Great Western Coffee Shop

Electrification of the railway through Melksham?  The suggestion made a decade ago would have been laughed out of court, but now Network Rail (the folks who would have been doing the laughing) are proposing it as part of their plans for a zero carbon railway by 2050.  Their "Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy suggests core routes to be electrified first, ancillary routes which logically follow on, and a finally other routes running in Hydrogen or batteries.  Melksham comes in the first group - a core route with electrification following on from the Great Western Electrification which has nearly reached Chippenham to Bristol, Taunton and Exeter, from Newbury via Westbury to Taunton, and from Westbury to both Bath and Chippenham.

Network Rail explain:

PASSENGERS: As well as a regional commuter service this route also acts as a diversionary route for long-distance high-speed Great Western Railway services between London and the South West and Bristol.  The West of England Combined Authority is developing the Metrowest proposals which will entail significant service enhancements for Greater Bristol, including Bristol-Bath-Westbury services which could exploit the future electrification of this route. Enhancements to the regional service are also proposed.

FREIGHT: Aggregate traffic from the quarries can utilise this route to gain access to the Great Western mainline. These trains are some of the heaviest on the network. This route can also act as a diversionary route for freight traffic from Southampton destined for the West Midlands.

A long term project - not next year or probably even this decade - but certainly not beyond the bounds of probability, and even before the main line on from Exeter to Paignton, Plymouth and Penzance.  It would bring faster journey times, cleaner and less noisy services too. And it would be a logical encouragement towards more trains too.  With the Southampton line electrified too (in the core route group), expect to see Melksham served by a regional electric train from the Solent area, via Salisbury and Trowbridge and onwards to Swindon, Oxford, and perhaps Milton Keynes and Bedford.

You may tell me I am dreaming.  But then you told me that I was dreaming when I asked for an all day, every day service a decade ago. And we have that now.  The difference is that last time everyone thought I had a crazy idea, but this time they're the ones coming up with the idea.   See pages 199 and 200 of Network Rail's report at https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Traction-Decarbonisation-Network-Strategy-Interim-Programme-Business-Case.pdf , discussion at http://www.passenger.chat/24005 .

A very long and interesting read.   I have ordered some midnight oil.   

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25 kV OHLE will be the base, and I would imagine that the major routes with electric at both ends would be the priority. This would mean finishing the job between Thingley Junction and Bristol, and Temple Mead to not only Parkway, but to Birmingham. That would knock other schemes down the order, and Severn Beach would have to wait, despite being, as RS points out, the low hanging fruit.

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The rare earth metals for example used in batteries the impact that has on the extracting and processing and ultimate recycle / disposal.  The whole life environmental cost of GWEP is been studied for example.  All these issues need some understanding in comparison to current technology; or we may leave future generations with the Nuclear Power Station decommissioning type problems ie great while it working but now how do we get rid of it!

However see attached image from this month?s Railway Magazine!

I think only Melksham has been achieved - we need more Grahames!

I also see that Railway Magazine's sub editor is more familiar with the works of Noel Coward than the towns of the Northumberland coast........

But I though Melksham Station reopened in 1985.  That article was in 2000 before the services were cut in 2006?

Transport Committee: To hit its own decarbonisation deadline, Government must set out clear strategy for rail network

A 30 year rolling programme of electrification should be set out

As a matter of priority, the Government should publish a long-term strategy that sets out its vision for electrification and for the use of battery and hydrogen technology that is underpinned by appropriate costings, a credible delivery plan and enabling targets and milestones.

As part of its strategy, the DfT should commit to a 30-year rolling programme of electrification projects. If the Government is to meet the legally binding target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and a former Minister’s pledge to remove all diesel trains from tracks by 2040, the current Government must take the first steps and start the electrification programme as soon as possible rather than waiting for the start of the next control period in 2024.

Full report (as a series of .html pages not a single .pdf document!) via https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmtrans/876/87602.htm

From the Transport Committee

 (https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/153/transport-committee/news/152995/transport-committee-to-hit-its-own-decarbonisation-deadline-government-must-set-out-clear-strategy-for-rail-network/)

Rolling stock (Dec-19):
* GWR: Class 16X with phased introduction of Class 769s underway.

No doubt this could go on several threads, but here looks a good start. A public-spirited soul - JacobWrenn on railforums - has used FoI to get a copy of Network Rail's "Southern Region Decarbonisation Strategy" (dated August 2022). He's made it available to read on line here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_M53lvCyjXWxTTtNQRX4svt4f0oHH7Vi/view?usp=drivesdk), but you can download the PDF from there too.

I have echoed it here (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/SouthernRegionTractionDecarbinsationStrategy_redacted.pdf) on our mirror too.   Sadly the document is locked so it's not searchable.

I'm not sure about locked - it claims content copying is allowed, but I got that to work on the phoito credits and on nothing else. I presume that the content was prepared as images and there is no text embedded at all, hence nothing to copy or search.

I have got some text out with screen captures and OCR software ... how sad am I?

Although outside our main area of interest, I see that after all the debate in recent years they are seemingly sticking with 3rd rail to Uckfield.

Paul

Yes, in one of their references to the SOBC they say "AC electrification found to be grossly disproportionate in cost compared to the safety benefits gained..." Is this the start of a campaign by NR?

The SOBC is the Strategic Outline business Case; AIUI it's the official begging letter from NR to DfT to please put some money into their end of the pipeline.

I’ve always thought with the Uckfield branch being right in the middle of the wider “Southern Region” the safety aspects are exaggerated. I suggest a lot of normal members of the public will just assume everywhere in the area is third rail already…

I’ve always thought with the Uckfield branch being right in the middle of the wider “Southern Region” the safety aspects are exaggerated. I suggest a lot of normal members of the public will just assume everywhere in the area is third rail already…

Agreed, and in fact the same comment could be made about infilling the North Downs with third rail too. Overall, the increased safety risk for such modest schemes must be immaterial in the light of the current extensive third rail network on the old Southern Region.