Interesting to see how much electrification work has already been contracted - Barrhead, East Kilbride, Maryhill, Borders, Fife, Kilmarnock and Perth If I read it correctly.This video has some information about ScotRail's fleet replacement at around 15 mins in with Syeda Ghufan, ScotRail’s Engineering Director explaining their plans. There's also a lot of information and slides about the future plans for the network in Scotland as well.
Interesting to see how much electrification work has already been contracted - Barrhead, East Kilbride, Maryhill, Borders, Fife, Kilmarnock and Perth If I read it correctly.
Does “Fife” include Dundee - or is the Tay Bridge in the “ too difficult “ category?Correct, there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes that isn't in the public domain.
I'd have thought good news stories like these would get shouted from the rooftops, not kept quiet.Correct, there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes that isn't in the public domain.
Does “Fife” include Dundee - or is the Tay Bridge in the “ too difficult “ category?
Depends what you mean by contracted. TS have basically said that the plan is non negotiable and everything in red will need to have at least discontinuous electrification on it hence the lack of announcements as as far as they are concerns it's all announced already. Barrhead/EK is the only 'on the ground' OLE project currently. Fife is limited to Leven to somepoint prior to Thornton initially but with the 'easier' extensions both from the current end of wires at Haymarket Central toward the Bridge and from Thornton along both legs being looked at. Maryhill I believe is currently paused and Kilmarnock and Perth are both at early studies.Interesting to see how much electrification work has already been contracted - Barrhead, East Kilbride, Maryhill, Borders, Fife, Kilmarnock and Perth If I read it correctly.
You can pause the video and read it.It's a pity the chart on the right is illegible, but no doubt a version will appear in the magazines within a few months.
I'd say it was the other way around, the pink is the non-wired sections which would require the B of the BEMU and the blue bits are to be wired. (Why would you wire the last few miles to Tweedbank?) But the dates are a bit confusing; I'd treat it as an aspiration rather than gospelIf I’m understanding this screenshot from the video correctly the pink sections will be wired by 2030 is that correct?
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I assumed the BEMUs would charge under the wires in the Tweedbank section so that the batteries had enough juice to make it back to Edinburgh?I'd say it was the other way around, the pink is the non-wired sections which would require the B of the BEMU and the blue bits are to be wired. (Why would you wire the last few miles to Tweedbank?) But the dates are a bit confusing; I'd treat it as an aspiration rather than gospel
I did pause the video but still couldn't read it on my screen.You can pause the video and read it.
I think pink denotes the sections which will have to be electrified (ie. wired) to operate a BEMU service, and blue is the final phase of electrification to enable an EMU service to operate.
I was once told here that islands of electrification based on single feeds were a bad idea as there was no redundancy??
The Scots are really serious about this, aren't they? Let's hope HMG learn from them.
Or maybe the politicians have so little confidence in NR they don’t want to be associated until it’s nearly finished!
So if I've understood that map, and the comments in this thread correctly, the plan is that by 2035 everything will be wired except the yellow bits (Stranraer, Oban/Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh and Wick/Thurso) - and there will be no diesel trains running anywhere? Is that right?
Wasn’t GW fully funded until they spent all the money on not all the work?Already funded so it's happening
Wasn’t GW fully funded until they spent all the money on not all the work?
There seems to be a bit of confusion as to how the Scottish government has decided to fund things going forwards.
In England, most projects go through either the Network Rail enhancements program, part of a five year funding settlement, or are individually approved when costed. A junction renewal or signalling replacement will come under the former, whereas something like wiring or remodelling is a separate scheme, to be signed off by the SoS separately.
In Scotland, the scotgov have decided to grant two annual sums of money. The first, under the category "rail infrastructure" will comprise the day to day running, maintenance and renewals needed to keep things running.
The second category is "major public transport projects" which also receives an annual settlement. This is basically a pot of money (£207m in the 20/21 budget) with which to work down a list of projects. East Kilbride wiring, remodelling of Perth, wiring the Fife circle ect will all come from this pot, which will be agreed in the budget.
What this means is that Scottish projects take as long as they take, with a budget ready to be spent on whatever NR deems appropriate for the delivery of those projects. NR have a list of both necessities and nice to haves, and spend that budget to work down that list a few at a time. No signing off by ministers, no chopping and changing of scope, no getting Graylinged. As long as that pot of money keeps coming, the projects get worked on.
So, infrastructure projects aren't run by ministers. They're funded by the budget, and the list to work down is agreed upon with ministers, but it's all internal to NR as to how and when the projects get delivered. Ministers will take credit, and there may be pressure to shuffle around the list as priorities change, but it also means there is never a formal announcement of starting a project, instead the to Joe public it will appear as if it just happened one day. Consultations and planning documents come out, and work starts happening, but as it's not a government led project, we'll see very little in the way of announcement going forward.
Obviously, the exception to all this is new builds. Levenmouth was a separate project, not funded through NR, and instead directed from up on high by the government itself.
So, to answer Dave's question. There isn't reticence on the part of ministers, neither will we see a planning document. NR will continue to come out with consultations and planning documents, and ministers will excitedly take credit for the end results, but NR gets to spend the money without ministers looking over their shoulders. It has been funded, but because that money is NR's to spend, it doesn't need approval, and we won't see an official announcement or a vote in parliament ect .
The SNP and Green Party are currently discussing a formal cooperation deal which would be good news for the electrification programme as I’m sure it would be written into the agreement.There is always a chance that it would get defunded. However, that would be politically impossible for the SNP, and they'll be in power for another five years at least.
What does that mean for XC services though?Already funded so it's happening. Wether it takes ten years or fifteen is pretty much up to date at this point.
Yes. After 2035 the Scottish government has commited to net zero from public transport, which means no diesel anywhere in Scotland. Freight trains might take a while to switch over, but id expect a law of some description basically banning diesel after 2035.