There's a train rollin a down that track - Time to sell up and move

If you live anywhere near the Midland Mailine Railway in the Borough of Barnet or you care about the Green Belt you may just be a tad concerned about what our Tory MP, Mr Matthew Offords government has just done. Of course you won't see anything about it here on his twitter feed

https://twitter.com/HendonMP

But you can read all about it here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-28307815. The government has approved a massive freight transfer station to be built in Radlett connecting to the Midland Mainline (Thameslink). This will handle huge mega trains, mostly in the middle of the night, making their way from the Channel tunnel to be unloaded onto Lorries for onwards distribution. Those of us who back onto the railway can look forward to the constant rumble of freight throughout the night. It will also lead to a massive increase in lorries on local trunk roads.

We first covered this story in 2011 http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/time-to-sell-up-and-move-if-you-live-in.html predicting that big business would win out over environmental concerns and local residents.

As we pointed out at the time

To quote the document from the inquiry :-

Longer and heavier freight trains: operate 750m long trains as standard and ensure rail freight terminals can accommodate longer trains. Allow heavier trains (with the resulting increased capacity) on selected routes)

Got that, heacy freight trains nearly half a mile long.

Just to re-emphasise :-

Be capable of taking full-length (775m) trains of W10 gauge with longer-term potential for electric traction and European-gauge containers
Be able to receive and despatch around 12 full trains per day

Or put it another way :-

The established Midland Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) states that off-peak capacity should be provided for two freight trains per hour, one with a trailing weight of up to 2500 tonnes, in each direction. The Draft Network Rail East Midlands RUS also states that two off-peak freight paths per hour of up to 2000 tonnes should be provided in each direction. Trains in excess of 2000 tonnes are for hauling bulk commodities such as aggregates and would not serve the Radlett terminal. Capacity for trains of this type will be achieved during off-peak hours by the provision of additional infrastructure, which is being developed under the Strategic Freight Network initiative. DBSR’s international service from Novara in Italy, at 512m, has a typical trailing weight of around 1200 tonnes.

So as well as the new trains for Radlett, we are to have two trains per hour hauling in excess of 2,000 tonnes in off peak periods (overnight). And just to re-iterate

21. I am aware that there have been adverse comments by at least one passenger train operating company with regard to the Radlett proposal. I do not regard these comments as well-considered. The Route Utilisation Strategy for the Midland Main Line makes it very clear that two freight paths per non-peak hour are reserved. Current utilisation rates of around 60% – (the figures are from Network Rail’s Performance and Capacity Report on MML dated July 2009) – show that there is ample capacity

Out of hours (non-peak hours). The line is currently at 60% freight capacity, so we will have a near doubling of freight.

So there you go. Silence from our local MP. It is great news if you are a trainspotter or if you find the rumble of trains soothing. For the rest of us, it is yet another demonstration that Mr Offord doesn't want to know 

Well done to the Hendon Times (only 14 months too late)

I was intrigued to see a whole load of hits on a story this blog ran 14 months ago - http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/time-to-sell-up-and-move-if-you-live-in.html - as a result of google searches on Radlett Rail Freight terminal. It seems that sneaky old Eric Pickles decided to bury some bad news and give the go ahead for a massive increase in the number of overnight freight trains travelling on the Midland main Line through Mill Hill and Hendon in the middle of the night. These trains will carry up to 2,000 tons of freight, causing considerable disruption to local residents and adversely affecting property values.

Fourteen months after my original blog, the hendon Times actually decided to mention the story, in it's paper edition this week. Sadly the Hendon Times article this week doesn't mention the details or the effect on local people. It appears that no one at the paper bothered to read the impact assessment (or even my old blog on the subject). I believe that this is the sort of story local press should cover in detail.

I asked in September 2011 what our local MP Matthew Offord has done to mitigate the effects on his constituents. It seems that the answer is "not very much". If like me, your house backs onto the Midland main line, you will already know what effect rail freight has. A near doubling of the amount travelling through during the night is a big issue for hundreds of people in Barnet. Sadly I suspect the first many people will know about it is when they start getting woken up ten times a night by these monster trains rumbling through.

Time to sell up and move if you live in Mill Hill or Hendon? Radlett Rail Freight Terminal Special

Hands up if you like a good nights sleep? Hands up if you've ever heard a freight train thundering through on the Midland Mainline in the middle of the night in Mill Hill or Hendon?

Well if the answer to both of these questions is yes, then you may like to click on this link

http://www.helioslough.com/aerodrome/development_details.asp

This says that the proposed railfreight terminal in Radlett (two stops up the line from Mill Hill) will have 12 freight trains a day. The question is, when will these extra trains run? Well the line is at capacity during the day, due to the popularity of the Thameslink service. So the answer is.... Yup late nights/early mornings.

And what sort of Freight trains are these? Big buggers I believe


http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/Images/Helioslough%20-%20Commercial%20Rail%20Freight%20Proof%20of%20Evidence,%20Graham%20Smith_tcm15-10869.pdf

To quote the document from the inquiry :-

Longer and heavier freight trains: operate 750m long trains as standard and ensure rail freight terminals can accommodate longer trains. Allow heavier trains (with the resulting increased capacity) on selected routes)

Got that, heacy freight trains nearly half a mile long.

Just to re-emphasise :-

Be capable of taking full-length (775m) trains of W10 gauge with longer-term potential for electric traction and European-gauge containers
Be able to receive and despatch around 12 full trains per day

Or put it another way :-

The established Midland Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) states that off-peak capacity should be provided for two freight trains per hour, one with a trailing weight of up to 2500 tonnes, in each direction. The Draft Network Rail East Midlands RUS also states that two off-peak freight paths per hour of up to 2000 tonnes should be provided in each direction. Trains in excess of 2000 tonnes are for hauling bulk commodities such as aggregates and would not serve the Radlett terminal. Capacity for trains of this type will be achieved during off-peak hours by the provision of additional infrastructure, which is being developed under the Strategic Freight Network initiative. DBSR’s international service from Novara in Italy, at 512m, has a typical trailing weight of around 1200 tonnes.

So as well as the new trains for Radlett, we are to have two trains per hour hauling in excess of 2,000 tonnes in off peak periods (overnight). And just to re-iterate

21. I am aware that there have been adverse comments by at least one passenger train operating company with regard to the Radlett proposal. I do not regard these comments as well-considered. The Route Utilisation Strategy for the Midland Main Line makes it very clear that two freight paths per non-peak hour are reserved. Current utilisation rates of around 60% – (the figures are from Network Rail’s Performance and Capacity Report on MML dated July 2009) – show that there is ample capacity

Out of hours (non-peak hours). The line is currently at 60% freight capacity, so we will have a near doubling of freight.

Now I'm not  a Nimby, I'd much rather see freight on railways than roads, but what I do object to is that I only found out about this all by accident. I was googling Radlett to see if there was still day fishing at the gravel pits. My house backs on to the Midland Main Line. It directly affects me. The proposal says plenty about what will be done to mitigate the traffic in Radlett, but what about in Mill Hill and Hendon. Even more scandalous is the fact that our local Action Man MP Manuel Matthew Offord has not said a dicky bird about something which will affect property values and the ability of his constituents to get a good nights sleep. Does he give a monkeys? Does he actually know? Well if he did, he has said nothing on his website. If you don't live near a railway which carries heavy freight, you probably won't realise that each tran feels like a mini earthquake. We have to regularly repaint the rooms of our house to repair cracks caused by the train generated vibrations. As this will increase by 40%, what do I get for all of the disruption & aggro caused. I was recently involved in a property sale for another house backing on to the line. Was there anything thrown up in the searches about this?

One final thing to bear in mind. The original plans were thrown out by the secretary of State last year. He was overruled by a judge in July, and the plans are back on track.

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/9117626.Helioslough__very_pleased__about_judge_s_ruling/

Isn't democracy a wonderful thing.