PLUS November 2012 www.railnews.co.uk ISSUE 189a

East Midlands – at last its turn has come

IN this first online edition of RAILNEWSPLUS, we describe how the East Midlands rail network is to be transformed over the next seven years with investment of £1.3 billion 2 November 2012 › Railnews PLUS

EAST MIDLANDS AT LAST IT’S TIME HAS COME www.railnews.co.uk email: [email protected] Tel: 01438 310 011 £1.3bn investment ends Cinderella myth

THE rail system in the East Midlands is already Crewe) to handle the largest modern freight experiencing significant growth – passenger trains serving the ports of Ipswich, NETWORK RAIL EAST MIDLANDS is a single area covering the Midland Main Line from St Pancras International to travel has been rising at five per cent a year Southampton, Tilbury – and a massive new Chesterfield, along with the local routes radiating from Derby, and freight is increasing at double that rate. one, London Gateway, opening next year in Nottingham and Leicester as far as the East Coast and West Now the region’s railways are about to the Thames Estuary. Coast Main Lines. The route serves a large number of communi- ties in the commuter belt between London and Leicester as well undergo a major overhaul, with a total of £1.3 “It means we have finally broken the myth as towns and cities in the East Midlands. It carries a significant billion investment planned up to 2019. of the Midland Main Line being the Cinderalla volume of long distance and local passenger services and key This will include electrification of the route,” declares Martin Frobisher, managing freight flows. Midland Main Line and a major upgrade of director of Network Rail’s East Midlands I Passenger operators: East Midlands Trains, CrossCountry, the whole route, including its link to the Route. “By 2019, the Midland Main Line will Northern Rail, First Capital Connect Potteries (and the West Coast Main Line at be totally transformed.” I Freight operators: DB Schenker, Freightliner Heavy Haul, Freightliner Intermodal, GBRF, DRS, Fastline Advenza

I Control centre: Derby I Route km: 702

Opportunities for all Network Rail East Midands route I Level crossings: 397 I Stations: 69 I Network Rail managed stations: None, as St Pancras industry suppliers International is npw managed by NR’s Kent Route I Signal boxes: 37 and 8 manned crossings Database: RAIL industry suppliers stand to gain Harwich. much over the next seven years as The major MML upgrade is being Network Rail undertakes the £1.3 billion handled by Network Rail’s East investment programme to transform Midlands’ Route, and Managing the East Midlands’ network. Director Martin Frobisher explained The principal, but by no means only, how his team has been influenced by significant project will be the track the successful cost effective improve- upgrades and electrification – altogeth- ments and electrification agreed for the er totalling £800 million – of the Paisley Canal line in Scotland. Midland Main Line north of Bedford. The MML is notable for its physical There it will be linked with the former constraints – especially its curvature, route from Oxford (Great Western), which may make it ultimately suitable Bicester (Chiltern Line) and Bletchley for tilting trains, such as Pendolinos. (West Coast Main Line) which is to be This, and the limited possessions pat- reopened and electrified as part of a terns that the route geography makes north-south ‘Electric Spine.’ necessary, means the MML is less suit- Also, as part of the developing able for one of the new high-tech ‘fac- Strategic Freight Network, all these lines tory trains’ of the type, made in are to have infrastructure improve- Germany, which are likely to be used to ments to make space for the W12 load- electrify the Great Western Main Line. ing gauge so that the largest multi- More conventional, lower-tech con- Above: A significant advantage of an addi- modal containers – 2.9m (9ft 6in) high struction techniques are likely to be tional feeder station, if it can be justified, is that it would provide sufficient reserve and 2.6m (8ft 6in) wide – can be carried. adopted for the MML, based on experi- power for future extensions of electrifica- This will supplement the gauge ence in Scotland with the Paisley Canal tion over several more routes in the East enhancement already being undertak- route. Midlands, including the Matlock branch. en on the cross-country route between This will have the advantage that the This train to Matlock is arriving at the West Midlands and South Yorkshire. project can be undertaken using the Ambergate As well as the new ‘Electric Spine’ domestic supply chain, providing great LEFT: Bedford station will present a major from Southampton (via Reading and opportunities for companies such as challenge as train frequencies increase. Oxford), the MML will also be linked (via members of the Derby and Derbyshire Space for additional rail capacity may the North London and Gospel Oak- Rail Forum in the East Midlands – a become available as a result of Bedford council recently purchasing a former retail Barking lines) with the new £3.5 billion region that is home to one of the great- site adjacent to the line London Gateway port – the first half of est concentrations of railway engineer- which opens a year from now – and ing expertise in the world. Tilbury, and (via the upgraded Ipswich- “We will need lots of support and I Ely-Peterborough-Leicester route) with need to find the right suppliers,” Martin the Haven Ports of Felixstowe and Frobisher says. The £1.3bn programme for the East Midlands Electrification work has begun MARTIN Frobisher summarises Network Rail’s investment plans for the East Midlands up to 2019 as follows: OPPORTUNITIES are arising now for March 2014, cutting the Sheffield- supply chain companies because London journey time by six minutes. Completion of a world-class train control centre (at Derby) Ilkeston on the Erewash Valley route. I preparatory work on the MML electri- This requires the track under many fication and upgrade is already start- bridges to be altered and changes to Completion of a world-class maintenance centre (also Clearance of the MML to W12 gauge for freight trains I I ing – even though the electrification be made to the structures themselves. at Derby) carrying the largest multi-modal containers, including the scheme included in last summer’s So Network Rail has decided to also Leicester/Derby-Stoke-on-Trent link High Level Output Specification is use the possessions required for this Completion of the ‘Electric Spine’ I intended for inclusion in Network work to raise bridge structures to pro- Introduction of around 1,200 new carriages (for I Rail’s Control Period 5, starting in vide sufficient clearance for the over- Higher line speeds – up to a maximum of 125mph Thameslink) on the southern section of the MML, I 2015. head line equipment when electrifi- (200km/h) on the MML including first use of the European Train Control System But, as part of the Control Period 4 cation seriously gets underway. (ETCS) for a high-frequency passenger service programme, Network Rail is already “It’s much smarter to do the whole Gateways ‘to be proud of’ – with completion of track I working with East Midlands Trains to job at one go than have to come back remodelling and station improvements at Nottingham Abolition of all level crossings, including foot crossings, on I increase line speeds on the MML up again and raise a bridge under which and Derby, and high hopes for an entirely new station at all 100mph (160km/h)-plus lines to a maximum of 125mph (200km/h). we have already worked,” explains The first stage will be introduced in Martin Frobisher. 3 November 2012 › Railnews PLUS

EAST MIDLANDS AT LAST IT’S TIME HAS COME www.railnews.co.uk email: [email protected] Tel: 01438 310 011 The electrification challenge

ELECTRIFICATION of the Midland Main Midland.” the other improvements mentioned in Line was first proposed as a high prior- But the most recent campaign final- the debate. ity by a joint British Rail/Ministry of ly paid off. It was led by Nicky Morgan, “Major engineering work would be Transport report in 1980, but this and Conservative MP for Loughborough, required. Just to make room for the other plans for widespread network who succeeded in launching an overhead wires, more than 50 bridges electrification fell foul of Prime adjournment debate in the House of would have to be rebuilt.” Minister Margaret Thatcher’s econom- Commons last March, supported by 20 Now, only six months later, work has ic advisers. other MPs from the East Midlands and already started – because many of Nevertheless, over the years there South Yorkshire. those same bridges need to be modi- have been several campaigns by local However, the then Transport fied for the line speed improvements authorities and the business communi- Minister, Theresa Villiers, did not seem to be implemented in 2014. ties in South Yorkshire and the East overly optimistic when she closed that The decision in principle to go Midlands to kick start a complete mod- debate. ahead with the electrification project ernisation of the route. “Although the business case for was confirmed in last July’s High Level Indeed, such has been the scarcity of MML electrification does indeed look Output Specification. It has still to be investment along the MML that Simon impressive . . . there can be no doubt incorporated formally into Network HLOS also confirmed that the East- Carr, of the Sheffield City Region Local that the project would be complex and Rail’s Strategic Business Plan, due for West route between Oxford, Bicester, Enterprise Partnership, claimed earlier challenging, and it would be expen- completion next January, and will then Bletchley and the MML at Bedford is Power demands this year: “More money has been sive to deliver,” she told the MPs. be submitted to the Office of Rail definitely to be re-opened, doubled spent on improving car parks on the “Network Rail has estimated the capi- Regulation for approval as the basis of and electrified. This is Claydon may need three Junction on the East-West route, east West Coast Main Line in the past five tal cost of electrification alone to be determining NR’s expenditure and rev- of Bicester. The diverging line on the years than on the whole of the just over £530 million, not including enue for 2014-19 (Control Period 5). left runs south-east to Aylesbury. feeder stations

LIKELY future traffic demands on the Midland Main Line have led Network Rail to re-think the power supply strategy for the East Midlands – ‘hub of investment’ route. Before the HLOS announce- ment it had been thought the WHILE the detail has still to be settled, HLOS also confirmed that the East- to and from the £3.5 billion London Electric Spine will be that investors and route through the East Midlands there can be no doubt that a complete West route between Oxford, Bletchley Gateway port, on the site of the former developers looking at strategic rail to Sheffield could be supplied transformation of the Midland Main and Bedford was definitely to be re- Thameshaven oil refinery, which in freight interchanges will now look at from just two additional feeder Line route is about to begin. opened AND to be electrified – as part time is expected to generate up to 30 sites adjacent or close to the Midland stations – where power from the Network Rail’s Martin Frobisher of an ‘Electric Spine’ from large freight trains, each up to 750 Main Line in a way that they have national ‘Super Grid’ at up to says: “The HLOS is very good for the Southampton to Basingstoke, Reading metres (half a mile) long, every day. never done hitherto.” 400kV will be transformed down East Midlands, which will become a and Oxford, where it will divide, with Giving evidence recently to the to 25kV and fed into the over- real hub of investment over the next one arm going to Bedford and the House of Commons Transport Select WITH the HLOS announcement, head contact wire above each few years.” MML (and the other continuing north Committee, Nigel Jones, DB Schenker’s Network Rail’s East Midlands team track. In support of the earlier campaign via Coventry to join the West Coast Head of Planning and Strategy, told realised they now faced the need to But the Government’s led by MP Nicky Morgan, Network Rail Main Line at Nuneaton). MPs the Electric Spine opened up new plan not only for much greater announcement that the East- East Midlands undertook extensive With this news Martin Frobisher and opportunities. demands on the electric power supply West link is to go ahead, includ- planning and estimations of the his team realised they had to prepare While the MML had historically had but that the likely scale of future oper- ing electrification, and bring up investment required. for a much busier electrified railway, as a very constrained loading gauge, he ations, as well as forthcoming techno- to four more trains to the MML But there can be little doubt that the East-West link is planned to bring explained: “Electrification north of logical developments, also required at Bedford each hour, has led to when the HLOS was published in July, two more passenger and two more Bedford will change that. The use of careful consideration of the type of a review.. it took Martin Frobisher and his team – freight trains each hour to Bedford. the Electric Spine will offer the oppor- electrification infrastructure to be Network Rail is now examining and most other observers – by surprise. The MML is also expected to see a con- tunity for intermodal freight to access adopted – and, then, how best to whether three electric sub-sta- For it wasn’t only the main line north siderable increase in freight traffic in the Midlands and the North via the install it. So far, no final decisions have tions may be necessary. A signifi- of Bedford, to Corby, Nottingham, the coming years after it has been Midland Main Line in a way that has been made. cant advantage of an additional Derby and Sheffield that was included cleared for the W12 loading gauge and hitherto not been possible. Martin Frobisher points out that at feeder station, if it can be justi- in the electrification plans. as freight traffic builds up – especially “One of the consequences of the present there are only two electrified fied, is that it would provide suf- routes in Britain that operate electric ficient reserve power for future Nottingham trains at 125mph, the West Coast and station will extensions of electrification from East Coast Main Lines. And on both get a fresh Corby to Syston via Melton look above these networks all the trains that oper- Mowbray, for the Erewash Valley the tracks, ate above 100mph – Pendolinos on the line, for Leicester to Nuneaton, because the WCML and InterCity225s on the ECML and for the Matlock branch. city’s – run with only a single pantograph in tramlines are being contact with the overhead wire. extended But future rolling stock specifica- train when the diesel engines are not south from tions require trains above 100mph to needed. their present run with two pantographs opera- Therefore if two eVoyagers were to terminus, using a tional. These can present current col- be coupled together it would mean restored lection problems because the leading they then have two raised pan- bridge over pantograph may set up a ‘ripple tographs only 125 metres apart. the station effect’ in the overhead contact wire So the design of the new MML over- carrying 25kV, which can damage the head line equipment must ensure the following pantograph, or the second contact wire and its supports are pantograph may become entangled in resilient enough when trains are run- the wire, pulling it down and causing ning at up to 125mph with two near- major disruption. by pantographs in operation. Martin Frobisher explains that full Similar problems confront the engi- size Intercity Express trains, comprising neers finalising the design for Great 11 x 26-metre-length carriages, are Western Main Line electrification – but planned to operate with pantographs there, ideally, they must also try to raised at either end, little more than ensure the chosen design is capable of 250 metres apart. handling trains at a later date at up to And if Bombardier’s eVoyager plan 140mph (225km/h). came to fruition, existing 4-car diesel However, this higher speed is not an Voyagers would be lengthened to five issue for the MML. Martin Frobisher coaches, with the middle one carrying stresses the curvature of the route a pantograph and electric traction makes 125mph the absolute maximum equipment to supply the rest of the speed it can accommodate. 4 November 2012 › Railnews PLUS

EAST MIDLANDS AT LAST IT’S TIME HAS COME www.railnews.co.uk email: [email protected] Tel: 01438 310 011 Track and station upgrades planned

MAJOR improvements ahead of elec- UPGRADING the Leicester/Derby- trification are planned at Nottingham Stoke-on-Trent route for W12 gauge and Derby. freight trains will involve major Next summer, Nottingham will be changes to the 744m long Meir Tunnel shut down for 36 days while a com- in Staffordshire, where its limited pletely new track layout and new sig- diameter cannot permit two wider- nalling, costing £100 million, is load trains to pass. installed. It will remove many present- Instead, the tunnel floor will be low- day conflicting movements and permit ered and the track singled. higher speeds. But the reduction in route capacity And Nottingham station itself will will be compensated for either side of get a fresh look above the tracks linked the tunnel by a new modular sig- with completion of the interchange nalling system – similar to that recent- with the city’s two new tram lines, now ly introduced on part of the Strategic under construction, and the station’s Freight Route via Ely – which will also new multi-storey car park. At Derby, £140 million is planned for a revised track layout that will also remove the conflicting movements Above: It is possible that a significant increase in line speed for passenger that today cause many trains to be trains could be achieved at Market Harborough by completing a project halted, to the frustration of passen- once planned by British Rail to straighten out the reverse track curvature. gers, on their final approaches to the station. Left: Network Rail is now seeking amended planning permission from Derby Both track layouts will be managed City Council to increase its proposed new maintenance centre on the trian- gular site of the former Chaddesden sidings from two to three storeys from the new Derby control centre that is taking over from all the conven- tional signal boxes as they are closed considered straightening the line and trains every hour planned to be using along the MML. Already six of the 12 actually relocated the station build- the MML at Bedford. workstations in the new control centre ings to facilitate this. But the Space for additional rail capacity are in use and by the time all 12 are straighter track was never built. Now may become available as a result of operational in 2019 the number of East the possibility of a new track layout is Bedford council recently purchasing a Midlands’ signallers will have shrunk being examined again. former retail site adjacent to the line. from 350 to 120. One possibility is that a new, Network Rail says Bedford council is Among the existing control points to straighter section of track can be pro- keen to cooperate in examining how be closed will be West Hampstead vided, as proposed earlier by BR, while railway capacity can be improved. power signal box at the southern end the remaining curved track is retained of the MML. as a passing loop for the likely ANOTHER consequence of electrifica- Its present control area will be divid- provide capacity for an additional pas- TWO locations in the southern portion increase in freight trains using the tion is that Network Rail is now seek- ed between the new centre at Derby senger service each hour, if this is of the MML are being studied by MML. ing amended planning permission and another new centre at Three required in future. Network Rail to see how extra capaci- Bedford is another station that is from Derby City Council to increase its Bridges, West Sussex, on the Brighton With the likelihood of extra freight ty might be provided. “presenting a major challenge,” proposed new maintenance centre on Line, with the first use of the European traffic passing from East Anglia via In the case of one of them, Market according to Martin Frobisher, and is the site of the former Chaddesden sid- Train Control System on a high-fre- Leicester to the West Midlands and the Harborough, it is also possible that a likely to require additional capacity. ings from two to three storeys. quency British railway due to be intro- West Coast Main Line at Nuneaton, significant increase in line speed for This is because of the decision to elec- The plan for two storeys was based duced in 2016. This will be used on the Network Rail is also looking at scope passenger trains could be achieved. trify the East-West route with capacity on providing track and signalling Thameslink route across London, which for a flyover at South Wigston to pre- Harborough station is currently to bring another two passenger and maintenance facilities. If approved, will operate up to 24 trains each way vent east-west trains delaying faster located on reverse curves that limit two freight trains an hour to the the additional floor will be for spe- per hour. ETCS is currently being test- services to and from London St passing trains to 65mph (105km/h). town. These will be in addition to six cialised electrification maintenance ed on the Cambrian Line in Mid Wales. Pancras. More than 30 years ago British Rail intercity services and 12 Thameslink activities.

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