Railway electrification coming to Newbury Options

[Hugh Saskin]

Within eight years, says DaFT

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/railelectrification.pdf

Good news for passengers, ultimately, although Kintbury passengers etc, will have to change at Newbury. Good news for home owners, too, as the value of properties always tend to go up if they are near a station with electric trains to London, making it attractive for commuters. Not such good news for those locals seeking to buy a home, perhaps...

[GrumblingAgain]

Within eight years, says DaFT

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/railelectrification.pdf

Good news for passengers, ultimately, although Kintbury passengers etc, will have to change at Newbury. Good news for home owners, too, as the value of properties always tend to go up if they are near a station with electric trains to London, making it attractive for commuters. Not such good news for those locals seeking to buy a home, perhaps...

Will it really happen though or is it just another in a long line of Labour's lies and broken promises?

With massive cut backs looming, although beneficial, won't it be scaled back or halted altogether by a Government seeking to save money by spending on only essential projects?

Before you get excited over the thought of shiney new electrical trains coming our way! - new trains will be built for the London to Bristol and Swansea route, but they are unlikely to get used on our commuter services to Newbury! It is rumoured that Newbury/Oxford will only get hand-me-down stock from other lines around the country and so we will end up with second-hand and rather old trains, which probably won't offer any commuter benefits other than a lack of diesel smell.

[Hugh Saskin]

Will it really happen though or is it just another in a long line of Labour's lies and broken promises?

With massive cut backs looming, although beneficial, won't it be scaled back or halted altogether by a Government seeking to save money by spending on only essential projects?

Before you get excited over the thought of shiney new electrical trains coming our way! - new trains will be built for the London to Bristol and Swansea route, but they are unlikely to get used on our commuter services to Newbury! It is rumoured that Newbury/Oxford will only get hand-me-down stock from other lines around the country and so we will end up with second-hand and rather old trains, which probably won't offer any commuter benefits other than a lack of diesel smell.

According to the DfT - Class 319 units, currently working the Thameslink services, will be refurbished and equipped with air con, these are sure to be able to accelerate better than the moth eaten FGW diesel stuff we have now on local trains. I'd always assumed that faster acceleration between station stops meant shorter journey times.

Never heard of an electrification scheme being abandoned altogether, except for some London Transport lines north of the river which bit the dust as a result of WW2. Delayed, perhaps, but it's most certainly a move in the right direction, unless you are a regular user of Thatcham Level Crossing

[GrumblingAgain]

According to the DfT - Class 319 units, currently working the Thameslink services, will be refurbished and equipped with air con, these are sure to be able to accelerate better than the moth eaten FGW diesel stuff we have now on local trains. I'd always assumed that faster acceleration between station stops meant shorter journey times.

Never heard of an electrification scheme being abandoned altogether, except for some London Transport lines north of the river which bit the dust as a result of WW2. Delayed, perhaps, but it's most certainly a move in the right direction, unless you are a regular user of Thatcham Level Crossing

So we wont be getting new trains for the local services, as I thought. It will be second hand units which are actually older than the current Turbo units (just!), but of course younger than the highly successful 125s which are used to some extent on commuter services.

Sure they will be refurbished, but then so can our current stock if need be!

I don't see that 319 trains will be anymore comfortable than the existing commuter stock, although the extra 10mph in maximum speed would shave a bit of time off the end to end journey times, along with slightly better acceleration times, but unless the train makes multiple stops it won't save that much time, and no one wants to be on a train that stops at most stations between Reading and London!

I wasn't suggesting the whole complete project would get abandoned once started, but I am not convinced it will actually start! I reckon all we will get is an extension of the London Cross Rail electrification scheme to Reading and then onwards to Newbury & Oxford, whilst the main line West to Bristol/Swansea gets shelved in favour of more modern new diesels (which would then cover all the Westward routes like now).

Electrification is of course the right way to go, and as you say, a start, but I would have perferred to see a more dramatical approach - electrify the main lines to Swansea, Bristol etc, and all the Thames Valley branches, but rebuild for 6-12 length trains and raise bridges sufficiently to allow for double decker trains. GWML is better suited for that once all overbridges are raised. Now that would have really tackled the overcrowding problems rather than just a few minutes shaved off the end to end journey.