PRACTICE & PERFORMANCE
EASTERN EXPECTATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS
John Heaton FCILT analyses the impact of LNER’s Hitachi ‘Azuma’ trains on East Coast Main Line schedules.
THERE has been much discussion during the development of the InterCity Express Project concerning the provision of bi-modal power There was a balance to be drawn between extra electricity and time costs for transporting unused diesel engines under electric wires against the lack of flexibility possessed by pure electric units.
The matter was finally resolved in favour of ‘bi-modes’. The lack of ‘infill’ electrification over regular diversionary routes in Britain and the frequency of overhead line failures were two of the deciding factors. Commentators who preferred a strategy of switching from allelectric units to large diesel loco haulage where the wires ended never really addressed the locos’ probable lack of productivity between turns.
By now we should have been relishing the prospect of the full East Coast timetable delivering the range of improvements we have been promised, including progress towards the much-vaunted four hour London-Edinburgh interval service.
Voices have suggested that this might only be achieved by limiting trains to a single intermediate stop at Newcastle, which arguably underplays the significance of, among others, Darlington and York. It has been suggested that four-hour schedules over the current infrastructure are impractical even with just one stop.
The single train from Edinburgh to London timed for four hours has not enjoyed the best of punctuality records, despite the encouragement of having the ‘Flying Scotsman’ title transferred to it.
The problems have chiefly stemmed from tight pathing and overtaking moves such as that of the 06.00 Berwick-upon-Tweed-King’s Cross at Darlington, the 06.55 Skipton-King’s Cross at Doncaster, and the 07.00 from Hull between Grantham and High Dyke. If these impediments are successfully overcome, we have the 07.42 from King’s Lynn 2min ahead on Welwyn viaduct.
No guarantees
Some will say they can deliver such a tight timetable. Others might say paths have been oversold. I suspect I might have promised to deliver the Edinburgh 90% within 5min of time ‘on time’ but with no guarantees about the other four trains mentioned.
On a recent rail rover trip, Railway Performance Society (RPS) magazine editor David Ashley analysed a run with nine-car ‘Azuma’ No. 801207 working the 08.30 Edinburgh-King’s Cross on a fine September morning. The train was booked to call at Berwick, Darlington and York, in addition to Newcastle, and took exactly four hours. Just one delay was suffered, of 3min at Werrington Jct.
LNER ‘Azuma’ Nos. 801101 and 800201 pass Bessacarr with 1S14, the 10.22 London King’s Cross to Edinburgh on November 15, 2020. The train is diverted via GE/GN joint line due to planned engineering work on the ECML.
GEOFF GRIFFITHS
Station dwell time totalled 13½min and the train arrived at London 6min early. If, instead, 2min dwell time is allowed at both Newcastle and York, and a 3min deduction is made from the four hours running time for unrequired acceleration and deceleration from the two excised stops, we come to a scratch two-stop schedule of 3hrs 58min. That allows only 2min recovery time, whereas say 6min plus a 2min performance contingency allowance might be practical.