The Bristol Railway Archive

On the news 4 foot from bristol to London to be electric!!!!!!!!!!

I saw that too, and I'll believe it when it happens - don't forget it was brought to you by the same organisation that told you a couple of months ago that steam trains "could be running between Bath and Bristol within 10 years "

The routes they showed as to be electrified were interesting too. Only the South Wales main line with a spur to BTM from Parkway - no mention of the Bath route.

Also the possibility (only) of extending to Newbury (why not Bedwyn, or do they know something the residents of east Wiltshire, Hungerford and Kintbury haven't been told yet) and Oxford.

Either Points West have only picked up half the story (which isn't impossible - they're pretty good at it!) or we have an ill thought out half baked scheme being proposed

Not in the lifetime of anyone on this forum or I'll eat my hat.

please post your hat eating show on you tube and supply us all with the link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8164070.stm

Notice the nice convenient round numbers for the media. Place your bets for cost overruns, and project delays and cancellations. It may make sense to have a rolling programe for the SW, but although Bristol is a more dynamic region than Swansea, so why leave it off the route, more Lab seats in S Wales?

The comments about demolishing tunnels would be enough to trigger off a Blaster Bates after dinner speech for the gramophone, "The Shower of Bricks over the Severn."

horace wrote:please post your hat eating show on you tube and supply us all with the link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8164070.stm

The map shown within the article shows the Bath route being electrified too, so that now makes a little bit more sense. However, the south west route is not showing as being electrified outside of the commuter area (Newbury they said yesterday but logically it should be to Bedwyn), so HSTs will still be required on the Devon and Cornwall services.

And a number of those currently operate via Bristol, so what happens here? Locomotive hauled stock with an engine change at Bristol, or HSTs running under the wires, or a complete service recast?

As regards the hat eating show, I should leave it for a bit. Remember "Crossrail?" Approved in the early 1980s and it hasn't happened yet.

I for one will be waiting until i see the contractors on site!

I understand that some of the locos ordered are hybrids, diesel and electric together. That gets over the Devon service problems.

It is good news. Let's hope the next Government doesn't cancel it.
It will result in a whole lot more pictures on this website as well.

as far as i have read the conservatives are supporting it, but are questioning why the government is having to pay for it. Well my answer to that would be Mr Brunel forgot to plant a money tree on top of box tunnel so who the hell else is going to pay for it

Does anyone foresee any problems installing the wires through the Severn Tunnel? Just how much headroom is there?

Its not the headroom that would be concerning me. But as far as i can tell nobody has yet overcome the problem of electricity and water.

would it be ole or third rail. I suppose there would be a cost or technical reason for one or other. Certainly third rail would overcome problem with regards to clearance/headroom.
Ahh, just seen article on news, looks like pushing ole.
The new hybrid trains would surely be heavier than just electric as will have electrical equipment and deisel engines so would negate any weight advantage.
I think the newscaster summed it up by saying the fare paying passenger will have to put up with a lot of inconvenience before reaping any benefit.

nickt wrote:would it be ole or third rail. I suppose there would be a cost or technical reason for one or other. Certainly third rail would overcome problem with regards to clearance/headroom.

New third rail is only legal as extension to current schemes (eg you could do Poole to Weymouth as 3rd rail). Any new electrification has to be OHLE for health and safety reasons.

nickt wrote: The new hybrid trains would surely be heavier than just electric as will have electrical equipment and deisel engines so would negate any weight advantage.

Electric power car one end, diesel the other, effectively operating as push-pull trains.

I doubt it's going to happen anyway. The Tories will cancel it as soon as they take over. We'll get the diesel IEP and electrification won't happen for at least 10-20 years.

What worries me is that as soon as the Tories take over not only will they cancel it, they will then appoint a transport minister like Marples was in the 50's, rip up all the railways and cover them with tarmac using the green argument that reduced congestion leads to reduced CO2.
Of course at the same time as canceling the third runway at Heathrow, stop subsidising the channel tunnel, and increasing port charges to bring in more income. Yes return us to a island nation as we were 4000 years ago. The Tory advanced thinking.

In all honesty i think the Tories would be hard pressed to cancel this. When you realise the completion date for this is the same as the completion date for Crossrail, which regardless of other comments in this forum is happening and has actually started. Also put that together with the Tory policy now confirmed of not building London Heathrows third runway for which they said they would build a high speed rail link instead to reduce the pressure on Heathrow. I strongly suspect their adverse comments about this scheme are more political than anything as yet again Gordon has nicked one of their ideas.