The latest Green Signals episode featuring Nigel Harris, and Richard Bowker CBE, featured a section on the battery fitting trial of Hitachi 802 Class EMU’s at Newton Aycliffe for Transpennine Express (TPE).
As stated in the interview segment between Jim from Hitachi and Richard from Green Signals, the units are potentially ideally suited to routes that are part electrified and part unwired.
The Northumberland Coast Loop is very much a route of that type, being mostly wired between Newcastle and Berwick (and on to Edinburgh), but unwired, for the time being, between Morpeth North Junction (near Bothal Viaduct) and Benton Junction (Newcastle).
This unwired route of approximately 16miles length would allow places such as the Blyth Valley area (Blyth, Cramlington and Bedlington) and North Tyneside to get long distance, direct rail services, bringing the trains closer to the major population centres and centrally located stations (i.e. Blyth Bebside compared to Morpeth or Cramlington) and Northumberland Park to serve North Tyneside via easy interchange with T&W Metro.
Northumberland Park potentially could also offer an ideal interchange to serve both the Port of Tyne (DFDS Ferries and PoT Cruise Terminals), but also Newcastle Airport, if direct T&W Metro services from Tynemouth to Airport could become reality. This could be achieved either by using a route around/through the Metro depot, or if this is not possible, by maybe using the turnback siding just beyond South Gosforth station (near South Gosforth First School)?
With being such a short unwired section, ‘range anxiety’ should be a minimal issue, especially if charging from overhead wires on other sections is possible, and using this route for dedicated, timetabled trains is arguably good for the local economy by offering better links to nationally important sites such as the Ports of Tyne & Blyth, but from a railway operating perspective, using it regularly should also help maintain driver knowledge in the event of the route being needed for diversions, the 2023 issues with Plessey Viaduct perhaps being a sharp reminder of this routes potential importance in that regard.
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Please also take a look at the Green Signal’s webpage for this podcast: https://www.greensignals.org/podcast/hitachis-battery-class-802-general-election-2024-virgin-trains-comeback/
The Northumberland Coast Loop 