Modern Railways – April 2019

Pan Up

http://www.modern-railways.com April 2019 Modern Railways 43

routes had been electrified in the

2009 programme, they would have

been completed five years ago.

The Southern DMU Turbostar fleet

has emitted around four million

tonnes of CO 2 since then, but had

they been Electrostars (allowing

for power station emissions) that

figure would have been 2.7 million.

The policy is therefore already

responsible for 1.3 million tonnes

of CO 2 emissions and counting.

FRAUD

To my mind research groups who

take public money to look at the

feasibility of solar-powered trains

are guilty of fraud, since they

know the figures are about

1,000 times adrift before we even

think about the hours of darkness.

As I have said before, the prime

objective of the research budget is to

employ academics and the last thing

they want is to successfully close a

project and end funding. The 2XV

project could be seen as research

since it hasn’t been done before,

so funding it should be easy – just

close all the projects that can’t work.

Whatever you do though, don’t put

it out as a standard research project

as it will then never conclude. The

best plan would be to competitively

tender a prototype route built with

the provision for conversion to 750V

standard if necessary (ie buy the

land for the extra substations). As for

where this should be, Basingstoke to

Reading (already a third rail boundary)

or Salisbury would be possibilities.

If costs could be controlled the

economics of electrification would

be transformed, such that Yeovil

or even Exeter would not be

out of the question, completing

the Southern Electric at last.

ORR GUILTY

While I can’t say that third rail infill

and moderate extensions would

have happened without ORR’s policy,

I can say they won’t happen unless

it is changed. Who regulates the

regulator? Surely something must

be done when its policy is so clearly

working against the public interest.

In covering their own bottoms, the

ORR people are working against one

of the railway’s great advantages

over road, which is being able to

take power directly to the train.

But how about ORR’s other

responsibility, Highways England: how

is that treated? Last year 1,780 people

died on the roads in the UK, with

176,500 injured, which admittedly

continued a falling trend. Here is what

ORR says in advance of its annual

report: ‘Overall, Highways England

continues to operate a road network

which is safe and serviceable – largely

meeting its performance targets’.

Do we see a policy document

preventing building new roads,

or perhaps proposing a super-tax

on motorbikes? No, of course not,

that would be putting their head

above the parapet. But telling the

railways to build parapets 300mm

higher – easy, no risk of any comeback

there. When the unintended

consequence of a safety policy is

carrying around high-pressure tanks

of hydrogen, I suggest the whole

system needs a bit more thought.

SENTENCE

ORR, I sentence you to reassess

your standards on both third

rail and overhead electrification

within the next three months.

You will also end your ‘game

show’ approach to submissions,

which is ‘you tell us what you are

going to do and we will tell you

if it is ok’. You will define what is

required for the railway, which

is a unique environment and

should have its own standards.

Finally, you will state the

independently assessed cost of

all your requirements in both

financial and environmental

terms. You think I have no right to

demand this? I’m the public –

you work for me... allegedly.

Pan down, shoes down. a

All the way to Exeter? St David’s-bound unit No 159008 speeds through what is left of

the former station at Seaton Junction on 20 February 2019. Ken Brunt

040-043_MR_Apr 2019_pan up 1.indd 43 12/03/2019 15:04