INFORMED SOURCES e-Preview December 2019
INFORMED SOURCES e-Preview December 2019
As I write this, the parties are just getting round to transport in their daily electioneering. Don’t worry, I’m not going to provide an update!
This month’s topics include a review of the non-accessible trains which will have to run-on past the 1 January 2020 deadline and an analysis of priorities for decarbonisation. Plus, memories of an engineering friend.
Decarbonisation – time to end electrification phobia
Disability Deadline – 40 days to Der Tag
New train TIN-Watch
Class 331 is latest EMC transgressor
In July the Rail Industry Decarbonisation Task Force presented final report to the Minister for Rail. It included this statement:
“Our focus throughout this report has been to challenge whether electrification is the best solution to achieve a net zero carbon railway in a manner consistent with delivering passenger benefits”.
What a contrast with Scotland where they spell decarbonisation E-L-E-C-T-R-I-F-Y and the assumption is that Scotland’s Seven Cities will be linked by electrified routes.
Having read the final Report, what struck me was its lack of engagement with the real railway in terms of identifying the contribution of specific train fleets and operators to CO2 production. This is remedied in this month’s column with a chart ranking train operators with diesel fleets by CO2 output.
Often when I start this type of analysis I had no idea of what the result might be. I was surprised to find that three Train operators were responsible for nearly 50% of total passenger diesel emissions, each generating over 150,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. Four TOCs are each currently responsible for around 7% of CO2 emissions, with another two on 6%.
In several cases the change to electric traction is already happening. In the case of Intercity West Coast, the new franchise includes replacing the Voyagers with Bi-modes and EMUs.
And, in a typical case of ‘wouldn’t you believe it’ a couple of days after I sent off this month’s column, the Office of Rail & Road published it annual update on emissions which showed a 5% reduction on the diesel fuel consumption I had used for my analysis. However the good news is that when combined with rise of 9% in electricity used for traction the net result was a fall of 10.8% in CO2 equivalent emissions or 10.3% per passenger kilometre.
Of course most of the fall is due to the dramatic increase in electricity from renewable sources. But you have to have an electric railway in the first place.
Industry people south of Border still see decarbonisation as being about electrifying ‘intensively used lines’ and using battery, hydrogen, bi-mode and tri-mode technology for other lines. This is a grade-A weasel since it begs the definition of ‘intensively used’. As ever, Scotland is ahead of the game with its policy of linking major cities with electric services.
In England this would seem to make wiring the Berks & Hants to Plymouth a logical expectation. This may seem naïvely optimistic, but Rail Minister Jo Johnson’s qualified aspiration of removing ‘diesel only’ trains by 2040 has been overtaken by the Government’s national commitment to Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2050, signed in June this year. The previous national aspiration had been to achieve an 80% carbon reduction on 1990 levels by 2050.
The Decarbonisation Task Force report makes an important comment on this change to the national target. Economic modelling work has suggested that to remove diesel-only passenger trains from the railway by 2040, and meet the former target, could have required 4,000 route km of new electrification. Net zero carbon could be achieved with a further 250 route km.
According to the Task Force Report, ‘if the outputs of this high-level modelling are proved correct in more detailed analysis, the marginal additional electrification is so limited that it almost makes sense on this basis alone to decide now on a net zero carbon target by 2050’. Quite.
Freight
Way back in the April 2018 Modern Railways, Julian Worth made a powerful case for electrifying the freight network, arguing that 320 miles of electrification would allow around 250 freight trains a day to be electrically hauled. These trains would represent almost all automotive and intermodal services plus two thirds of construction trains. And, of course, electrification would allow passenger services using these routes to retire diesel multiple units.
In future, evaluation of electrification schemes should include a ‘carbon credit’, reflecting the diesel-powered train miles eliminated. But what is a tonne of CO2 worth?
Well, the government pays a £3,500 grant to encourage people to buy electric cars. On the basis that the petrol car which is being retired does 40 miles/gallon and the new electric vehicle is replaced after 10 years, I make the Net Present Value (NPV) of the reduction in CO2 £40. Applying this to the replacement of the Cross Country Voyager fleet gives an NPV for the Carbon Credit for the first 10 years of around £16 million.
Disability Deadline approaching fast
It was a research-heavy couple of weeks leading up to press day as I had also set myself the task of listing the passenger vehicles likely to remain in service in 2020 in contravention of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA 2005). It took a combined effort by the Modern Railways team to create what we believe is the definitive list.
From 1 January 2020, Section 46 of DDA 2005 makes it a criminal offence to operate a regulated rail vehicle to provide fare paying passenger services that do not comply with accessibility regulations unless an exemption order under section 47 of the DDA is in place. The maximum fine for breaching the regulations was set at £2,500.
Publication by DfT of the vehicle-by-vehicle specifications of work needed to be carried out to make ex-British Rail stock compliant meant that everyone knew what they had to do by the 2020 deadline. Of course, in the case of the oldest fleets, the prospects for continued operation beyond 2020 were so slight that PRM-TSI compliance would be uneconomic.
So everything was tickety boo, provided that the flood of new trains entered service on time. And as recorded in this column, they haven’t.
Complicating the analysis, DfT’s most recent list of PRM-TSI compliant stock was published back in January and we are still waiting for an announcement of which requests for exemptions from 1 January have been granted. The deadline for applications was at the beginning of October.
However the first sign of movement came on 21 October when DfT announced that some of Northern’s Pacers would have to remain in service until May next year.
Wales also has 30 Pacers, scheduled to be replaced eventually by Porterbrook’s Class 769 ‘Flex’ converted Class 317 EMUs running as DMUs. Pending arrival of the 769s, TfW will be running four car Pacers on the Rhymney Line together with even less accessible loco hauled stock. This could be the only totally non-compliant line on the Network.
Greater Anglia faces the biggest challenge. It has all but a dozen or so of its Stadler Flirt EMUs and Bi-modes delivered, but at the time of writing only some Class 755 Bi-modes were in passenger service covering five daily diagrams.
The critical fleet is the 10 EMUs intended to replace the 13 sets of loco-hauled Mk 3 stock on London-Norwich intercity services. These coaches are not compliant and a dispensation is being sought to retain seven rakes of Mk 3 stock until March.
At least most of its Stadlers in store. Greater Anglia’s 111 Bombardier Class 720 Aventra EMUs are still in the factory, except for two now under test at Old Dalby. Largest of the non-compliant fleets to be replaced by the Aventras is the 72 Class 321 EMUs where the lease has been extended to October 2020.
Let us now praise famous men
I suppose it was inevitable that I should become the chronicler of the Class 91 locomotive project. Pretty well all the leading figures were long-standing friends including Mike Reece, or more formally Dr Michael Reece, Director of GEC Research Ltd, the company’s Central Laboratory at Stafford. GEC had appointed his organisation as the Technical Auditor for the Class 91 Programme.
You might think that the Director of a central research facility might be a remote figure, but Mike Reece was a hands-on engineer – the epitome of the definition of an engineer as someone can do for half a crown what any damn fool can do for ten bob.
When test running started an intermittent fault with the Time Division Multiplex (TDM) system between the Class 91 and its Driving Van Trailer showed up. The TDM transmits coded signals between the driving cabs for push pull working.
It soon emerged that something on the locomotive was knocking out the TDM. It was clearly some form of intermittent Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI). Send for Dr Reece.
Mike was a reader of Modern Railways and one day in 1989 I got a call saying would I like to meet him at Bounds Green Depot for a briefing on the TDM issue. In the borrowed office Mike explained that fitting the transformer below the under-frame – part of John Dowling’s approach to improving vehicle dynamics when tilting by lowering the centre of gravity – meant that the cable linking the Vacuum Circuit Breaker (VCB) on the roof to the transformer was longer than usual.
In effect this was acting as an aerial, radiating any EMI generated by disturbances in the 25kV electrical supply, such as the VCB operating. Part of the package of measures proposed by Dr Reece was the addition of some inductance to the power circuit in the form of a coil connected to the VCB.
So far, so ho-hum. But instead of specifying the coil’s parameters and getting a contractor to manufacture a prototype, Mike had gone into his home workshop, wound the coil himself and brought it to Bound’s Green where it was fitted to 91008.
Dr Reece died earlier this year at the age of 91. The modern railway owes much to his work. At a personal level, interviews were always fun and, as a mechanical engineer dealing with electrical issues, I benefited from his philosophy that ‘no question is too stupid, there are just some stupid answers’.
New Train TIN-Watch
Rather in the way the Wimbledon Depot-maintained Class 458 EMU dominated its category at the Golden Spanners Awards, so the Siemens Class 707 Desiro City EMUs, from the same Depot, would need the use of a logarithmic scale if their Miles Per Technical Incident (MTIN) were plotted on the same graph as the other fleets in the Table of Truth.
With their reliability now matching that of the best established fleets, we have the problem of when the 707s should leave the Table? The obvious answer is Period 7, which is the basis for the Golden Spanners awards, so their final appearance will be next month.
This month sees the return of the Great Northern Class 717 fleet after its mysterious disappearance from the data. Envious rivals sometimes attribute the success of a fleet in the Spanners awards to a less arduous duty cycle. The Class 717s being all stations ‘stoppers’, could be reflected in their lower reliability than the Class 700 outer-suburban fleet.
Class 331 upsetting other traction
Since Northern’s CAF Class 331 EMUs entered service there have been reports of Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) issues. The first came in October when the regenerative braking had to be switched off.
Where the Hitachi 800 Series generated Electro-Magnetic Interference which affected lineside communications, the Class 331 appears to generate spikes in the 25kV overhead line supply which upset other traction.
This power supply compatibility-related issue is limited to the Preston area, between Euxton to the south, Blackpool to the West and Catterall to the North. Within this area limitations have had to be imposed on both the Northern Class 331 and TransPennine Express’ similar Class 397 EMUs.
According to a Restriction notice published on 4 November, Class 331 and 397 units stabled in this area must have their pantographs down. Before pantographs are raised in Preston Croft Street sidings permission must be sought from Preston signal box. The signaller will then check that there are no Class 92 hauled services in the area before giving permission.
According to Informed Sources the problem is caused by resonance generated by the traction package when it is taking only power for auxiliary system.
Resonance creates spikes in the traction power supply high enough for protection systems to shut down the converters in the Class 92 electric locomotives hauling the Caledonian Sleepers. The converters can’t be reset until the Class 331 has left the electrical section supplying the Class 92.
Why should an EMU sitting around doing nothing cause problems? The best theory from my electric traction gurus is instability in the converter which provides auxiliary power.
When a train is running the auxiliary converter has plenty to do, supplying the air compressors, heating or air conditioning as well as keeping the batteries topped up. Stabled there are none of these load.
Designing a controller to cope with two such widely different demands is not easy. In some cases it is easier to have a dual mode controller with a separate mode for very light loads. This was the case on Eurostar.
A test with modified software was scheduled on 5 November, which it was hoped would resolve the problem. Given that it is ‘only’ Version 7, CAF is not yet in the Siemens or Bombardier league where any software Version not in double figures doesn’t count.
Roger’s blog
Richard Hope’s funeral brought together the threads of a well lived life. The railway industry and its trade press was out in force. I was the only Modern Railways representative because it was the Fourth Friday Club meeting at Derby. However, a minute’s silence was held in Richard’s memory at the start of that event.
Obviously, given his contribution to railway preservation, a strong contingent from the Talyllyn Railway was present, but we also learned of his love of canal boating and walking adventures in Scotland. Taken together the tributes gave a rounded picture for those of us who had known Richard only as a fellow journalist.
Announcement of the General Election meant that the political speakers intended to open RIA’s Annual Conference were busy on other matters and the programme had to be rewritten. As I doubted that little new would have emerged from the politicos, the replacements were probably of more practical value, especially an expert view from Brussels on the impact of Brexit on Transport.
This coming week is all about traction and rolling stock. On Thursday it is Waterfront’s always excellent Rolling stock procurement event and the next day I’ll be handing out the trophies at the Golden Spanners Awards for train fleet reliability.
This year there will be eight categories covering ex-BR EMUs DMUs and Intercity fleets, the same again for 1st Generation new trains plus 2nd Generation new EMUs and Intercity categories. The awards are based on performance at Period 7 each year so the 2nd Generation DMUs will have to wait for their spanners until 2020.
I’m told we have a record attendance this year which confirms the continuing popularity of an Awards scheme which you don’t have to enter, doesn’t have a judging panel and celebrates the achievements of the men and women at the sharp end.
December is pretty clear except, of course, for the Rail Freight Group Christmas Lunch which is always good fun. Meanwhile, must rush, got to prepare my presenter’s notes for Friday and think up the odd joke.
Roger