Noel Dolphin
@noeldolphin.bsky.social
Electrify - everything today.... oh yes and public transportify it all. Was @noeldolphin on X.
East-West Rail needs full electrification - increasing long-term leasing costs & calling that a saving, because it doesn't appear on public debt, is just an accountancy dodge. news.railbusinessdaily.com/east-west-ra...
November 20, 2025 at 10:21 AM
East-West Rail needs full electrification - increasing long-term leasing costs & calling that a saving, because it doesn't appear on public debt, is just an accountancy dodge. news.railbusinessdaily.com/east-west-ra...
I like the 1955 rail Modernisation Plan, but I am disappoined they rejected out of hand atomic-powered locomotives. www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.p...
November 19, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I like the 1955 rail Modernisation Plan, but I am disappoined they rejected out of hand atomic-powered locomotives. www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.p...
OK - at least it is not just me: www.railmagazine.com/news/train-m...
November 19, 2025 at 7:46 PM
OK - at least it is not just me: www.railmagazine.com/news/train-m...
Trying to understand what happened here. No one bid for their Hydrogen train tender.... including the people who did the trail on the line?
www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/du...
www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/du...
Dutch province abandons plan to run hydrogen-powered trains: reports
Groningen has opted to procure battery-electric trains instead, two years after H2 locomotive tender failed
www.hydrogeninsight.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Trying to understand what happened here. No one bid for their Hydrogen train tender.... including the people who did the trail on the line?
www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/du...
www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/du...
6 weeks of training Network Rail maintenance staff for the new Beaulieu Park Station has just wrapped up. Using 3D printed models in the classroom and then outside to train on it for real. My main involvement was fawning over the model in the office.
November 19, 2025 at 1:25 PM
6 weeks of training Network Rail maintenance staff for the new Beaulieu Park Station has just wrapped up. Using 3D printed models in the classroom and then outside to train on it for real. My main involvement was fawning over the model in the office.
My morning thought - the Department for Transport is a shit show.
November 19, 2025 at 8:14 AM
My morning thought - the Department for Transport is a shit show.
Can you imagine having to include 5% in all rail procurement tender submissions - to pay off the losers' costs? This is what the Locomotive Makers Association used to require of its members (not recently, I would hasten to add). etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/24...
November 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Can you imagine having to include 5% in all rail procurement tender submissions - to pay off the losers' costs? This is what the Locomotive Makers Association used to require of its members (not recently, I would hasten to add). etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/24...
Working on a project looking at the maintenance train strategies around Europe. What strikes me is that almost every country is moving towards electric/battery maintenance vehicles. I think we will be stuck with diesel for a long time (1/2).
November 17, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Working on a project looking at the maintenance train strategies around Europe. What strikes me is that almost every country is moving towards electric/battery maintenance vehicles. I think we will be stuck with diesel for a long time (1/2).
It was sunny yesterday in Cardiff, so though I would walk around and enjoy the bus station.
November 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
It was sunny yesterday in Cardiff, so though I would walk around and enjoy the bus station.
I'm trying to unpick Heidi Alexander's speech... We are "only supporting projects that are fully costed and affordable".. so we cancelled Midland Mainline electrification - without costing or ensuring the alternative was affordable (1/2)
www.railwaygazette.com/uk/midland-m...
www.railwaygazette.com/uk/midland-m...
Midland Main Line electrification to the north ‘not affordable’
UK: Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander says the government's approach to rail investment 'will be guided by securing value for taxpayers' by 'only supporting projects that are fully costed and affordable'.
www.railwaygazette.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:54 AM
I'm trying to unpick Heidi Alexander's speech... We are "only supporting projects that are fully costed and affordable".. so we cancelled Midland Mainline electrification - without costing or ensuring the alternative was affordable (1/2)
www.railwaygazette.com/uk/midland-m...
www.railwaygazette.com/uk/midland-m...
Might just leave these here as a table decoration, for the rest of the journey home.
November 13, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Might just leave these here as a table decoration, for the rest of the journey home.
A little excerpt from last week's @freewheeling.info podcast - full link here: www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
November 13, 2025 at 11:31 AM
A little excerpt from last week's @freewheeling.info podcast - full link here: www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
Micro-managing quiz question of the day: You're travelling to a UK worksite to install 3 bolts. Network Rail standards specify how many spares should be in your van, how many? 2nd: standards specify arrangements of bolt heads when it's visible to the public. What is this?
November 12, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Micro-managing quiz question of the day: You're travelling to a UK worksite to install 3 bolts. Network Rail standards specify how many spares should be in your van, how many? 2nd: standards specify arrangements of bolt heads when it's visible to the public. What is this?
Reposted by Noel Dolphin
“Crucially these are our assumptions for how rail will decarbonize. Electrification is a very mature technology in rail unlike for road vehicles. We assume 66% network electrification by 2050 and phase-out of pure diesel trains by 2040. Concerning to hear govt briefing against rail electrification”
November 12, 2025 at 11:15 AM
“Crucially these are our assumptions for how rail will decarbonize. Electrification is a very mature technology in rail unlike for road vehicles. We assume 66% network electrification by 2050 and phase-out of pure diesel trains by 2040. Concerning to hear govt briefing against rail electrification”
Currently a tender - but this will be an interesting read when done. Several rail freight interchanges have floundered against local opposition. Definitely a topic worth looking into.
www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/07244...
www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/07244...
Understanding Freight & Logistics: The Role of Local & Combined Authorities in the Development of Rail Freight Interchanges - Find a Tender
www.find-tender.service.gov.uk
November 11, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Currently a tender - but this will be an interesting read when done. Several rail freight interchanges have floundered against local opposition. Definitely a topic worth looking into.
www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/07244...
www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/07244...
I have found I can follow the V&V (Verification & Validation) process precisely, as well as, every standard... but make structures out of Darth Vader body parts. Wondering whether to submit the designs or stop staring at V&V spreadsheets.
November 10, 2025 at 8:35 PM
I have found I can follow the V&V (Verification & Validation) process precisely, as well as, every standard... but make structures out of Darth Vader body parts. Wondering whether to submit the designs or stop staring at V&V spreadsheets.
Feels most rolling stock awards now end in litigation.
www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and...
www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and...
November 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Feels most rolling stock awards now end in litigation.
www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and...
www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and...
OK, my last video of the week - promise. I've been at the GCRE test track this week, a quick explainer video on what we have been testing and why - also why GCRE is a great place to test it (1/2)
November 7, 2025 at 5:21 PM
OK, my last video of the week - promise. I've been at the GCRE test track this week, a quick explainer video on what we have been testing and why - also why GCRE is a great place to test it (1/2)
Why do I have a weather station at GCRE - the short answer is that it's sodding windy.
November 7, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Why do I have a weather station at GCRE - the short answer is that it's sodding windy.
Huge thanks to @freewheeling.info who allowed me, this week, to go through the "Sparks Effect", HM Treasury and how we run the railway, on the Freewheeling Podcast. www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
Feast-Famine Electrification with Noel Dolphin — Freewheeling
Why does electrification in the UK cost so much more than in the rest of Europe? And why does it always seem to go wrong? In today’s episode I talk to Managing Director (UK) of Furrer+Frey, the lead...
www.freewheeling.info
November 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Huge thanks to @freewheeling.info who allowed me, this week, to go through the "Sparks Effect", HM Treasury and how we run the railway, on the Freewheeling Podcast. www.freewheeling.info/the-freewhee...
At GCRE this week, doing some more testing, and after last week's workshop on composites in rail - looking at my own composites in rail and how they held up after storms that shut half the Welsh rail network.
November 6, 2025 at 1:36 PM
At GCRE this week, doing some more testing, and after last week's workshop on composites in rail - looking at my own composites in rail and how they held up after storms that shut half the Welsh rail network.
WAKE-UP (needs sound) - taken yesterday at GCRE in Wales.
November 6, 2025 at 7:13 AM
WAKE-UP (needs sound) - taken yesterday at GCRE in Wales.
Into Swansea earlier this evening. Transport Minister Heidi Alexander comments today, cancelling any further electrification works - reminds me why I find the route into Swansea depressing.
November 5, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Into Swansea earlier this evening. Transport Minister Heidi Alexander comments today, cancelling any further electrification works - reminds me why I find the route into Swansea depressing.
Random rabbit hole... whilst waiting for a late train.... Quadrupling of US people working as a typist in 4 years (albeit from a vast crash over a 30-year decline). Wondering if people inputting stuff as part of AI training is the reason for that change?
November 5, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Random rabbit hole... whilst waiting for a late train.... Quadrupling of US people working as a typist in 4 years (albeit from a vast crash over a 30-year decline). Wondering if people inputting stuff as part of AI training is the reason for that change?