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East West rail, Bletchley to oxford line


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I went by a couple of times today. The footpath down Buckingham Road was closed so all pedestrians using Water Eaton Road.

 

Spans being worked on by just a handful of people. No lift was apparent by late afternoon and the lack of the 'yellow army' suggested that it will not be attempted until tomorrow.

 

View of preparation work taken from Duncombe Street earlier today.

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9 hours ago, rodent279 said:

I would think it's been on minimal maintenance for 30 of those, as well, so probably not surprising that it's past it's best.

Probably the only concern was that bits didn't fall off onto either the WCML or the good people of Bletchley!:yes:

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As I went to Sainsbury’s this morning I noticed that there is another section of the flyover was removed overnight using the crane on the former telephone rental site. I think the span above Buckingham road may have its removal abbandoned. They are also creating a new road to get to the railway line as I noticed going past Burger King this morning.

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9 hours ago, TylerTrainFan2001 said:

They are also creating a new road to get to the railway line as I noticed going past Burger King this morning.

 

This looks to me to be an access road up to rail level probably because there are a number of road/rail plant vehicles on the stretch of flyover between the Brunel roundabout and the new works off the entrance road to the freight terminal which will need to be brought back to earth at some point in the not too distant future.

 

Top picture shows the road being constructed whilst the second shows its relationship to the freight yard / terminal. 

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9 hours ago, TylerTrainFan2001 said:

As I went to Sainsbury’s this morning I noticed that there is another section of the flyover was removed overnight using the crane on the former telephone rental site. I think the span above Buckingham road may have its removal abbandoned.

 

I asked this morning if anything had been removed overnight and they told me nothing had been removed since Saturday night when the section behind Halfords over the WCML was moved.

 

Preparation work for the Buckingham Road spans was on-going and there was no sign of a lift around 1700 this evening with only a few staff in evidence on the full section to the right of the remaining spans. 

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12 minutes ago, 1E BoY said:

This looks to me to be an access road up to rail level probably because there are a number of road/rail plant vehicles on the stretch of flyover between the Brunel roundabout and the new works off the entrance road to the freight terminal which will need to be brought back to earth at some point in the not too distant future.

 

Just to clarify. These vehicles originally went up on to the flyover from the western end via the works compound at the end of Wellington Place (off Water Eaton Road) and opposite the Telephone Rentals compound. Wellington Place is where the works offices are and there is a road up to the old line. Vehicles went towards Newton Road and were able to access the flyover where the two track beds joined. They then made their way along the flyover trackbed back towards Bletchley station.

 

That route has of course now been rendered redundant due to the number of missing flyover sections that have been removed. There were several vehicles on the flyover north of the Brunel roundabout today, hence my theory that the access road will be needed at some point to allow those vehicles to reach ground level again.

 

We shall no doubt find out in due course!

 

 

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55 minutes ago, 1E BoY said:

 

I asked this morning if anything had been removed overnight and they told me nothing had been removed since Saturday night when the section behind Halfords over the WCML was moved.

 

Preparation work for the Buckingham Road spans was on-going and there was no sign of a lift around 1700 this evening with only a few staff in evidence on the full section to the right of the remaining spans. 

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It looks like it there was a removal last night. there is one that beside the pub has gone, the one underneath Buckingham road, the one next to the Halfords and the one last night is where the other car garage is but up a bit. I wish I took a picture as I went their this morning to do shopping but not had my phone with me.

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28 minutes ago, TylerTrainFan2001 said:

It looks like it there was a removal last night. there is one that beside the pub has gone, the one underneath Buckingham road, the one next to the Halfords and the one last night is where the other car garage is but up a bit. I wish I took a picture as I went their this morning to do shopping but not had my phone with me.

 

Picture 1 shows the section you are referring to.

 

It was removed by this big crane on Saturday night - a page or so back shows it ready to leave the site on Sunday morning. 

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18 hours ago, TylerTrainFan2001 said:

Tomorrow the final heavy lift will take place over Buckingham road. 

 

Lifts are indeed taking place today but not across Buckingham Road.

 

They are lifting the section to the north as seen below.

 

On my walk down to the site (via Buckingham Road / Water Eaton Road) I was passed by an Allelys lorry and escort vehicles with a section on it which had been transported from this site. The escort vehicles stopped traffic to allow it to negotiate the roundabout on the wrong side so that it could enter Water Eaton Road and then the old Telephone Rentals site where these sections are being reduced to rubble.

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Another section behind Avis Car Hire (next to Halfords) in Duncombe Street has been removed overnight during a possession.

 

I will attempt to get some better pictures now the haze has lifted and the sun is shining!

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These two pictures were taken on consecutive evenings (Saturday 8th / Sunday 9th) from the same viewpoint.

 

The first from Water Eaton Road shows the five remaining sections along Duncombe Street, which run behind the Avis garage and the shops as they existed before last nights removal of the section behind the red lifting structure.

 

The second shows the same view tonight which shows clear space between the red lift and the remaining four sections. 

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Edited by 1E BoY
Clarification
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The lifted section appears to have been removed in once piece. It is standing in front of the upright piers but at a lower level. The safety fencing is still attached to each side.

 

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Just read in Todays Railways that a treasury panel   has declared the project unachievable what are these people thinking of work has started on a much slimmed down project.Once again the civil service is trying to scupper new ideas why are they allowed to cause so much trouble this particular one is calling the project to be descoped what next ,a busway!!!

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49 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

Just read in Todays Railways that a treasury panel   has declared the project unachievable what are these people thinking of work has started on a much slimmed down project.Once again the civil service is trying to scupper new ideas why are they allowed to cause so much trouble this particular one is calling the project to be descoped what next ,a busway!!!

 

I agree your sentiment but given what has happened to Crossrail, and already to HS2 this may not be surprising!

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A new scaffolding tower was being erected this morning when I passed the site at Duncombe Street. The footpath underneath the bridges being closed during working hours (it was open tonight). Taken from in front of the Park Hotel.

 

Second picture shows the completed tower from the footpath - looking in the opposite direction.

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Looking at that it's a substantial piece of kit and is obviously going to be there for a while.  Perhaps they have deliberately left the two sections that span to the next pier as a high level walkway for staff.

 

Jamie

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On 11/08/2020 at 12:44, lmsforever said:

Just read in Todays Railways that a treasury panel   has declared the project unachievable what are these people thinking of work has started on a much slimmed down project.Once again the civil service is trying to scupper new ideas why are they allowed to cause so much trouble this particular one is calling the project to be descoped what next ,a busway!!!

 

On 11/08/2020 at 13:34, Tony Teague said:

 

I agree your sentiment but given what has happened to Crossrail, and already to HS2 this may not be surprising!

 

AIUI the project was originally intended as way of building a new railway, outside the constraints of Network Rail.  Theoretically, EWR was going to be cheaper, more manageable to build and run, and everyone would be happy.

 

Can anyone confirm if that is still the case please, bearing in mind some of the route is Network Rail's, at least for now.

 

TIA

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Can anyone point to the treasury panel report that labels the western part “unachievable”?

 

(I’d like to read the actual report, not reports about the report, because they so often over-simplify or misinterpret these things)

 

BTW, ‘unachievable’ is an interesting word, in that the project clearly isn’t unachievable in the normal sense of that word, so it must be being used to mean something like “not achievable within current budget and/or currently allowed timescale”.

Edited by Nearholmer
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