Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 17:15 28 Mar 2024
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Passengers pleaded with knifeman during attack
* Family anger at sentence on fatal crash driver, 19
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1917)
Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore closed (link)

Train RunningCancelled
16:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street
18:37 Westbury to Swindon
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
20:13 Swindon to Westbury
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
Short Run
14:49 Plymouth to Cardiff Central
15:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
15:15 Plymouth to London Paddington
15:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
15:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
15:42 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
16:00 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
16:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
16:35 London Paddington to Plymouth
16:50 Plymouth to London Paddington
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:30 London Paddington to Taunton
17:36 Swindon to Westbury
Delayed
12:15 Penzance to London Paddington
13:59 Cardiff Central to Penzance
14:15 Penzance to London Paddington
14:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
14:36 London Paddington to Paignton
15:03 London Paddington to Penzance
16:03 London Paddington to Penzance
Additional 17:17 Exeter St Davids to Penzance
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 17:31:55 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[133] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[132] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[53] Return of the BRUTE?
[44] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[41] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[32] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: 1 ... 30 31 [32] 33 34 ... 176
  Print  
Author Topic: Great Western Main Line electrification - ongoing discussion  (Read 1046664 times)
Zoe
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 746


View Profile
« Reply #465 on: February 04, 2011, 16:09:06 »

While I abhor the practice of running diesel trains under the wires for 400 miles from London to Edinburgh, before continuing on non-electrified lines to Aberdeen or Inverness, I don't think it makes sense to have a mode change on the London - Plymouth / Penzance route until electrification reaches at least Exeter.  The additional complexity and operational risks from the change-over would not be worth it.  Nor would the time penalty and potential overcrowding issues of going via Bristol.
With line speed improvements Paddington to Bristol and Bristol to Exeter, going via Bristol wouldn't really be a time penalty.  The Berks and Hants route is not suited for higher speeds.
Logged
Electric train
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4355


The future is 25000 Volts AC 750V DC has its place


View Profile
« Reply #466 on: February 04, 2011, 16:37:57 »

Once an electrification programme gets started, these "fill-in" schemes become more viable and skilled teams can be kept working efficiently.
Only one problem with this theory, as UK (United Kingdom) railway history has proved, the problem is called HM Government; they just keep interfering and every few years with a change of rosette colour as they say at a terminus all change
Logged

Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent,”
Tim
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2738


View Profile
« Reply #467 on: February 04, 2011, 16:53:04 »


Eurostar's managed to raise their third rail shoe and raise their pan and vice versa quite successfully. 

good point.  Mind you they were the most complex and most expensive (and least intensively used) trains in the country.

Personally,  I can't see the issue with desiel all the way from Paddington to Penzance, the proportion under the wires is a small fraction of the journey and the energy wasted in carting arround two sets of traction equipment for the whole journey will cancel out any environmental benefit of the small electric portion of the journey.  We would be much better using bi-mode Meridians on the ECML (East Coast Main Line) or perhaps TPE (Trans Pennine Express) or XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) routes for example. Bi-mode on the B and H only makes sense when the wires start to get to Exeter or Plymouth.   

Logged
woody
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 525


View Profile
« Reply #468 on: February 04, 2011, 21:54:01 »

Can the Meridians be fitted with tilt actuators like their Virgin class 221 cousins and the Paddington/Penzance route fitted with TASS (Tilt Authorisation and Speed Supervision) to speed things up.If ever there was a route that would benefit from tilt then this is it given the track geometry particularly west of Exeter.
Logged
willc
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2330


View Profile
« Reply #469 on: February 05, 2011, 01:10:19 »

Quote
Can the Meridians be fitted with tilt actuators

Not that straightforward, as the bogies on the 221s are a different design to the 220s and Meridians, with heavy-duty outside frames.
Logged
Worcester_Passenger
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1702


View Profile
« Reply #470 on: February 05, 2011, 10:43:29 »

Can the Meridians be fitted with tilt actuators like their Virgin class 221 cousins and the Paddington/Penzance route fitted with TASS (Tilt Authorisation and Speed Supervision) to speed things up.If ever there was a route that would benefit from tilt then this is it given the track geometry particularly west of Exeter.
The tilt mechanism adds a lot of weight to the 221 Voyagers. They weigh 56.6 tons per coach, whereas the non-tilting 220s weigh 46.4 tons per coach. That's an awful lot to carry around, with all that that implies about fuel consumption. West of Plymouth it would make no difference - the number of stops means that acceleration is more important than going round curves at a higher speed.
Logged
willc
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2330


View Profile
« Reply #471 on: February 05, 2011, 10:49:05 »

It's much more the bogie frames than the actual tilt kit when it comes to the weight penalty. A lot of extra metal to cart around.
Logged
woody
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 525


View Profile
« Reply #472 on: February 08, 2011, 10:22:34 »

 Reference the latest Daft proposals for FGW (First Great Western) what a dogs dinner of half baked and half hearted half measures.If only the government had the same appetite for the here and now as it does for HS2 (The next High Speed line(s)).Great Westerns misfortune is that renewel has come during the worst economic and financial crisis facing the country since the 1929 wall street crash the inevitable result being the Dafts latest compromise solution of half measures aka botch up.
Logged
devon_metro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5175



View Profile
« Reply #473 on: February 08, 2011, 11:19:26 »

For a second there I thought I had stumbled across the Daily Mail website...!
Logged
anthony215
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1260


View Profile Email
« Reply #474 on: February 13, 2011, 18:43:26 »

We can expect and annoucement from the Governement on the electrification and IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) in the next 2-3 weeks if reports on the other forums are to be beieved.

Sad to say it looks like the idiots in the DFT (Department for Transport) have gone for the Bi-mode option   and the wires are only going to Bristol  (unless the WAG» (Welsh Assembly Government - about) can come up with at least ^100 million) that said if the WAG could come up with the money they would be better off spending in on the valley lines electrfication which needs to be done asap.

Reports are suggesting that a deal has been done with the japaneese government  where the governemnt have got a large discount on the cost of the trains by selling some of the new eurofighter aircraft to the japaneese airforce
Logged
onthecushions
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 977


View Profile
« Reply #475 on: February 14, 2011, 10:37:55 »


DfT» (Department for Transport - about) electrification approvals over the years seem to have majored on getting as much of the benefits as possible consonant with minimum track miles wired, minimum new stock and maximum cascaded.

Now MML» (Midland Main Line. - about) needs c125 route miles wired compared to Wootton Basset - Cardiff's c108 miles. Hence dropping the latter would mostly pay for the former. If, in addition, MML's Meridians could come to FGW (First Great Western) after the 125's are allowed to finally expire, then the Hitachi IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) order could also be sharply reduced.

Mix the lot up with a nice defence aerospace order to Japan..........

Remember Pearl Harbour?

OTC
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 18894



View Profile
« Reply #476 on: February 14, 2011, 11:28:48 »

I don't think Pearl Harbor is at all relevant to this discussion.
Logged

"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
onthecushions
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 977


View Profile
« Reply #477 on: February 14, 2011, 22:52:24 »

Apologies for my uncharitable quip.

I had in mind Roger Ford's MR (Midland Railway) comment about, shall we say, "unequal trading".

Railway workshops turned into outlet centres depress me.

Will stick to OP (Original Poster / topic starter).

OTC
Logged
woody
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 525


View Profile
« Reply #478 on: February 17, 2011, 09:07:12 »

 
   

Political and commercial will needed for rail electrification  and HS3,an interview with Mark Hopwood

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/2011/02/16/political-and-commercial-will-needed-for-rail-electrification-91466-28177887/#ixzz1ECmhIyk0
Logged
anthony215
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1260


View Profile Email
« Reply #479 on: February 17, 2011, 09:46:28 »

Here is another aticle from todays south wales evening post:

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Rethink-calls-fears-grow-rail-line-upgrade/article-3234144-detail/article.html

To  be honest i would be happy if it even comes to Cardiff
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 ... 30 31 [32] 33 34 ... 176
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page