Early Electric

I understand that 319363 worked 2F52 06.00 Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western and the 2F57 07.03 return this morning, before moving onto Airport runs.

This marks the first electric passenger working on the Wigan line, and another important step in the progress of phase two.

Only Victoria remains to be completed, and there appears to be an intriguing test train of some sort booked for this Sunday evening.  See RTT for details.

Hopefully, with the new crew and stock rosters for the new timetable which starts on 17 May, we will see a substantial increase in the numbers of EMUs out and about on all parts of phase two, albeit on unaltered diesel schedules.

News in Brief

I've recently been a little negligent in following the news on this blog, so here's a few headlines and updates:

• The Pendolino test runs which were aborted at the end of March were retried later in the week and were apparently successful.  Pendolinos are scheduled to run between Liverpool and Euston via Manchester on both the bank holiday weekends in May.
• One autotransformer wire has been installed on the up side through Huyton, the down side is still missing.  Correction:  Actually both sides are now up, the down side on temporary pulleys.
• A number of 319 test runs have been performed on the Huyton-Wigan line.  I am not aware that ORR have formally signed off the route.  (But see below)
• "Treat as Live" notices have gone up for Ordsall Lane Jn to Victoria, dated Sunday 19 April.  I don't know if any finishing work is required but hopefully we will see MENTOR and then 319 tests before long. 

Finally, the rumour mill reports that on this coming Saturday (18 April) a 319 will do a Liverpool to Wigan and return passenger working and then move onto a Liverpool/Manchester Airport diagram.  Another 319 is also expected to be on Airport runs.  If this happens it will be the first electric passenger working on the Wigan line, and also the first Saturday runs, I think.

Update, Saturday:  The 319 to Wigan was replaced by a diesel, reportedly due to overhead line problems at Huyton.  An electric airport diagram is running, I'm told.

Additional 319 Working

A correspondent advises me of an extra trip which has been added to the Monday to Friday class 319 workings, which are now as follows:

Diagram 1
0616 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 0720
0735 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 0854
0916 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 1020
1040 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 1146
1215 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 1320
1340 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 1444
1516 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 1620

1640 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 1742

1814 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 1920

1940 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 2044


Diagram 2 

0716 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 0820
0840 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 0946 

1116 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 1220 (NEW)
1240 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 1346 (NEW)
1416 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 1520
1540 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 1643
1713 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport 1820
1840 Manchester Airport  to Liverpool Lime Street 1944

Pendolino Test Runs

Oh dear.

The first of this morning's scheduled Pendolino runs (1Q01 23:53 Liverpool Lime Street High Level to Newton-Le-Willows) ran, but all the others were cancelled - Reason I1 [Overhead line/third rail defect].

And then 1H42 06:16 Liverpool Lime Street High Level to Manchester International Airport was also cancelled, for the same reason.

So it would appear the Pendolino tests were not successful.

But don't panic - Finding problems is what testing is for, after all.

I've no reports so far on what the defect was, so I don't know how long it will take to resolve.  As I type, tonight's test runs are still in the timetable.

By the way, whatever it is these runs are testing (Power feed, gauging, something else, all of the above?) they aren't testing the autotransformer (AT) system because the AT wires are still missing at Huyton, and strapped to earth elsewhere.

Electrification Task Force

I suppose imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I must confess to being a little miffed when I discovered that the recently published  "Report of the North of England Electrification Task Force" is called Northern Sparks.

The report comes up with a prioritised list of lines in northern England which are recommended for future electrification projects.  In the Northwest these are as follows:

Tier One (2019 to 2024)

• Calder Valley – Leeds to Manchester and Preston via Bradford and Brighouse.
• Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central.
• Southport and Kirkby to Salford (via Atherton).
• Chester to Stockport.
• Bolton to Clitheroe.
• Hazel Grove to Buxton.
• Warrington to Chester.

Tier Two (Post 2024)

• Manchester to Sheffield and local services in south east Manchester.
• Chester to Crewe.
• Burnley to Colne.
• Preston to Blackpool South.

Tier Three (Long term)

• Carnforth to Barrow.
• Preston to Ormskirk.
• Skipton to Carlisle.
• Cumbrian Coast.
• Skipton to Heysham.

You can read the full report here.

Update:  A more detailed examination of the report revealed that all the maps show the Ashburys to Philips Park line as non-electrified.  After a quick exchange of emails with Rail North I am pleased to confirm that this is a minor error in the report, and not a cancellation of part of phase 5.