Midland Main Line electrification

[CharlieP]

Justine Greening is expected to announce the electrification of the Midland Main Line on Monday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18839483

Transport Secretary Justine Greening is set to outline plans to complete the electrification of the route between Sheffield and London on Monday.

At present the line is electrified only between St Pancras station and Bedford.

The new decision, if confirmed, would mean extending overhead wires to Sheffield via the east Midlands.

NB More sloppy journalism from the BBC: "Midland Mainline" is the name of the old TOC - the line itself is the Midland Main Line. Capitalising the "east Midlands" would have been nice too.

[sirstan74]

Great news if confirmed. How long does this process usually take - e.g. what stage is the Great Western Line at now?

[Leeds No.1]

Will the line just be electrified to Sheffield, or is this part of the dumbing down process to make it understandable to read rather than mentioning Moorthorpe?

[Paul D]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

Will the line just be electrified to Sheffield, or is this part of the dumbing down process to make it understandable to read rather than mentioning Moorthorpe?

On the radio last night it mentioned Sheffield.

[Christopher125]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

Will the line just be electrified to Sheffield, or is this part of the dumbing down process to make it understandable to read rather than mentioning Moorthorpe?

We'll have to wait and see, but even if the government only commit to electrifying the core MML on monday its highly likely that gaps and extensions will be added at a later date - both the North West and Great Western electrification schemes have grown substantially since the initial proposals and Transpennine looks likely to follow suit.

Chris

[makita09]

Originally Posted by Christopher125

We'll have to wait and see, but even if the government only commit to electrifying the core MML on monday its highly likely that gaps and extensions will be added at a later date - both the North West and Great Western electrification schemes have grown substantially since the initial proposals and Transpennine looks likely to follow suit.

Chris

i agree, looks like the current wisdom (pun not initially intended but recognised and then intended) is to electrify on a grand scale. any more announcements and the uk will soon have double the overhead electrfication it had at the start of the 90s.

this is all good news. if we look at the network rail electrification document of a few years ago it all looms quite similar to what we're ending up with. which is good.

i predict that the next announcements will be more locally oriented around the midlands and northern conurbations, before sheffield - leeds/doncaster, which i imagine will be announced along with bristol - derby i a few years time.

[zfreeman]

Originally Posted by makita09

i predict that the next announcements will be more locally oriented around the midlands and northern conurbations, before sheffield - leeds/doncaster, which i imagine will be announced along with bristol - derby i a few years time.

Electrifying some of the more local services in South Yorkshire would be a waste of time, really the only route to consider electrifying is the Sheffield-Rotherham- Doncaster. If the funds are there it would also potentially be worthwhile maybe electrifying ONE of the routes from Sheffield to Leeds, especially if the other is the route of HS2.

Personally I would like to see HS2 routed via Barnsley (and maybe an occasionally stopping service ) and the Dearne Valley route electrified, to further boost regeneration in the valley.

[Leeds No.1]

Originally Posted by zfreeman

If the funds are there it would also potentially be worthwhile maybe electrifying ONE of the routes from Sheffield to Leeds, especially if the other is the route of HS2.

It would make sense to electrify the 25km between Sheffield and Moorthorpe to connect two electrified regions. It would allow:

- Electric EMT services from Leeds - London
- Diversionary route for East Coast services between Leeds - London
- Electric local Leeds - Sheffield/Nottingham services
- EMT services to access Neville Hill depot
- Electric Edinburgh/Newcastle - Sheffield - Nottingham/Derby services

[makita09]

Originally Posted by zfreeman

Electrifying some of the more local services in South Yorkshire would be a waste of time, really the only route to consider electrifying is the Sheffield-Rotherham- Doncaster. If the funds are there it would also potentially be worthwhile maybe electrifying ONE of the routes from Sheffield to Leeds, especially if the other is the route of HS2.

Personally I would like to see HS2 routed via Barnsley (and maybe an occasionally stopping service ) and the Dearne Valley route electrified, to further boost regeneration in the valley.

It wouldn't be, any more than electrifying the Shipley routes was a waste of time.

[sarflonlad]

This is such an awful line. It takes ages to get anywhere... makes places like Nottingham seem as a far as Newscastle.

Finally, some investment! Will trains run faster as a result of electrification?

[Vulcan's Finest]

Originally Posted by sarflonlad

This is such an awful line. It takes ages to get anywhere... makes places like Nottingham seem as a far as Newscastle.

Finally, some investment! Will trains run faster as a result of electrification?

Err... these are typical weekday times, so your statement isn't accurate.

London - Nottingham 1hr 44 mins.

London - Newcastle 2h 49 minutes

The planned linespeed upgrades will gain up to 8 minutes, you can expect a few minutes more from electrification. It will never be as fast as the East Coast because of the curvature of the track. Anyway in 2033 HS2 will supercede the fast services.

This electrification has been a no-brainer for years, especially as the first 50 miles were electrified thirty years ago. It will be interesting to see exactly what gets electrified for £500 million beyond the core route Bedford - Trent Jcn - Derby - Sheffield, Kettering - Corby and Trent Jcn - Nottingham, roughly 125 route miles. And what fleet of electric trains will replace the current HST and 222 fleets?

[DBadger]

Originally Posted by Vulcan's Finest

And what fleet of electric trains will replace the current HST and 222 fleets?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_Super_Express is an option.

[sarflonlad]

Originally Posted by Vulcan's Finest

Err... these are typical weekday times, so your statement isn't accurate.

London - Nottingham 1hr 44 mins.

London - Newcastle 2h 49 minutes

If you think 1h 44 mins (which is only the "high speed" service) is good to Nottingham, then, so be it. But it makes the place seem much further away from the south than it actually is.

MML = hate. Heavy clunky trains trundling along through the East Midlands.

[Angle42]

It appear the he MML upgrade is only part of the story - 'Multi-billion' rail cash investment to be announced

[NCT]

As Vulcan's Finest said in the other thread, what will really benefit the MML is tilting trains - maybe the MML can get some Pendolinos upon HS2 but dammit that's a long way off. Does anyone know the timetable for electrification? If electric stock has to be ordered then tilting trains should be seriously considere IMO.

I hope London - Nottingham can be brought to under 90 minutes post upgrade. What would also be desirable is overtaking facilities south of Leicester, so that the slow train from Nottingham connects with a fast train from Derby at Leicester which gets into London earlier.

[TRaji00]

Originally Posted by DBadger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_Super_Express is an option.

Or for the time being, could Bombardier's idea to add a panto coach to the existing trains be considered (or was that limited to the Class 220/221)?

[makita09]

its limited to the class 221/222s.

[Steel City Suburb]

Apparently the Meridans will be converted.

[NCT]

Are the Meridian DEMUs able to operate under bi-mode - i.e. running under wires where are they available like south of Bedford as of now?

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by NCT

Are the Meridian DEMUs able to operate under bi-mode - i.e. running under wires where are they available like south of Bedford as of now?

Yes, they can run under wires. They just can't actually use the electricity in them.