GWML Electification

[phil-b259]

Things seem to be moving now any ideas about Temple Meads yet will it be a disel area or will the wires be put in?

 

Deferred for the moment, as with Bristol - Bath - Chippenham, Filton bank and Temple Meads will stay diesel for a while yet.

 

Once the main GWML works are finished though its quite likely that attention will turn to the missing bits - particularly if the likes of Temple Meads has been resignalled / remodelled by then and it is simply a case of putting up the wires.

[The Stationmaster]

Deferred for the moment, as with Bristol - Bath - Chippenham, Filton bank and Temple Meads will stay diesel for a while yet.

 

Once the main GWML works are finished though its quite likely that attention will turn to the missing bits - particularly if the likes of Temple Meads has been resignalled / remodelled by then and it is simply a case of putting up the wires.

 

I think the first bit to be completed after the Cardiff and Thingley routes are complete with be the Berks & Hants to Newbury which is being reported as intended to go live with public electric services in December next year.  Makes sense really as it increases the route mileage available for Class 387 running.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Has Oxford died a death re-electrification?

 

PS Anyone know if the first two diagrams for 800s, scheduled from the 16th Oct, will run Mon - Sat or just Mon - Fri please?

[phil-b259]

Has Oxford died a death re-electrification?

As with Bristol there is the little mater of Oxford needing to be resignaled first as the current stuff is not AC immune. Given there are plans for a station rebuild anyway, electrification will not be happening for a while yet.

 

However as with Newbury, there will be pressure to complete it to do away with the need to change from DMUs to EMUs at Didcot

[Geoff Endacott]

I did promise some pictures of the electrification round here, I've finally got arround to it. The first few are Thingley, the rest Langley Burrell and just east of there at Maud Heath's Causeway. Presumably the masts at Thingley are the furthest west we'll see them for a while on this route.

 

Jo

 

Lots of masts west of Chippenham, Lots of masts east of Chippenham. No sign of any work through the station itself. Odd.

 

Geoff Endacott

[HillsideDepot]

Lots of masts west of Chippenham, Lots of masts east of Chippenham. No sign of any work through the station itself. Odd.

 

Geoff Endacott

 

It is odd, but I understand they have to cut the canopy back and possibly do something to the station footbridge.

 

Having looked at the condition of the canopy it's debatable whether they will rust through and fall off before they are removed (and that was the opinion of a NR inspector I know!). As for the footbridge, when NR did a presentation to Wiltshire Council before the project began they said that the footbridge did not need modification, but my NR contact said it does. I rather expected that they would do the work while the line was shut for the culvert at Dauntsey, but perhaps Health and Safety dictates that half the platform can't be in use while they cut girders off the canopy of the other (and I could see the risk as the platform isn't that wide). 

 

Wait and see I guess, as with so much of this project!

[37114]

It is odd, but I understand they have to cut the canopy back and possibly do something to the station footbridge.

 

Having looked at the condition of the canopy it's debatable whether they will rust through and fall off before they are removed (and that was the opinion of a NR inspector I know!). As for the footbridge, when NR did a presentation to Wiltshire Council before the project began they said that the footbridge did not need modification, but my NR contact said it does. I rather expected that they would do the work while the line was shut for the culvert at Dauntsey, but perhaps Health and Safety dictates that half the platform can't be in use while they cut girders off the canopy of the other (and I could see the risk as the platform isn't that wide).

 

Wait and see I guess, as with so much of this project!

I am amazed at the condition of the canopy at Chippenham, there are holes in the girders big enough to put your fist through.....

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Colander rather than canopy perhaps?

[Great Western]

Oxford and Bristol Temple Meads should.....be AC immune ie signalling transferred to TVSC by late 2018.

Bristol Apr 18.

Oxford Jun 18.

[The Stationmaster]

Lots of masts west of Chippenham, Lots of masts east of Chippenham. No sign of any work through the station itself. Odd.

 

Geoff Endacott

 

If it's anything like the rest of the GWML last section to be done will be the one through the station  - NR's electrifiers seem to have some sort of mental block when it comes to stations.

[Banger Blue]

Has Oxford died a death re-electrification?

 

PS Anyone know if the first two diagrams for 800s, scheduled from the 16th Oct, will run Mon - Sat or just Mon - Fri please?

There are 800 Saturday diagrams in the system as from the 28th Oct.

[aforsyth]

Regarding Chippenham, the ticket office has been completely closed for the last week, with a temporary Portacabin office out the front and two highly frustrating temporary ticket machines on 'Platform 0' (woe betide you if you try to buy a ticket with cash when the TO is closed!).

 

I've googled the apparent scope of the works, which can be found in a July Chippenham Town Council meeting minutes doc:

"Refurbishment of the ticket hall, ticket office and back of house areas, installation of automatic ticket gates within refurbished ticket hall, disused platform, new footbridge and north car park adjacent to the base of the stairs to the historic footbridge at Chippenham Railway Station.

Recommendation: No objections but requests that consideration is given to the provision of an additional ticket machine/s to assist with peak time congestion."

 

Perhaps this might include some fixes to those roadside canopies, that don't require interruption of rail traffic? Perhaps the electrification will follow this work?

[Peter Kazmierczak]

There are 800 Saturday diagrams in the system as from the 28th Oct.

 

Thanks BB

[HillsideDepot]

Re Chippenham:

 

There will be a Brompton cycle hire point as well.

 

But those are just the beginning of the works, part of GWR's franchise commitments and not connected with the electrification. The other plans aren't in the public domain yet, but should be open for consultation before too long. Obviously confidentiality means I can't say anything more at this stage, but indications are that we're in for many more changes around the station area. These proposals and the electrification are independent of each other, but the former does take into account the "sparks effect" on passenger growth which the latter is expected to produce.

[Geoff Endacott]

Surely they are going to have to get on with the station section fairly soon if the wires to the east if Chippenham are going to be fed from the electrical substation at Thingley.

 

Geoff Endacott

[The Stationmaster]

Surely they are going to have to get on with the station section fairly soon if the wires to the east if Chippenham are going to be fed from the electrical substation at Thingley.

 

Geoff Endacott

 

It wouldn't be the first gap like that.  Has the 25 kv feeder been put in yet, that will probably be in troughing through the station area so could be done independently of any masts etc?

[Geoff Endacott]

It wouldn't be the first gap like that.  Has the 25 kv feeder been put in yet, that will probably be in troughing through the station area so could be done independently of any masts etc?

 

There was no sign of the feeder yesterday - or of any electrification works through the station at all.

 

Geoff Endacott

[The Stationmaster]

Not to worry Geoff - the next step will probably be along the lines of announcement being made at GWR stations today informing punters that there will be no trains through Reading on Saturday (14 October) due to 'EMERGENCY Electrification work'.

 

Judging by the number of wires already strung up around Reading i can't think the emergency is due to a lack of them although the opposite could of course be the case should 'Emergency Electrification work' actually occur at Chippenham in the future if someone happens to notice the wires are missing.  Quite what the 'emergency' at reading is I really can't think especially as they have half day possessions for (non-emergenecy?) electrification work on all the remaining Sundays this month. Maybe it's just a sign of desperation in the corridors of power at Notwork Rail that they've finally realised a need to get on with what should have been done months ago?  

 

Management (sorry for misusing the word) of this project seems to have gone from atrocious to downright ridiculous when they come out with garbage like this.

 

In the meanwhile here's a new one for ohle spotters - a type of registration arm on the Relief Lines at Twyford which I had noticed elsewhere - maybe a 'special' for dealing with broad gauge era brick arches? 

 

 

[royaloak]

I think the 'Emergency' is simply because testing hasnt been completed and they have to get it done as quickly as possible, it isnt an 'emergency' in the everyday meaning of the word but is an 'emergency' in the railway sense that it hasnt gone through the normal planning process, similar to an Emergency Speed Restriction isnt an 'emergency' as such but it hasnt been posted in the WON which makes it an ESR rather than a TSR.

[Edwin_m]

Not sure if this is quite what you're looking for, but I noticed some troughing along the bottom of a platform wall at Reading marked "Danger 25000V" so it looks like there is a feeder through the station.  Not sure what purpose it serves given the number of parallel wires!  Also not sure of platform number as I was trying to get some work done, but I was on the right hand side of a down HST and it was on the adjacent track .

[The Stationmaster]

Not sure if this is quite what you're looking for, but I noticed some troughing along the bottom of a platform wall at Reading marked "Danger 25000V" so it looks like there is a feeder through the station.  Not sure what purpose it serves given the number of parallel wires!  Also not sure of platform number as I was trying to get some work done, but I was on the right hand side of a down HST and it was on the adjacent track .

 

Troughing has been used at a number of stations - and photos appeared earlier in this thread.  Feeders seem to run all over the place at Reading I noticed today and some are obviously 'in the ground' so I expect that is what you saw.

I think the 'Emergency' is simply because testing hasnt been completed and they have to get it done as quickly as possible, it isnt an 'emergency' in the everyday meaning of the word but is an 'emergency' in the railway sense that it hasnt gone through the normal planning process, similar to an Emergency Speed Restriction isnt an 'emergency' as such but it hasnt been posted in the WON which makes it an ESR rather than a TSR.

 

I suspect that is indeed the case however two points emerge

 

1. Using the word in public information is rather stupid as it can convey the wrong impression (why an emergency?  Does that means it's dangerous?), and

 

2. Yet again it is a regrettable example of a scheme being run by what appear to be rank amateurs.  There are possessions every Sunday morning in the Reading area for the rest of this month (and possibly overnight from Saturday as well?) with an absolute fortune being spent on alternative road transport and even lines like the Henley branch (which could run with a normal service) having road replacements when a unit could be outstabled.  If these possessions aren't adequate to cover whatever they are meant to cover them someone has got the programme wrong and has incorrectly estimated the amount of work required (and has therefore sought extra possessions at short notice).  

 

Equally actually shutting the railway to do the job strikes me as farcical - especially when you consider that some electrification detail work is not even complete and is being done on weekdays while trains are running - as I saw today.  it might be worth looking at Reading on Saturday to see how many folk are out on site but I bet it won't be many judging by the last weekend shutdown.

[Banger Blue]

Total block at Reading this weekend, nothing runs between Didcot & Maidenhead or past Theale, 0001 hrs Saturday all the way through to early doors on Monday morning!

[Titan]

Not sure if this is quite what you're looking for, but I noticed some troughing along the bottom of a platform wall at Reading marked "Danger 25000V" so it looks like there is a feeder through the station.  Not sure what purpose it serves given the number of parallel wires!  Also not sure of platform number as I was trying to get some work done, but I was on the right hand side of a down HST and it was on the adjacent track .

 

Those will be the Auto-transformer cables. Normally they run bare on insulators on or near the back of the masts. However in station areas and through bridges there is often not the room for the required clearances. They then run them as insulated cables in troughs until past the obstruction, where they go back up in the air again. 

[The Stationmaster]

Here's the live feeder troughing route at Tilehurst being installed in July last year

 

 

 

 

 

[Zomboid]

Autotransformer feeders (ATF) run at 25kV to earth, but are 180* out of phase with the OLE, which gives a voltage between the ATF and OLE of 50kV. That enables more power to be distributed over a larger area than a conventional system where it's just the OLE at 25kV.

It's the standard system for high speed lines around the world - including HS1, and is also used on parts of the WCML and MML in the UK.