Decarbonising Scotland’s Railways

[XAM2175]

I do wonder why these threads always end up focusing on the relative edge cases such as Stranraer, Far North etc. They're not where the real progress is going to be made, the main network (Glasgow suburban, Fife, and mainlines to Aberdeen and Inverness) is

Nowhere near as much room to crack out the crayons.

 

[HSTEd]

The 33kv pole route crosses the Stranraer line about a mile north of Barrhead Station

Do you mean Barrhill rather than Barrhead? Barrhead is an awful long way away.

Also its only ~16 miles from Barrhill to Stranraer

EDIT:

My National Grid/Supergrid Map says there is a 132kV substation at Glenluce.

 

[najaB]

...or are you proposing that a 26 mile long 33Kv route be built (perhaps suspended above the tracks?) to allow the trains to recharge in Stranraer?

It could follow the route, without necessarily being suspended above the tracks. Though, if it was overhead the line, perhaps 25kV would be a more convenient voltage for the electrification?

 

[paul1609]

Do you mean Barrhill rather than Barrhead? Barrhead is an awful long way away.

Also its only ~16 miles from Barrhill to Stranraer

EDIT:

My National Grid/Supergrid Map says there is a 132kV substation at Glenluce.

Yes Barrhill, Its 25 miles according to railmiles. The 33Kv is the feed for the windfarms I was replying to. Theres also not far away the 275Kv single circuit for the convertor for the Moyle Interconnector. This was specially extended by 64 km. Im not sure how far the work has progressed on a propsed second interconnector.

 

[Nottingham59]

Rail vehicles would be in the same fast charging class as trucks and aircraft, which will be getting a 2MW fast charge connector.

I thought this was particularly relevant to the discussion. A new global standard for a Megawatt Charging System (MCS) from trucks was recently launched. See here: http://www.transportengineer.org.uk...arging-system-mcs-officially-launched/246770/

"MCS, the Megawatt Charging System, represents a global solution for heavy duty transportation, and is based on globally aligned requirements and a technical specification to develop the requirements for a worldwide standard with final publication of the standard expected in 2024. MCS combines the benefits and the features of the Combined Charging System (CCS) based on ISO/IEC 15118."

Given that a 50 mile range BEMU will have a battery capacity of around 300-500kWh, then a 1MW charge rate would take ~25 mins. The maximum is 3.75MW (3000A at 1275V), which would take less than 10 mins if that power were available from the local grid. And that would be a balanced 3-phase load. So none of the problems with phase imbalance that comes from using OHLE.

We can argue all we like about the relative merits of a grid feeder from Glenluce (132kV) or the Moyle feeder line (275kV), or an SFC from a 33kV line, or using 350kW car superchargers. Those are all decisions for the future. The key design decision choice today is whether the Scottish government should be specifying that its new BEMUs should be capable of recharging via an MCS connection as well as via OHLE.

 

[HSTEd]

Yes Barrhill, Its 25 miles according to railmiles. The 33Kv is the feed for the windfarms I was replying to. Theres also not far away the 275Kv single circuit for the convertor for the Moyle Interconnector. This was specially extended by 64 km. Im not sure how far the work has progressed on a propsed second interconnector.

Well the line doesn't have to follow the railway does it?
Couldn't the DNO just use its powers to build a new line straight to Stranraer?

But yes, I imagine a feed from the 275 or 132kV circuits is the real solution - if its not just a 25kV/50kV single phase feed from Ayr.

 

[Nottingham59]

Well the line doesn't have to follow the railway does it?
Couldn't the DNO just use its powers to build a new line straight to Stranraer?

There are already two 33kV lines serving Stranraer.

 

[ABB125]

There are already two 33kV lines serving Stranraer.

But I doubt they have the capacity to power whatever electrification system is chosen as well as the town...

 

[Nottingham59]

But I doubt they have the capacity to power whatever electrification system is chosen as well as the town...

Well the DNO has got at least 20 years to beef up the local supply before it's needed for trains. And there will be much greater demands for road EV charging before then.

 

[snowball]

Well the DNO has got at least 20 years to beef up the local supply before it's needed for trains. And there will be much greater demands for road EV charging before then.

Yet according to procurement documents published this month, phase 2 of the train procurement, for trains for "rural routes" (which seems to mean Far North, Kyle, West Highland and Stranraer) is due to happen in 2024-5. See quote and link in the first post of this thread:

ScotRail’s New Trains Procurement Programme

An advert for a tender for legal services for the above (https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG455691) gives some more detail on the fleet plan ScotRail Trains (SRT) plans to replace 65% of its train fleet (around 675 carriages) in the period 2027 to...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

There's a new feeder station going in at Currie that will help beef up the supply in the Edinburgh area, and it doesn't make sense to rush if there are no battery trains to use it.

This scheme is being talked about internally as a learning experience with different techniques for insulating bridges ect, which on a simple two track line does make sense.

Furthermore, there's also the Dalmeny chord to do and some point work at the south end of the bridge, including an insulating section there, so it's not a completely plain line scheme.



The general assumption internally with this is that they're trying to wait until such a time as the 385 production issues are sorted out as to allow fleet commonality, and it seems to be a shoe in for Hitachi, however there are alternatives in the works - watch this space.

More 385's and maybe more frequent services where possible could mean ScotRail take advantage of the extra space these provide against I guess the other EMU's.

What are the chances of Hitachi Class 8xx being the InterCity trains?

 

[Bald Rick]

But I doubt they have the capacity to power whatever electrification system is chosen as well as the town...

Of course they would!

A battery train for this line, would need at most, 1MWh of charge. Assuming there was OLE wired up from Dunragit to Stranraer, it would pull 2MW for 30 minutes. That’s relatively small beer for a 33kv DNO network.

The other alternative is to trickle charge a 1MWh line side battery, and then put that into the unit for the 10 minutes whilst it is at Stranraer (saving the cost of 6 miles of OLE), albeit with a high current transfer at 6MW. Trickle charging 1MWh over the 2h minimum service interval would be no more than ‘noise‘ in the system even to a small place like Stranraer. It’s basically the same as 50 homes having their ovens on at the same time as the washing machine and a few other devices.

 

[Nottingham59]

Yet according to procurement documents published this month, phase 2 of the train procurement, for trains for "rural routes" (which seems to mean Far North, Kyle, West Highland and Stranraer) is due to happen in 2024-5.

Thanks. I didn't realise that the decision point was that soon. It seems rather brave to lock in to a technology for the Far North line at this stage of development in low-carbon transport, but I suppose the overall size of the train fleets for these four routes is so small in the great scheme of things that it doesn't really matter.

In order of financial investment needed, I would expect the options to decarbonise these lines could be any of the following:

1. Secondhand 158/170/DMU's running Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO), or other drop-in biodiesel replacement for fossil diesel fuel. This would be by far the cheapest way to decarbonise the Far North line. See:https://www.crownoil.co.uk/guides/biofuel-guide/ If the HVO was processed using renewable energy, transported in biofuel-powered tankers, and hydrogenated with green hydrogen then all the better. And still cheaper than any other option.
   
   
2. New-build diesel trains, designed to run on native plant oils like canola/rapeseed oil. Twenty years ago some models of Land Rover ran perfectly happily on plant oils from the supermarket. It should be possible to do the same now with train engines, though I don't know about their emissions. There are arguments that using biofuels for energy deprives the world of food crops, the total size of the Scottish rural fleet is too small to make any significant difference to world food supply.
   
   
3. Biogas trains using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) instead of diesel. In Nottingham, the local bus fleet is now powered by CNG, where natural gas from the mains is compressed locally and biogas producers inject an equal amount of biogas into the gas supply at the place of production. See https://www.nctx.co.uk/gasbus Might need quite large gas tanks on the trains as parts of Highland Region have no gas supply, though the stations at Oban, Fort William and Thurso all seem to have mains gas available, which surprised me. See https://www.sgn.co.uk/gas-connections/postcode-checker
   
   
4. Grey Hydrogen trains. Where the hydrogen is supplied from current industrial sources that use fossil fuel natural gas to produce the hydrogen. This is not a green option at all, but might qualify for the SG procurement process.
   
   
5. BEMU's with intermediate charging options. As discussed for Stranraer above. Likely to be expensive to install discontinuous OHLE every 50 miles. Or delaying if the recharging is done at stations from local battery banks.
   
   
6. Green Hydrogen trains. At current prices, green hydrogen produced by electrolysis with renewable electricity is many times more expensive than grey hydrogen. This discrepancy is will reduce over the next decade as more wind power comes on stream, and hydrogen can be produced at times of high winds when the grid is in surplus.

It will be interesting to see precisely how the Scottish Government words the invitation to tender for Rural Line trains in 2024-25, to see which of the above options will qualify for the procurement process.

 

[NotATrainspott]

Thanks. I didn't realise that the decision point was that soon. It seems rather brave to lock in to a technology for the Far North line at this stage of development in low-carbon transport, but I suppose the overall size of the train fleets for these four routes is so small in the great scheme of things that it doesn't really matter.

In order of financial investment needed, I would expect the options to decarbonise these lines could be any of the following:

1. Secondhand 158/170/DMU's running Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO), or other drop-in biodiesel replacement for fossil diesel fuel. This would be by far the cheapest way to decarbonise the Far North line. See:https://www.crownoil.co.uk/guides/biofuel-guide/ If the HVO was processed using renewable energy, transported in biofuel-powered tankers, and hydrogenated with green hydrogen then all the better. And still cheaper than any other option.
   
   
2. New-build diesel trains, designed to run on native plant oils like canola/rapeseed oil. Twenty years ago some models of Land Rover ran perfectly happily on plant oils from the supermarket. It should be possible to do the same now with train engines, though I don't know about their emissions. There are arguments that using biofuels for energy deprives the world of food crops, the total size of the Scottish rural fleet is too small to make any significant difference to world food supply.
   
   
3. Biogas trains using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) instead of diesel. In Nottingham, the local bus fleet is now powered by CNG, where natural gas from the mains is compressed locally and biogas producers inject an equal amount of biogas into the gas supply at the place of production. See https://www.nctx.co.uk/gasbus Might need quite large gas tanks on the trains as parts of Highland Region have no gas supply, though the stations at Oban, Fort William and Thurso all seem to have mains gas available, which surprised me. See https://www.sgn.co.uk/gas-connections/postcode-checker
   
   
4. Grey Hydrogen trains. Where the hydrogen is supplied from current industrial sources that use fossil fuel natural gas to produce the hydrogen. This is not a green option at all, but might qualify for the SG procurement process.
   
   
5. BEMU's with intermediate charging options. As discussed for Stranraer above. Likely to be expensive to install discontinuous OHLE every 50 miles. Or delaying if the recharging is done at stations from local battery banks.
   
   
6. Green Hydrogen trains. At current prices, green hydrogen produced by electrolysis with renewable electricity is many times more expensive than grey hydrogen. This discrepancy is will reduce over the next decade as more wind power comes on stream, and hydrogen can be produced at times of high winds when the grid is in surplus.

It will be interesting to see precisely how the Scottish Government words the invitation to tender for Rural Line trains in 2024-25, to see which of the above options will qualify for the procurement process.

It'll need to be new trains. To be honest, if alternative fuels (e.g. biodiesel) were suitable for rail then we'd likely have switched over to them already. CNG might not be as common here but it is reasonably well established technology in other regions of the world.

The only real question, in my mind, is the question of hydrogen or batteries. The main problem with hydrogen is the wider energy ecosystem. Batteries are on the cusp of being the default way to power tyred transportation - cars, buses, trucks, e-bikes etc. Hydrogen has been on the horizon for decades now, with minimal real progress in rolling it out beyond trials. If you were to bet on a technology to succeed in 30 years, you would be a bit mad to bet against Tesla, the Chinese, and the thing that is almost certainly inside the device you use to browse this forum. With hydrogen being so immature, it seems not unlikely that in the time needed to install the necessary supply chain and infrastructure, battery technology would have mostly caught up.

I hope the final tender takes this rapid technological development into consideration. Having a strict start date might make for good headlines, but we don't want to be left with a white elephant just because we had to move sooner. Leaving DMUs running for another few years while the grid is beefed up for chargers is probably better overall than arranging for a few hydrogen tankers to visit depots soon, all on the hope that the cost will come crashing down 5 years later.

 

[gingertom]

It'll need to be new trains. To be honest, if alternative fuels (e.g. biodiesel) were suitable for rail then we'd likely have switched over to them already. CNG might not be as common here but it is reasonably well established technology in other regions of the world.

The only real question, in my mind, is the question of hydrogen or batteries. The main problem with hydrogen is the wider energy ecosystem. Batteries are on the cusp of being the default way to power tyred transportation - cars, buses, trucks, e-bikes etc. Hydrogen has been on the horizon for decades now, with minimal real progress in rolling it out beyond trials. If you were to bet on a technology to succeed in 30 years, you would be a bit mad to bet against Tesla, the Chinese, and the thing that is almost certainly inside the device you use to browse this forum. With hydrogen being so immature, it seems not unlikely that in the time needed to install the necessary supply chain and infrastructure, battery technology would have mostly caught up.

I hope the final tender takes this rapid technological development into consideration. Having a strict start date might make for good headlines, but we don't want to be left with a white elephant just because we had to move sooner. Leaving DMUs running for another few years while the grid is beefed up for chargers is probably better overall than arranging for a few hydrogen tankers to visit depots soon, all on the hope that the cost will come crashing down 5 years later.

this must surely give Stadler's Flirt an advantage, as the power pod can be fitted with diesel engines (CNG too?), battery rafts and I wouldn't rule out hydrogen fuel cells either. And if/when wires go up, so does the pantograph.

 

[haggishunter]

this must surely give Stadler's Flirt an advantage, as the power pod can be fitted with diesel engines (CNG too?), battery rafts and I wouldn't rule out hydrogen fuel cells either. And if/when wires go up, so does the pantograph.

i've been looking up these Flirt trains - these look like they could be the most flexible and easiest to provide a really good passenger experience in. The train would be far less tied any one tech. A relatively early adopter in a fast advancing field, that is surely a massive bonus?

A case for hydrogen on the North lines is the potential to make use of surplus renewable energy that is either not required or beyond what can be put into the grid to create green h2. Looking at the decarbonisation plan, the Far North Line is going to be partly electrified to Tain, so presumably the trains for the rural lines will be at least bimode to use whatever overhead power they can?

OK so I was bored and traced out the West Highland Line from Crianlarich to Tulloch (these stations are pretty similar in elevation) on an OS Maps app and get an accumulated 919m of elevation gain Northbound. Distance wise Crianlarich to Tulloch is less than the nominal 80km range stated earlier in this thread for the current battery Flirt, guess some allowance would be required for the elevation gains and contingency for onboard power? Given the Lochaber Smelter means there's a whopping big hydro power station and thus grid connection nearly adjacent to the railway in Fort William should mean power is readily available for a local section of overhead power lines?

 

[NotATrainspott]

i've been looking up these Flirt trains - these look like they could be the most flexible and easiest to provide a really good passenger experience in. The train would be far less tied any one tech. A relatively early adopter in a fast advancing field, that is surely a massive bonus?

A case for hydrogen on the North lines is the potential to make use of surplus renewable energy that is either not required or beyond what can be put into the grid to create green h2. Looking at the decarbonisation plan, the Far North Line is going to be partly electrified to Tain, so presumably the trains for the rural lines will be at least bimode to use whatever overhead power they can?

OK so I was bored and traced out the West Highland Line from Crianlarich to Tulloch (these stations are pretty similar in elevation) on an OS Maps app and get an accumulated 919m of elevation gain Northbound. Distance wise Crianlarich to Tulloch is less than the nominal 80km range stated earlier in this thread for the current battery Flirt, guess some allowance would be required for the elevation gains and contingency for onboard power? Given the Lochaber Smelter means there's a whopping big hydro power station and thus grid connection nearly adjacent to the railway in Fort William should mean power is readily available for a local section of overhead power lines?

The "surplus renewable energy" story doesn't seem to make as much sense now when natural gas has pushed the price of electricity so high. If electricity is going to be that expensive, then it will be worth doing all sorts of things to make use of it when available - e.g. further HVDC links from producer to consumer regions. It wouldn't surprise me if these higher energy costs are enough to completely upset the balance for green hydrogen.

 

[Bald Rick]

OK so I was bored and traced out the West Highland Line from Crianlarich to Tulloch (these stations are pretty similar in elevation) on an OS Maps app and get an accumulated 919m of elevation gain Northbound.

Not sure where you’ve got that from. It is (roughly) a 140m climb from Crianlarich to County March summit, down hill from there to Bridge of Orchy, then a further 150m climb from Bridge of Orchy up on to Rannoch Moor (Gortan). It falls slightly down to Rannoch station before gaining another 120m up to Corrour. Total a little over 500m.

Did you mean from Craigendoran Jn ?

 

[Energy]

this must surely give Stadler's Flirt an advantage, as the power pod can be fitted with diesel engines (CNG too?), battery rafts and I wouldn't rule out hydrogen fuel cells either. And if/when wires go up, so does the pantograph.

Stadler have the Flirt H2 for America (I believe its being shown at Innotrans 2022). Id expect Stadler to offer the 755 but with these rafts instead.

 

[haggishunter]

Not sure where you’ve got that from. It is (roughly) a 140m climb from Crianlarich to County March summit, down hill from there to Bridge of Orchy, then a further 150m climb from Bridge of Orchy up on to Rannoch Moor (Gortan). It falls slightly down to Rannoch station before gaining another 120m up to Corrour. Total a little over 500m.

Did you mean from Craigendoran Jn ?

Discovered two things. Didn't do the trace at a large enough scale, and there was approximately 120m of false gain as it was measuring ground elevation under viaducts. So I am now bored of maximising the accuracy of the trace and got a final figure of around 560m gain.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

OK I am trying to piece together a comprehensive list of feeder stations from various published sources. I used the PWI seminar in Glasgow as a major source. See https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...nd-resources-index.138487/page-9#post-5679103 The following are being planned/suggested:

Here is another source used https://mag.railtechnologymagazine.com/?m=62824&i=758910&p=32&dm_i=2Z2B,1B5FA,1GTEE8,540C5,1&ver=html5

1. Kintore (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
2. Elgin (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
3. Beauly (between Inverness and Tain)
4. Drumlithie (between Aberdeen and Dundee)
5. Invergowrie (between Dundee and Perth)
6. Faskally (between Inverness and Perth)
7. Avielochan (between Inverness and Perth)
8. Greenloaning (between Dunblane and Perth)
9. Thornton - the one we all know about in Fife
10. Currie is getting a new FS - https://mag.railtechnologymagazine.com/?m=62824&i=758910&p=32&dm_i=2Z2B,1B5FA,1GTEE8,540C5,1&ver=html5
11. Tweedbank - will come from the 132kV supply there

Partial quote

Power to the new sections will be provided via new Feeder Stations at Thornton and Currie the latter of which is currently under construction

12. Ferguslie https://mag.railtechnologymagazine.com/?m=62824&i=758910&view=articleBrowser&article_id=4331053&dm_i=2Z2B,1B5FA,1GTEE8,540C5,1&ver=html5



What am I missing for either brand new or "beefed up"?

 

[Nottingham59]

Beauly (between Inverness and Tain)

I didn't realise there were any plans to electrify anything North of Inverness, at least not until the Hydrogen vs BEMU+recharge debate has resolved itself.

 

[Trainbike46]

I didn't realise there were any plans to electrify anything North of Inverness, at least not until the Hydrogen vs BEMU+recharge debate has resolved itself.

The plans gave the impression they were intending to run more services on the Inverness-Tain section, possibly with (B)EMU, at some point, which is presumably why this section is up for electrification? Alternatively, is there a freight use of this line, which would explain it

 

[najaB]

I didn't realise there were any plans to electrify anything North of Inverness, at least not until the Hydrogen vs BEMU+recharge debate has resolved itself.

I suspect that they'll electrify as far as Tain along with a passing loop at Evanton so that they can run more frequent Invernet services. The north Cromarty coast is ripe for housing development around Alness and Invergordon.

One could hope for a Lentran dynamic loop as well but that might be a bit much!

 

[Nottingham59]

I suspect that they'll electrify as far as Tain

In which case they only need to add a single section of OHLE (between Kildonan and Forsinard where the line runs alongside a 275kV grid circuit), together with overnight plug-in charging at Wick, and they've solved the problem of decarbonising the far north line.

Maybe they would only electrify Beauly-Inverness and run to Tain on battery?

 

[najaB]

In which case they only need to add a single section of OHLE (between Kildonan and Forsinard where the line runs alongside a 275kV grid circuit), together with overnight plug-in charging at Wick, and they've solved the problem of decarbonising the far north line.

Maybe they would only electrify Beauly-Inverness and run to Tain on battery?

If they go as far as Tain then they wouldn't need BEMUs at all. Straight EMUs for the short workings to Tain and hydrogen hybrids for Wick and Kyle.

 

[MadMac]

OK I am trying to piece together a comprehensive list of feeder stations from various published sources. I used the PWI seminar in Glasgow as a major source. See https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...nd-resources-index.138487/page-9#post-5679103 The following are being planned/suggested:

1. Kintore (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
2. Elgin (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
3. Beauly (between Inverness and Tain)
4. Drumlithie (between Aberdeen and Dundee)
5. Invergowrie (between Dundee and Perth)
6. Faskally (between Inverness and Perth)
7. Avielochan (between Inverness and Perth)
8. Greenloaning (between Dunblane and Perth)
9. Thornton - the one we all know about in Fife

I have seen that Currie is getting a new FS - cant find the source or link.
What am I missing for either brand new or "beefed up"?

Ferguslie now on site. Galashiels/Tweedbank is another? Portobello, Eglinton Street and Currie for the “beefing up”?

I suspect that they'll electrify as far as Tain along with a passing loop at Evanton so that they can run more frequent Invernet services. The north Cromarty coast is ripe for housing development around Alness and Invergordon.

One could hope for a Lentran dynamic loop as well but that might be a bit much!

I believe there are plans well in hand for a loop around the area of, but not quite at, Lentran.

 

[haggishunter]

I suspect that they'll electrify as far as Tain along with a passing loop at Evanton so that they can run more frequent Invernet services. The north Cromarty coast is ripe for housing development around Alness and Invergordon.

One could hope for a Lentran dynamic loop as well but that might be a bit much!

Apparently a loop is due to open in 2024 according to this, so work must be due to start in the not too distant future?

Far North Line - Lentran Loop to open in 2024

Network Rail in attendance at the first in person AGM of ‘Friends of the Far North Line’ since 2019 brought some very welcome news. FoFNL have long campaigned for the Lentran Loop to divide up the lengthy single track section between Inverness and Muir of Ord which currently takes trains 21...

www.railforums.scot

Potential future scope for a park and ride?

 

[snowball]

I didn't realise there were any plans to electrify anything North of Inverness, at least not until the Hydrogen vs BEMU+recharge debate has resolved itself.

The original decarbonisation plan, published July 2020, proposes electrifying most passenger lines in Scotland by 2035, with Inverness to Tain as one of a mere three lines to be electrified between 2035 and 2045. The other two are Ayr to Girvan and Inverurie to Inverness. (Aberdeen to Inverurie would be among the lines electrified by 2035.)

This would leave as unelectrified after 2045 just Tain to Wick/Thurso, Dingwall to Kyle, the West Highland lines and Girvan to Stranraer - but these would have been already decarbonised by 2035, perhaps by hydrogen trains.

No doubt the details of what happens towards the end of the plan period are particularly subject to change.

I believe there are plans well in hand for a loop around the area of, but not quite at, Lentran.

Discussed here.

OK I am trying to piece together a comprehensive list of feeder stations from various published sources. I used the PWI seminar in Glasgow as a major source. See https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...nd-resources-index.138487/page-9#post-5679103 The following are being planned/suggested:

1. Kintore (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
2. Elgin (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
3. Beauly (between Inverness and Tain)
4. Drumlithie (between Aberdeen and Dundee)
5. Invergowrie (between Dundee and Perth)
6. Faskally (between Inverness and Perth)
7. Avielochan (between Inverness and Perth)
8. Greenloaning (between Dunblane and Perth)
9. Thornton - the one we all know about in Fife

I have seen that Currie is getting a new FS - cant find the source or link.
What am I missing for either brand new or "beefed up"?

Available sources of information are not entirely consistent, as plans have been changing, especially plans about what happens further in the future. So I'll begin with the £120M contract announced on 1st July (see #38 in this thread) for six new feeder stations and alterations to nine existing sites. Each of the latter nine is either a feeder station or a track sectioning cabin. It was described as a 3-year contract but it also said work would continue until 2026, suggesting 4 years.

The first of the six is in place at Ferguslie (previously known as Elderslie) and to be commissioned later this year. (The Trackwatch column in the new Modern Railways mentions that a neutral section has been put in, presumably at the same site and in preparation for the commissioning.)

We've recently had confirmation that another of the six will be at Galashiels (between Galashiels and Tweedbank stations) and another at Thornton (which is named in the presentation you link, and is also a very obvious site as wired sections radiate in four directions).

According to the soundtrack of the video in the press release in #147, another of the six will be at Portobello. There's already a feeder station there, so this seems to indicate that expansion of an existing site can count as one of the six new stations.

We also know from post #880 of the East Kilbride and Barrhead thread that an existing feeder station at Eglinton Street, Glasgow, is to be modified, but we don't know whether that counts as one of the six.

So either one or two of the six remain unknown. There have been previous statements on the forum, not citing official sources, that there will be new feeder stations at Currie (see for example #6 of the present thread) and Newton.

Turning now to longer-term plans, one source is the presentation you link. Another source is an earlier presentation linked in the first post of this thread. 29 minutes into the video, and screencapped in post #8 of the thread, is a view with a map on the left and a timechart on the right. The meaning of the pink and blue sausages on the map is discussed in the following posts in the thread. The pink is what was proposed at that time for early wiring. Feeder stations are not shown explicitly on the map but some deductions can be made about what was proposed at that time.

I can't read much of the timechart on the right except for the list on the extreme right (not visible in the screenshot in #8 but visible in the original video) which turns out to be a list of feeder stations in which I managed to make out some familiar place names.

Another source of information is the screening planning request that led to the creation of the Dunblane-Aberdeen thread. The document "Appendix D - simplified intervention list" mentions potential feeder station sites at Greenloaning, Hilton Junction, Perth, Dundee, Inverkeilor and Drumlithie.

Looking further south, and at Open Infrastructure Map, I can make some plausible guesses about feeder stations for Kilmarnock-Gretna and Ayr-Girvan.

One of the presentations says that the total number of new feeder stations will be 18, so perhaps there will be another two or three contracts after the current package of six.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Latest on Grid Feeders locations

1. Kintore (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
2. Elgin (between Inverness and Aberdeen)
3. Beauly (between Inverness and Tain)
4. Drumlithie (between Aberdeen and Dundee)
5. Invergowrie (between Dundee and Perth)
6. Faskally (between Inverness and Perth)
7. Avielochan (between Inverness and Perth)
8. Greenloaning (between Dunblane and Perth)
9. Thornton - the one we all know about in Fife
10. Currie is getting a new FS -
11. Tweedbank - will come from the 132kV supply there
12. Ferguslie --- Virtually complete

I am up to 12 now from various sources and the comments from contributors on this thread