Just found this online:
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/electrification-cardiff-swansea-rail-line-14851065
Article attributed to Rhodri Clark and dated 11:14, 1 JUL 2018
The Cardiff to Swansea railway could be electrified for just a third of the previously accepted figure, according to a group of rail professionals.
The Campaign to Electrify Britain’s Railways (CEBR) was founded in May by rail experts who believe the UK is making a costly error by halti
ng electrification of several lines.
The
decision not to electrify to Swansea was based on the scheme costing £433m, in 2012-13 prices, and delivering just 30p in benefits for every £1 of cost.
However, the CEBR told WalesOnline that the cost of electrifying from Cardiff to Swansea has fallen, thanks to innovations and different ways of delivering the work, and could now be about £150m.
Such a big reduction would transform the ratio of benefits to costs – and the group also says there would be additional benefits from converting local passenger services and freight trains to electric power.
Noel Dolphin, one of the CEBR’s founders, said he had talked to companies – including European electrical giants Alstom and Siemens – who were interested in electrifying Network Rail lines at their own risk. “That’s one of the options the Department for Transport refused to consider,” he said.
“When you look at most of Europe the costs of electrification are much lower, well under £1m per track kilometre. The industry in the UK should aspire to less than £1m per track km. This is almost what is being achieved in Scotland, so it is possible even in the UK.”
Mr Dolphin, who is based in
Cardiff , said the Great Western electrification from London to Cardiff suffered from “huge overheads”, whereas Scotland had a smaller electrification team. “Scottish prices are achievable in Wales if you run Swansea to Cardiff as a stand-alone project.
“If you were to do it the Scottish way, it would cost about £165m to £170m.”
However, the Scottish cost per mile includes provision of expensive equipment to feed electricity into the railway cables from the National Grid – a cost which would not arise for Swansea.
“The power engineer I spoke to said Network Rail spent £60m on power supply equipment in Cardiff, which is enough to power the Valleys [rail electrification] and to Swansea. That’s a lot of money to spend. A huge proportion of that is going to be for Swansea.”
New solutions for bridges would help to cut costs. “On Great Western, a few expensive things like low bridges have driven a huge amount of the cost, and cost increases,” said Mr Dolphin. Many bridges between London and Cardiff had been rebuilt to provide overhead clearances for electrical equipment, causing disruption to passengers, road users and communities. Compensation for disruption added to Network Rail’s costs.
