Railways or Katya Virshilas – you decide

It’s becoming a source of bewilderment to me why in the course of my slumber that my subconscious seems continually to fixate on railways rather than focusing on what would be, in the normal course of things, much more pleasant areas to think of. Such as seeing West Ham win the FA Cup, or measuring Katya Virshilas for her Strictly outfits. So it continues (or rather continued), and I shall elucidate precisely where I went this time. I went non-stop, without changing trains, from Woolwich Arsenal to Upminster which, as you should all be well aware, is impossible. What’s more, upon leaving Woolwich Arsenal, the train proceeded through a tunnel that took more than 40 minutes to traverse, which led me to think “there should be a station or two built into this rock formation”. Why I was going from Woolwich to Upminster I’m not entirely certain, but clearly it wasn’t important, as the next I was aware I was on the District Line heading for Barking. Nothing unusual in the you may think, except that it wasn’t the eight stops that it is in the real world, but 25. Further, the route was in a cutting, with a high embankment on either side (neither of these are there). What was that much stranger was the fact that there was another railway line on the embankment, and my train was following the London Overground service from Upminster to Barking, which I could see out of the window, and which I needed to catch to continue my journey. So I got off at Barking (Low Level), and was forced to follow a circuitous route up to the high level platforms, where the c2c trains terminate, so that I could then get down to the platform from which London Overground’s trains depart. All of which should tell you the following:

• London Overground trains terminate at Barking, and don’t go on to Upminster
• Barking’s platforms are all at the same level
• All of the c2c services are through trains, and don’t terminate at Barking

I am somewhat curious as to what my subconscious is trying to tell me, given that I was actually in Nottingham when I was dreaming this, and have had no contact for some time with London Overground, c2c or Barking station. Perhaps it means that I should champion an extension to London Overground’s services as far as Upminster. Or perhaps that I should campaign for Crossrail to be extended from Woolwich back under the river northwards. Or possibly that there should be more trains from Barking to London. Of course, it could just mean that I think too much about railways, and that I should think more about Katya Virshilas.

While dreaming about railways is fun, dreaming about Katya Virshilas is probably more fun

End of the line rodent!!!

It seems then that the story I first posted about back in November, that will see Iarnród Éireann withdraw its fleet of 2700 and 2750 Class DMUs is true, as can be seen here in an article in the latest Railway Herald. These are units that are less than a decade and a half old and, although having had initial reliability issues, seem to be working well following their transfer to deal with the majority of services originating out of Limerick, while Iarnród Éireann have given the class a refresh and external modifications (deleting the gangway) only recently. And yet they’re to be put into storage, most likely because IÉ decided to take the Oliver route when it came to buying its super duper 22000 Class, now finding itself overstocked (though not on Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men, perhaps fortunately), with it being the most numerous class of train currently in service in Ireland, and needing to justify the significant expenditure of buying them, whether they are actually suitable for the work IÉ intends to use them for or not. Presumably (and I’m only guessing here) IÉ continued purchasing more and more 22000 Class trains in the belief that all of the infrastructure investment it intended to carry out under Transport 21 would get the go ahead, and did not envisage the end of the Celtic Tiger and the Irish economy tanking – taking that idea a step further, it likely believed that it would be able to find employment for its existing fleet as well as the new 22000 Class. Now, given that not only will there be nothing new done to the heavy rail network that hasn’t been started, but that IÉ seem to be after closing even more lightly used routes, they have too many trains and not enough services to run. So, it plans to store its twelve 2700 Class and two 2750 Class units. The Railway Herald piece goes on to suggest that, because they are being stored, there is the potential to have them returned to service at some point, or sell them to an alternative operator. However, the last paragraph makes ominous noises:

…although this would obviously be outside of Ireland, and the added problem of track gauge and issues with loading gauge could be a preventative factor…

The way it uses the word “obviously” means that IÉ appear as intractable as ever at the prospect of anyone else operating passenger trains on the parts of the network it doesn’t want to. Which presumably means a death knell for a group like SWIFFT if it can’t get access and it can’t get trains. So, given that operators in Great Britain are crying out for additional rolling stock, then perhaps it would be worth one of the ROSCOs investigating the loading gauge issues and the cost of converting them from Irish to Standard Gauge to see whether they would be capable of operating here. Then we can have a wry chuckle should there come a time when Ireland is looking for more trains of its own, and it has to go out and buy yet again.

It's the end of the line for Iarnrod Éireann's 2700 Class DMU, despite them being in service for only 14 years

On the road to…West Ham (again)

Just like buses isn’t it. You don’t use the rails to get to a home game for months, and then, all of a sudden, two games come along in succession where you’re chugging to get there on a train or several. Still, unlike the last game, as this was a midweek one, my journey there would always have involved a train journey as I always go straight from work. It’s a rarity though to go home that way too. Still, there we are. Back to West Ham for a tasty top of the table encounter with Southampton.

Date: 14 February 2012
Stadium: Boleyn Ground
Capacity: 35,333
Attendance: 32,975
Away Section: Sir Trevor Brooking Stand
Score: West Ham United 1-1 Southampton
Nearest station: Upton Park
Local Rozzers: Metropolitan Police
Total Travel Cost: £4.50 (2 x Oystercard PAYG Single)

Rail journeys:
District Line - South Kensington to Upton Park (D78 Stock)
District Line – Upton Park to West Ham (D78 Stock)
22:26 – West Ham to Limehouse (c2c Class 357 Electrostar)
Docklands Light Railway - Limehouse to Shadwell (B07 Stock)
22:40  - Shadwell to New Cross Gate (London Overground Class 378 Capitalstar)

Station to Stadium: Had I gotten off at Canning Town, or even Plaistow, then I could have given you an alternative way of getting to the Boleyn. As it is, I didn’t, and so you still walk down Green Street to get to the ground. Unless of course you’re an away fan. But I’m not one of those in this instance.

Anything else?: The LTS line runs parallel with the District Line between Bromley-by-Bow and Upminster, and all the stations have four platforms. However, trains on the LTS line run non-stop between West Ham and Barking, and between Barking and Upminster.

Upton Park tube station

On the road to…Peterborough (or not)

While relegation is never a good thing in and of itself, because it leaves you open to all manner of humiliation from random gits who you hate and who hate you, dropping down to a different division gives you more opportunity to see those less glamourous outposts of the English game that you otherwise would have to hope get pulled out of the bag during a cup draw. Hence with this trip to the mighty Peterborough United.

Date: 11 February 2012
Stadium: London Road
Capacity: 15,314
Attendence: N/A
Away Section: Moyes Terrace
Score: Peterborough United P-P West Ham United
Nearest station: Peterborough
Local rozzers: Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Total Travel Cost: £29.70p (1 x Off-Peak Day Return)

Rail journeys:
None, owing to what you’ll read later on.

Station to Stadium: As a consequence of the temperatures in and around East Anglia over the past few days being similar to those you would find during the day in a major Northern European city like Helsinki, and with London Road not having undersoil heating, there was little likelihood of the pitch not freezing in temperatures of -13 degrees C, and thus the game was postponed. Hence, given that I found this out just after I got up this morning, and took no train journey, I have no idea how easy or otherwise it is to get from the station to the stadium. So I’ll have to tell you that when I go to the game whenever it is rearranged for.

Anything else?: Couldn’t tell you, as I’ve not been there yet. I will say though that, having gotten myself all psyched up for the game, as well as planning to take a few pictures of the area around the long lost Broad Street on the way, it was a major bust not to go. So bugger really. Oh, not to mention the hassle of trying to get back the money I paid for the train in the first place.

Peterborough railway station

Elly pays the price

You may recall in my post about “Deano” that I mentioned trying to help my friend with her trip to Manchester. Fortunately she managed to find a solution to that little situation, but I saw a frustrated tweet from her a few days ago bemoaning the fact that, for a journey she was making that day to St Albans, she had to pay £18.00 as she got a train at 08:30, when had she gotten a train just half an hour later, she would have paid £11.00. I would imagine it was doubly irritating as her reason for going to St Albans, while personally important, was not time critical (i.e. she didn’t HAVE to be there for a certain time), and so she could have arranged to travel a bit later and save a shedload of dosh. Well, as I sometimes say (and it may sound harsh so forgive me Elly), but “lesson learned”. What I say more often is that you have to be cute to play the ticketing game on the railways in these here parts.

However, my friend’s predicament also got me thinking about the announcement from Boris Johnson this week that he would seek to obtain greater control over London’s commuter and suburban rail services for the Mayor. The idea is that TfL would assume a level of control over the operation of all rail services within Greater London similar to that it already exercises with London Overground, which would integrate rail much more with the rest of the capital’s transport network, cost farepayers less (as TfL traditionally have lower fare rises than the train operators), and allow TfL to undertake work to improve stations themselves, rather than having to wait for the relvant TOC to prioritise it. Initially, the two London based franchises up for renewal soonest are being targeted – both the Greater Anglia franchise (currently run by Abellio as Greater Anglia) and the Integrated Kent Franchise (run by Govia as Southeastern) are to be re-let in 2014, and Boris has largely targeted those inner suburban routes that terminate either within the Travelcard zones or else just outside – the ones that have been indicated are Liverpool Street to Enfield Town/Hertford East/Chingford and Cannon Street/Charing Cross to Hayes/Dartford/Sevenoaks. Now, I’m not going to immediately come out and suggest this is an especially original idea, as (pain me though it does to admit it) Chairman Ken has been making the suggestion for several years. Though I will stridently continue to believe that Ken’s motives for making the suggestion was merely a continued grab for as much power as he can get his grubby, newt fancying mits on (as evidence I present his attempt to snare the majority of policing in the capital by merging the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police and the London operations of the British Transport Police). But I can see the benefits of it if it means more investment in the local stations that commuters use, more frequent and better quality trains, and staffed stations. The investment TfL put into the operation it took on as London Overground has no doubt borne fruit given the rapid and significant improvement in customer satisfaction levels since it took over from Silverlink. But, before anyone gets too excited, there are things to consider, such as first off how many of these services fall outside TfL’s operating area? This is a major one, and the difficulties of TfL having to negotiate with someone else can be seen in the amount of time it took the Croxley Rail Link to get the go ahead. The areas that TfL would take on would probably see extensions to the existing Zone 9 in order to bring them within TfL’s fare structure, but how far out should these go? And what happens if commuter areas even further out start campaigning to be included? How far then will “London” extend? As far as Reading? Indeed, TfL will have control over rail services as far out as Maidenhead in the west and Shenfield in the east once Crossrail is complete. I’ve suggested in the past that Thameslink, once completed, should also be taken on by TfL to form a kind of “London RER” network that could integrate the two cross-London heavy rail routes. But again, where does London end? Would it be fair to have people boarding one train at Brighton paying one fare, but people boarding another paying something different? The whole thing seems to me to be a minefield designed, much as Ken’s headline grabbing fare cuts pledge, as something to win votes that would be difficult bordering on impossible to put into practice without massive consequences.

So, although Boris’ plan would likely have seen my friend pay less for her trip to St Albans, and would also probably have not had rail passengers have to break out of a locked station because the last train was late arriving and the staff had gone home, getting there won’t be as simple as a click of the fingers.

“Boris bid to run every rail service in London”

Lord Grantham on the train? Could it be a sign?

I’ve spoken before of the way trains sometimes intrude on my subconcious, and last night was no exception. For some reason, I was travelling on the Waterloo & City Line, as one does, but this was on a Class 487 train, which, as you know, was withdrawn in 1993. As I was sat there, I was explaining to Hugh Bonneville about how Waterloo & City Line trains arriving at Waterloo shunt into the depot just beyond the station to then run into the outbound platform. I was explaining this as the train was actually running through the depot (which for some reason contained a number of Class 31 locomotives) and out the other side, where it then ran partly under a motorway overpass, under which was moored HMS Illustrious. I’m fairly sure it was at this point I concluded that I was dreaming.

As I’ve said, I have dreamt about railways before, but this is the first time someone famous has actually been in my dream. Why it was specifically Hugh Bonneville and not some other member of the cast of Downton Abbey I don’t know. I mean, could it have killed my subconcious to have had me explaining things to Michelle Dockery or Jessica Brown-Findlay? Still, perhaps it’s a sign – after all, Hugh Bonneville has a high profile these days. Perhaps he’d like to front a campaign to restore the remaining Class 487 vehicle currently stored at the London Transport Museum depot. It’s a thought.

Could Hugh Bonneville travelling on a Class 487 in Pip's dream world actually be a sign?

I make no claims at expertise, but…

Although you’ll have noticed that I have a lot to say about the railways, I make no claims to be an expert, even though I am often asked for my opinion. Indeed, in the last few weeks two good friends of mine have each asked me questions in regards to travelling by rail, as I am the closest thing to an “expert” on the subject they both know (for the record, I couldn’t find a return journey to Manchester Piccadilly leaving at a decent time on a Monday morning for less than £50.50p, and I was unable to find out for definite whether an annual Travelcard loaded onto an Oystercard requires a photocard as well). So, I’m just offering my opinion, and trying my best to find out whether what I’m saying is actually correct. All clear?

My reason for posting this is because in the Evening Standard‘s letters page on Friday, in their “Get it off your TXT” section (where people can send in what they want to say by text message), was an entry from someone called Dean (just Dean). Rather than give you a flavour of what he said, I’ll include it here verbatim:

If the Government is prepared to spend £16bn on Crossrail and £32bn on High Speed 2, surely we can find a few million to speed up the journey between London Bridge and Charing Cross? Millions of commuters currently take eight minutes to travel less than 1.6 miles: a paltry 12mph. If this time could be reduced to say five minutes (roughly 20mph) then the time saving to commuters would add up to one day per year for each one. Surely that would be good for London’s economy?

While one applauds his positive thinking, there are some things that came to my mind while reading this.

• The great, all pervading elephant in the room that is the timetable. There are currently 16 trains per hour off-peak running out of Charing Cross. Maintaining that level of service would likely require a massive rethink of the entire timetable through London Bridge.
• The routes from London Bridge towards the termini it serves are all up on viaducts, go through heavily built up areas and are all quite twisty, as opposed to similar suburban and commuter routes on the other side of the river. As a consequence, reducing speed could be seen as a safety issue.
• Trains to Charing Cross have to share part of the route out of London Bridge with trains to Blackfriars and, as a consequence, they have to fit around each other.

However, the thing that got me most of all is the fact that our Deano does not seem to be aware that, in addition to the £16bn on Crossrail and £32bn on HS2, £6bn is being spent on the Thameslink Programme, which will include a massive programme of work in and around London Bridge – in case you had forgotten (and to inform Deano), this will see additional through platforms being installed at London Bridge itself, the installation of a new viaduct that will take the route to Charing Cross more directly over Borough Market, and the creation of a new diveunder at Bermondsey, all of which will have the effect of separating Charing Cross and Blackfriars trains from using the same route through London Bridge, increasing the capacity (i.e. number of trains). So, while spending a “few million” to increase the speed may seem a good idea, it looks (to me at least) as if Deano hasn’t quite seen the bigger picture.

On the road to…West Ham

While I would normally go to home games en voiture, there are always occasions where it is necessary to let the train take the strain, as it was with this particular occasion. Which probably isn’t the best one to choose to travel alongside the away fans, given who the away fans were today, not to mention where they were actually coming from. Nevertheless, I am fearless, and fearlessly chose a rail route that meant I avoided the majority of the Millwall mob on my way to West Ham.

Date: 04 February 2012
Stadium: Boleyn Ground
Capacity: 35,333
Attendance: 27,774
Away Section: Sir Trevor Brooking Stand
Score: West Ham United 2-1 Millwall
Nearest station: Upton Park
Local Rozzers: Metropolitan Police
Total Travel Cost: £4.00 (2 x Oystercard PAYG Single)

Rail journeys:
10:33 – New Cross to London Cannon Street (Southeastern Class 465 Networker)
11:05 – London Fenchurch Street to West Ham (c2c Class 357 Electrostar)
Hammersmith & City Line – West Ham to Upton Park (C69/77 Stock)
Docklands Light Railway – Canning Town to Woolwich Arsenal (B92 Stock)
15:39 – Woolwich Arsenal to Deptford (Southeastern Class 376 Electrostar)

Station to Stadium: I call the Boleyn Ground my spiritual home, and it is brilliant how close it is to the tube station. It is rare for me to go to a ground that is on the same street as the station, which is the case with my beloved Upton Park, as you turn right out of the main entrance and just a simple five minute walk down Green Street until you see the magnificent twin towers that form the facade of the main stand.

Anything else?: West Ham and Dagenham & Redbridge are the only clubs that can realistically be reached by trains from London Fenchurch Street.

Upton Park tube station

That’s it – get on board!!

Eurotunnel announced posted results this week showing that its revenue had increased by 16% to €845m, or £707m, with a 6% growth in traffic on its passenger shuttles, while freight traffic went up by 16%. Meanwhile, the number of people booking tickets for travel on Eurostar last year rose by 2% to 9.7m, while the average cost of air fares has risen by 41% due to inflation. Is this a trend away from flying towards using the train? If it is, then it can be one more piece of evidence in favour of High Speed 2. We all know it’s easier to transport a lot of stuff by train than it is by aeroplane, even if the stuff is on a lorry on a train (as it is on Eurotunnel’s trains), and that there is ever greater encouragement to transport freight in this way, esepcially intermodal. We’ve also all seen a trend towards greater use of high speed trains for long range inter-city passenger travel, and not just in mainland Europe, as the figures for the share of passenger traffic between London and Manchester show (85% of people used the railway in June 2010). Indeed, Eurostar’s share of the market to its mainland termini is on the up; Air France no longer both flying between Paris and Brussels, instead putting its passengers on Thalys services; and more and more passenger operators are looking to start up services to ever more destinations, even if Deutsche Bahn have had to put back their planned London-Frankfurt/Amsterdam services by two years. This doesn’t explain why more people are choosing to take their cars on the train however, unless the cross-channel ferries have also seen an upsurge in traffic, which suggests more people have chosen to take driving holidays. Whatever. The fact is this is all good – it looks like more people are coming around to the idea that using a train to get to where they want to go need not be a chore, given that trains are much nicer places to be than aeroplanes. For one thing, there’s no nasty recycled air giving me a headache. But the really good thing about more people using the train rather than flying is that we get ever closer to wiping the grin off the face of that of that profiteering leprechaun Michael O’Leary. And if that isn’t a noble cause, then I’m not sure what is.

“High air fares force travelling Britons to make for the tunnel”

 

On the road to…Ipswich

Never let it be said that, once I’ve put my mind to something, I don’t see it through. So far this season I have been able to get to all the away games that I promised myself I would get to. Even the ones that were moved from a Saturday to a weeknight (after the tickets had gone on sale). However, up to now I’ve not done an actual, scheduled midweek away game outside the environs of Greater London so far this year, with all the perils of missing trains and getting stuck. Until my journey to deepest darkest Suffolk and Ipswich Town

Date: 31 January 2012
Stadium: Portman Road
Capacity: 30,311
Attendence: 22,185
Away Section: Cobbold Stand
Score: Ipswich Town 5-1 West Ham United
Nearest station: Ipswich
Local rozzers: Suffolk Constabulary
Total Travel Cost: £40.50p (2 x Advance Singles)

Rail journeys:
16:28 – New Cross to London Cannon Street (Southeastern Class 376 Electrostar)
Central Line – Bank to Liverpool Street (1992 Stock)
17:30 – London Liverpool Street to Ipswich (National Express East Anglia Class 90 + Mark 3)
21:43 – Ipswich to London Liverpool Street (National Express East Anglia Class 90 + Mark 3)
Hammersmith & City Line – Liverpool Street to Whitechapel (C69/77 Stock)
23:38 – Whitechapel to New Cross Gate (London Overground Class 378 Capitalstar)

Station to Stadium: It’s been a while since I’ve been to Portman Road, and I’d forgotten just how close the stadium is to the railway station. Indeed, for a midweek game on a winter evening, you can’t miss it when you walk out of the station, as the floodlights lit up are pretty much the first thing your eyes are drawn to. All you have to do is cross the forecourt of the station, and then the Princes Street Bridge, before walking down Princes Street until you come to Portman Road itself, which is where the Cobbold Stand (the away section) is located. Even if you’ve only got short fat hairy legs, it won’t take much more than five minutes.

Anything else?: While several operators continue to use locomotive hauled passenger trains, the express services between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, which call at Ipswich, are the only regular, non-branded, locomotive hauled passenger services left in the country.

Ipswich railway station