Electrified line delays hit plans for Six Nations trains boost

DELAYS to electrification of the Severn Tunnel will prevent crowd-busting electric trains from the London area being sent to Cardiff during the Six Nations championship.

A fortnight ago, Network Rail announced the “successful completion of electrification of the railway between Cardiff Central and London Paddington”.

But the overhead power supply equipment in the Severn Tunnel remains out of use and Network Rail is unable to say when the equipment will be available for electric trains.

“We are currently looking for a longterm solution,” said a spokesman.

Great Western Railway’s bi-mode InterCity Express Trains (IETs) switch from electric to diesel power to run through the tunnel.

This makes no difference to passengers on normal days, but trains which operate on electricity alone will not be able to reach Wales from England.

Four years ago, GWR told an Assembly committee it would bring 12-coach London-area commuter trains to Cardiff on major event days.

Each train would seat 675 passengers, with space for many more to stand.

“Once the line is electrified, we can bring these trains to the city on match days,” the company said in 2016.

“In the near future, GWR will have a significant uplift in ability to transport large volumes of people quickly.”

However, the electrification programme has suffered years of delay.

Electrification equipment from Swiss company Furrer+Frey was installed in the Severn Tunnel in 2016, but grime accumulated on it while it was unused.

Noel Dolphin, managing director of Furrer+Frey’s UK arm, said a lot of remedial work had been carried out in the tunnel, but the system still needed testing before being used by electric trains.

He understood the system could be ready for use in March.

Two of Wales’ three home matches in the Six Nations are in February. The third is on March 14.

Asked whether 12-coach electric trains could be deployed for the final home match, a GWR spokesman said: “If the overhead equipment is ready and robust, and appropriate clearances are in place, then it is possible.”

However, he appeared to row back from GWR’s 2016 suggestion that it could deploy the trains “in the near future”, once the line is electrified.

He said: “This is a long-term ambition, to help provide additional capacity when ‘big-ticket’ items in the city require it.

“Our current IET fleet is more than capable of coping with the majority of demand on the Cardiff to London corridor for these events.”

The benefit of using the 12-coach electric trains was to provide more seats without GWR having to reduce IET services elsewhere, he said.

“For the Six Nations we will run additional InterCity services should demand require. This is usual for Wales v England but less so for Wales v Scotland/France, when fewer people are making the journey into Wales from London.”

Mr Dolphin said the tunnel’s electrification equipment would need relatively frequent maintenance, as the tracks always did, because of the tunnel’s corrosive environment – caused by dampness and airborne particles. Coal dust in the tunnel had reduced recently, with the cessation of trains carrying coal, but diesel trains continued to pollute.

Only the trains between south Wales and London will routinely use electricity through the tunnel, with the remainder continuing to emit diesel fumes.

The UK Government’s decision in 2017 to cancel electrification from Cardiff to Swansea prevents electric freight trains from reaching key locations such as Port Talbot steelworks, which will mean that diesel freight trains continue after the tunnel’s electrification equipment becomes available.

Also cancelled is electrification into Bristol Temple Meads station, dashing hopes for a frequent inter-regional electric train service between Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol – for which surplus electric trains are available. GWR has ordered Flex trains, which will operate on electricity or diesel, but will use them on services nearer to London, rather than through the tunnel.

“In the longer run, I’m convinced that they will have to electrify,” said Mr Dolphin. “If the Government’s adamant it’s going to have a decarbonised railway, there aren’t alternatives to electrification for longer routes.”