Star comment: We’re stuck on slow train to London
It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating news of a new high speed rail link between Shropshire and London.
A week ago, FirstGroup trumpeted the return of a connection from Telford and Shrewsbury to the capital from 2016 as part of a £5.5 billion deal. Now the celebrations have come to an abrupt halt and the truth is out.
While we may get a link to London, the speed of that link won’t be increased to normal inter-city standards for many years; certainly not before 2019. We all know trains can be delayed – but an additional three-year wait seems excessive by anyone’s standards.
The loss of Shropshire’s direct link to London last January hit local businesses hard. One hotel in Shrewsbury instantly lost £100,000 per year in trade and many others suffered similar losses.
The latest problem has arisen because rail bosses do not intend to electrify the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton line. That means that when we eventually get a county service to London in 2016, it will be a slow one.
The Department of Transport has opened the door to improvements in the future; though it does not intend to upgrade its electrification programme before 2019.
The omission of an electrified Shropshire-Wolverhampton connection casts a shadow over the proposed return in 2016 of a direct Shropshire-London link. Railway bosses have effectively told us: ‘You’ll get a train, but don’t expect it to get there quickly. Sit back, enjoy the journey’. That message simply won’t wash with the business community.
Our local companies work hard in a difficult environment to keep our economy afloat. Thankfully, two local MPs have already started the campaign to speed things up.
In an age of increased environmental awareness, at a time when our infrastructure urgently needs improvement and in an era when our economy is crying out for investment; the Government could do much worse than give us fast trains to London – without making us wait too long.
Comments for: "Star comment: We’re stuck on slow train to London"
Devilschair
So you bought the story about investing in the railways..?
It's just a warm-feeling story that has been promised to give the impression some money somewhere may be spent sometime - possibly, but unlikely.
Especially as this government because by then it won't be this governent unless a miracle and the same voting figures occur and the Lib Dems choose the Conservatives to play Monopoly with again.
2016 is beyond this governments stated life - so they can promise anything and then include those figures in claims to be spending money on investment in Britain!
Roger
Electrification is the ideal solution; but the lack of it does not mean the service can not improve.
The line speed is being upgraded, the rolling stock and signalling can be upgraded.
We can still change at Wolves and get a faster service than the last direct service offered.
The service that people need is one that gets you into London before 10:00 AM and has a return service after 17:00 PM without needing to change trains. That can be achieved now, if the service is provided. It has been achieved before.
Improved journey times can be improved by steady progressive improvements. Electrification when comes will involve an installation period which will slow things up for a while.
The target time should be less than 2 hours 30 Mins. Electrification in combination with signalling and rolling stock improvement should be able to achieve 2 Hours.
It's not an all or nothing situation.
No complacency though we should be pushing for electrification on a continuous basis. That is not a First Group/Virgin issue it is Rail Track. First Group can start improvements from January 2013 but are delaying to 2016 for rolling stock utilisation reasons. They can be pressed to act earlier.
telfrob
i have read somewhere that electrification of the line is not possible because of oakengates tunnel, does anyone know if it is true?
Peter
I'm not sure why the idea of a fast direct link t London is so attractive - is it that people are working in London and travelling to Shropshire, or is it that there is a hope that a direct rail link will bring more jobs here?
If the former, then my advice would probably be to move a bit closer to London, if the latter, then of course I'd be in favour of it, but we need far more than a rail link to achieve this. There has been a great shift in jobs from the provinces to London in recent decades - partly due to the decline in manufacturing industry and the move to service industry jobs, especially those in the financial sector.
With modern communication methods there is really very little need for people to travel as much as they do - it's high time we moved jobs away from the metropolis and reduced the yawning North/South divide.
Mike
Electrification isn't required for a rapid service through to London, Diesel trains can currently travel just as fast on the West Coast Main Line as Electric ones. Ask anyone who has used the Virgin Diesel services from Chester via Crewe through to Euston. This service is run using Voyager trains, which are the trains being made available to the Shropshire route when services commence.
Henry
telfrob - Oakengates Tunnel does not prevent electrification of the line. It will make it slightly more expensive as the trackbed may have to be lowered slightly and the tunnel made watertight. But I think it's just another excuse not to improve Shropshire's railways.
Roger
Oakengates Tunnel is a problem and it depends on the clearance above the train as to how big a problem. digging down and changing the gradients is one answer as is cut and cover or cutting out the tunnel to a bigger size. There are always solutions but they can be expensive. I suspect that it is the reason why it has not already been done. However the technology to overcome the problem is constantly improving so the cost comes down. Rail Track have not excluded the proposal so I assume they have a plan. They want to electrify to Shrewsbury to get the service improvements, reduce travelling times and improve untilisation of rolling stock.
Nothing is impossible and this could be just difficult and expensive.
Will
What nonsense.
The direct service will be operated by Super Voyagers - InterCity trains.
They have a top speed of 125mph and high acceleration (same as the electric Pendolinos)
As such, electrification will not speed things up any further.
Bill
Just to set a few misapprehension straight.
Firstly, it doesn't matter who gets the franchise, part of the DfT conditions is to introduce, by the December 2016 timetable change, direct services from London to Blackpool, Bolton and Shrewsbury. The only time constraint is the building and introduction of 11 new electric sets (not Pendolinos) which will replace the 125mph 'tilting' Voyagers currently used between the Midlands and Scotland, all of which is 'under the wires'. These diesel units will then be used to provide the three new services.
As far as electrification is concerned, Oakengates Tunnel is NOT the issue - it has a semi-elliptical form with a high centre (for smoke clearance - no ventilation shafts). It provides a clearance far in excess of that found on many other overhead electrified routes - most notably those in London (especially Kentish Town-Farringdon), Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The civil engineering issue would be the 20-odd Victorian road overbridges and farm accesses all of which would need to be rebuilt to a certain extent, most notably at Bilbrook (four lanes + 3 footways) and two right in the centre of Wellington. These would mean major road closures/diversions for some months. Thus there will inevitably be a 'disruption costs' built into any electrification plan.
It doesn't matter whether Virgin or First get the franchise - what will matter is whether the service is used for its real purpose, travel to/from London and not just as a luxury West Midlands commute!
Roger
Thanks Bill you seem to have the fact's I lacked. Particularly the Oakengates tunnel. I assume that Network Rail will have well rehearsed options for the bridges, as they must have needed to do thousands in their time, so it's more a case of how much than not feasible which is how I looked at the tunnel. The proposal would not be in the plan if it was not feasible. However if the Welsh Valley lines currently included in the plan are justified for commuter services into Cardiff the Main Line Proposal to Shrewsbury with all it's connecting Services and Commuter density must be very close to equal or better value for money. As I understand it the total journey times from as far as Aberystwyth and all points back to Wolverhampton and the ability to terminate Diesel serves at Shrewsbury, instead of pushing them through to Birmingham International has a major impact on the Wolves to Rugby capacity planning. So we should not lose heart but rather press the advantages.