Cost of electrification of Liverpool to Manchester

[shakey1961]

Hi. Could someone tell me what the cost of electrification from Liverpool to Manchester was please? I'm curious as an American friend says they're doing 40 miles of track in California and its going to cost over a billion dollars.

Crazy

 

[Dr Hoo]

Does the Californian example already have the 'ends' electrified - viz Edge Hill to Lime Street and Deansgate to Piccadilly equivalent? And a bit in the middle equivalent to Newton-le-Willows to Earlestown? And some previous power feeding at the ends and in the middle also?

 

[Bald Rick]

Roughly £6m per route km.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Roughly £6m per route km.

This was the Railway Gazette's piece covering Andrew Adonis's announcement of the project in 2009, at £100m or £2m per route km.

UK: An immediate start of detailed planning for electrification of the Great Western Main Line and Manchester Victoria - Liverpool route were announced by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Andrew Adonis on July 23.
The Great Western route will be electrified from London to Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea by 2017, along with the lines to Oxford and Newbury, at a cost of £1bn.
The 51 km route beween Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street will be electrified by 2013 at cost of £100m. Speeds on this line are to be raised from 120 km/h to 144 km/h under existing plans, and short sections are already wired.

https://www.railwaygazette.com/news...n-planning-to-start-immediately/34229.article

It was never completely clear (to me, anyway) if this covered Huyton-Wigan (20km) as well as Manchester-Liverpool (50km).
Phase 1 was Deansgate-Newton-le-Willows, and Phase 2 was Earlestown-Edge Hill, Huyton Jn-Springs Branch and Ordsall Lane-Manchester Victoria.

If the outturn was £6m per route km, that's a similar uplift in costs (between 2 and 3 times NR's original estimate) to the more widely publicised outturn for GW electrification.
I think the Manchester-Preston-Blackpool scheme (also totalling 70km) was even more expensive, in cost per route km.

 

[shakey1961]

I dont know about the 'ends' sorry, knowing the US probably not. Where they get the costs from over there is criminal

 

[Emyr]

40 miles of track in California and its going to cost over a billion dollars.

1. Earthquake resistance
2. Minimal opportunities to re-use old alignments
3. No corridors reserved for rail alignments by previous developments
4. Countries who do more rail than USA tend to develop organisations/groups working on newbuild rail and upgrades that exist beyond the scope of a single project. This allows for knowledge retention and sharing (e.g apprenticeships). Without a long-term programme of infrastructure projects, recruiting the necessary staff and bringing them up to speed is costly.

 

[markymark2000]

1. Earthquake resistance
2. Minimal opportunities to re-use old alignments
3. No corridors reserved for rail alignments by previous developments
4. Countries who do more rail than USA tend to develop organisations/groups working on newbuild rail and upgrades that exist beyond the scope of a single project. This allows for knowledge retention and sharing (e.g apprenticeships). Without a long-term programme of infrastructure projects, recruiting the necessary staff and bringing them up to speed is costly.

My guess is that the OP is talking about the CalTrain electrification (which sounds about right for the distance and the cost quoted). The physical track is in place and trains already running, it is purely the electrification works being done.

 

[Chris Butler]

My guess is that the OP is talking about the CalTrain electrification (which sounds about right for the distance and the cost quoted). The physical track is in place and trains already running, it is purely the electrification works being done.

It would have been useful if the OP had said what they were comparing, but I also guess it is Caltrain. But that is not just electrification, it also included signalling, train control and the rolling stock. It's also more than a $1bn for the whole lot and less than $1bn for electrification plus re-signalling plus train control. It's also 50 miles, not 40 miles. Apart from that the OP's friend was spot on !

Finally, it goes right through the heart of San Francisco and along Silicon Valley ... not really comparable to Manchester-Liverpool Compare to GOBLIN and it looks pretty reasonable. Compare to Birmingham Cross-City and it looks ridiculously expensive.

 

[Whistler40145]

Does Network Rail have plans to electrify the line via Warrington Central in the future?

 

[urbophile]

Does Network Rail have plans to electrify the line via Warrington Central in the future?

Hmmmph! Should have been done years ago.

 

[Backroom_boy]

Compare to GOBLIN and it looks pretty reasonable. Compare to Birmingham Cross-City and it looks ridiculously expensive.

Really? How much was GOBLIN?

 

[Bald Rick]

Really? How much was GOBLIN?

Around £200m. I forget the exact cost.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Around £200m. I forget the exact cost.

wow - eye wateringly expensive especially in terms of cost per mile. In terms of this thread subject Liverpool Manchester cost was pittance.

 

[Chris Butler]

Really? How much was GOBLIN?

Last I saw was £140m or so, but that was with still some work to do. That's for less than 13 miles.

 

[Bald Rick]

Last I saw was £140m or so, but that was with still some work to do. That's for less than 13 miles.

10 1/4 miles. X2

But there was some very very difficult parts. Track lowering where there’s no space to lower. Copious viaducts, with no land rights outside the viaduct. Several junctions. Connections to 5 other electric railways, and a need keep them seperate. (You don’t want a OLE issue at Upper Holloway disabling the ECML, or vice versa). Probably the most complicated electrification in the country.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

10 1/4 miles. X2

But there was some very very difficult parts. Track lowering where there’s no space to lower. Copious viaducts, with no land rights outside the viaduct. Several junctions. Connections to 5 other electric railways, and a need keep them seperate. (You don’t want a OLE issue at Upper Holloway disabling the ECML, or vice versa). Probably the most complicated electrification in the country.

I had never thought about it that way. Liverpool to Manchester had it’s difficult bits but not like that.