Well you get my point. Whatever the solution is, the problem needs to be solved. It's unacceptable that there is so much DMU working under the wires on Northern at the moment.
Yep. The solution is rolling electrification through a program of sustained investment over a period of 10-15 years, which also addresses the pinch points and bottlenecks to increase the efficiency of the railway as cheaply as possible with labour that gains relevant skills and experience without it being lost at the end of a short term contract.
Or you could do DafT under Tories, spout hot air and fund feesibility studies.
But to avoid diesel under the wires on XC you need to electrify hundreds of miles down the south west of the country and/or order dozens of new trains.
To avoid diesel under the wires for Windermere you need to electrify 15 miles of single track and adjust the diagrams a bit.
Can you see my point?
Totally agree.
Not really because the amount of Diesel under the wires is irrelevent in the grand scheme of things, as is the Windermere branch when compared to electrification of more major routes, yes you can use the argument well it wont cost much to do it it terms of electrification costs but then you could alternatively put that money, time and resources towards some other scheme.
Yeah, but the benefit is, you are not only "electrifying" the branch, but all the wires otherwise diesel trains run under. And I'd say comparatively it's pretty good, especially for the simplicity and size of the scheme.
This part contradicts what you said a few posts ago about a better focus being eliminating diesel under the wires on XC, but anyway...
The Windermere line is a branch of the West Coast Mainline, one of the most major routes, and a route where slow diesels taking up paths is a bad thing.
To be honest if it was me I'd probably scrap the extensions to Manchester, and retime all services to connect with TPE into Manchester instead. But that's out of the scope of this thread.
However it's insane to me that the branches weren't done with the rest of the line in the 1960s...
If they could increase frequency to every 30/minutes that would probably work. I doubt it would discourage tourists from the airport as most of them come from countries where things actually work and you tend to make connections.
I have read in a few places that even the DafT think the best solution for the Windermere branch is stringing up the wires. I will try and find a reference/quote.
So, they eventually came to that conclusion five years after the rest of the world?
Honestly even the dumbest ideas on here have nothing on the DafT. At least the stupid ones are making some effort to solve problems, and there is some consideration on feesibility. "Digital signalling" to fix the Castlefield Corridor is incredible LMAO.
Yes, it is a cheap, simple project* which would eliminate hundreds of miles of diesel working and free up much needed DMUs. It is, therefore, almost certain the that the DfT will find a trivial reason to refuse to fund it
Yes.
You can get somewhat nice looking electrification, reducing diesel emissions is more important than slightly affecting the beauty of the environment in my opinion.
Railforums needs a like feature.
Switzerland manages OLE in places with far nicer scenery than the glorified tourist dump that is The Lake District.
Yep. It's a really terrible excuse.
What about all the other infrastructure? I mean national grid too!
afaik the National Park objection was a Grayling untruth to justify his descision to cancel electrification
Makes sense, you got a link to it, I need to witness the stupidity for myself!