salisbury station.  Their reasoning is that wiring the main line only will not encourage FOCs to use electric traction if they'd still have to use Diesel locos when diverted.  The long term plan for freight capacity includes the use of the Laverstock/Andover route to give additional standard paths anyway. 

The full report does also consider electrification to Exeter.

Paul

Actually, that might not be a given. They would be 50 in 2043 and some of the IC125s seem likely to last to at least that age.

That said, there was something in a fairly recent issue of Modern Railways which suggested that all trains into Waterloo would need to be running on electric traction to maximise capacity. This is one of the reasons I've been mooting a new build of bi-mode units for SWT (although mostly it is that I want to see their 158s and 159s made available elsewhere to restrict Pacers (and, as much as possible, 150s) to short-distance journeys, add additional services/lengthen existing ones and keep the likes of Turbostars, Pennine Desiros and Networker Turbos off 'regional express' services like Cardiff-Portsmouth).

You couldn't recommend third rail on that route as there would be too many animals on the line.  ;D

Autocorrect fail.  ::)   Didn't notice that happening...

Paul

Has anyone else noticed that Apple devices second guess what you've written and get it wrong, whereas Android devices guess what you are going to write and get it right?

Absolutely no chance of this happening.  NR are way under-resourced to deliver anything as big as this (and they are losing staff at a rapid rate - people jumping ship for better paid jobs with more understanding employers).  Watch out for this being de-scoped very rapidly :P  Look at the slippage creeping into the GWML electrification for an example.

The web page launching the consultation says this:

That's a mixture of CP6 items (2019-2024) and longer term ones. But 125 mph? I searched for any mention of line speed increases, and the only two I can find are for the North Downs Line and between Templecombe and Axminster. Not the most likely places for a 125 mph line ... or even train. So what are they going on about?

Between Templecombe and Axminster the distance between stations means only with electrification could any benefit be gained from increasing linespeeds to 125mph due to superior acceleration.

Electrification by 3rd Rail to Salisbury and then the section via Romsey to Southampton seems a good call to me as a diversionary route.

Should something happen just west of Worting Junction, you effectively cannot run a service to Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth due to nearly all the services being EMUs. At least with a diversionary route via Andover you could run a basic emergency service in such situations. Class 70s have had a few issues on the SWML in the space of a few days which caused endless disruption.


Actually I've never found that to be true. For Acronyms specifically and a few other things. DDR3 (Double Data Rate) has become DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) which are both completely different things. I also took displeasure in it trying to correct one of my passwords - which is deliberately spelt wrong ;)

Why 3rd rail? as someone else of this parish says the future is 25kV.

In the Wessex route study draft, 25 kV electrification of Basingstoke > Salisbury > Redbridge is seen as a requirement to provide a diversionary route for AC loco hauled freight.   Once that was done it would also provide for passenger diversion with dual voltage stock, but the way it reads that would be a secondary benefit.

If the main line via Winchester is closed west of Worting Junction at the moment they run the main Southampton (and beyond) service via Guildford, Havant and Fareham - for places beyond Southampton, it isn't much different time wise to going via Andover and Laverstock with a reversal at Southampton.

Paul

Would they also consider Salisbury > Westbury > Thingley as a diversionary route for use if the main drag is out of commission north of Basingskoke (i.e. around Mortimer / Reading) seeing as they're looking at the diversionary route via Salisbury for the main drag being out south of Basingstoke (i.e. around Micheldever / Winchester)?

I believe at the moment that route isn't cleared for the largest containers. Apart from that it would appear to make sense.

Southampton to Basingstoke via Laverstock was reported complete in CP4 according to NR , it was cleared to W10 by Jan 2013, with minor follow up work for W12 completed in April this year.  The project originally started just about the time the main route via Winchester was finished.

So additional clearance through Westbury to deal with a Basingstoke to Reading closure should be the next logical step?

Paul

On the subject of rail investment in the south west, the transport secretary admits what is on offer is paltry.

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2014-12-17/doubts-over-funding-for-west-rail-investments/