Electrification shocker - Shocker

Good news!

If this motley crew are against High Speed Rail then Adonis must be right!

Go Andrew, go!

UPDATE: Captain Deltic glooms.

Motley crew they may be, but by focusing on high speed we are handing them rods for mass back beating. Ditto with the emphasis on CO2 reduction.

There is no need for a high speed line between London and Birmingham. The journey time reductions will not pay for the return on the investment. And emissions are a playground for sophisters with Excel.

There is a need for more capacity between London and the West Midlands. And when you are building a new line to relieve the WCML, well in the 21st Century standard new main lines run at 200 mile/h.

This week's over-the-top coverage in the Grauniad could yet backfire.

UPDATE: This just in from the Major...

You would expect a motley crew of road and air pressure groups and operators to have a go at Adonis' high-speed piece.

It's worth considering what rail's reaction would be if the boot was on the other foot.

There might be a letter from the Bearded One promising the earth but for the rest of the rail industry and its so-called lobby groups I expect we'd hear nothing.

For all this, the chap from Newcastle Airport does have a point.

Air still holds advantages for those travelling cross-country.

Newcastle-Exeter - quicker by rail or air?

So what is the railway doing to improve cross country journey times?

Nothing, apart from continuing with its policy of CrossCountry trains waiting time at York, Leeds, Sheffield (up to 10 minutes!), Derby, Birmingham etc etc.

The railway proved it can run on time if it inserts enough padding in the timetable - now it needs to get on with cutting journey times and still running on time: that's where the real skill lies!

Sparks and the Thunderer

Oh dear.

Allowing a Peer to announce Electrification via the Times may have upset Wapping's home team!

This from Transport Correspondent Ben...

Passengers on one of Britain’s busiest intercity routes face six years of disruption while it is electrified under the Government’s low-carbon agenda.

Shome mishtake, shurely.

No doubt the huge amounts Network Rail will pay to First Great Western for disruption will allow passengers to be suitably compensated.

And they may even get tomorrow's railway!

New Apostle of the Pantograph - Electrification announced!

That announcement!!

In the Times here!!!

Bad luck Cardiff - Wapping had it first.

Electrification announcement latest, with added infill schemes

Okay.

So it's the Great Western Main Line, first stage Paddington to Oxford & Newbury; then on to Bristol via both Parkway and Bath.

At some indeterminate point in the future extended to Cardiff and possibly even Swansea (no doubt designed to prevent a Plaid Cymru inspired meltdown of Labour Constituencies).

The favoured infill scheme now appears to be Manchester - Preston (Goblin's loss - but blame Tory Boris).

An infill between Manchester and Preston would allow TPE Manchester to Edinburgh/Glasgow services to be switched over to new electric 'low carbon' (sic) traction, resulting in a cascade of DMUs to the non electrified railway.

Similar cascades will happen with GWML electrification - although the Thames trains 165's were built to a more generous loading gauge so reader suggestions for a new home, other than the scrapyard, welcome.

Where this leaves the Delayed Multiple Unit Project to speed-up the procurment of an additional 202 DMU vehicles is of course anyone's guess.

As Northern are still gagging for additional stock and Wales will have to wait some time for the sparks effect, perhaps both may get an internal combustion pre-election sweetner?

UPDATE: This from The Major...

Manchester – yes.

Preston – no.

Try Liverpool...

Electrification - what's in the announcement

The cabinet, we are led to believe, will be meeting in Wales on Thursday.

Having failed to share their plans with the House, perfect timing to announce electrification plans for the Great Western Main Line.

Alas, for our Tafia friends, nothing West of Bristol.

No matter.

Smart money has Paddington to Oxford and Newbury (think Reading remodelling and Crossrail to Maidenhead) as stage one.

Stage two has Bristol via both Parkway and Bath.

Timescales unknown.

Funding on the back of Network Rail's regulatory Asset Base.

That said, the proposals are likely to find cross party support!

What with the Rt Hon Member for Witney representing an Oxfordshire constituency and leading the Tory Party and all.

Perhaps the Noble Lord should call by, en-route to London, to raise a glass with his future boss?

UPDATE: This from 'David'...

The Guardian today says electrification through to Cardiff - and when you think about it, electrification Swindon-Parkway doesn't create much economic benefit on its own, given that all IC services on that route go through to South Wales.

25kv through the Severn Tunnel should be an interesting engineering challenge.

UPDATE: Captain Deltic adds...

Wake up Fact Compiler!

As the cabinet meeting was announced as being held in Cardiff, even a PM with Gordon Brown's tin ear was hardly likely to announce GW electrification to Bristol.

As for the Severn tunnel, overhead contact track is the logical solution.

Monday's announcement.

So the Department will finally make its long awaited electrification announcement on Monday.

Despite the delays this is no mean achievement, bearing in mind the level of opposition from the Treasury.

No matter.

Sources differ as to what the Secretary of State will actually announce.

Pessimists suggest it will be a token gesture, a Paddington to Reading affair, deliverable within CP4 (riding on the back of Crossrail and taking advantage of the already funded Reading remodelling).

Meanwhile cynics suggest it will promise electrification of both the Great Western and Midland Main Lines as well as numerous infill schemes.

Such a bold announcement would offer the beleaguered Labour government many benefits; keeping the muesli munchers happy, diverting attention from the current "disastrous" state of TOC finances and nicely poisoning the well for the Tory Party, who after May 2010 will face funding or cancelling the programme. Oh, and it also allows the government to 'postpone' ordering any new, nasty, smelly but desperately needed additional DMU vehicles.

Of course the announcement could propose an electrification strategy that is both deliverable and affordable!

One that might even be welcomed by the new, improved, non-nasty, green Conservative Party.

In which case expect My Lord Adonis to cross the floor sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: This from the Major...

My sources suggest Monday may be delayed till Thursday.

Time will tell...

The Fact Compiler thought it might be helpful to point out that Parliament rises for the Summer Recess on Tuesday next week.

Surely the Department wouldn't be so foolish as to make such an important policy announcement without allowing it to be subjected to proper, democratic, scrutiny by the people's representatives?

Of course not! After all the decision to nationalise NXEC was announced by Adonis on Radio 4's Today programme.

Leaving MPs to twiddle their thumbs for a full 12 hours before Sadiq Khan could be bothered to make a statement in the Commons.

UPDATE: This from the BBC...

"John Penrose is concerned that plans to electrify the line between Paddington and Bristol do not include Weston."

Good to see that the lobbying has already started.