Midland Main Line Electrification

[Edwin_m]

There are proposals for both a fusion reactor and a rubbish incinerator.  I don't think anyone has yet suggested using the latter as fuel for the former. 

 

Neither are likely to generate much patronage at the Parkway station, and as experimental fusion reactors tend to be huge net consumers of power I hope there's enough left for the MML.  

[Dava]

14 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

I am not sure that it is "don't care" so much as "haven't a clue" about the lives of the majority of the population.

But we continue to elect them, in the absence of any other reasonable choices. But what sensible person would be a politician anyway?

But slightly nearer to the topic, I have a feeling that the problem is as much with the Civil Service as the elected politicians. We have seen this influence in other railway projects and problems. The politicians come and go but the senior Civil Servants are there all the time and simply tell the politicians what to say.

It has long been thus. I recently read a biography of the wartime Minister of Food, Lord Woolton (he started in the job as plain Mr). He wasn't a politician, he was a businessman, and horrified the ministry staff when he did things his own way rather than the "proper" way. Churchill didn't like him because he wasn't a "proper" politician but he put up with him because he got results, and quickly. Where can we find someone like Lord Woolton for SS of Transport?

Jonathan

Whatever Woolton’s expertise was, it didn’t include tasty pie recipes! 
Similarly Grant Shapps & Co managed to turn £96bn in rail investments into a catastrophic failure of presentation.
 

Dava

[phil-b259]

11 hours ago, Hobby said:

 

You make it sound as if it's just the British that behave like that, but the rest of the West is just the same. And when the "masses" see the results of the alternative, where it often starts with best intentions but then goes horribly wrong, they tend to think that perhaps the current alternative is better for them to keep the status quo, warts and all...

 

My impression is that in some (not all) European countries Government ministers have a far more varied background than here.

 

Combine that with Governments where coalitions tend to be the norm and you have a much more conciliatory and less ideologically driven Government which in turn acts as a dampening effect peoples expectations of life.

 

The continued obsession with owning your own home is a classic case - if it hadn't been pushed by a certain party a status symbol / a measure of individual success then we would probably have a far grater rental sector with a more varied demographic than exists today.

[Hobby]

We're actually still quite low compared to many European countries for home ownership...

 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/246355/home-ownership-rate-in-europe/

 

I don't know about the "backgrounds" of MPs in other countries, but I'd be surprised if they were much different to the UK.

[corneliuslundie]

Interestingly in some mid European countries it is going the other way. Traditionally there was a family home with several generations living together. That pattern is crumbling and many younger people now move out and either rent or buy houses. This was happening quite fast in Kosova when we lived there. As a result there was a lot of building of apartment blocks, and many of the large traditional style houses were falling into disrepair. Though some had been destroyed in the war. And certainly in Kosova family sizes are now much smaller than even two generations ago.

Jonathan

[Titan]

3 hours ago, Edwin_m said:

 I don't think anyone has yet suggested using the latter as fuel for the former. 

 

Oh yes they have!

 

 

[ess1uk]

any of our local to the area roving reporters got any recent pictures of the progress?

interested to see the electric sidings at Kettering

[Sir TophamHatt]

On 19/11/2021 at 06:50, Zomboid said:

... or the FLIRT units as on the GE area can be supplied with a 200km/h top speed.

 

Which I'm surprised they didn't order when Abellio took over seeing as they seem to be quite happy over on the GA network.

But I can't see the 80x lasting long if the MML goes full wires.

Maybe Cross Country will get some / all of the 80X fleet from MML, while MML sees new full electrics.  Guess it depends how far the wires will really go.

[great central]

5 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

 

Which I'm surprised they didn't order when Abellio took over seeing as they seem to be quite happy over on the GA network.

But I can't see the 80x lasting long if the MML goes full wires.

Maybe Cross Country will get some / all of the 80X fleet from MML, while MML sees new full electrics.  Guess it depends how far the wires will really go.

 

I rather think that the decision on new units for the MML had already been made by the time Abellio took over, their name being merely the signature on the contract.

[corneliuslundie]

And I can't imagine anyone wanting to order any more 8xx series until they are confident that the aluminium issues have been sorted out completely.

Jonathan

[Zomboid]

11 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

 

Which I'm surprised they didn't order when Abellio took over seeing as they seem to be quite happy over on the GA network.

But I can't see the 80x lasting long if the MML goes full wires.

Maybe Cross Country will get some / all of the 80X fleet from MML, while MML sees new full electrics.  Guess it depends how far the wires will really go.

It does all rather depend now much actually gets wired. If there are only small gaps then replacing the diesels with some batteries ought to be doable. But whatever ends up happening, it won't be live within months.

[96701]

It is now 10 years since I started this thread. It does seem to take a while to get things done. Still, not as bad as the Hereford by-pass.

[corneliuslundie]

I fear that the LLanbedr bypass may be a better example:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59506976

Jonathan

[Shed]

On 08/07/2021 at 13:44, SouthernMafia said:

https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2021/07/06/bidders-days-for-500m-midland-mainline-electrification/

 

Interesting.

Anyone know who won?

[Shed]

On 21/11/2021 at 10:08, ess1uk said:

No recruiting freeze but asking people to leave at the same time.

 

if the scheme was ready to go before and half done and now there is more money then why not just pick up and carry on?

probably as most of the team has left? 

Wonder How many have taken severance?

[jamie92208]

There is an item on the BBC website saying that electrification  work, north of Kettering is due to start over Christmas. In their words it involves planting structures. I guess that this will be foundation works and possibly  a few masts. 

A link here

 

Jamie

Edited December 21, 2021 by jamie92208

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

There is an item on the BBC website saying that electrification  work, northnof Kettering is due to start over Christmas. In their words it involves planting structures. I guess that this will be fou dation works and possibly  a few masts. 

A link here

 

Jamie

Ambitious. They are putting stuff up all the way to Market Harborough, it says! Wow!

[jamie92208]

4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Ambitious. They are putting stuff up all the way to Market Harborough, it says! Wow!

With the timing of the press release, which was put out in the early hours of this morning, I suspect that this is a desperate attempt to put some good news out which a cynic might suggest is a priority for this government at the moment. These works were announced some time ago, the feeder station is already in operation and the planning was done some time ago.   However at least there is some activity.

 

Jamie 

[DY444]

8 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Ambitious. They are putting stuff up all the way to Market Harborough, it says! Wow!

 

Rumours elsewhere that the cost per km of Bedford - Corby has come in sufficiently low that it has been agreed "in principle" (whatever that means) to continue beyond Market Harborough to Wigston Jn. 

 

As we know from Leeds-Manchester, the Government brains trust has decided that we no longer have the ability to install ole through tunnels or under low bridges without breaking the bank so stopping at Wigston avoids the "horrors" of Knighton tunnel and the bridge at the South end of Leicester station.  That sound you can hear is the 25kV pioneers of the late 50s and 60s turning in their graves.

[ess1uk]

So just announcing a previous announcement 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

1 hour ago, DY444 said:

continue beyond Market Harborough to Wigston Jn. 

 

Excellent.  I'll get out there and walk the final few miles to Leicester station...  or perhaps the Down trains can freewheel the last bit if they've got up enough speed by this point.  Up trains will need a push.

 

[DY444]

24 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

 

Excellent.  I'll get out there and walk the final few miles to Leicester station...  or perhaps the Down trains can freewheel the last bit if they've got up enough speed by this point.  Up trains will need a push.

 

 

You could say the same about it ending at Market Harborough in respect of trains destined for points beyond.  It does however seem to rule out the possibility of emus being used on semi-fast shuttles between Leicester and London as a complement to the Corby service should such a thing be thought desirable.   Unfortunately EMR ordering bi-modes to replace 222s brings this "stop the wires at a random place" nonsense onto the MML.

 

On a more positive note there is talk of the work to upgrade the ole south of Bedford for 110/125mph being approved which, if true, at least ends the ridiculous prospect of the bi-modes having to run on diesel over 52 miles of electrified route to keep time.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

6 minutes ago, DY444 said:

 

You could say the same about it ending at Market Harborough

 

 

 

But at least Market Harborough has a station... South Wigston is nothing these days.  Just a bend in the track and a branch to Cov.

[eastwestdivide]

21 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

 

But at least Market Harborough has a station... South Wigston is nothing these days.  Just a bend in the track and a branch to Cov.

South Wigston's station is just round the corner isn't it? On the line to Nuneaton. Albeit with XCs thinned-out service at the moment.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Yes, and the way this has been planned I would not be surprised if the OHLE swerves just short of Leicester and heads to Coventry...