by DoDo
Mon Aug 3rd, 2009 at 08:16:23 AM EST
The UK has been at the forefront of pursuing infrastructure projects in a public-private partnership (PPP) construction, a model now spreading across the EU. This despite rather negative experiences in Britain's rail sector: one should remember the bankruptcy of two of the three private companies whom London was forced to sell maintenance of London Underground infrastructure, the high price tag of High Speed 1, or indeed the collapse of infrastructure manager Railtrack (which was a listed public limited company, unlike its successor Network Rail). But, who cares, the goal is to privatise profits and socialise losses, after all?
Well, last week, the government of Gordon Brown led the way into another direction – without too much fanfare.
Railway Gazette: Inter-city electrification planning to start immediately
UK: An immediate start of detailed planning for electrification of the Great Western Main Line and Manchester Victoria - Liverpool route were announced by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Andrew Adonis on July 23.
...
The £1·1bn total investment will be funded by Network Rail with government support.
Wait, it gets better: it's not that private companies are excluded for lack of profit to make!
Adonis said electrification will be self-financing in the medium term though lower train maintenance, leasing and operating costs, and as a result it can be undertaken without reducing planned infrastructure enhancement to 2014.
The timeline details for the affected:
Great Western | | |
| Detailed planning | | Immediate |
| Early works | | 2012-14 |
| Main construction | | 2014-16 |
| Electric services from London to Oxford, Newbury, Bristol | | end 2016 |
| Bristol – Swansea | | end 2017 |
| Cost | | £1bn |
Liverpool – Manchester | | |
| Detailed planning | | Immediate |
| Main construction | | 2011-13 |
| Opening | | 2013 |
| Cost | | £100m |
Even if the timeline is long, I must say this is more than I expected.
The background is a study prepared by Network Rail.
The electrification of the rail network of the UK is relatively low in a European comparison: only the busiest mainlines radiating from London to the north are under overhead line, but mainlines to the west or in transversal direction aren't.
- Lines in purple: 25 kV, 50 Hz overhead line (the dashed Glasgow–Edinburgh line is in advanced construction)
- Lines in green: 750 V DC third rail
- Lines in yellow: diesel
The Network Rail study indicated thorough benefits.
- The vehicles running the same traffic would be faster;
- fuel costs are half of that with diesels;
- maintenance costs are less by a third;
- track wear is less, too;
- presently most freight trains run with diesels even on electrified lines because they continue beyond those lines, but with enough connections, that would change.
With these, Network Rail found positive benefit/cost ratios for most mainlines in Central England.
Lines in red: priority projects (including Crossrail), blue: for later
The devolved Scottish government pursues its own projects; dashed red is ongoing, fixed plans in green
But, I did not expect the government to get enthusiastic and give the go-ahead to one of their two proposed priority projects (the other being the Midland Mainline) and one they hoped for in a second stage, and that this soon.
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