Planning for railway electrification

The paper describes the preparatory stages that should be followed before a decision to proceed with any railway electrification is given. The purpose of such work is to provide a report to management on comparisons between the proposal and alternative courses of action. Consideration is given to capital and maintenance costs, performance characteristics, commercial appeal, train-service quality, levels of utilisation, fuel costs, track, signalling, politics and environment. Alternatives to electric traction are diesel and gas-turbine propulsion. Discounted-cash-flow appraisal is described. The position of British Railways relative to other undertakings is indicated, and it is suggested that further electrification could be justified.