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Jason Ford
Jason Ford
News Editor
High speed rail, biofuels, and a manned space-flight retrospective
This Friday sees the government closing its consultation on the route of HS2, the high-speed rail line designed to cut journey times between London and Birmingham to 49 minutes by 2026, with work expected to begin in 2016.
Under existing plans London’s Euston station would be redeveloped and a new hub built at Old Oak Common, west London, for separate branches to Heathrow and the ’High Speed One’ Channel Tunnel Rail Link, although the airport will be directly linked if the government responds to calls to move the route further west away from the Chilterns.
In the longer term two more lines are planned north of Birmingham: one serving Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh; the other calling at Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle.
Steven Hayter, chair of ICE’s High Speed Rail working group said last week that while the HS2 proposals open up significant economic opportunities and present ‘good value for money’, the business case must continue to be reviewed as the proposals develop.
Additionally he urged government to ensure the UK wide benefits are realised, by committing to the full ‘Y’ shaped route extending to Leeds and Manchester and by giving consideration to future extensions to other key UK cities.
In a statement, ICE also called on the government to ensure that thought is given to the route’s connection points to the existing network and the costs involved in providing extra capacity at terminals.
In particular, how the London Underground lines will cope with the estimated 80,000 additional passengers, each day, that HS2 will bring into Euston station and whether the proposed single track route linking HS1 and HS2, set to operate in the same corridor as the North London line, could cause further congestion to that commuter service and potentially cause delays to HS2 services.
Still with transport and news that Thomson Airways is set to operate the UK’s first sustainable biofuel flight from Birmingham to Palma in Mallorca this Thursday, subject to testing and safety clearance.
The biofuel being used will be a blend of Jet A1 fuel and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) fuel.
Germany’s DLR recently announced that Lufthansa has started using biofuels on its regular scheduled flights as part of a €6.6m project.
Six months of testing began on July 15 with the airline using the fuel in an Airbus A321 on flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt.
One of the engines will run on an equal mixture of regular fuel and biosynthetic kerosene and the airline estimates the biofuel will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 1,500 tonnes.
Lufthansa says the biosynthetic kerosene is derived from pure biomass (biomass to liquids – BtL) and consists of jatropha, camelina and animal fats.
Tuesday sees the publication of BP’s second quarter results, which a year ago saw the company announce a loss of £17bn following the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
This will be followed on Wednesday with the delivery of the Deepwater Horizon Joint Investigation Team report. The team were tasked with developing conclusions and recommendations from the 20 April 2010 oil platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 and led to America’s largest ever environmental disaster, with up to 208 million gallons of oil spilling into the sea.
The leak was capped on July 15 and declared ’effectively dead’ on September 19.
Recommendations will be forwarded to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Since the disaster, the technical group of the UK’s Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG) has overseen the development of the OSPRAG capping device which will be a key element of the UK’s oil spill response contingency plans. The cap is now rated for deployment in water depths up to 10,000ft on wells flowing up to 75,000 barrels per day at 15,000 psi.
It might be Monday morning but Briefing is already looking forward to some free time and a visit to a new exhibition that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight.
“Gagarin in Britain” is a free exhibition hosted at the British Council and runs from July 19 to September 13.
According to the event’s publicity material, the exhibition will showcase items from the Vostokmanned space programme including the first space suit – SK-1, including the padded inner lining, blue rubberised pressure-suit and outer orange layer; and an ejector seat of the model used by Gagarin.
These exhibits are accompanied by Soviet posters from the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics; a film made by Roscosmos showing original footage of the early training programme and the 1961 launch itself; a model of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite in the world, launched in October 1957; space food; and one of the earliest dog space suits.
Tours of the exhibition are scheduled from 4pm to 5pm every Tuesday and Friday.
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Readers' comments (18)
willie p | 25 Jul 2011 2:38 pm
There is much to celebrate, and to lament in this article. It is exciting to see the new developments taking place in the transportation industry taking place today and at the same time, having grown up in an era when the US has always been capable of manned space flight and for most of the time been the worlds leader, it sadens me greatly to celebrate the 42 aniversary of the moon landing on one day and the end of the space shuttle program on the very next day. The US should not be purchasing flights from the Russians in order to get in to space. This is a crying shame after almost 50 years of being # 1!
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Andy Borucki | 25 Jul 2011 2:46 pm
There is no need for HS2. Who wants to go to Birmingham anyway? This project will blight the area of West London, where I live. "Call-me-Dave" is signing the death certificate for all Conservative MPs and councillors in this area if he proceeds with this idiot project. He should invest the money in a proper aircraft carrier and the planes to go with it!
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Alex | 25 Jul 2011 2:54 pm
The business case for HS2 doesn't stack up. It assumes all the time saved is otherwise wasted. However, travel time with power and Wifi is not wasted time.
For a fraction of the cost, the Chiltern line could be upgraded to take 4 double decker trains per hour, from London to Birmingham in 75 minutes.
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Rob Hill | 25 Jul 2011 3:08 pm
I agree that the business case for HS2 does not stack up. What's more, the days of throwing huge amounts of public money and increased amounts of energy at a project to enable the privileged few to travel faster have surely passed with the demise of Concorde. Like Concorde, HS2 is really exciting in engineering terms but has no business case. Do we really believe that the future holds an increased need for business travel? I rather think that increased use of video conferencing etc. will reduce business travel. The whole project is driven by the desire to be part of the "elite club" of nations with high speed rail regardless of any real need in the UK. Like many government "vanity projects" (and I don't just mean the current Con-Dem lot, I mean government generally) the numbers simply do not stand up to any rational scrutiny.
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Quatermass | 25 Jul 2011 3:24 pm
Perhaps Mr. Borucki should actually go to Birmingham before condemning it. Actually, the majority of the population of the UK does not live in London. The line from London to Birmingham has been a national disgrace for far too long, and HS2 is long overdue. The business case for HS2 is much clearer than for the farcical sideshow of running aircraft on chip fat.
And as for the now non-existent US Space Programme, which now consists of paying the Russians whatever they ask for to ride on their 1950's technology missiles... just wait till the first Chinese Taikonaut sets foot on the Moon, and see the blaming and finger-pointing that happens then. Whatever programme they put in place today, the next President will cancel it.
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John prendergast | 25 Jul 2011 3:39 pm
Why are we about to waste precious money on an early 19th Century form of transport. We should be looking to the 21st century and to making this new form available to all to, at an affordable price.
How about 3D Tv with holographic projection, then we wont have to travel nearly as much.
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Mathias Hulse | 25 Jul 2011 3:49 pm
Mr Borucki's comment says it all: not in my backyard. A lot of conservative MP's will oppose it as well as their more affluent voters won't want to see it near their country homes either. Don't be so short-sighted. The high speed train in Germany is a resounding success and in many cases people prefer it to domestic flights.
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Anonymous | 25 Jul 2011 4:13 pm
If they harvested mustard seed and pressed the oil they would find that it will produce more oil for $ invested than any of the seed oils they are using. It will grow in most soils and if sown with a legume such as lucern in sparce seeding that it will grow at a more rapid rate...
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E.W. Lawrence. | 25 Jul 2011 4:32 pm
I agree with the sentiments that HS2 is unnecessary and a waste of money. There are lines which were closed in the 1960s linking London with the Midlands and the North that could be reopened for far less. Why not reopen the Great Central Main Line from Marylebone which was built to a high standard and was the last main line built to London, only opening in 1899. The Midland Main Line from St Pancras through the Peak District is another that could be reopened to the north. The Great Western Route from Paddington to Birmingham is another. The West Country has been completely overlooked in terms of improvement to rail services. Should not consideration be given to reopening the old Southern Railway Route from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton and Tavistock? It would provide an alternative route when train services are disrupted by adverse weather along the coastal route via Dawlish and Teignmouth. In addition it would provide an urgently needed commuter service from Tavistock to Plymouth and Okehampton to Exeter. I agree HS2 should not be built and what money is available used more wisely to improve a number of routes
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Ian | 25 Jul 2011 7:54 pm
According to the HS2 summary
http://www.hs2.org.uk/assets/x/78304,
The number of passengers per day from London to Birmingham will be 15200.
Assuming interest of 5% on the £30Bn capital costs, this works out at £270 per journey.
Value for money?
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