Haymarket to Dalmeny electrification

[Davester50]

Where is the Fife circle referred to as Tay Cities? There doesn't seem to be any overlap between these two distinct locations to me so it would be odd for ScotRail or anyone else to confuse them....

Never heard of any rail service being called that.
The only use of Tay Cities is the Westminster/Holyrood funding deal that included Dundee, Perthshire, Angus and the nice part of Fife, which is actually not on the Fife Circle.

 

[59CosG95]

There's now a version of the press release on the Network Rail site (the one linked in #53 is from Transport Scotland).

Piling work to get underway to electrify line to Fife

Work to lay foundations that will pave the way for the electrification of the Fife Circle is about to get underway.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

It includes a video.

In the "Downloads" column on the left of the press release is a map showing the first four stages of Fife electrification:

1, Haymarket to Dalmeny

2, from Thornton North southward to a point between Kirkcaldy and Kinghorn

3, from Thornton North westward to Lochgelly

4, from Thornton North northward to Ladybank

Not shown but already under construction is

5, the reopening of the Levenmouth branch, eastward from Thornton North, which will be wired from the start even though it will be run by DMUs at first (see its own thread).

These routes radiate from Thornton because there will be a feeder station there.


Edit: a bit of checking with railmiles shows that these phases will allow a battery train to get from Edinburgh to Dundee, Perth or Levenmouth, via Kirkcaldy or Dunfermline, without any continuous run of more than 20 miles away from the wires.

So this more or less pushes back on any immediate Forth Bridge wiring then.

 

[snowball]

So this more or less pushes back on any immediate Forth Bridge wiring then.

It confirms that wiring of the Forth and Tay Bridges is removed from the critical path to decarbonising the railway. I'd say that's an excellent thing. They can now take their time arriving at the best designs from the technical, aesthetic and heritage points of view, and getting all relevant organisations on side.

 

[59CosG95]

It confirms that wiring of the Forth and Tay Bridges is removed from the critical path to decarbonising the railway. I'd say that's an excellent thing. They can now take their time arriving at the best designs from the technical, aesthetic and heritage points of view, and getting all relevant organisations on side.

Agreed - it's not the sort of thing you can rush!

 

[Davester50]

It confirms that wiring of the Forth and Tay Bridges is removed from the critical path to decarbonising the railway. I'd say that's an excellent thing. They can now take their time arriving at the best designs from the technical, aesthetic and heritage points of view, and getting all relevant organisations on side.

Also the tunnels through South Fife.

 

[adrock1976]

Has anything been mentioned about Winchburgh - Dalmeny being wired, or is that being saved for the airport deviation line?

 

[snowball]

Has anything been mentioned about Winchburgh - Dalmeny being wired, or is that being saved for the airport deviation line?

Does anything regularly use it?

 

[najaB]

Does anything regularly use it?

There were at least two passenger trains a day pre-Covid, possibly more. Not sure about now.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

It confirms that wiring of the Forth and Tay Bridges is removed from the critical path to decarbonising the railway. I'd say that's an excellent thing. They can now take their time arriving at the best designs from the technical, aesthetic and heritage points of view, and getting all relevant organisations on side.

Yes but until they source BEMU's it won't allow ScotRail to take advantage of the wires but at least LNER can get a few more Km's under the wires.

 

[snowball]

Yes but until they source BEMU's it won't allow ScotRail to take advantage of the wires but at least LNER can get a few more Km's under the wires.

From the press release linked in #58:

Approval has also been given hold a procurement competition to identify a preferred manufacturer and financier for new suburban trains to operate decarbonised rail passenger services on the routes covered by East Kilbride, Fife and Borders routes, replacing 42 Class 156 trains and to replace the 55 Class 318 and 320 trains operating in the Strathclyde area.

 

[Siemens Trains]

There were at least two passenger trains a day pre-Covid, possibly more. Not sure about now.

The Kirkcaldy and Queen Street journeys were ditched a couple of years back. It wasn't a Covid thing as such. Depending on destination, changing at Haymarket was often quicker. Offhand I can't think of any regular use of the line now.

 

[najaB]

The Kirkcaldy and Queen Street journeys were ditched a couple of years back. It wasn't a Covid thing as such. Depending on destination, changing at Haymarket was often quicker. Offhand I can't think of any regular use of the line now.

Ah, right. I knew that they'd disappeared but wasn't sure when. There are a couple of daily ECS movements from looking at RTT, though I've no idea if they ever actually run.

 

[adrock1976]

The Kirkcaldy and Queen Street journeys were ditched a couple of years back. It wasn't a Covid thing as such. Depending on destination, changing at Haymarket was often quicker. Offhand I can't think of any regular use of the line now.

Did Transport Scotland/Abellio go through the proper consultation and closure process being as that was the only passenger train to use that particular section of track?

 

[najaB]

Did Transport Scotland/Abellio go through the proper consultation and closure process being as that was the only passenger train to use that particular section of track?

Does the closure process apply to lines that don't have any stations on them and where the line continues to be used for ECS movements?

Edit. Actually, this might well meet the criterion for a 'minor modification', which wouldn't need a consultation process:

Minor modifications
(1)A proposal is a proposal for a minor modification if—
(a)it is a proposal for a closure which has been determined under the following provisions of this section to be a minor modification; or
(b)it is a proposal for a closure of a description of closures in relation to which such a determination has been made.
(2)It is the Scottish Ministers who may make a determination that a closure is a minor modification, or that closures of a particular description are minor modifications, where the only closures to which the determination relates consist in—
(a)the discontinuance of one or more Scotland-only services;
(b)the discontinuance of one or more cross-border services in relation to which no funding is provided by a railway funding authority other than the Scottish Ministers;
(c)the discontinuance of two or more services none of which is a service not mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b);
(d)the discontinuance of a network or part of a network that is wholly in Scotland; or
(e)the discontinuance of a station or part of a station that is wholly in Scotland.

 

[InOban]

https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/1533874746017959938?t=G8IXSTJ8qshmPXD2yzI72w&s=19

Network Rail Scotland have posted a picture showing the first pile.

 

[najaB]

https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/1533874746017959938?t=G8IXSTJ8qshmPXD2yzI72w&s=19

Network Rail Scotland have posted a picture showing the first pile.

Excellent news, though the fact that it's a digger ready project does make the two and a half years delivery timescale seem even more excessive than it previously did.

 

[jamieintercity]

I think there is at least 2 TTC on the fife lines near to where the Edinburgh trams past over on the bridge, pretty sure they were installed at the same time the Edinburgh to bathgate line was electrified.

Is haymarket Depot also going to be electrified as part of the haymarket to dalmeny electrification programme?

 

[najaB]

Is haymarket Depot also going to be electrified as part of the haymarket to dalmeny electrification programme?

I guess that would depend on what stock will be maintained there in the near to mid term. There's not much point in electrifying it if it's only going to maintain DMUs and BEMUs.

 

[Siemens Trains]

I guess that would depend on what stock will be maintained there in the near to mid term. There's not much point in electrifying it if it's only going to maintain DMUs and BEMUs.

I vaguely remember something about depot facilities being developed on the north side of the Forth as part of the Levenmouth proposal. Don't know if it ever came to anything but could be an alternative site to Haymarket.

 

[Davester50]

I guess that would depend on what stock will be maintained there in the near to mid term. There's not much point in electrifying it if it's only going to maintain DMUs and BEMUs.

Would they not need a test length for maintaining the Battery-Electric trains pantographs?

 

[Legolash2o]

Last night I updated my maps to reflect the publication.

Using Thorton North as a start point, I mapped the required STKs mentioned in the publications. It still won't be exactly where the electrification ends until construction has finished.

 

[snowball]

I think it more likely that the westward electrified stretch will be continuous at the Thornton end and, assuming the quoted number of STK's is correct, will therefore not quite reach to Lochgelly. Otherwise they would have to spend money on an extension lead which would ultimately be a wasted spend.

Or maybe they included a bit of wiring towards Lochgelly in the STKs for the northern arm.

------------------------- automerged post follows --------------------------------------

Excellent news, though the fact that it's a digger ready project does make the two and a half years delivery timescale seem even more excessive than it previously did.

Seems comparable to the timescales for Manchester to Stalybridge and Colton Junction to Church Fenton.

However my reason for posting now is that I've just discovered that this page, apparently updated since last week's announcements, seems to be saying that the sections south, west and north of Thornton will be completed after only one further year, by December 2025. I had been fearing that they might happen one after the other and take a couple of years each.

Fife Electrification

scotlandsrailway.com

Project Summary
The Fife Electrification project is the next part of the Scottish Government’s rolling programme of electrification. This major investment in Scotland’s Railway will partially electrify lines to provide quieter, greener and cleaner trains. Reducing carbon emissions will not only improve rail’s green credentials, but will make the air cleaner and play a vital part in building a strong, green economy for the future.

Our priorities

Project Timeline​

1. 
   June 2022 Start of work between Haymarket and Dalmeny
2. 
   December 2024 Completion of electrification between Haymarket and Dalmeny
3. 
   December 2025 Completion of partial electrification of Fife Circle

Though these announcements about Fife electrification seem to be avoiding any mention of the Levenmouth branch, press releases about that scheme have said it is due for completion spring 2024.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I notice that there is an article on this with the phasing in July Modern Railways.

 

[windingroad]

I notice that there is an article on this with the phasing in July Modern Railways.

Is a preview of this article available anywhere?

 

[snowball]

Is a preview of this article available anywhere?

It summarises various stuff already discussed on this forum - the press releases linked in #53 and #58 above, the reopening of the Levenmouth branch as an electrified line as discussed in its own thread, the applications to planning authorities that led to the creation of the Dunblane-Aberdeen electrification thread, and the document on projected power demand that led to the creation of the "Decarbonising Scotland's Railways" thread.

 

[windingroad]

It summarises various stuff already discussed on this forum - the press releases linked in #53 and #58 above, the reopening of the Levenmouth branch as an electrified line as discussed in its own thread, the applications to planning authorities that led to the creation of the Dunblane-Aberdeen electrification thread, and the document on projected power demand that led to the creation of the "Decarbonising Scotland's Railways" thread.

Thanks for the summary!

 

[702]

Hi everyone, since work is very soon due to begin (has begun?) on the ground, I thought I'd post a couple of "before" photos, taken from the passenger bridge at Dalmeny station, taken a few days ago.

 

[najaB]

Hi everyone, since work is very soon due to begin (has begun?) on the ground, I thought I'd post a couple of "before" photos, taken from the passenger bridge at Dalmeny station, taken a few days ago.

I can't remember any drawings being shared as yet, but does anyone know if the loops at Dalmeny will be wired? They were heavily used by coal trains going to/from Longannet but that traffic has, of course, ceased. A quick look on RTT shows them being used by about six ECS moves a day, but by the same token I know they're useful to have when things aren't running to plan.

 

[zwk500]

I can't remember any drawings being shared as yet, but does anyone know if the loops at Dalmeny will be wired? They were heavily used by coal trains going to/from Longannet but that traffic has, of course, ceased. A quick look on RTT shows them being used by about six ECS moves a day, but by the same token I know they're useful to have when things aren't running to plan.

It'd be madness not to, given the need to cantilever the supports over the loops in any event for the main line.

 

[najaB]

It'd be madness not to, given the need to cantilever the supports over the loops in any event for the main line.

I assumed as much, but then saw how little use they get in normal running so thought that they might go in the name of "rationalisation".