New station on the ECML - Belford

[142094]

Just announced that funding has been secured for Belford station in Northumberland, to be served by Chathill services:

BBC News article.

 

[gordonthemoron]

isn't that a bit odd? There are only 2 services a day in each direction (Mon-Sat) which serve Chathill

 

[Failed Unit]

Just announced that funding has been secured for Belford station in Northumberland, to be served by Chathill services:

BBC News article.

So one train per day each way then

Is this where the current chathill unit turns around, I have a feeling it is on a 4 track section.

Don't know if a station was built here off the mainline (ie fast trains could overtake slow ones stopping there) whether a slow Newcastle - Edinburgh service could be introduced.

Maybe with a calling pattern of
Newcastle, Cramlington, Morpeth, Alnmouth, Chathill, Belford, Berwick, Dunbar, Drem, Mussleburgh and Edinburgh.

Another passing place would be needed maybe at Dunbar so Edinburgh bound trains don't need to cross the mainline.

Sort of good news for Belford, but unless the service improves as well I guess it will be white elephant.

 

[SWT Driver]

There's the Crag Mill loops, is that what you mean?

It would be the perfect location for a station as both loops are reversible & it's not far from the A1 dual carriageway (600 yards), it could be used as a P&R location for both Berwick Upon Tweed & Newcastle.

 

[tbtc]

Bonkers

There's plenty of bigger places with no rail service, and yet they want to spend money on a village station for one train a day?

I'd like to see it work, but I really think the money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[142094]

Yes, the current service runs into a small siding at Belford to allow expresses to pass, and then reverses to go back south. I'm unsure if the original platform is there but I guess that a small one platform station will be built. No real need for anything else.

Belford isn't that big a place as has been pointed out, but there is some demand and it doesn't require more units as some reopenings would (eg. Ashington and Blyth would need more units).

The money could have been spent on the AB+T reopening, but still good to see investment coming in to Northumberland.

 

[eezypeazy]

There's a little more detail reported by the Berwick Advertiser.

The Belford Station scheme is only costing £600,000 - hardly a drop in the DfT's oceanic budget! Let's say that it attracts six return journey passengers a day - that's six entries and six exits, making 12 a day in total, five days a week, 50 weeks of the year, that's 3,000 passengers a year. If we call that 1,500 return journeys at (today's) CHT to NCL return fare of £14.30, that's a revenue of £21,450 pa. (For simplicity, let's assume that the revenue is all newly generated and it doesn't abstract from Chathilll's revenue, which it probably will a little). So the capital cost of this scheme would be covered by additional revenue in a little under 28 years - not bad for a transport infrastructure scheme. Then add in the environmental benefit (helps the County/Government to hit carbon reduction targets through less traffic on the A1 - that can be monetised), the tourism benefit (mainly additional serious cyclists) and the payback period begins to shorten, possibly quite considerably.


eezypeazy

 

[gingerheid]

It is a strange one - the place is tiny and the station won't even be near it!

If it was April fools day I'd have laughed.

However what is no laughing matter is that a local pressure group has managed to achieve this even against every possible odd; well done to them!

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I've been a supporter of this development - its not because of the size of Belford but because of its catchment. The surrounding areas have little alternative to the A1 road, much of which isn't even dualled and can often be at a standstill (esp. when there's tourists, agric vehicles, freight and commuters - it can take over half an hour to travel 10 miles). Alnmouth station is a very successful commuter station - the car park use there is out of proportion to the small size of the town.

But the bigger challenge lies ahead. There's a political barrier to operating a stopping service that straddles the border. Although there would be a significant number of passengers travelling from Belford and Chathill to Berwick (their natural market town and administrative centre) and then into Scotland, neither the English nor Scottish executive will fund a local service with the stopping pattern that Failed Unit suggests! Its an obvious use of the line (and high speed services could co-exist with well timed use of the station loops) but neither nations is willing to invest in a service that benefits the other. Aarrgh!

(If there WAS a through stoppoing service then it could reduce the number of long distance services that stop at some of the smaller stations (Alnmouth and Dunbar) though the single platform Belford would require another crossover at the north of the loop.)

BTW Wonder if I'm the only person on here who DOES know people who live in Belford?

 

[gordonthemoron]

is there still a southern facing bay platform at Berwick?

 

[Failed Unit]

is there still a southern facing bay platform at Berwick?

No it is just an island platform now.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Yes, there are loops at Berwick - the up loop is north of the station though the down loop is alongside the station (slightly skewed northwards). As the existing station is just an island, then considerable work would be required to construct a "local" platform on that down loop, including another crossover to the up line, and it would of course obstruct any freight which might require the down loop while long distance passenger services are running north.
Not ideal, not cheap, but physically possible.
However, OHLE was installed on the loops, when the ECML was wired.

 

[NSEFAN]

The Belford Station scheme is only costing £600,000

What? £600,000 for this?

 

[tbtc]

There's a political barrier to operating a stopping service that straddles the border. Although there would be a significant number of passengers travelling from Belford and Chathill to Berwick (their natural market town and administrative centre) and then into Scotland, neither the English nor Scottish executive will fund a local service with the stopping pattern that Failed Unit suggests! Its an obvious use of the line (and high speed services could co-exist with well timed use of the station loops) but neither nations is willing to invest in a service that benefits the other. Aarrgh!

(If there WAS a through stoppoing service then it could reduce the number of long distance services that stop at some of the smaller stations (Alnmouth and Dunbar) though the single platform Belford would require another crossover at the north of the loop.)

There's a lot of "main lines" that have no "local" service on them. There's precious little on the ECML between Peterborough and Drem, similarly little on the WCML between Crewe and Motherwell (and on other main lines), meaning we get the strange situation of little stations being served by "inter city" trains because there's nothing else available on that line)

One advantage of a "local" service between Newcastle and Edinburgh is it would mean the existing East Coast/ Cross Country services could have simpler clockface stopping patterns (or be speeded up)

 

[Sir_Clagalot]

Speeding up of ECML trains would only be possible if the locals were timed to connect properly, but knowing how it works they wouldnt!!
Berwick could be easily modified to give fast and slow platforms, or even fast avoiding lines round the existing platform. Belford would only become a commuter stop for Berwick if the service actually went to Berwick!

 

[142094]

BTW Wonder if I'm the only person on here who DOES know people who live in Belford?

I know 5 people from the villgae itself, but haven't been able to ask them what they think.

 

[eezypeazy]

BTW Wonder if I'm the only person on here who DOES know people who live in Belford?

I know 5 people from the villgae itself, but haven't been able to ask them what they think.

... and I very nearly went to live up there forty years ago, which, Dave, would probably mean that your present employee would never have existed!

Strange world, isn't it?!?


Regards

eezypeazy

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Ha Hahhh! Yes!!
So it now seems that there is a significant potential market for services to Belford - if this forum is typical of the nations' demographic!

 

[4SRKT]

I thought this sort of lunacy could only happen in Scotland or Wales, or if in England, within PTE areas. i.e. the sorts of places where people making the decisions couldn't give a rats about value for money for taxpayers. Obviously I was wrong.

 

[Aictos]

As long as it brings a decent 30 minute interval departure time from Edinburgh and Newcastle calling at all stations then the East Coast services could run fast from Edinburgh to Newcastle.
Now some might moan about Darlington, Durham, Berwick losing East Coast services but bear in mind Hitchin and Huntingdon used to be served by InterCity until BR moved from Hitchin to Stevenage and Huntingdon to Peterborough with all stations between Stevenage and Peterborough now served by a frequent local service.

If a compromise would have to be made, it would be to stop a certain number of Cross Countrys which would give better connections and more choices.

If done properly then it could work out very well,

 

[Mojo]

The Belford Station scheme is only costing £600,000

Surely I can't be the only one to be thinking "how the hell are they going to build a station for only £600k?"

 

[Dolive22]

I would think that a way could ve found to split the cost of the service between Scotland the DfT. Perhaps the DfT might feel the need for a service Mon, Wed, Fri and the Scottish Government might see a seperate need for Tue, Thu, Sat service. Or the DfT might see the need for a service North and the Scots south? I certainly think a service taking the English south would be very happily funded by the current Scots government . They might even both see the need for one train one way one day and the other the next, so it would go Mon Dft South, Scots North, Tue DfT North Scots South, etc.

The British Government has done stranger things, and certainly has stranger legal fictions than that the two services were unconnected.

 

[SWT Driver]

If you use the latest techniques which use FRP & preformed concrete, it's actually quite cheap.

These techniques can also be used to extend platforms at very reasonable costs.

 

[tbtc]

If you use the latest techniques which use FRP & preformed concrete, it's actually quite cheap.

These techniques can also be used to extend platforms at very reasonable costs.

Even if the physical building is cheap, the feasibility studies/ planning and all other associated costs with new 'public' buildings manage to eat up lots of money before anything is ever built

 

[SWT Driver]

Not really, you can expect to pay around £20k for a survey & that's if NR don't know what's in the immediate vicinity such as cabling, the old station access appears to be relatively intact.

I'd have thought the feasibility studies will already have been carried out, otherwise it wouldn't have got this far.

 

[LondonLarry]

If you use the latest techniques which use FRP & preformed concrete, it's actually quite cheap.

These techniques can also be used to extend platforms at very reasonable costs.

But Network Rail and it's contractors still need to add their mark-up!