Is the MML south of Bedford already gauge cleared for W10/W12 intermodal traffic then?
Lots of things are a no-brainer. Until you start to think about the practicalities. Apart from the cost of wiring , is there capacity for all these extra services at the bottom of the MML, and is the power supply able to cope with them?
Indeed another no regrets freight scheme but even a few miles down to somewhere like London gateway can't even get approved.
There’s no correlation between freight gauge clearance and wiring clearance. Either one of them can be done on its own and doesn’t necessarily provide the other.
If bridges are being re-built then they will provide both gauge and electrification clearance. But I agree one doesn't deliver the other - and may do even less in future as NR tries to avoid bridge works.
They've upgrade grid connections at the South end so equipment should have adequate rating for an hourly freight path but depends what firm service capacity they've reserved with NG.
As @Bald Rick has already said, no - the LNE Sectional Appendix states that St Pancras - Cricklewood is W6 (except the Down Hendon & Up Hendon lines between Cricklewood Curve Jn & West Hampstead North Jn, which can accept W7/W8), and that Cricklewood - Bedford is W8.
3 possibilities - It is cleared (possibly on temporary paperwork) but the SA hasn't been updated, It would be cleared but hasn't been formally assessed as no operator has asked to run traffic beyond W6 that way, or that all bridges that were modified were cleared to W12 but there were some bridges that didn't need modification that prevent the route being cleared.
How easy is the rest of the route to electrify? No point having via March done if a class 90 couldn't get from Ipswich to Ely.
Agreed. Birmingham-Nuneaton-Leicester just about makes sense for the XC, but Leicester-Peterborough really is hard to see the case
If the decision was made to electrify all the way to birmingham, passenger trains would also use the electrification for starters XC service birmingham-stansted and the GA service within east anglia
My understanding is relatively little freight uses the ECML now because it tends to divert via the unelectrified Joint Line via Lincoln.
Not without the Joint line, as said above it isn't wired yet. Best case for electric freight is probably Bi-Mode or battery locos, with Birmingham-Leicester and Peterborough-Ipswich wired and the rest done under the loco's own power.
There's speculation and then there's …. this.
I thought the post you're replying to was a joke! You're obviously more perceptive than I am!
AAR Plate H would probably be too vast an increase in cost for mediocre payback unless you also invested in brand new terminal yards. UIC GB+ or GC is more reasonable balance between cost/benefit.
There is - you make the thing unaffordable as the land take required for bridges to gain height etc is too great and the political will drops off the cliff. AAR plate H is 2m taller than W12/GB+, which you will notice when you need to pass under any bridge along the route.
Another one that I have heard about was improvements on Ipswich-Felixstowe, specifically dual-tracking to make the freight paths on there more flexible and to be able to send freight both towards london and towards Ely at the same time