Haymarket to Dalmeny electrification

[EastFifer]

A wee update,that's all the current overhead structures on the fife lines have their drop tubes and some of the unused steel pilings from murrayfield to saughton curve have had some sort of galvanised steel base bolted to them.

Really? As in, all the way up to Ladybank?
They’ve certainly kept that quiet!

 

[Scotrail84]

Really? As in, all the way up to Ladybank?
They’ve certainly kept that quiet!

The OP is only talking about a small section between Haymarket and South Gyle I'm sure. To my knowledge these are only test pilings though.

 

[snowball]

The OP is only talking about a small section between Haymarket and South Gyle I'm sure.

And of that, the tracks towards and from Fife were already wired as far as Murrayfield if I remember correctly. Chuff chuff did say Murrayfield to Saughton Curve.

 

[Scotrail84]

And of that, the tracks towards and from Fife were already wired as far as Murrayfield if I remember correctly. Chuff chuff did say Murrayfield to Saughton Curve.

It's only about a quarter of a mile at most of test pilings being put in I think. Wires going in and around Fife are literally years away.

 

[chuff chuff]

Yeah murrayfield to saughton curve,there are more of these steel pilings further out towards Dalmeny there does seem to be a gap around South Gyle and Gateway though hard to tell now as the lineside is so overgrown.

 

[snowball]

It's only about a quarter of a mile at most of test pilings being put in I think. Wires going in and around Fife are literally years away.

H-D may not be all that many years away. As noted in #536, road closures for bridge redecking are booked in 18 months time.

 

[Scotrail84]

Yeah murrayfield to saughton curve,there are more of these steel pilings further out towards Dalmeny there does seem to be a gap around South Gyle and Gateway though hard to tell now as the lineside is so overgrown.

The ones 'North' of gateway have been in for a few years maybe? Again I think they were test pilings.

H-D may not be all that many years away. As noted in #536, road closures for bridge redecking are booked in 18 months time.

That all depends on money of course. A lot can change in 18 months.

 

[chuff chuff]

The ones 'North' of gateway have been in for a few years maybe? Again I think they were test pilings.

Yeah may explain why a good few are poking so far out of the ground.

 

[Scotrail84]

Yeah may explain why a good few are poking so far out of the ground.

Yeah probably, they've no idea where to put the feeder station(s) either. All those late night closures a year or two ago and virtually nothing was done. They're miles behind because they ran out of money IIRC.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Thornton is one feeder station and this section will be supplied from existing power supplies. I did publish a photo of all Scottish feeders etc planned a while ago. There is also one in the pinned electrification thread.

 

[chuff chuff]

The compound at Turnhouse has had a substantial delivery of those steel pilings.

 

[snowball]

they've no idea where to put the feeder station(s) either.

Haymarket to Dalmeny is just a relatively short add-on to the end of the existing live wires from Waverley-Haymarket-Murrayfield and will be fed from Portobello and/or Currie. At each of these sites the existing feeder station is being enlarged or replaced. The new works at Currie seem to be almost finished and Portobello is reported to be starting.

Portobello, Currie, and Thornton are fully committed, being three of the six feeder stations contracted in 2022. (The others are Ferguslie, Newton and Tweedbank.) Thornton is due to be in place for September 2027. There is more danger of having a feeder station at Thornton with no OLE to feed than of not having a feeder station.

Unless there has been a change of plan from what was announced in 2022, Thornton should feed to Leven (mast foundations in place), Seafield, Lochgelly and Ladybank. Eventually it will no doubt feed further, but plans for a later stage of Fife wiring have not been published.

 

[Waverleystu]

There’s clearly work going on in the background for this project as overhead work has been done up to Saughton junction bar overhead wires. Chuff chuff has reported steel pilings delivered too. I do find it strange that the project is on hold but work is happening on the ground

 

[Trainbike46]

There’s clearly work going on in the background for this project as overhead work has been done up to Saughton junction bar overhead wires. Chuff chuff has reported steel pilings delivered too. I do find it strange that the project is on hold but work is happening on the ground

Is the project formally on hold? As I understand the Scottish government has just not published anything for well over a year, and people interpreted that as it being on hold, but if work is happening again that suggests it isn't on hold (anymore)

 

[Meerkat]

Does Thornton have extra redundancy as it is an island of electrification and it’s shutdown would presumably stop all Fife services once they are BEMUs?

 

[snowball]

Is the project formally on hold? As I understand the Scottish government has just not published anything for well over a year, and people interpreted that as it being on hold, but if work is happening again that suggests it isn't on hold (anymore)

That's my understanding too. They've said nothing for a very long time, either about this project or the whole forward electrification programme.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Does Thornton have extra redundancy as it is an island of electrification and it’s shutdown would presumably stop all Fife services once they are BEMUs?

No - not until everything (well almost everything) is wired - is my understanding. The more redundancy you put in, yes the resilience is greater but boy oh boy that puts cost up. At the moment I strongly suggest cost is top of the agenda. Also, batteries themselves give a level of redundancy.

 

[Cails27]

The last couple of weekends have seen some OHLE stanchions go up at the Saughton curve and either side of an overbridge north of Edinburgh Gateway station.

 

[chuff chuff]

The last couple of weekends have seen some OHLE stanchions go up at the Saughton curve and either side of an overbridge north of Edinburgh Gateway station.

Yeah the bases that the stanchions bolt were attached to the pilings a few weeks ago at Saughton and a couple of weeks ago at gateway.
There have been a few more pilings put in as well.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

There have been a few more pilings put in as well.

Good. I was worried progress was a little too slow.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Good. I was worried progress was a little too slow.

Its not exactly going at "pace" not that there is more than a couple of LNERs a day that can use it for the foreseeable future so no rush

 

[92002]

Good. I was worried progress was a little too slow.

Given a UK Government budget cut of the Scotland Government budget. The Finance Secretaries statement to Parliament today has announced a £500m, budget cut for the year. This will affect the Transport budget. So any electrification in the current year appears to be on hold. The recent abolishing of peak train fares has also been reversed.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Given a UK Government budget cut of the Scotland Government budget. The Finance Secretaries statement to Parliament today has announced a £500m, budget cut for the year. This will affect the Transport budget. So any electrification in the current year appears to be on hold. The recent abolishing of peak train fares has also been reversed.

Transport only lost 24m although there is expectation that they will increase income by 65m by reinstating peak fares. Bigger problem is the threat to next year and the following years where 1B+ savings required.

 

[92002]

Transport only lost 24m although there is expectation that they will increase income by 65m by reinstating peak fares. Bigger problem is the threat to next year and the following years where 1B+ savings required.

The money saved will be used to fund the current Local Goverment employee pay rises that have already been offeted.

 

[snowball]

So any electrification in the current year appears to be on hold.

East Kilbride will be subject to contracts, booked possessions etc so I would imagine will be unaffected.

It was already extremely unlikely that any new electrification schemes would be started until EK is nearing completion, say autumn 2025.

That just leaves Haymarket-Dalmeny which seems to be happening in the cracks between other expenditure, as it were.

 

[92002]

East Kilbride will be subject to contracts, booked possessions etc so I would imagine will be unaffected.

It was already extremely unlikely that any new electrification schemes would be started until EK is nearing completion, say autumn 2025.

That just leaves Haymarket-Dalmeny which seems to be happening in the cracks between other expenditure, as it were.

East Kilbride has already been funded. So any other schemes will be paused for the year.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

East Kilbride has already been funded. So any other schemes will be paused for the year.

Its more than likely fully contractually committed now so not easy to slow down unless they want it to cost more money overall.

 

[thealexweb]

Given a UK Government budget cut of the Scotland Government budget.

That’s slightly misleading no? The block grant has always risen in cash terms every year. The last budget actually netted Scotland another £300mn in consequentials.

 

[oldman]

Transport only lost 24m although there is expectation that they will increase income by 65m by reinstating peak fares. Bigger problem is the threat to next year and the following years where 1B+ savings required.

The 65m is a saving from a number of things, including the peak fare reinstatement.

... decisions to not make permanent the peak fares removal pilot, or progress the concessionary fares extension to asylum seekers pilot, and agreement with Local Government that they can draw on existing programmes to fund the pay deal; the total of these measures is £65 million.

The 24 m cut within Transport is to the Active and Sustainable Travel budget. The wording is a wee bit obscure:

£23.7m. In part taken to fund the extension to the peak fares removal pilot to the end of September 2024. We have continued to invest in interventions to support more people to walk, wheel or cycle for everyday journeys through our new infrastructure and behaviour change delivery models.

As far as I can see, this is not about capital spending. As stated it is mainly to fund pay rises which they had not budgeted for adequately.

 

[clc]

Yes the cuts announced yesterday seem to relate mainly to revenue spend rather than capital spend. In any event the books can be balanced this year so any planned electrification work during 2024/25 which already had funding allocated should be unaffected. The budget black hole this year was nearly £1 billion so in addition to the £500 million of cuts the Scot Gov has utilised nearly £500 million of ScotWind money ie. receipts from auctioning seabed plots for offshore projects. ScotWind money won’t be available every year as it was a one off auction, so unless the Uk govt’s spending decisions result in real terms increases in Barnett consequentials the next few years are going to be very challenging for the Scot Gov whichever party is in power at Holyrood.