FORMER Thameslink trains are set to carry freight in May, when a new scheme to bring merchandise into central London is due to begin. The proposal is to use former Class 319s with their seats removed and diesel engines added, to provide local freight services between the port of London Gateway and London Liverpool Street station.
The scheme has been prompted by the new charges for lorries entering the London Ultra-Low Emissions Zone, and Rail Operations Group is working with London Gateway owner DP World to develop the scheme.
Lots of questions (especially on whether a better environmental approach would have been possible), few existing answers quickly available
Has a new class number been assigned for these conversions?
And will these be something like the class 769 conversions i.e. still capable of operating on electric power when available? Not very “green” if not.
How much of their daily use will be diesel?
Could batteries have been used instead (charged when on traction power or when idle in depots).
Would it be technically feasible to have lower emission LPG/CNG powered electrical generation in this sort of retrofit? Or is this not practical because of amount of gas storage, speed of filling (Gas slower than diesel potentially), needing to build new filling equipment for gas, or there isn’t a suitably powerful & compact gas piston motor available (assuming that a gas turbine would really not be suitable as a retrofit in the short-medium term).
Do central London terminals like Liverpool Street have the capacity to deal with a significant number of such light goods trains? Or will this be at night only?
Starting in May? The implication is 2020 but is this really feasible? Apart from the question of platform access at Liverpool Street there is also the question of road access for final distribution. The article reads more like someone who has a bright idea but hasn’t yet realised the practical implications of it.
More information on this, and some photos, from World Cargo News:
“”For many shippers of FMCG and their LSPs, the way round these problems is to exploit the existing passenger rail net in off-peak hours, where there are slots available on the network. Starting in May next year, Rail Operations Group (ROG) will offer an alternative to the congested A13 highway with a new pilot service linking London Gateway Logistics Park, which is rail-served, and Liverpool Street station, where there are train platforms at grade with road access.
“To operate the new service, being marketed as Orion, ROG will deploy two Class 769 electro-diesel Flex units produced from refurbished Class 319 electric units. The Flex concept is proving popular with passenger TOCs as it allows them to replace older diesel units with bi-modes, lowering operating costs on electrified routes and non-electrified routes, such as the line into London Gateway. The picture above is from the conversion workshop, for a passenger TOC.
“ROG’s freight train sets will comprise four converted cars. Seats, partitions, toilets and so on are being removed and the windows are being plated over. Access remains via the electric sliding doors, while the floors and sides are being fitted with anchor points. For the purposes of the trial, each car will be kitted out differently to cater for the widest possible number of loading units – pallets, wheeled and unwheeled containers, roller cages, totes, shelving units, etc. This will provide the opportunity for customer feedback on preferences.
“Network Rail has been very supportive and we are getting strong interest from the market; some prospective customers are new to rail,” ROG’s Production Director Paul Orchard told WorldCargo News. No launch customers have been named, but they are understood to include “household names.”
“”We are hoping to build the service to two and possibly three roundtrips a day, seven days a week. There is capacity for this at Liverpool Street, and when the Elizabeth Line [Crossrail] opens there will be more, as many suburban services will be running below ground. Main line termini are located in city centres, so ’last mile’ services can be provided by e-vans or cargo bikes, while our bi-mode capability means we can service any rail siding and divert off electrified routes if there are power supply problems,” Mr Orchard continued.”…
Mike: thanks for this information. It still strikes me as something which would be a wonderful idea, if only somebody wanted it. I have a distinct feeling that these e-vans and e-bikes are not going to materialise. (That is, if anyone has set aside space at Liverpool Street for them to be loaded, essentially a small warehouse on some very valuable land).
I doub’t many retailers will be interested, the transhipment from truck to train to local truck for the last (under 1 mile presumably) leg will be too complex, and most retailers will have too much stock to make “walking” the stock over a bit at a time during the trading day through the streets palatable (assuming there was a secure holding point available to multiple users at Liverpool street anyway)
It would be a bit like the handover process that exists today for retailers to get stock into the secure “sterile” area of airports; not much liked, adds time and cost, but a necessary evil in that case.
I assume the diesel power is for the last kilometer or two into Thames Gatway, which IIRC, in a typical shortsighted move is not wired up ….
@GREG TINGEY
Is it actually possible to have a overhead loading freight system that can also work with an overhead wired electrical train? Watching the TV shows recently about London Gatway (“What Britain Buys in a Day”) it does seem like they require overhead airspace access to load and unload the freight containers?
The article was about converted passenger trains. Although they might be carrying freight which had originally arrived in the country a container, the container would have been unpacked and its contents broken down in a warehouse. That warehouse might be within the London Gateway complex, but probably not in the exact spot where the containers are lifted from ship to shore. So electrification to the warehouse might be feasible.
Whether electrifying a track taking a few trips per day from an Essex warehouse to Liverpool Street should take priority over electrifying (e.g.) the Midland Main line, with several passenger trains per hour, is left as an exercise for the reader…
To quote from the “World Cargo News” article
“The Flex concept is proving popular with passenger TOCs as it allows them to replace older diesel units with bi-modes, lowering operating costs on electrified routes and non-electrified routes”
Odd use of the present tense there, as in fact not a single diesel unit has yet been replaced by a 769, despite the the first ones, for Northern, having been scheduled to have entered service eighteen months ago. Units for TfW and GWR were also intended to have been in service by now.