The electrification of the Liverpool Street-Shenfield lines, Eastern Region¿British Railways

The paper briefly surveys the history of the suburban services out of Liverpool Street station and gives the reasons for the electrification of the line to Shenfield, with an indication of the anticipated improvements. The system of electrification adopted is that with current collection from an overhead line at 1 500 volts d.c., and the paper describes the power supply arrangements, the cable transmission system, the substations, the overhead line equipment, the multiple-unit rolling stock and the car sheds. Manufacture of the equipments had commenced before the war and a certain amount of overhead-line equipment had been installed on site, but all work was suspended early in 1940. The scheme was taken in hand again after the war, and the line was opened to service on the 26th September, 1949. Estimated figures for current consumption and maximum demands are given in the paper, but the service has not been in operation for a sufficient length of time to allow these estimates to be confirmed or any operating experience to be gained with the equipments.