Greens call for commitment to increased electrification and regional connectivity

16th June 2020

In its response to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) rail assessment commission for the North and Midlands, the Yorkshire and Humber Green Party has raised concerns about the “the lack of commitment to tackling net-zero emissions on our railways”.

With work now underway to build Phase 1 of HS2 (to Birmingham), and plans being drawn up to start Phase 2a (to Crewe), the government has said it “will draw up an Integrated Rail Plan for the Midlands and the North which is framed by the government’s commitment to bring forward transformational rail improvements along the HS2 route as quickly as possible.

“This work will be informed by an assessment from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) looking at the rail needs of the Midlands and the North, and the available evidence on Northern Powerhouse Rail, Midlands Rail Hub, HS2 Phase 2b and other proposed Network Rail projects.”

The Yorkshire and Humber Green Party has stated: “We do not see how the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) can recommend investment priorities for the north without addressing the central issue of decarbonisation head on”.

In its submission to the NIC, which will advise government on the investment priorities for rail in the north before HS2 is operational in the region, the regional Green Party stresses that the decarbonisation challenges are a central issue for the current review, which needs a major rethink on electrification. The NIC review.

It also highlights the importance of investing in improved regional connectivity within the Yorkshire and Humber region before the arrival of HS2. It stresses that switching more goods from road to rail is a priority and will significantly reduce carbon emissions, but this would also need an increase in capacity for rail freight.

“In the post Covid-19 Britain, HS2 is not an appropriate choice for economic stimulus, as it will not deliver benefits until the 2030s and 2040s,” said Martin Hemingway, Green Party regional coordinator.

“Conversely, the priorities identified in our submission not only address the challenge of reducing carbon emissions from transport but would contribute to our quality of life and sustainable economy in the 2020s and 2030s.

“Our priorities are informed by a desire for better regional connectivity to be delivered through rapid transit in the Leeds City Region, improvements to East West routes and enhanced capacity and recognised pathways for rail freight, particularly to and from the Humber ports. Commitment to rail electrification and regional connectivity is more important to Yorkshire than HS2”

The Oakervee review into the HS2 project concluded that, for Phase 2b of HS2 (the route from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds), a Y-shaped network was the right strategic answer for the country.

However, the review also concluded that Phase 2b needs to be considered as part of an Integrated Rail Plan for the north and Midlands which also includes Northern Powerhouse Rail, Midlands Rail Hub, and other major Network Rail schemes to ensure these are scoped, designed, delivered, and can be operated as an integrated network.

Special train livery marks Tyne & Wear Metro’s 40th birthday

16th June 2020

The 40th anniversary of the Tyne and Wear Metro is being celebrated with a special train livery to mark the occasion.

Metrocar 4001, one of the original prototypes in use since Metro opened to the public in 1980, will bear the unique external livery throughout the summer, ahead of Metro’s 40th birthday on Tuesday 11 August 2020.

The unique design, which was devised by Nexus in-house graphic artists Pamela Lockey and applied by a team at Metro’s South Gosforth depot, features new versions of each of Metro’s distinctive liveries since the system opened 40 years ago – the original Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive of white and yellow; bold blocks of red and blue introduced in the 1990s, and the current black and grey colour scheme.

The carriage will be decked out with travelling exhibitions changing throughout the year, and celebrating Metro’s heritage, its place in the community, and the future arrival of new trains.

Metro operations director, Chris Carson, said: “This new heritage livery captures our iconic colour schemes from down the years as we countdown to Metro’s 40th anniversary in August.

“Metro is at the heart of the communities that it serves, and it has been part of everyday life in our region for four decades, so this is a great way of celebrating its proud heritage and sharing that with our customers.

“The design fuses together that iconic yellow and white PTE livery we started with in the 1980s along with the equally as memorable red and blue design that was brought in during the mid-1990s when the trains were first refurbished.

“They are all distinctive liveries and will doubtless bring back many memories for people who have travelled on the Tyne and Wear Metro over the years, and many who still do so. It’s great nostalgia.

“We were determined to have this heritage train in service because some of the other events that we had planned to mark the 40th year of Metro have had to be postponed due to the pandemic.”

UK business leaders call for clear hydrogen strategy

16th June 2020

Hydrogen Strategy Now is a campaign group of leading businesses that are looking to build a green recovery.

The cross-industry group, which combined employs around 100,000 people and has a value of £100 billion in the UK, has vowed to invest £1.5 billion in hydrogen technologies and has called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to lay the foundations for a UK-wide hydrogen strategy.

In a letter to the Chancellor, the group set out a commitment to unlocking investment, creating jobs and reducing emissions. It argues that developing a clear, strategic plan will unlock significant private funding in hydrogen technologies and manufacturing across the country, driving growth and generating hundreds of thousands of green jobs.

Attracting cross-party support, the collective believes the UK has the potential to become a global leader in low-carbon hydrogen technology, but it must move fast to realise this opportunity and achieve the maximum economic benefit.

It follows announcements from the European Commission for its multi-billion-euro green recovery plan, with both Germany and Canada also outlining large-scale fiscal support for kick-starting their hydrogen economies.

The campaign group believed that a UK-wide hydrogen economy will:

Create and sustain hundreds of thousands of high-skilled, green jobs, in all parts of the country and in alignment with the government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda;
Drive progress to Net Zero and improve air quality in towns and cities;
Secure private investment into the UK, and unlock export opportunities for our products and skills;
Increase energy security by making fuller use of the UK’s natural resources.

The letter to the Chancellor states: “As you look to design a post-COVID recovery, we encourage you to focus on creating high-skilled, green jobs, in sectors that will be critical to the future economy, such as low-carbon energy, transport and heavy industry.

“These measures would be wholly complementary to the Government’s levelling-up agenda and long-term decarbonisation goals. For example, the Committee for Climate Change has made it clear that the UK will not meet its Net Zero targets without significant investment in the hydrogen economy.

“The global hydrogen economy is estimated to be worth $2.5 trillion by 2050, supporting 30 million jobs. Other nations, such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and China have already set ambitious strategies for growing their hydrogen economies. Just last week, Germany joined this list with their own €9 billion hydrogen strategy. The European Commission is also creating an EU hydrogen strategy, which includes plans for multi-billion Euro investment in hydrogen projects, and schemes to boost sales of hydrogen electric vehicles.

“It is now clear that hydrogen is going to play an essential role in the world’s future, low-carbon economy. The increasingly bold steps being taken by other nations underlines the need for the UK to bring forward urgent measures to establish a hydrogen strategy and unlock investment and innovation. We should not risk falling behind other nations in developing our hydrogen industry”.

Baroness Brown, vice-chair of the influential Committee on Climate Change, which is due to publish its annual report to Parliament this month, said: “The UK missed the boat on wind technology and missed the boat on batteries. We can’t afford to miss the boat on hydrogen.

“I strongly agree that the UK urgently needs a hydrogen strategy, as there are too many small, piecemeal funds and projects. We need some serious private and public funding, and a coordinated effort between government and industry, to kickstart and grow a green-job-creating hydrogen economy across the country.”

Hydrogen-powered trains have already run in passenger service in Germany. In the UK, two train leasing companies are experimenting with converted electric trains but there are currently no serious plans to use any to carry passengers.

Vivarail secures finance to support growth for the future

15th June 2020

Vivarail, the Stratford-Upon-Avon-based designer and manufacturer of modular trains, has secured a £1.5 million loan from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) Debt Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners.

The firm will use this finance boost to pursue new growth by relocating to a larger site, which will enable it to scale up operations, and by expanding its workforce, with five jobs set to be created.

Vivarail specialises in developing a range of hybrid, electric and battery solutions for rail carriages and systems. It offers a unique proposition to the rail industry and has designed and implemented modular and interchangeable power systems which enable trains to be easily converted to run on batteries.

Alice Gillman (vivarail), Demetri Theofanou (Maven), Jim Clarke (CWLEP), Ryan Cartwright (British Business Bank) and Ian Wenman (vivarail).

The company designs and manufactures trains based on existing bodyshells and bogies as part of its focus on reducing carbon waste. The company has taken orders from customers including West Midlands Trains, Transport for Wales and South Western Railway.

Ian Wenman, finance director at Vivarail said, “We are delighted to receive this funding package from MEIF Maven Debt Finance. As a business, our focus is to continue to develop environmentally friendly solutions for the rail industry. We look forward to taking this next step in our growth journey, relocating to a larger site and expanding our team.”

Demetri Theofanou, Investment Manager at Maven said, “Vivarail is a significant Midlands-based business that has developed some very interesting technology that will help the rail sector reduce its environmental impact and carbon footprint. We are delighted to help finance this innovative business and look forward to seeing it embark on its growth journey.”

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

New passenger services agreed between Walsall and Wolverhampton

15th June 2020

The West Midlands Rail Executive has confirmed that there will be two trains an hour calling at Willenhall and Darlaston stations when the Walsall to Wolverhampton line reopens to passenger services.

Trains last called at Willenhall and Darlaston stations more than 50 years ago and the Walsall to Wolverhampton line has been used only by freight services since 2008. Now, West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) and Network Rail have agreed a timetable for services to call at the when the line reopens.

Under the new agreement there will be:

An hourly service between Walsall and Wolverhampton;
An hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton, via Tame Bridge, Darlaston and Willenhall, which will be created by diverting an existing Crewe to Birmingham service.

The rail service offers the people of Darlaston and Willenhall a huge 54-minute time saving on bus journeys into Birmingham city centre and a significant 15-minute saving on travelling by car.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “It is fantastic that agreement on services has been reached with Network Rail which shows we are making great progress on plans to get these rail stations built and the line open.

“The Walsall to Wolverhampton rail corridor is an important part of our the plans to regenerate and revitalise this area of the Black Country; acting as a catalyst to unlock swathes of land for industrial, commercial and housing development.

“Investment in transport is now even more important to our economy as we aim to bounce back from the pandemic.”

Dave Penney, Network Rail Central route director, said: “It’s exciting to be able to re-establish rail links for passengers in Willenhall and Darlaston and we have worked hard with our partners to help make it possible.

“Opening up the railway to these Black Country communities will be a key driver to the long-term regeneration of the wider region. In the short-term, I’d urge everyone to continue to follow government advice and avoid using public transport unless absolutely necessary.”

Deputy leader of Walsall Council Cllr Adrian Andrew said: “This is great news for Walsall businesses and residents and provides the connectivity we need to support and develop our local economy especially Willenhall and Darlaston.”

Work on HS2 tunnel launch site proceeds

11th June 2020

As work on HS2 gathers pace, excavation of the launch site for the two 2,000 tonne tunnel-boring machines – currently being manufactured in Germany – is now well advanced. The two TBMs will dig the 10-mile-long twin-bore Chiltern tunnel from a site next to the M25 to near South Heath in Buckinghamshire.

HS2 tunneling machine under construction in Germany.

Work has also started on the concrete precast plant where more than 118,000 tunnel segments will be made.

At 136-acre South Portal Chalfont Lane site will be the biggest construction site on the project. From here, specialist teams will deliver the tunnelling and the construction of the adjacent Colne Valley Viaduct.

Dedicated motorway slip-roads have been built to link the new site with the M25 and take construction traffic off local roads, while material excavated from the tunnels will be reused as landscaping on site.

Around 350 staff from HS2’s main works contractor, Align JV – a team made up of Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick, and its subcontractors – are now permanently based on site. At its peak, around 1200 people are expected to be employed in the design and construction of the Chiltern tunnels and the viaduct, with 50 opportunities for apprentices.

The ‘twin bore’ Chiltern tunnel will be the longest and deepest tunnel bores on route, with separate northbound and southbound tunnels and five ventilation shafts. The tunnels will carry the state-of-the-art HS2 trains under the Chiltern hills on their way to Birmingham, Scotland and the north of England.

Just south of the tunnel portal, the Colne Valley Viaduct – designed by Align, working with its design partners Jacobs and Ingerop-Rendel, and the architect Grimshaw – will be the longest railway viaduct in the UK. At 3.4km long, it will carry HS2 across the Grand Union Canal and surrounding lakes. Further south, the line will go into tunnel again before arriving at Old Oak Common and London Euston.

Site of the South Portal for HS2 tunnel under the Chilterns.

Welcoming the progress on site, HS2 delivery director David Bennett said: “The south portal site will have one of the most important parts to play in the story of HS2. From here we’ll manage the construction of the Chiltern tunnel and the iconic Colne Valley viaduct.

“It’s great to see how much progress has been made on site – and I look forward to working with the team to deliver what will be two of the most exciting and ambitious engineering challenges on the project.”

Daniel Altier, Align JV project director, said: “Significant planning and preparation has been completed by the Align team, working in close cooperation with HS2 and it’s great to see developments at the south portal. We now have a significant presence on-site and this is set to increase over the weeks and months ahead.

“This is a complex project and it’s both rewarding and exciting for the team to see the component parts coming together after all their detailed planning. Align is now actively recruiting to build our team to address the complex engineering challenges associated with the delivery of this iconic project.”