Category Archives: Transport

Rolling blog: Wednesday wanderings

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by in I love my job, Railways, Transport, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

After a rare day at home I’m on the move again. This time I’m off to explore (in detail) the railway from Bidston to Wrexham. I’ve traversed it several times but never stopped off anywhere on the route. Today I’ll be putting that right, so expect some notes and pictures.

Right now I’m crossing the Pennines on the beautiful Calder Valley route. The skies are picture perfect again, clear blue with just a wisp of cloud here and there. I honestly can’t remember when we’ve had so many days of unbroken sunshine. They bring back memories of childhood, when your mind remembers every day like that!

Stopping to change trains at Manchester Victoria I was stuck by how many ex-GWR diesel units were working services. Here’s 153305 (in a neutral white livery) with much-travelled 150129 (ex-Centro, ex-Silverlink, ex-GWR).

My onward train to Liverpool was another recent addition to the Northern fleet as it was an ex-Thameslink Class 319 electric. These 4 car 100 mph have made a huge difference to services as they’ve replaced 2-car Class 156 diesels. Despite the doubling in capacity, my train is 85% full! By the time we reached Rainhill even the vestibules were rammed.

On arrival at Lime St we pulled into one of only two working platforms as the station’s in the middle of an extensive rebuilding programme which will see platforms extended, extra ones added and the track layout modernised and resignalled.

I always laugh when I see work like this and remember Hs2 antis perennial refrain “invest in the existing network instead”. If they could be bothered to get out of their armchairs to take a look around the UK network they’d know we’re doing exactly that. The problem is, it soaks up what little capacity we have left on our existing main lines, leaving nothing for the future. Here’s how Lime St is looking right now.

Moving on by Merseyrail I crossed under the river and emerged into the daylight at Birkenhead before arriving at Bidston, a small Island platform station which is the junction for the Borderlands line to Wrexham. I’m old enough to remember when this service ran as far as Birkenhead, before it was cut back to Bidston. In those days the area was busy with freight. Iron ore was imported through the docks and moved to Shotton steelworks by rail. The infrastructure’s all long gone now. Instead, an hourly passenger service run by Arriva Trains Wales is the sole survivor.

For many years the line was worked by single car Class 153s. Nowadays 2 car Class 150s are the norm.

My first stop on the service was Shotton, where I came to photograph what’s become the symbol of the line – the triple span bridge over the River Dee.

The bridge is only a short walk from the stations. Yep, Shotton’s graced with both high level and low level! The low level station’s fairly recent. Built on the former Chester to Holyhead railway, the platforms are on what was the slow lines when this was a four-track railway.

Shotton is an odd little place. It owes its existance to the nearby steelworks established by John Summers (and now owned by Tata). At its height it employed 13,200 people. Now it’s around a 1000. The towns fortunes reflect that of the steelworks. My first memories of the place are from the early 1970s when I’d encourage my dad to take this route on the way to family holidays with relatives on Anglesey as it followed the railway, allowing me to try and see the trains. Sometimes my parents and sisters would humour me – other times not.

Now this bastion of heavy industry is a shadow of it’s former self (like many UK locations). I’m always truck by this when I travel across Germany, a country which still possess these places. Shooton seems to rely on the pensioned-off (hence the size of the towns Wetherspoons) and also the nearby Airbus aircraft plant at Broughton – which is under threat from Brexit. It’s deeply ironic to think tbat nostalgia for the past and heavy industries is putting the future of towns like Shotton at risk.

20:30

I’m now back in the bosom of West Yorkshire, heading home on the Calder Valley line again. I managed to get the scenic shots on the Borderlands that I needed but the further South I went towards Wrexham, the more the clouds started to creep in. Here’s an example, taken just outside Cefyn-y-Bedd station which can be seen in the background.

DG301529

Having the shots in the can I made my way back to Shotton low level to catch a train to Chester which is only 15 minutes away. This gave me time to get a few shots at yet another boyhood haunt before catching a direct train to Manchester. I’m not sure if these are the regular units on the service but I have to say a two car Class 150 is less than ideal – even if they have been refurbished to a high standard.

DG301589

Tomorrow I’m off again, so I’ll draw this blog to a close.

(Rolling blog). Ready, steady, go!

12 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by in Hs2, Transport, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

The marathon’s started. Right now i’m wedged in the vestibule of a 2-car Class 158 making its way to Leeds from Halifax. I’m an infrequent user of these services so it wasn’t until the Conductor apologised for the short-formed set that I realised this wasn’t the norm. There’s 14 people in this vestibule and we’ve had to leave people behind at Bramley because we’re so full. Good job I wasn’t planning to try and do any work on the train!

Despite everything, it wasn’t a bad journey and I arrived in plenty of time to make my way to the High Speed Rail Industry Leaders conference which was being held at Leeds Music College.

20.38.

Time for an update on the day. I’ve been to a lot of conferences but this was one of the better ones. Over 250 people attended and the line up of speakers was excellent. One of the highlights of the morning was Lord Andrew Adonis who was on scintillating form! He gave an absolute barnstormer of a talk covering everything from Hs2 to Brexit (which he happily slipped a knife between its ribs)! He was funny and informative in equal measure. As he’s been a Transport Minister and Chair of the Infrastructure Commission he knows his subject and isn’t afraid to offer opinions – if you agree with them or not!

DG298323low

Lord Adonis with Daisy McAndrews, ITV’s former Economics Editor, who chaired the conference.

The day passed very quickly despite the crowded programme and it really deserves a blog in its own right (although I’m not sure that I’m going to find time to write one right now). What I will say is that – unlike many conferences, it didn’t tail off after lunch as the first person up was Hs2 Ltd’s Chief Executive Mark Thurston, who came across very well when it came to the Q and A session.

DG298386crop

The final section of the day was given over to a panel debate and Q & A session with Tim Wood (Northern Powerhouse Rail Director, TfN). Susan Hinchcliffe (West Yorkshire Combined Authority Chair and Leader of Bradford Council), Paul Griffiths ( Phase 2b Director, Hs2 Ltd), Angela Barnicle (Head of Asset Management, Leeds City Council) and John Downer (Director of HSRIL). This was a genuinely informative and inspiring session where the groups really laid out what Hs2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail mean to the North and the synergy between the two projects that could see TfN building parts of the shared route before Hs2 do. Tim also laid bare TfN’s ambition to build entirely new rail lines between Leeds-York and Manchester-Liverpool.

After leaving the conference I made my way back to Leeds station with some colleagues before getting a few photos. Whilst having a mooch around, one thing struck me. Despite the impact Northern’s timetable problems are having, there’s not a single poster anywhere offering an apology or explanation. Nothing. You wouldn’t even know there’s a temporary timetable in operation. It’s bizarre. In the days of MD Heidi Mottram and (later) Alex Hynes, you can guarantee there would have been profuse apologies (not to mention regular updates) – even a presence on the front line. This is no way to run a public service…

Now I’m speeding to London on a late running VTEC service. Apparently, a Northbound working ‘sat down’ near Peterborough leading to delays, but as I’ve plenty of time I’m not too bothered and VTEC have done what Northern haven’t – kept me informed and apologised!

22.56

I’m now back in London and emailing pictures to RAIL mag in readiness for press day tomorrow before heading off to Germany and a couple of days with the press pack at the Siemens Innotrans preview. Expect pictures and details when I can post them…

Rolling blog: Back on the rails…

07 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Railways, Transport, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

I’m currently heading South once more as I have another commission on the South coast tomorrow. Sadly, this means I’m stuck in a train when the sun’s blazing and I’d rather be out and about with the camera. Hopefully I’ll have chance to grab a few shots later.

I’ll also have the chance to sample Southern and GTR train services again. To say it’s been a torrid time for the industry following the May timetable change would be an understatement. I’m not going to go over the reasons why as they’ve already explained in detail by my colleagues on RAIL magazine. My observations would be that as well as the managerial and political failures there’s also been a huge PR failure. The fact is that Northern did themselves no favours at all with a bunker mentality that meant they refused to put up any Directors for media interviews to explain the problems until it was too late and the narrative had been set.

Whilst I have sympathy for rail staff caught up in the problems, I also have huge sympathy for passengers. My nephew tells me that he lost his job due to the impact of delays. Clearly, the railways failed in their primary duty, to get people (reliably) from A to B so I hope the lessons are learned. I believe the railways will, but I’m not so sure about their masters in Parliament and the DfT…

One of the ironies of the situation is people complaining that what happened shows our railways are badly managed and run-run down when the truth is – the root of many of the problems was delays in commissioning new investment in both infrastructure and trains!

I hope when the dust finally settles, people will start to appreciate the major investment the railways are enjoying.

Update. 19:13.

Due to the VTEC service in front of us being cancelled my Grand Central train had a fast clear run into London and arrived 15 minutes early. This allowed me to make a dash across London by tube to Victoria in time to catch an earlier service to the South coast in the shape of the 18:24 to Littlehampton. Needless to say, this 8 car trains rammed! It was wedged departing Victoria and positively sardine-like after leaving Clapham Junction! Our call at East Crodon eased matters slightly but I was interested to see that nearly as many suits got on as off, which says something about the way the towns changing nowadays.

As we head for Gatwick I cast an eye over my fellow passengers and – sure enough – of the 16 people in this section of the coach 12 are staring at screens on smartphones, laptops or ipads! One’s on the phone and another female passenger’s reading a book. One chap’s sleeping, but i’ve no idea about the last guy as all I can see is the back of his balding head!

Unfortunately, the stunning weather I’d enjoyed through Yorkshire and into Cambridgeshire has given way to unappealing heavy grey cloud by Gatwick Airport. There’s still no seats available, but the squash has eased to leave just six passengers standing in the adjacent vestibule.

19.13.

Finally, after pulling away from Haywards Heath a handful of seats became available and the vestibule was bereft of standees. By the time we called at Burgess Hill the light was so bad that the station lights had come on automatically. At 19:18! In June!

19:26

We’re leaving Preston Park on the outskirts of Brighton and space has eased considerably. The train’s still busy (and still profitable) with a seat occupancy of around 60% – although this is about to reduce as we’re pulling ino Hove as I type! After swapping a few commuters for leisure travellers it’s down to 50%. As we’re coach 2 of 8 there’s a fair few folk moving forward as stations here have short platforms.

19:42.

I’m now at Lancing. It’s hard to believe this place once had a railway carriage and wagon works that employed over 1,500 people! It closed in 1965 and i’m hard put to guess where it stood.

22:22

I’m now esconced in my room in the Burlington, a Victorian seafront hotel after arriving in Worthing, checking in and setting off to explore the town. Well, at least t3he beach was attractive!

To be fair, so’s the pier that you can see behind me, but after that it all goes downhill…

I headed back to the main comnercial street to look for a bite to eat and see what the place had to offer. The answer is – not much! OK, there’s a few restaurants and plenty of fast-food joints, but what the place is lacking in is any life. Here’s tbe main shopping area.

Not exactly buzzing, is it? Worthing suffers the same malaise that many small towns do, the main street is nothing but shops it’s not mixed-use. So once the shops close it’s deserted. The other thing I noticed was the lack of pubs and bars. I only saw one ‘proper’ pub (which didn’t look very inviting) and a shop converted into a bar. I’ve never known anything quite like it. Even the promenade is free of pubs or cafe’s. The only one is in my hotel – and half of that’s sheeted off because they’ve got the decorators in (in June?).

What I can’t figure out is why (when you see what the town has to offer) so many hotels were booked up. People can’t be coming here for the nightlife!

There’s an underlying air of poverty about the place too, with a fair few street-drinkers and rough sleepers, but then this part of the world has long had a reputation for DSS hotels. The South coast isn’t always as affluent as some people think. I must admit that what I’ve seen so far won’t have me rushing back. Still, at least I’m being paid to be here! So on that note I’ll bid you goodnight.

Hs2 to Crewe and Manchester. Where’s the opposition?

04 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by in Hs2, Hs2 to Crewe, Mid Cheshire against Hs2, Rail Investment, StopHs2, Transport

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

It’s now the best part of a week since the Hs2 Phase 2a Hybrid Bill sailed past its 2nd reading in the House of Commons by 295 votes to 12. I’ve been crunching the numbers on the latest Stophs2 petition so I thought I’d take a look to see if this has galvanised opposition to Hs2 along the Manchester route. The answer is – anything but. Here’s a spreadsheet examining signatures to the petition allocated by constituency.  I’ve data going back to November but this snapshot goes back to a few days before the bill had its 2nd reading – along with totals for December and January.

phase 2

The first five constituencies on the list are on the Phase 2 a route and the numbers are lousy, the ‘best’ (Lichfield) has only just managed to get over a third of one percent. It’s slightly behind the overall best which is Tatton with a measly 0.35% of constituents. The petition’s doomed of course, but it does provide an interesting snapshot of feelings along the route and provides an indicator of where the ‘active’ Stophs2 action groups are. They’re few and far between – and nothing in the Greater Manchester area at all.

Here’s what passes for an active group – Mid Cheshire against Hs2 (link). Don’t bother clicking on the ‘events’ section of their website ‘cos there’s nothing there! It’s the same with their Facebook page. Googling them doesn’t reveal any activity either other than moaning to newspapers!

Meanwhile, what of the MPs along the route? Well, of the five phase 2a MPs, only two (Bill Cash & Michael Fabricant) voted against the Phase 2a bill, two abstained and one – Tamworth’s Christopher Pincher voted yes. The 13 MPs on the rest of the route abstained!

I’ll be monitoring the petition result to the bitter end in order to mine the data and judge the strength of the opposition to Hs2 but on current results it’s fair to say it’s ineffectual. The next data of interest will be the number of petitions posted on phase 2a. Unlike on phase 1 there’s no groups trying to canvas petitions or issuing templates for people to follow, so the results are likely to be very different. Of course, the template petitions were a waste of time as they were grouped together!

Now that the national anti Hs2 campaign’s collapsed, the local groups are increasingly isolated. Their ability to lobby MPs is both limited and ineffective as Hs2 continues to enjoy cross-party support and has the backing of most regional political and business leaders, especially in the metropolitan areas. I expect that support to grow as more and more Hs2 construction contracts are let and firms recruit staff and place orders for equipment.

2018 is going to be a very interesting year for Hs2 – if not for its opponents!

London calling…

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in I love my job, London, Rail Investment, Transport, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Despite having plenty to blog about the one thing I haven’t had is time. I’m 2/3 through my commission in private residential old people’s homes in North London and it’s absorbed nearly all my time, but here’s a quick update.

As expected, it’s been a fascinating couple of days. The staff at the two homes I’ve visited have been inspiring. The level of care and attention they give to residents (who all have different needs and levels of support) is bloody hard work. It’s not a job for the casual or the faint-hearted. I’ve also met some lovely residents and heard their stories. The whole experience has been uplifting  – if sometimes sad when you see the ravages of dementia on people who obviously shone before the onset of such a cruel disease.

I’ve also reacquainted myself with commuting across London by public transport. It’s not something have had to do for a long time. When I lived in North London but worked in the East my daily commute was by bicycle. It was the same when I did relief shifts on newspapers based at Canary Wharf. Once I turned to photography my commute was never normally to the same place more than two days in a row.

Since those days London’s population’s grown – as has the number of people commuting in. Today I was using Thameslink services from Herne Hill to Kentish Town & expecting that the new 8-car Siemens Class 700s might have provided a bit of breathing space compared to the Class 319s they’d replaced. Not a bit of it. The trains were rammed – despite all the extra space they provide. It was like being on the tube! It was the same with 12 car trains I saw passing through. Now, these trains are people movers. The 8 cars can carry 1146 and the 12’s take 1754 souls. If they’re already full it’s clear the full 24tph timetable through the Thameslink core can’t come soon enough…

20180130_083008_001

Despite the fact this thing’s a real people-mover and there’s several an hour, I had to flag the first two as I just couldn’t squeeze on. This was 3rd time lucky.

 

Hs2 news: Phase 2a to Crewe Hybrid Bill 2nd reading.

18 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in Hs2, Hs2 to Crewe, Parliament, Rail Investment, StopHs2, Transport

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

The 2nd reading of the Hs2 Phase 2a West Midlands to Crewe Hybrid Bill has been scheduled for Tuesday 30th January.

phase 2a

A number of important decisions are made at 2nd reading. Firstly, the principles of the bill are established. A debate is held, the length of the petitioning process is decided and finally, the premise of the bill is assured. This final bit means that 2nd reading is regarded as Parliament’s intent. If the bill passes with a large majority (as the phase 1 bill did), Parliament’s intent is very clear. After the Second Reading, there can be no amendment which can destroy the principle of the bill.

In addition to referring a hybrid bill to select committee, the House may also give instructions to the select committee. Instructions can prevent the Hybrid Bill select committee from amending certain provisions or allow it to make alterations to infrastructure provided for in the Bill

After the bill passes 2nd reading the petitioning committee (made up of MPs unconnected with the project) will be established.  The composition of a select committee reflects the party balance in the House. The select committee will mostly sit in a quasi-judicial capacity. It will not be looking at principle or policy; its focus will be restricted to addressing mitigation, compensation and adjustment.

It’s the same after the bill passes the formality of 3rd Reading & goes on to the Lords. The whole petitioning process isn’t rerun, and the Lords will have no power to reject or fundamentally alter the Bill.

So, what does this mean for the Stophs2 campaign? They’re toast! It means the focus has moved away from phase 1 and shifted North. Their campaign’s always been very weak and disorganised on this section. All their national groups were Phase 1 based. There are very few active ‘action’ groups locally. Staffordshire’s is a great example of this, they were always divided by the ‘cult of personality’ as local eccentrics or ‘kippers’ (UKIP supporters) tried to use the issue for their own ends. As UKIP has collapsed and is on the verge of bankruptcy, don’t expect much organised opposition there! The recent Stop Hs2 petition on the Government website is a useful indicator as to the health (or otherwise) of the anti Hs2 campaign in the area. Here’s a spreadsheet from yesterday which has a breakdown of the signatures by constituency. From this it’s easy to see how few active anti Hs2 ‘action groups there are.

revised petition

There will be  number of things to watch out for at 2nd reading, including the size of the majority for the bill, the number of MPs who vote against – and where their constituencies are. After that there’ll be about 3 weeks for people to petition the Committee. The number of petitions will also be of interest, especially as this time electronic submissions will be accepted. For phase 1 petitions actually had to be delivered to Parliament in person.

I wonder if StopHs2 will be organising a rally outside Parliament on the 30th the way they did for 2nd reading of the Phase 1 bill. That was an embarrassment as less than 100 people turned up!

DG177046. Anti Hs2 demo. Westminster. London. 28.4.14.

This was meant to be a national demonstration from all the different phases of Hs2. Remember over 6.5 million people live in constituencies Hs2 will pass through, yet less than 100 people turned up to protest!

If there’s no demonstration this time it will say an awful lot about how far the Stop Hs2 campaign’s collapsed.

 

 

Who nicked the sunshine?

08 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by in Grand Central trains, Transport, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

It’s been one of those days! I’m heading to London but the trip’s not been without hiccups. The day started well. Despite all the cars on our road being covered in frost the temperature seemed quite mild and my walk to the station was slip-free and pleasant. Halifax is quiet at 06:30, so there’s little to disturb your thoughts – which makes a nice change! The station was quieter than normal too, mainly because it’s another Northern Rail strike day, but as I was using Grand Central I wasn’t bothered. One of their ‘new’ ex-GWR sets arrived (on time) to take me South but my plans were immediately thrown into confusion as the wifi was up the spout.

I normally use trains as mobile offices as much as anything else and factor in wifi as a vital part of the service. However, every cloud has a silver lining, so not being glued to my laptop screen meant I could savour the view from the window. Yorkshire looked beautiful. The landscape was covered in thick frost, lakes were frozen and a sense of stillness was palpable. To cap it off the sunrise through a cloudless sky was sublime, it illuminated the contrails of a gaggle of airliners all heading East towards Europe, leaving me wondering where each one was actually heading for. Sadly, the experience was marred when I got to Doncaster as a cab fault led to my train being cancelled! Grand Central did their best to provide an alternative by arranging for a Sunderland – Kings Cross service running 10 mins behind us to stop & scoop everyone up but I decided to wait for an hour and catch the next Southbound Bradford. My unexpected break gave me time to use the station internet access which was just as well as the 08:31 was another former GWR 180 without wifi! 

Now I’m heading through Cambridgeshire, typing this on my phone. The stunning weather we had up North came to an abrupt end when we met a solid wall of cloud North of Peterborough. It’s dull misty and rather depressing here, which is a shame. Still, let’s see what London brings…

Yorkshire picks a fight with itself (again), this time over Hs2.

09 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Transport, Yorkshire, YorkshireStopHs2

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

, , ,

When I moved to from London Yorkshire in 2010 one of the first things I noticed was how much time the county spent in internecine political battles and rivalries. Sheffield, Bradford, Leeds, Doncaster and Wakefield seemed like a bunch of warring states, all fighting against each other over something (or nothing). It sometimes feels like Yorkshire takes itself rather too seriously. I mean – name another English county that has its own political party (Yorkshire First)!

Now tykes really have got something to fight over. Hs2.

Today’s been a cracking example of this. The latest consultation over Hs2 Phase 2 closes today and the ‘war’ between Doncaster and Sheffield over  the new route through South Yorkshire is hotting up. The Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, has taken to Twitter to launch Doncaster’s response to the consultation and made the most curious claim whilst doing it…

Jones Hs2

The “route nobody asked for”? I’m not sure Sheffield or the city’s local newspaper, the  Sheffield Star will see it that way. After all, it was the Star that ran a (successful) campaign to get the route changed in the first place! As the paper said at the time,

star

Personally, I can see the pro’s and con’s of both routes so it will be interesting to see who prevails in the end. If anything, my money is on the new route. That’s because things have changed since the original one was announced. The concept of the Northern Powerhouse has become something far more real. We now have Transport for the North and Northern Powerhouse Rail (nee Hs3). TfN is driving the regions transport strategy and Hs2 and NPR (linked together) are very much part of it and I suspect the new Hs2 route fits in with that strategy more than the old one.

That said, as someone who originated from the other side of the Pennines, I can imagine my fellow Lancastrians cracking a wry smile at the antics of their ever-warring neighbours. Which is more attractive to business. An area that’s managed to put most of its differences aside (look at Manchester and its neighbours). Or the contestant battles and jockeying for position that they observe this side of the chain?

My final observation – whatever happens, it’s very bad news for anti Hs2 campaigners in Yorkshire, because one thing’s clear, the vast majority of the counties politicians and business leader are fighting for Hs2 – not to stop it. This is about who reaps the benefits. Remember, only two of the counties 51 MPs voted against Hs2 Phase 1. To argue over the benefits you first have to agree to build it and there’s little doubt that’s exactly what MPs will agree to do. This means that Yorkshire Hs2 anti’s tactics have fallen at the first hurdle. They’re making the same mistake as the phase 1 antis did by trying to challenge at a local level the business case for a national infrastructure project. As soon as MPs vote through the Phase 2b Hybrid Bill at 2nd reading their arguments are moot. When it comes to hearing petitions a person or organisation will only have locus standi (the right to be heard) if a petitioner’s property or interests are directly and specially affected by the Bill. As we’ve seen from the phase 1 hearings, the Ctte’s take a dim view of a petitioner trying to argue that Hs2 is the ‘wrong’ project or there’s no economic justification for it as Parliament has already decided there is. As most of the antis time seems to be wasted in exactly the wrong sort of arguments, it’s easy to see why they’ll fail.

Hs2 gets Royal Assent

02 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Hs2aa, Mid Cheshire against Hs2, StopHs2, Transport

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

This major milestone was attained on the 23rd February whilst I was away in Asia, so I’ve not had chance to blog about it until today. Royal Assent means that years of talking and arguing about Hs2 are finally over. Royal Assent is essentially granting planning permission for construction to start. There are no more legal or political hoops to jump through. Politicians have now moved on to other things, even if a few anti Hs2 campaigners haven’t. What RA also does is release some pots of money that had been held back. Here’s what the DfT release says about them:

“Two funds, worth £40 million, are now open for bids: the Community and Environment Fund (CEF) and the Business and Local Economy Fund (BLEF). The CEF will help enhance community facilities, improve access to the countryside and conserve the natural environment, while the BLEF will support local economies in areas where businesses may experience disruption from the construction of HS2.

The CEF and BLEF together make up £40 million and will be allocated at a regional level: £15 million for the central area (Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Buckinghamshire Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire), £7.5 million for Greater London and £7.5 million for the West Midlands (Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry). The remaining £10 million will fund cross-border or route wide projects”.

But there’s more…

“A further £30 million road safety fund will go towards local road safety schemes in areas not currently accustomed to construction traffic. This will help provide a legacy of improvements for areas adversely affected by Phase One traffic.”

That’s a total of £70m for projects along the phase 1 route that have been released by Royal Assent.

Of course, RA has had other impacts. It’s screwed down the lid on the StopHs2 campaign’s coffin. Their campaign’s dead – although some of them refuse to admit it and continue to witter on Twitter, as if it matters any more as spades will start going into the ground in a few short weeks time.

So, what’s next for the anti Hs2 campaign. Well, on phase 1 – it’s oblivion. There’s only one active group left in 2017 as Hs2aa haven’t been heard of since November last year. In fact, if you look at Hs2aa’s website you wouldn’t even know Hs2 has got Royal Assent!

That leaves Kenilworth based StopHs2 which is just two people. Joe Rukin (who lives locally) and Penny Gaines, who’s decamped to the South-West! In order to keep his non-job going poor Joe is trying to sell his services and ‘expertise’ to Phase 2 campaigners. Quite what Yorkshire would do with a bloke whose CV reveals 7 years of failure and dishonesty is an interesting question. StopHs2 are skint. How long they will survive now is an interesting question. I’d be surprised if they last beyond the summer.

That brings us onto the next phase of Hs2 – 2a from the W Midlands to Crewe. The consultation closed on 7th November 2016. Shortly afterwards the Govt confirmed the route. 2017 will see the Environmental Impact Assessment completed and the Hybrid Bill launched. The Govt are expecting phase 2a to get Royal Assent in 2019. This may seem optimistic when you look at the time it took on Phase 1, but for one thing. The anti Hs2 campaign on Phase 2a is almost non-existent!

Apart from an active group around Stone (Staffs), supported by the local MP, Bill Cash, there’s no organised opposition to Hs2. There was in the past (of a sort, anyway) but it was always riven by in-fighting and egos. Much of it was UKIP inspired, but as they’ve got their own problems nowadays don’t expect many fireworks.

That leaves the two arms of phase 2. Crewe to Manchester and the W Midlands to Leeds.

Of the two, the Manchester arm has the least Stophs2 activity. There’s a small group based in Mid-Cheshire that’s noisy but ineffective (it doesn’t even have the backing of the local MP) and there’s the remnants of a group around Warrington. Take a look at their website. It hasn’t been updated since 2015!  Their Facebook page isn’t much better.  The only other group worth mentioning is CADRAG (Culcheth And District Rail Action Group) but they’re just as moribund as the others. This comment on their Facebook page says it all.

cadrag

That leaves the Leeds leg, where the story is more complicated.

There’s one tiny group in Leics (which essentially seems to be a one man and his dog operation) around the village of Measham. Here’s their website. When you look through you find there’s very little in the way of action. Much of their website is empty and they’ve still not announced who their Committee members are 3 months on! Their main reason to exist seems to be to help people turn out carbon copy consultation responses (which worked so well on Phase 1 , not). Their social media presence is one man tweeting stuff that has no links with Measham at all, just random StopHs2 propaganda, oh, and a strange obsession with how many views his Tweets have had (so much so that he then tweets about it)! A telling statistic is that only 1% of the local population turned up to their inaugural meeting.

What makes this group interesting is that they’re like a few on the Yorkshire arm. They only exist because the route was changed after consultations. That means there’s opposition to their position as the changes were so that Hs2 affects less people. We may yet find the rug is pulled from under groups like this if the new consultations show a majority of local support FOR the changes!

It’s the same with a few small groups North of Sheffield. There’s an added problem for anti Hs2 campaigners here as they command very little political support. Whilst Yorkshire political culture is renowned for factionalism and squabbling between the different Councils, local Authorities and metropolitan areas the overwhelming majority of Yorkshire politicians see Hs2 as a good thing even if they can’t agree on the final course of the route. But then, neither can the protesters! There’s no coherent voice or anti Hs2 campaign across Yorkshire. The anti campaign is also hamstrung by the fact that – unlike the Chiltern Nimbys, they can’t use the excuse that there’s no stations and they don’t directly benefit.

What Yorkshire does have is a cadre of academics and vested interests centred around Leeds/Harrogate who are anti Hs2. In the case of High Speed UK (HSUK) that’s because they have their own pet scheme they want to make some money out of.

In conjunction with Wakefield Council (one of the political awkward squad, through its leader, Cllr Peter Box) a group grandly styling themselves “Yorkshire Against HS2” have organised a conference tomorrow. Titled “Hs2 Alternatives”. It contained the usual rag-bag of long term opponents and political dogmatists, from lobbyists like the Taxpayers Alliance to the Green party’s Natalie “brain fade” Bennett. Add to the mix HSUK (still punting their back of a fag packet ‘alternative’) and the superbly bonkers Paul Withrington, (who styles himself ‘Transport Watch’), StopHs2’s Joe Rukin and local self publicist Cllr Gibbons and you’ve got a real treat! I doubt Yorkshire’s seen a box of frogs this mad since the UKIP conference was last in the county. Quite wisely, two local MPs (Ed Miliband and Jon Tricket) are keeping their distance and (allegedly) leaving messages via a video link!

alternatives

Somehow, I can’t imagine Sir David Higgins losing any sleep over this one. If it’s raining in Wakefield tomorrow you might get a few through the doors, but if this is the Premier league of the remaining opposition to Hs2…

And that it! The phase 2 Hybrid Bill won’t be along for a couple of years yet, so expect a lot of what’s left of the opposition to drop away – just as it did on phase 1. In the meantime, construction will have started on phase 1 and the phase 2a Hybrid Bill will be attracting all the attention.

Now I’m looking forward to a few years spent blogging about progress on the construction of Hs2!

Why rail level crossings and cities don’t mix.

05 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by in Bangkok, Railways, Thailand, Transport

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Back when railways were first developed, no-one forsaw any problems with them crossing roads on the flat at level crossings. After all, in those early days, road transport was horse drawn and sparse and motor vehicles had yet to arrive on the scene . Move forward 175 years and the situation is very different – especially in urban areas.

Probably the worst example of a level crossing in the UK is in Lincoln, where traffic is brought to a standstill several times an hour by passenger and freight services. Despite the provision of a new footbridge to ease pedestrian flows, little can be done to replace the crossing by a bridge or tunnel due to the built-up nature of the area.

dg28565-66511-lincoln-16-7-09

Lincoln, showing how the crossing is hemmed in at either side, making replacement with a tunnel or bridge impractical.

I’ve found an even worse example in Bangkok, Thailand. Yommarat Junction is a few kilometres North of the city’s main railway station, Hualamphong. Here, the railway lines to the East splits from the lines to the North and South of the country to form a triangle, with Yommarat at the Southern end. Back when the line opened in 1903 this wasn’t an issue. Bangkok was a small city with little road traffic. Now, it’s a bustling metropolis of 14 million people that has a horrendous traffic problem – and the rail crossing at Yommarat sits bang in the middle of some major road junctions. Whilst Lincoln can see 10 trains on hour, on my visit to Yommarat there were 15 in an hour and ten minutes. This was a mix of passenger, light engines and inbound ECS services. The road traffic is even more diverse as the area to the West of the crossing includes a hospital, Royal palaces and army barracks, so you regularly see convoys of black cars with heavily tinted windows, escorted by police motorcycles, speeding through.

A look at a map shows exactly what the problem is.

yommarat-jn

Not only does the railway cross a crucial crossroads of four main roads connecting East and West Bangkok, there’s also the slip road to the city’s elevated Sirat expressway just a hundred yards to the East of the line. It’s not just the roads that suffer here. Trains have to be held either side of the crossing to allow the traffic to clear and the gates to be closed. It’s not a quick operation. It often adds 5-20 minutes to a trains journey. Often, trains are held at either side so that they pass on the crossing. It doesn’t hold up traffic for as long, but it’s hardly great for punctuality! The normal method of working the gates is to close the Southern pair first, leaving the Eastern flow across to the vital expressway slip road open for as long as possible.

Here’s a few pictures to set the scene.

DG263864. 4560. Yommarat Jn. Bangkok. Thailand. 2.2.17.JPG

Hitachi built Co-Co No 4560 heads South across Phetchaburi Rd towards Hualamphong terminus (off to the right of the picture). You can see traffic queuing up the flyover behind it.

dg263948-2512-4508-yommarat-jn-bangkok-thailand-2-2-17

One of the UK built Class 158 DMUs passes a Hitachi built Co-Co which is working ECS to Hualamphong, bringing in some of the new Chinese built sleeper cars that are used on overnight services to Chiang Mai.

Meanwhile, here’s a video to show what happens before and after a train passes. Watch out for the volume of traffic that’s unleashed after the gates open.

Unsurprisingly, everyone is keen to get rid of the crossing. After several false starts a solution is now at hand. In 2019 Hualamphong terminus is due to be closed and turned into a museum as it will be replaced by the new Bang Sue interchange (see this previous blog). Admittedly, this date has slipped before but the writing’s clearly on the wall for this crossing. It’s an entertaining throwback to an earlier era (unless you’re a Bangkok motorist!) – so go and see it whilst you can.