22 October 2019 · High Speed 2

Presenter: Paul Seller, Commercial Director, Infrastructure Directorate, HS2

Please note that this did not go ahead for reasons which will be apparent when reading the report

Our booked speaker Paul Seller duly arrived in good time to enjoy supper before the meeting. However, he was suddenly taken ill and ended up at the nearest A&E accompanied by a naturally very concerned fixtures officer. An above average audience who had come especially to hear him talk about HS2 (High Speed 2) were kept informed before the due start time of the meeting and given the option of having their donations returned and departing. Two people left and no-one asked for their donations back.

So how to fill the evening? As soon as it became apparent that there was to be no quick recovery, volunteers came forward and a programme for the evening was hastily put together taking the opportunities on offer.

The evening started with a short presentation from RCTS member Alan Hayward – a civil and structural engineer, who luckily happened to have a memory stick handy with some slides – mainly maps, showing possible alternative routes for HS2 in central London. The broad costings would result in a substantial saving on the current proposals under development, sometimes using existing infrastructure, with modifications where necessary, with the lines going straight through to connect with HS1 at St Pancras. Old Oak Common might be a possible interchange and the proposals as a whole could also help in avoiding most of the very costly tunnelling for the last stretch of railway lines into Euston under the present HS2 programme. The other benefit of the ideas was the possibility of a much better connection with HS1 avoiding the disconnection and subsequent need to get from HS2 at Euston to HS1 at St Pancras under the present plans. While some short sections might not be fully HS, the benefits of an unbroken journey could outweigh this possible downside.

The ideas may not individually be completely original but are a fresh way of looking at the possibilities and would produce a substantial saving on the current programme. There would be practical issues to overcome, there would be costs, and the ideas have been set out based on publicly available information so it is important to note that there may be relevant information that is not currently in the public domain. Alan has put the ideas forward to the review set up in August 2019 under Douglas Oakervee and has received an acknowledgment. Questions and answers followed and were equally interesting including useful links with the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail); could some of the original infrastructure set up for Eurostar be used – unlikely; does Euston have sufficient capacity; journey times and viability; could trains be routed via Ebbsfleet and/or Stratford International.

This was followed by branch member Adrian Palmer with an illustrated talk on a recent LCGB visit to Ethiopia and Djibouti using a selection of his images via Flickr – the benefits of having a laptop and access to the internet enabled this presentation to go ahead at such short notice. There was a mixture of older metre gauge and newer standard gauge plus metro and trams and it was interesting that there is only one railway line in the country going through Addis Ababa to the tiny coastal city state of Djibouti providing a link to the sea for landlocked Ethiopia. There has been a great deal of Chinese investment in the new standard gauge railway to Djibouti and there is also joint Chinese and Turkish investment to develop further railway lines in Ethiopia. There are currently two metro lines in the Addis Ababa area and Adrian described the set up using maps as illustration. There has been Chinese investment here as well with shiny new vehicles and frequent services. There is only one stretch of the now mainly redundant metre gauge line still in operation so the group hired a train for the day to travel along it. Apart from research before travelling out, the group looked around on arrival to see what else was left of what are now mainly redundant locomotives and infrastructure on the old metre gauge and it seems sad that much has just been abandoned. High security around Addis Ababa on the metro was highlighted with frequent bag searches and photographic permits required. There are not many stations along the railway from Addis to Djibouti and no refreshment facilities for what is quite a long journey so it is advisable to take your own. It is hoped that not only will the new rail link to the coast boost imports/exports, but that it will also encourage development along the line, although some of this is contentious with regards to the land required for both this and the new railway.

The journey through the country was clearly illustrated with photographs and maps and provided an interesting story of past and present railways, metro and trams taking in recent and current foreign investment. Questions included rail connections to other countries – there are none currently, tram loading gauges and track elevation amongst other subjects.

After the break we were treated to a short presentation by branch chair Andy Davies on a visit to China and Tibet in 2007 and originally presented as “Lanzhou to Lhasa” in May 2010.Having been one of the four on the journey it brought back memories of the difficulties with getting visas – what comes first, the visa or the train ticket and how this was resolved – basically by stamping a foot and threatening a poor report on Chinese railways if this was not sorted out. It worked. A considerable length of the line is built on permafrost and it was interesting to see the lineside equipment in place to monitor and ensure that this remains frozen and thus the railway remains stable. There was also evidence of the criss-cross stonework on the land adjacent to the line in places which is part of the scheme of environmental protection of lineside plants to help reduce risks of erosion on a wide and open landscape. Travelling in winter meant a lot of ice and snow especially in the wilder and largely unpopulated areas with the occasional herds of yak in the distance. A profile diagram showed the altitude along the line and we were treated to a few words on the special diesel locomotives used for the higher altitude sections of the line. There was plenty of evidence of massive infrastructure development but no nearby dwellings or other visible reason for its existence. There were photographs of the locomotives, train, train staff, individual oxygen masks by every bunk in the sleeping compartments as well as the wild and open countryside. The photograph of a packet of dried peas could not be forgotten as it perfectly illustrates what happens to packets sealed at lower altitude when they are then taken to high altitude with lower atmospheric pressure. The final photograph showed the magnificent Potala Palace in Lhasa itself.

There were questions on altitude problems – not too bad generally as you acclimatise to some extent on the journey; could anyone in the group of four speak Mandarin – yes, but as many Chinese learn English in school, language is not generally a barrier; what about other passenger traffic – none was seen on this journey and there were no other westerners on the train.

Thanks were given to those who stepped up to produce what turned out to be an excellent if unplanned evening, and you will be pleased to know that our speaker has fully recovered and should be back again next season instead.