The Train and Railway Thread - CHOO CHOO!

A joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin has won the franchise to run the East Coast mainline rail route.

The firms promised to invest £140m in the route over eight years, and will pay the government £3.3bn for the contract.

The franchise, which covers the route between London and Edinburgh, has been publicly run since 2009.

An Amtrak train slammed into a tractor-trailer that got stuck on the tracks while trying to make a difficult left-hand turn Monday. One of the train's cars toppled and the conductor and at least 54 others were injured.

It was the third serious train crash in less than two months. Two deadly crashes in New York and California in February killed a total of seven people and injured 30.

The oversized flatbed trailer involved in Monday's crash was transporting a modular building wrapped in blue plastic and jammed with electrical equipment, said Lt. Jeff Gordon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

One of the troopers escorting the truck from Clayton, North Carolina, to the Virginia border was trying to help the driver negotiate a difficult left-hand turn across the tracks onto a two-lane highway in the town of Halifax, Gordon said. But the 164-foot tractor-trailer combination, longer than half a football field, couldn't navigate it, he said.

During the five minutes or so the trooper and driver spent attempting to get the truck turned and off the tracks, there was no indication of an approaching train, Gordon said. When the train appeared, it set off warning flashers and the crossing arms came down as the truck was still straddling the tracks, he said. The train hit the truck shortly afterward, Gordon said.

He said the truck was unable to back off the tracks before the train hit because traffic had backed up on the road behind him.

NETWORK RAIL has revealed that the Harbury Tunnel landslip between Leamington Spa and Banbury will have been stablised and cleared by 13 March, which is three weeks earlier than originally expected.

The route between Birmingham and London Marylebone, the Thames Valley, the south coast and the port of Southampton is used by 130 passenger and freight trains a day. It has been closed since 31 January after a 350,000 tonne landslip threatened to block the line. The steeply-sided cutting had posed problems before.

Train services will return on Friday 13 March. Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: “Thousands of passengers, and thousands of tonnes of freight, rely on this vital route every day. We have been working around the clock and are able to reopen the railway three weeks ahead of the original estimate.

“Harbury cutting has suffered from landslips for more than 150 years. We have secured the cutting and made it safe and will carry out long term repairs which will significantly reduce the chances of similar incidents in the future.

“I would like to thank passengers and the residents of Harbury for their ongoing patience while we fix the landslip and carry out further repairs ahead of the reopening.”

PASSENGER growth has risen again on National Rail — and the rate of growth is also going up.

It reached 6.7 per cent in the three months from November.

The Office of Rail Regulation said total journeys, as reported by the Lennon ticketing database, reached 429.8 million in that quarter, which is the highest recorded in modern times.

If repeated over a full year, the resulting total would be higher than the landmark 'demobilisation' year of 1945, even allowing for the fact that Lennon counts individual 'legs' of journeys and therefore exaggerates the total compared with historical figures.

The total of passenger kilometres also rose again, by 6.5 per cent. Passenger kms are boosted by the fact that the average rail journey is significantly longer now than in former times, and have probably reached an all-time record. However timetabled train kilometres increased hardly at all, by just 0.5 per cent. which implies that some trains are becoming more crowded.

In a related development, an updated version of the industry’s long-term rolling stock strategy says increasing passenger numbers, withdrawal of Pacers and delays to planned electrification schemes mean there is a “short-term requirement” for between 350 and 500 'non-electric' vehicles, and possibly as many as 19,000 new electric vehicles by 2044.

The short-term need for additional non-electric vehicles is despite the number of new electric vehicles which are to be built during Control Period 5 (up to 2019) and in the early years of CP 6, which is “now approaching 3,800,” according to the strategy. It says: “This represents a capital cost of more than £6 billion, at an average build rate of 12 vehicles per week, compared with an average of just four vehicles per week in the five years of CP 4 (2009-14)."

It also comments that: "Vehicle owners and train operators have also become increasingly innovative at adapting and extending the lives of older vehicles." Two current examples of this are the proposals to convert former London Underground D78 stock from electric to diesel traction, and leasing company Porterbrook's 'Evolution' project to rebuild Class 144 Pacers, making them compliant with tighter disabled access rules which come into force towards the end of this decade.

The report has been prepared by a pan-industry steering group chaired by Richard Brown, former chief executive and chairman of Eurostar.

It adds: "Some new and additional non-electric vehicles will be required in CP 5 and early in CP 6, as a result of the existing levels of crowding and continuing strong growth of passenger demand on some non-electrified routes, the assumed replacement of the ‘Pacer’ vehicles and the rate of completion of the committed programme of electrification.

For the longer term, it says that: “Peak and off-peak passenger growth across all market segments is forecast to continue and it will be necessary to expand the rolling stock fleet to avoid crowding.”

It adds: “Analysis indicates that between 13,000 and 19,000 new electric vehicles will be required over the 30 years to 2044.

“Electrification will in many cases permit longer trains, and will enable diesel trains to be transferred to non-electrified routes, where growth has been constrained by lack of sufficient vehicles.

“The modelling of electrification and growth demonstrates a reduction in rolling stock unit costs of more than 30 per cent in all scenarios. The strategy emphasises the resulting benefits to passengers, including improvements to punctuality and reliability.”

Of the growth in passenger numbers between last November and January, the ORR said: “This is the highest number of journeys recorded in a quarter since data collection began in 2002-03, and a 6.7 per cent increase on the same quarter last year.”

London and South East recorded the highest growth, eight per cent, but passenger kilometres only grew by 6.8 per cent.

By comparison, long distance intercity journeys went up by 5.1 per cent but passenger kms grew 6.9 per cent, indicating passengers making longer journeys. And the growth in journeys was more than twice that allowed for in HS 2 Ltd’s business case.

Regional services also recorded growth in the last quarter – 3.1 per cent more journeys, covering five per cent more passenger kms.

Compared to other European railways the ORR said: “Since 2008 the number of passenger journeys has increased by 23 per cent. This is the biggest increase in journeys of any EU country that reports to Eurostat.”

Those warmed-over underground trains that some penny pinching suits want to use as surface trains are decades out of date in terms of their safety features.