Halish Railway
Established Member
I was having a think earlier today about the Manchester Piccadilly to Rose Hill Marple to service and how it would be brilliant if it could be operated by an EMU, preferably a 331/1.
The route is 13 mi 27 ch long, only 7 mi 1 ch of which need electrifying and features short gaps between stations and steep inclines, making a fast-accelerating EMU such as a 331 ideal, whereas the incumbent Class 150s need thrashing, making for an unpleasant experience. Also the stops at Gorton, Fairfield and Guide Bridge are already electrified, yet a slow, noisy and inefficient DMU still has to be used.
Despite these benefits of electrifying a mere 7 miles to deliver 13 miles of electric running with few large engineering challenges there seems to be no plans to electrify the route in the near future which made me think, are there any other small electrification schemes that would deliver huge benefits that aren’t in contention to be electrified within the next few years (before the end of the decade)?
The route is 13 mi 27 ch long, only 7 mi 1 ch of which need electrifying and features short gaps between stations and steep inclines, making a fast-accelerating EMU such as a 331 ideal, whereas the incumbent Class 150s need thrashing, making for an unpleasant experience. Also the stops at Gorton, Fairfield and Guide Bridge are already electrified, yet a slow, noisy and inefficient DMU still has to be used.
Despite these benefits of electrifying a mere 7 miles to deliver 13 miles of electric running with few large engineering challenges there seems to be no plans to electrify the route in the near future which made me think, are there any other small electrification schemes that would deliver huge benefits that aren’t in contention to be electrified within the next few years (before the end of the decade)?