Posted 6th November 2013 | 8 Comments
New East Coast route could be HS2 alternative
NETWORK RAIL has warned that upgrading the London end of the East Coast Main Line as part of an alternative to HS2 could cause as much disruption as building the High Speed line itself.
Even then, a programme of work to improve network capacity could take 14 years, need 2,770 weekend possessions and disrupt main line services north from London Euston, St Pancras International and King’s Cross. The cost is also estimated at £20 billion – more than the base cost of Phase 1 of HS2.
The conclusions are set out in a joint report produced by Network Rail and Atkins.
The East Coast would take much of the burden of a network upgrade, because there are only limited opportunities to add capacity on the West Coast and Midland Main Lines.
One option at the southern end on the ECML is for a new double-track main line between Alexandra Palace and Biggleswade. A frequently discussed alternative of quadrupling the double-track pinch point which is posed by the Digswell viaduct in Welwyn Garden City and northwards from there through Welwyn North tunnel has not been developed, says Network Rail, because the mix of different types of services south of Hitchin is also a major constraint on route capacity.
However, it should be possible to increase speeds south of Doncaster from the present maximum of 125mph to 140mph, after the installation of ERTMS.
ERTMS is not planned for the West Coast or Midland lines until much later on, and so the maximum on these lines would remain at 125mph for the foreseeable future.
Network Rail is not encouraging about the effects of a major upgrade of the existing railway. It said: “Network Rail’s overall conclusion is that it is not possible to have an upgrade programme of such magnitude without it resulting in significant disruption to weekend rail travel on multiple routes over a lengthy period of time.
“These projects require complex planning and logistical organisation and normally only a few are carried out at any one time. There would also be a major requirement for buses and drivers for replacement services.”
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
jack99, Oxford
Chris NS
Where's your 42 Billion pounds coming from ( and the rest with the usual cost overruns ) when the National Debt interest payment is over 50 Billion per year ? No-one has answered that question - the Chinese maybe ???
(On a point of fact, HS2 expenditure will be spread over a couple of decades. The figure of c.£42 billion is a maximum, because it already includes a contingency allowance for possible overruns of more than £14 billion.--Editor)
Richard Crompton, Switzerland
So then, Network Rail thinks there is no good reason to add another pair of tracks between Welwyn and Stevenage 'because the mix of different types of services south of Hitchin is also a major constraint on route capacity'. Is this just nonsense or utter tripe?
I would have thought that the very reason for doing it is because of the mix of services! Perhaps the Network Rail executives are worried that if they spend anything, their bonuses will be cut.
'
Chris Neville-Smith, Durham
"at a fraction of the HS2 price"
You sure about that? I make the GCR bit alone round about £12bn when you add in a few obvious hidden extras. Add in all the other hidden extras on the rest of that network and slap on the same sort of contingency that the Treasury put on HS2 and that could easily overshoot £42bn.
Never mind, it's still a fraction. Just one where the numerator is greater than the denominator.
jack99, Oxford
Yes a new East Coast Main line ( ECML2 ) in the East Anglia flatlands starting at Kings X and Stratford International together with the reopened Great Central from Leicester Rugby to London ( Paddington / Marylebone via Ashendon Junction plus 4 track GW/GC Joint to Northolt will give the required extra capacity for the ECML/MML/WCML at a fraction of the HS2 price without the environmental damage or NIMBY opposition. The only voice of reason in the whole HS2 debate is the Commons Public Accounts Committee. Reading the letters on Railnews no one has come up with the explanation as to where a Debt Ridden country like Britain is going to get the money from ( especially when the Coalition have to go hawking to the French / Chinese to build the next generation of Nuclear Power Stations )
Michael, London
Why not build Both? And then not stop there till we have at least 12 LGV's crisscrossing all of the UK to where there are no two points more than 2 hours from each other.
Adam Warr, Peterborough
Who remembers one of Virgin's early ECML franchise bids that suggested building a completely new line between Peterborough and York and again north of Newcastle?
I can't help thinking that something along those lines (sorry...) along with major enhancements south of Peterborough could be a way forward.
Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Instead of starting at Kings Cross why not start at Stratford International and look at extentsion of HS1 north either by a new route or via the GE/GN Joint line which could be electrified and up graded . With a link to ECML north of Welwyn thus avoiding the Welwyn bottleneck .
Odd this is if we were like the French extension of HS1 would have followed its completion instead we did nothing !
david c smith, milton keynes
Yes, just in terms of high speeds an East Coast alignment makes more semse. Firrstly, the conurbations ( W Yorkshire, Tees, Tyne, Ediburgh, Glasgow ) are on average further from London, so new journey opportunities would be more likely ( Birmingham and Manchester are already well within day-return range of Lomdon ). Secondly, an East Coast HS line would be through flatter, less densely populated / developed country and hence cheaper to build.
Of course there may still be need for WCML capacity enhancement, perhaps utilising the ex-GC trackbed south of Nuneaton / Rugby.
Particular opportunities for new-build HS ( 300+kph ) stretches on the ECML might be
(a)Potter's Bar-Humtingdon, on a line to the east of the present line, bypassing Welwyn viaduct and Hitchin junction.
(b) from just north of Newark to Temple Hirst junction near Selby passing to the east of the congested Doncaster area.
Other improvemrnts or new-build stretches might also be appropriate.