ELECTRIFICATION & OLE
Powering up
Peter Dearman, head of energy at Network Rail, spoke at the IMechE colloquium on electrifi cation on May 15 at Derby Roundhouse about the need for electrifi cation and the challenges of delivering such a huge programme after years where little has been done.
T
he below picture shows Balham Junction in 1920, with OLE in place – before it was taken down in 1926. Peter Dearman jokes that when he retires, he’s going to write a book called ‘This, And Other Tragic Mistakes’. “We had an AC electrifi ed railway south of the river long before we had it north,” he says.
Network Rail’s head of energy is, unsurprisingly, an evangelist for electrifi cation who’s thrilled at the major programme of works now in the
pipeline across the country – though he doesn’t underestimate the challenges either.
Speaking at an IMechE colloquium organised to discuss the upcoming programmes, Dearman said: “After many years of being in the wilderness, really, electrifi cation has returned to the agenda – and it’s fantastic to have electrifi cation as a verb again! For years, we’ve talked about it as just a fi xed asset, something we’ve already got. But now it’s something we do.”
But electrifi cation is not just done for its own sake or to save a few pennies. Dearman explained: “A colleague of mine has a way of expressing this which puts it into a different context: ‘Fundamentally, we’re addressing the energy and carbon challenges of the 21st century railway’.
“We have to electrify the railway to do that, but that’s why we’ve got this programme.
“The fact we’ve got this programme represents a major shift in the attitude of the industry and, of course, of the Government. Some of you will remember a DfT document published six and a half years ago, which I’ll paraphrase – ‘electrifi cation is dead, long live diesels’.
“It went onto articulate why it might be a good idea to take the wires down north of Newcastle, and do all sorts of bizarre things like building more diesel trains and oil-burning monsters. I’m glad to say there’s been a shift in that assessment largely because of the economic position. Because,
ultimately, it’s all about
energy. Across this century, energy costs are destined to rise sharply.”
He explained that a reduction in discovery of new supplies of oil, combined with rocketing demand in the developing world, especially China, India and Brazil, means that within decades, oil is going to become more and more rare, and expensive.
70 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 13
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