Scottish Borders Railway - rebuilt Waverley Route link to Edinburgh

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it the central issue here is that the line was value-engineered down to a specification that will make it very difficult and expensive to increase its capacity. As long as it never needs to carry more trains than it was projected to carry then that may be fine - but these projections have a habit of turning out to be underestimates. How much did they save by building new overbridges to accommodate single track? And how much would it now cost to widen them?

The phrase 'spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar' springs to mind.

[chopper1944]

It's not just rail lines that this kind of thing happens to, compare this with the South Devon Link Road at the Penn Inn in Newton Abbot.

[Rhydgaled]

Re:CfN's post above, I note a repeat of the complaint that the services on the re-opened line are often full and standing and that a double track would have obviated that. On paper that may well be true, but there is not the rolling stock currently available even if the infrastructure could support it.

I can't see the connection. To solve the crowding issue you need longer trains, the concern with the (lack of) double track I thought was about punctuallity (and, possibly, allowing charters to run without them having to take the path away from the standard service).

Longer trains would only be marginally slower that the current ones (take longer to go over restricted speed locations)

Interesting comment, that might I suppose push the single line occupation, but how much is it negated by the fact a longer train of 158s has less frontal area per unit of horse power?

I only know of one re-opened service that has really not worked (Swanline - stopping service between Cardiff and Swansea) the others being a tremendous success.

Low-use of Swanline is presumably due to the low frequency on an existing line with faster services every hour at minimum. Fishguard has a similar low frequency (even fewer services) and I think loadings for the first year were around about what was estimated, rather than being far higher than the estimate in the case of reopenings with better frequency. In the case of Fishguard though, I don't know what assumptions were made by the pepole doing the estimates. They may have expected Fishguard & Goodwick station open from the outset (it actually openned about 8 months into the trial service) and/or the Stena fast ferry to still be running (if I recall correctly its last summer was 2011, just before the Fishguard trains started).

[grahame]

Longer trains would only be marginally slower that the current ones (take longer to go over restricted speed locations)

Interesting comment, that might I suppose push the single line occupation, but how much is it negated by the fact a longer train of 158s has less frontal area per unit of horse power?

In a demonstration I was given of a driver advisory system, the effect of the time taken by the longer trains to pass over speed restrictions was much more negative than the quicker acceleration from those restrictions and from stops caused by decreased wind resistance.  But that is an extrapolation from what I saw based on another type of unit with a different type of traction on a line that's probably just about as different as it could be to the Waverley Route ...

As you get to longer trains, though, you also get to the point of other issues such as "are the platforms / loops long enough" and "will people spread out along the train, or all clump towards one end and still grumble even though there are seats in the extreme carriage".  On this latter, it's very interesting to walk through a 125 and see how on certain sectors of certain journeys particular coaches are much quieter, even taking reserved seats skews into effect.

[trainer]

Re:CfN's post above, I note a repeat of the complaint that the services on the re-opened line are often full and standing and that a double track would have obviated that. On paper that may well be true, but there is not the rolling stock currently available even if the infrastructure could support it.

I can't see the connection.

I am sorry I have not made myself clear. My point is that for longer/more trains more stock is needed.  Simply doubling the track adds not one carriage to the system.  There is a chronic shortage of stock across the network.  I was intending to say that investment needs to go beyond the cheapest option and needs to look at the whole 'package'.  I agree with everything said about the increase in length and frequency of trains, but where are they?

I only know of one re-opened service that has really not worked (Swanline - stopping service between Cardiff and Swansea) the others being a tremendous success.

Low-use of Swanline is presumably due to the low frequency on an existing line with faster services every hour at minimum.

I believe that the Swanline service was originally much more frequent and was cut back.  My information may be out of date and I stand to be corrected if this is wrong.

Fishguard has a similar low frequency (even fewer services) and I think loadings for the first year were around about what was estimated, rather than being far higher than the estimate in the case of reopenings with better frequency.

My only recent first-hand experience on the Fishguard service was on a recent Saturday when arriving on the 'boat train' were about 20 people and leaving 10. Three boarded at Goodwick towards Carmarthen.  It was a stormy November day in West Wales (sunny in Bristol ) and probably not at all a good time for a survey.

I sincerely hope that as cascading gets underway with electrification (possibly in my life-time!) many more carriages will be available for the Waverly Route and other lines struggling with capacity issues.

[Rhydgaled]

Re:CfN's post above, I note a repeat of the complaint that the services on the re-opened line are often full and standing and that a double track would have obviated that. On paper that may well be true, but there is not the rolling stock currently available even if the infrastructure could support it.

I can't see the connection.

I am sorry I have not made myself clear. My point is that for longer/more trains more stock is needed.  Simply doubling the track adds not one carriage to the system.  There is a chronic shortage of stock across the network.

Sorry, it was me that didn't make myself clear. What I meant was I could not see the connection between the lack of double track and the problem of trains being full and standing. As you rightly say, the solution to full and standing trains is more rolling stock, which we don't seem to have at the moment.

I only know of one re-opened service that has really not worked (Swanline - stopping service between Cardiff and Swansea) the others being a tremendous success.

Low-use of Swanline is presumably due to the low frequency on an existing line with faster services every hour at minimum.

I believe that the Swanline service was originally much more frequent and was cut back.  My information may be out of date and I stand to be corrected if this is wrong.

I didn't know that, but I've just had a look at Wikipedia and it says the service was initially hourly but has been cut back, so you could be right.

As you get to longer trains, though, you also get to the point of other issues such as "are the platforms / loops long enough"

I don't know about platforms at intermediate stations, but the terminus has long platforms for steam charters and the loops can presumably accomodate those long trains as well, so that's not a problem in this case.

"will people spread out along the train, or all clump towards one end and still grumble even though there are seats in the extreme carriage".  On this latter, it's very interesting to walk through a 125 and see how on certain sectors of certain journeys particular coaches are much quieter, even taking reserved seats skews into effect.

I tend to think that's that passenger's own fault if the train is gangwayed throughout, but it is one of the reasons I'm strongly opposed to portion working with the new class 800 units (or any other non-gangwayed units). That said, when you don't know if all seats in the extremes of a long train are reserved, you tend to stay in the crowded section not knowing if there is more room further along, especially if you have luggage. Also, there's a big difference between lengthening a ScotRail 2-car 158 to a 4-car formation and running Intercity trains with 8-11 carriages.

[grahame]

On Swanline ... I had a several opportunities to use it (to / from Llansamlet) earlier this year, but the lack of services at the right time drove me to taxis from Swansea or Neath ... on the one occasion that there was a suitably timed train, passengers on / off were a tiny number even though it was at what I would have guessed to have been a busy time of day.  I do wonder how many more people there are "mile me" driven away from this service by its current less than optimum frequency (but having said that, TransWilts also has that low, less than optimum frequency and is doing OK)

On 800 series units ... There's supposed to be load sensors and monitors so that passengers can be advised to move up the train to even loading.   Agreed a problem if you have two units.

[grahame]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-34995657

Steam trains should return to the Borders Railway next year despite the disruption they caused, according to Scottish Borders Council.
The service was hugely popular when it ran on the new line for six weeks earlier this year.
However it caused delays and disruption to the main commuter service on the route between Edinburgh and Tweedbank.
Rob Dickson, the council's corporate transformation and services director, said it was a "price worth paying".
About 6,200 passengers travelled on 17 sold-out steam journeys in September and October.
It led to claims of disruption to commuter services from regular passengers.
Rail workers also claimed they had to clear up raw sewage discarded from carriages pulled by the steam engine.

[IndustryInsider]

We all know how successful the reopening of the Borders Railway has been.

This article caught my eye quoting an extra 22% above what was expected of the line in the first six months.

http://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/2016/06/01/borders-railway-smashes-forecast-passenger-figures

What particularly caught my eye though was the hopelessly inaccurate figures for the individual stations along the route.  In fact, of all the stations listed, Newtongrange is the only one that is even remotely close to the forecast (50,480 recorded against a forecast of 46449).  All of the others are either easily beaten or nowhere near as many as forecast.  The two stations at the end of the route, Tweedbank and Galashiels recorded some 288,000 journeys against a forecast of just 39,500 or so.  Stow exceeded its forecast almost five-fold.  Whereas other stations were less successful, Eskbank at just over half its forecast, Gorebridge just under half, and Shawfair less than a fifth of the predicted numbers with 9,398 actual against a 54,298 forecast.

I reckon Michael Fish could have plucked more accurate numbers out of the sky!  Either that, or RAIL have managed to get the figures muddled up somehow?

[ChrisB]

THE CILT have picked this news up also - usually they credit so you can find the source, but nothing this time. I guess it's probably the Scottish Parliament, with all sorts of quotes from MSPs^▸ (Member of Scottish Parliament) included in their article.

[IndustryInsider]

As have the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) as well I've just spotted...

[TonyK]

As a general rule of thumb, rail figures are underestimated, bus figures overestimated.

[grahame]

Or per train ... the forecast for Tweedbank was 2 or 3 to arrive on the average train, and 2 or 3 to be on each departure.  The average was actually 25.  For Galashiels, forecast was a total of 1 or 2 people getting on or off each train, but in practise it was 6 or 7 people . As a through station, twice the trains - I expect that the northbound trains would have averaged 6 pick ups and one drop off, and vice versa though as it's not yet  running through to Carlisle.

[grahame]

Interesting stopping pattern next Wednesday morning - noting a alternative stop to Newtongrange!

Lighter side stuff? 

[grahame]

From The Border Telegraph

CELEBRATIONS to mark the Borders Railway were used by Transport Minister Humza Yousaf to announce a package of measures to improve the service.

Despite the line being hailed a huge success regarding passenger numbers, it has been fraught with failures, cancellations, delays and overcrowding.

As the Transport Minister blew out the first candle at Waverley Station on Friday he unveiled a ScotRal Alliance £14 million improvement plan, which will include the replacement of the unreliable Class 158 diesel trains and work on the unreliable signalling system.

Continues