Partial electrification

DfT set to withdraw from further electrification projects in favour of electro-diesel bi-mode trains.

Supporters of railway electrification are bracing themselves for disappointment with July 20’s High Level Output Specification (HLOS), with the Department for Transport expected to walk away from further wiring projects in favour of electrodiesel ‘bi-mode’ trains that can work with or without wires.

There was no official word from the DfT as this issue of RAIL went to press, but it’s understood that Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling takes the view that passengers do not care what powers their train.

He’s thought to consider that using bi-mode trains means that Britain will not need to electrify every line or every part of every line. In turn, this could avoid expensive work to lower tracks to provide sufficient room for wires under bridges and in tunnels.

However, bi-mode trains are generally more expensive than electric types, have lower performance in terms of acceleration, and still rely on diesel fuel which is increasingly being blamed for environmental problems.

RAIL understands that there is increasing enthusiasm within DfT for new technology such as trains powered by hydrogen or batteries. Network Rail tested a battery train from Bombardier in 2015 and train maker Alstom has recently tested a train in Germany containing fuel cells that use hydrogen.

Electrification supporters hope that the Midland Main Line and trans-Pennine routes will be wired. However, TransPennine Express is ordering bi-mode trains and coaches to be hauled by diesel locomotives for its franchise that started in April 2016. The principal operator for the MML is shortly to go to competition for a new franchise, and is expected to need new trains to replace ageing diesel HSTs.

A DfT switch from clean, electrically powered trains comes as Network Rail’s Great Western wiring project ran into delays and bills that have tripled compared with original estimates. This led senior electrification engineer Peter Dearman to tell a conference last month that the railway was “sleepwalking into making electrification uneconomic” ( RAIL 829).

NR’s problems have undone the work it and train operators did a decade ago to convince a sceptical DfT that electrification was the best way forward for a railway that relied too much on diesel fuel.

The DfT’s conversion led to it specifying in 2012’s HLOS a massive programme of wiring that included the Great Western, Midland and trans-Pennine routes, as well as an ‘electric spine’ for freight from Southampton’s port to the Midlands and wiring of the Lancashire triangle that included Liverpool-Manchester.

The Scottish Government, which has its own HLOS, pushed forward with electrifying the main Edinburgh-Glasgow route and looked towards further wiring work towards Stirling. EdinburghGlasgow should soon have electric trains, while Liverpool-Manchester passengers have benefited from them for the past couple of years.

Insiders suggest that 2012’s programme was too ambitious and beyond the capabilities of NR and its contractors. NR decided that it needed completely new designs for overhead line equipment. It also invested in high-output installation kit that it found it could not use to its full potential.