Crossrail/Elizabeth Line. From construction to operation - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Western Pathfinder]

So nothing whatsoever to do with a Model T Ford then !.

[TonyK]

So nothing whatsoever to do with a Model T Ford then !.

Someone won't be getting a little something in the New Years Honours List...

[JackBlue]

Hi everyone - I'm new here, please go easy on me 

I've been silently following this thread for some time.  In my spare time, I have also recently visited the London Mayor's Question Time web site.  In a document titled "Answers to Questions Not Answered at Mayor's Question Time on 14 September 2017", Sadiq Khan mentions something which I had not seen anywhere else before, namely that from December 2019 onwards (once the last phase of the Elizabeth line opens), the intention is that at peak times, there will be six trains per hour stopping at Hanwell, and ten trains per hour stopping at West Ealing when travelling into Central London. 

If true, this is big news from people living near Hanwell and West Ealing stations.  Some of the information released to date, e.g. still on the official Crossrail web site as of today, mentions there would be only four lines per hour stopping at those stations from December 2019.  I don't know what other implications this might have for the timetable of the rest of the line, the off peak timetable and the timetable applicable between now and December 2019.  I also don't know if one can take this as a "fait accompli" or rather a non binding suggestion of the mayor (or TFL^▸ (Transport for London)?) which may or may not happen in practice.

The full question and answer, together with the link to the Mayor's Question Time web site, are included below for reference.

-------
Crossrail Frequency
Question No: 2017/3713
Onkar Sahota
Further to MQ 2013/2656 & MQ 2013/2657, and given the considerable interest and concern that local residents along the route have for the future service they should expect from Crossrail; will the Mayor give reassurances to commuters using Hayes & Harlington, Southall, Hanwell, West Ealing, Ealing Broadway and Acton Mainline stations that they too will benefit from increased services at their stations as a result of the extra trains per hour being laid on West of Paddington; and will he confirm to me how many trains will serve each of these stations per hour in both directions?

Written response from the Mayor received 10/11/2017
I am pleased to say that following a review of the timetable, services on the Elizabeth line are set to be even more extensive and frequent than originally planned. This also includes plans it
to call at Terminal 5 - meaning all Heathrow Terminals will be served by the Elizabeth line.

A total of six Elizabeth line trains per hour will serve Heathrow Terminals from December 2019. Four will go to Terminals 2, 3 and 4 and two will go to Terminals 2, 3 and 5. Services will also
increase to Ealing Broadway, Southall and Hayes & Harlington. To facilitate the increase, the number of trains that will operate on the line will rise from 66 to 70.

As Elizabeth line services share track with other national rail services, TfL^» (Transport for London - about) is working closely with Network Rail and other operators to agree the final timetable and service frequencies.

However, from December 2019 the intention is that customers from Acton Main Line stations will have four trains per hour, Ealing Broadway will have 12 trains per an hour, Hanwell will have six trains per hour and customers from West Ealing, Hayes & Harlington and Southall will have 10 trains per hour at peaks when travelling into central London.

The full timetable will be confirmed closer to the start of services.

Source:
https://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/b16054/Appendix%203%20-%20Written%20answers%20Thursday%2014-Sep-2017%2010.00%20London%20Assembly%20Mayors%20Question%20Time.pdf?T=9

[paul7575]

Hi, JackBlue, and welcome to this forum.

I think what has happened here is that the Mayoral written answer  is just clarifying the last announcements made about July time, discussed in this thread a few pages ago, starting about here:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=818.msg216774#msg216774 

AFAICT^▸ (as far as I can tell) the 2 tph extra to Heathrow (all day) was effectively announced then, but without confirming exact details of the intermediate calling points.

I think you are right that the overall service patterns shown on Crossrail's own website have never been updated to reflect the July announcements, but that has been a fairly persistent problem with that site...

Paul

[stuving]

Yes, welcome JackBlue.

The stopping patterns were known to be likely to change before those extra 2 tph to Heathrow and extension of 2 tph to Reading. And afterwards there were still some very grey areas needing to be explained. Have you seen this article in London Reconnections? It goes into this question in great detail - maybe excessive detail, since some of the assumptions about the "before" pattern look a bit out to me.

That article shows a stopping and pathing diagram, in which the 4 tph stopping at Hanwell and Acton are Heathrow trains, while those stopping at West Ealing are Reading ones. That looks odd, doesn't it? To get from Castle Bar Park to Heathrow (or Hanwell!) you'd have to change twice. So maybe the big increase for West Ealing in particular may reflect its role as junction for Greenford trains - from both east and west - and connecting better with them.

That diagram was taken from this rather obscure document (in which it is incidental).

There are other likely reasons for the changes. One of the ideas that has been much kicked about is whether to use "skip-stop", with several different stopping patterns. The benefit was supposed to be faster trains, hence faster gaps between the trains - which you might put non-Crossrail services into. But it's a lot easier to run (and use!) a Metros service without that complication, so I'm sure TfL^» (Transport for London - about)/MTR have been arguing that case with NR^» (Network Rail - home page)/DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)/HAL. Plus, of course, some stations may have been growing in usage (though not on the official count figures, which do admittedly look a bit fishy for some of these stations).

But I think you are overselling how much of a fait the Mayor's may have accompli - note the the wording: "the intention is...".

[JackBlue]

Thank you Stuving and Paul for your informative comments on this.  It makes sense that this proposed change is stopping pattern is a result of the recent announcement about service increase. 

I had seen the map highlighted by Stuving mentioning that no Heathrow trains would stop at West Ealing, which would have created fairly nonsensical situations especially for people travelling on the Greenford branch.  Some local Ealing Lib Dem councillors had also organised a petition to TfL^» (Transport for London - about) recently when it was announced (I don't know by whom since I never saw this announcement!) that after Crossrail, trains from West Ealing to Heathrow would reduce from 2tph currently to 1tph (vs. 0tph on the map pointed out by Stuving!).  TfL then responded to the petition by saying they had no plans to reduce the level of service between "West Ealing, Hanwell and Heathrow" from that which operates currently, and the petition was closed.

http://www.ealinglibdems.org.uk/westealingtrains

With information on the final timetable coming in bits and pieces from different directions and sources, this is all fairly confusing at the moment.  But I guess not altogether surprising given the complexities involved in putting together a final timetable which works in the best possible way.

[stuving]

Here's an item mainly (though not solely) for TaplowGreen's benefit - it appears only to have been picked up by CityAM:

Crossrail latest: Contract awarded for revamp of four Elizabeth Line stations
Rebecca Smith

Transport for London (TfL^» (Transport for London - about)) has awarded a contract for works on four future Elizabeth Line stations, as the £14.8bn Crossrail project edges closer to completion.

TfL said today that the contract has been awarded to J. Murphy & Sons Limited to deliver step-free access and station improvements at Hanwell, Iver, Langley and Taplow stations on the west of the Elizabeth Line route.

Howard Smith, operations director for the Elizabeth Line, said that the four stations had not previously been accessible for some passengers.

"The Elizabeth Line will transform the lives of local customers for years to come connecting them to new destinations in London and beyond," Smith added.

Improvements planned include new lifts and footbridges to Elizabeth Line platforms, while an entirely new station building is being constructed at Iver.

The plan is for all 41 stations on the Elizabeth Line to have step-free access when the new railway is fully open in December 2019, and that runs alongside a target set by mayor Sadiq Khan to have 40 per cent of the London Underground network step-free by 2022.
...
Station improvements

Hanwell:
    Two new lifts to provide step-free access to the platforms
    Refurbished entrances and subway

Iver:
    Three new lifts providing step-free access to the platforms
    New entrance including new ticket hall, ticket machines and information screens

Langley:
    Three new lifts and a new footbridge providing step-free access to the platforms
    Refurbished ticket hall including new ticket gates and information screens

Taplow:
    Two new lifts and a footbridge providing step-free access to platforms
    Refurbished ticket hall and information screens
    Refurbished waiting rooms and toilets

I guess you can try to infer something specific from the difference between Langley's "new lifts and a new footbridge" and Taplow's "new lifts and a footbridge".

[eightf48544]

Have recently heard that Taplow old footbridge may not come back, Arguments between DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), TFL^▸ (Transport for London) and Network Rail,

Before its accident Taplow was going to have 2 lifts connecting platforms 3 & 4 at the East End  and the old footbridge to serve the South car park. If old footbridge is not restored then another temporary (permanent) bridge will be required at the West end
 connecting all platforms to the South Carpark whilst the current temporary bridge is removed and TFL builds a permanent two lift bridge in it's place. TFL don't want to build a three lift bridge. Hence the arguments.

Edited

[SandTEngineer]

An update on Elizabeth Line progress: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/pic-20171013-agenda-item13.pdf

[IndustryInsider]

On time and on budget then still.  But lots still to do...

[Electric train]

On time and on budget then still. 

Budgets and time are abstract concepts  .................... especially so for railway projects 

[stuving]

Heathrow are back to arguing about their costs with ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about). Having been told to forget about charging to recover the cost of building their line, they have now applied for permission to charge for their indirect costs:

For the purposes of the Application HAL is seeking full recovery of the non-eligible track access costs (or fixed costs) incurred in providing access to the Heathrow Rail Infrastructure to Train Operating Companies. HAL has produced detailed cost analysis (based on scheduled train movements) which indicate that total relevant non-eligible costs are a maximum of £5.8 million per annum.

There's an ORR consultation, and HAL's introductory page, with links to a load of documents, though you won't find anything about what those costs are - they only told ORR and TfL^» (Transport for London - about). One link on that page leads to a zip-load of supporting documents, one of which might actually be interesting! It's the one called "Annex 7 - Insitas Report.pdf". The eponymous consultants asked users of HEX & HC, and the Heathrow tube, whether they would use Crossrail, under a number of assumptions.

What I'm puzzling over is that the existing charges (cf their price list) include a Fixed Track Access Charge, which is what they are asking for now. And as far as I can make out the current rate raises roughly £5.8M from HX and HC. The Jacobs Report (also in that zip file) gives per-passenger figures of 79p (HX) and 90p (Liz), but inter-relating all of these depends on the assumed passenger and train numbers implied by those prices. I think the passengers are about 7M pa total, and the trains about 180/day, but it's hard to be sure....

Most of the words in HAL's application and the Jacobs Report are about elasticity - whether the extra charge will affect passenger numbers. I suspect that gives a false impression: that they are trying to charge as much as the market will bear. It is presumably just something they have to consider, and as it's complicated there are lots of words, and it's not been kept confidential unlike the real justification of the level of charge. They may well be angling for as much as they think they can get past ORR, though.

[DidcotPunter]

Looks like there are major problems at Crossrail which may delay the launch of services in the central section

http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/elizabeth-line-hit-with-major-challenges-after-electrical-explosion-pushes-back-testing

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/crossrail-chiefs-warn-that-14bn-elizabeth-line-could-blow-its-budget-and-open-late-a3754356.html

There appear to be software issues with the class 345s and an explosion at the national grid feeder station at Pudding Mill Lane by the GE tunnel portal has delayed train testing. It looks like they might also blow their budget.

The energisation of eastern sections of the Elizabeth Line was pushed back in November after a transformer meant to connect separate electrical appliances exploded, causing testing to be delayed.

The problems, coupled with the complex nature of the project and the scale on which it is being built, have prompted bosses to warn about the costing and timescale of the Elizabeth Line.

In a meeting with mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Crossrail chairman Sir Terry Morgan admitted that the work was “very close” to exceeding its budget after explaining the issues with testing.

Morgan said energisation of the line in the east of London, to be later used for testing, was on course to be completed before electrical issues hampered progress.

“We opened up the energisation of the east side of our railway, which was always going to be our platform for testing this train, in November,” he explained.

“It’s relatively standard but it had to interface between our own power needs and Network Rail’s, it got switched on – and exploded.”

The chairman appeared at the meeting alongside Mark Wild, London Underground managing director who oversees the Elizabeth Line, as the two have been jointly overseeing sections of the project.

But he admitted that neither of the parties could fix the problem any faster, adding: “I can’t think of anything more that we can do together to resolve the issue.”

Other issues had also pinned back some progress of the project, although both Wild and Morgan were confident that the planned timelines were possible.

However, the London Underground MD added: “We can still do it, but it’s very, very hard and complex and it brings with it cost pressures as well.”

The continuation of energisation processes was expected to be underway within days of the meeting, which took place yesterday, possibly as soon as last night – although Crossrail has not released any details of the operations.

Khan called an end to further discussion of the specific problems but said it was for “commercially sensitive reasons” rather than to hide details.

Energisation is a key part of the next phase of the Elizabeth Line, and official testing of the track is expected to begin soon after the electrical work has been completed.

For other parts of the project, Wild said things were going to plan. He confirmed that ongoing efforts alongside Bombardier to improve the stability of trains was proving extremely difficult but was progressing well.]

Rail Technology Magazine 31/01/18

[stuving]

Oooh, err...  A "failure" was reported earlier, but not such a loud one.

It's hard to work out just what went bang, since "a transformer meant to connect separate electrical appliances" doesn't mean anything to me - any suggestions?

However, at least the finger-pointing can start. One quote from Terry Morgan that was inexplicably left out of that piece, but in the Evening Standard's, was this: “We eventually found out it had been designed incorrectly.” And this (from Construction Index in 2013) is the relevant contract:

ATC^▸ (Automatic Train Control), Costain’s joint venture with Alstom and TSO^▸ (The Stationary Office (now OPSI)), has won a £300m contract for the design, fit-out and commission the railway systems in Crossrail's tunnel network.

Under the contract, ATC will design and install track, overhead lines and mechanical and electrical equipment to fit out the 21km of twin tunnels currently being bored under the streets of London. The contract covers the entire tunnelled and surface sections of the Crossrail route between Royal Oak, Pudding Mill Lane and Plumstead Portals.

Design work will commence immediately, with the fit-out works starting in 2014. Costain and Alstom have also won the £15m contract for the design, construction and commissioning of the system that will provide traction power for the trains in the central tunnelled section of the Crossrail scheme. Work will involve the construction of several auto-transformer stations and a feeder station site at Pudding Mill Lane to provide a 25 kV supply to the overhead line equipment that will power the new Crossrail trains.

Costain is also constructing for National Grid the new cable tunnels to provide power to the other Crossrail feeder station at Kensal Green. Costain’s other Crossrail projects include Bond Street and Paddington stations and works at Eleanor Street and Mile End Park.

Of course the electrical system design overall is down to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and perhaps other design contractors, but somewhere within that lot must lie the "it" (perhaps the transformer, perhaps its connections) Terry Morgan was talking about.

[Electric train]

Of course the electrical system design overall is down to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and perhaps other design contractors, but somewhere within that lot must lie the "it" (perhaps the transformer, perhaps its connections) Terry Morgan was talking about.

The electrical design is not totally NR (although NR does not design it specifies and accepts a design) , there are Crossrail specific circuit breakers and auto transformers at each end which are Crossrail specified and contracted.

It is unusual but not unheard of for large electrical plant to fail on initial energisation; that's why it is energised when not many people are about and exclusion zones are set up.           When things go bang its usually within the first 30 seconds.

If its a 400/25-0-25 kV transformer failed this will have been installed and commissioned by National Grid.

I am sure they will hit the first train running date it might not be at a full public service perhaps outside of the peaks only