Hello All,
Its my first post, so please excuse any mistakes. I have recently heard about a proposal to use the old Dudding Hill Line in NW London, from Acton to Cricklewood/West Hampstead (about 4 miles long) as part of a larger proposal to make an orbital rapid transit network - using largely existing track. One version of the proposal is outlined here http://attachments.wetpaintserv.us/$l4Vi6ADmMsytsGsEnkJXQ%3D%3D1311154
and some more detail is here:
http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/london_local_group#light
I understand that the Dudding Hill branch is used very lightly for freight trains, perhaps a dozen per day at most. The line is licensed for carrying passengers, though speed is restricted to 30 mph. Now these proposal are for a light rail system - presumably electrified. This would seem to cost a lot of money on infrastructure eg electrification.
I would like to ask if anyone thinks it could be workable using a diesel car. Probably out of fashion with the Green lobby, but I read somewhere that a diesel locomotive uses 1.5 Gallons of diesel per mile to pull upto 5 carriages (though in reality 2 carriages should be fine). I am just toying with an idea to consider this project in a more simple way which wont take 15 years to start and 10 years to build. Perhaps just start using the track from Harlesden to West Hampstead - which is 4 miles or so. So the fuel cost per journey is £36 at £6 per gallon of diesel. Lets say an average of 20 mph is attainable (versus a bus, which during the day would be limited to 4-5 as traffic is solid) - so the journey end to end would be 12 mins excluding stops. So say there are 9 stops at 1/2 minute per stop a total journey time of 16 mins.
Does anybody think that such a service could work - so only two trains required (one in each direction) - would give a very good service in terms of natural frequency. And presumably, the freight trains could be scheduled not to interfere. How would one go about testing whether it is a good idea or not and what the potential problems would be?
Apologies if this is a bit disorganised.
Thanks in advance.
Its my first post, so please excuse any mistakes. I have recently heard about a proposal to use the old Dudding Hill Line in NW London, from Acton to Cricklewood/West Hampstead (about 4 miles long) as part of a larger proposal to make an orbital rapid transit network - using largely existing track. One version of the proposal is outlined here http://attachments.wetpaintserv.us/$l4Vi6ADmMsytsGsEnkJXQ%3D%3D1311154
and some more detail is here:
http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/london_local_group#light
I understand that the Dudding Hill branch is used very lightly for freight trains, perhaps a dozen per day at most. The line is licensed for carrying passengers, though speed is restricted to 30 mph. Now these proposal are for a light rail system - presumably electrified. This would seem to cost a lot of money on infrastructure eg electrification.
I would like to ask if anyone thinks it could be workable using a diesel car. Probably out of fashion with the Green lobby, but I read somewhere that a diesel locomotive uses 1.5 Gallons of diesel per mile to pull upto 5 carriages (though in reality 2 carriages should be fine). I am just toying with an idea to consider this project in a more simple way which wont take 15 years to start and 10 years to build. Perhaps just start using the track from Harlesden to West Hampstead - which is 4 miles or so. So the fuel cost per journey is £36 at £6 per gallon of diesel. Lets say an average of 20 mph is attainable (versus a bus, which during the day would be limited to 4-5 as traffic is solid) - so the journey end to end would be 12 mins excluding stops. So say there are 9 stops at 1/2 minute per stop a total journey time of 16 mins.
Does anybody think that such a service could work - so only two trains required (one in each direction) - would give a very good service in terms of natural frequency. And presumably, the freight trains could be scheduled not to interfere. How would one go about testing whether it is a good idea or not and what the potential problems would be?
Apologies if this is a bit disorganised.
Thanks in advance.