Changes impending at Derby in 2018

[phil-b259]

Rubbish.

 

We invented railways in the UK and have been building stations since around 1830. you would have thought we would know what we are doing by now. The track is new, the platform is new, the build was wrong. Not got the legal easement for the land ? - then don't build till you have. Quite simple.

 

Network Rail is the principal overseer of all new works. Whoever fouled up the final responsibility lies with Network rail - full stop.

 

True though that skills are lacking, from the humble labourer right to the very top, contractors included, and perhaps the legal "eagles" also.

 

A total disgrace is the above fiasco.

 

edited to add - The Liverpool & Manchester Railway, of which both Huyton & Roby stations are located was the UK's first public passenger carrying railway, opened in 1830. Ironic isn't it !!

 

Brit15

 

(i) At the time the platform was built (a good 5 years or so IIRC) - it WAS correct to the standards that applied at that time. These are not set by NR and have been altered recently meaning that what was once perfectly compliment no longer is.  If you don't like that then you need to be having a hissy fit at the ORR /RSSB / DfT and NOT NR. (See https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwio0u7votDWAhWB2BoKHT2aA9sQFghGMAY&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rssb.co.uk%2Frgs%2Fstandards%2FGIGN7616%2520Iss%25202.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3vxWXtMh5ILEE_dmMM58T9 for the latest guidance). Complaining about NR 'not building things to standard is the same as complaining about a 1990s house using red and black wiring (rather than brown and blue) cable - the only difference is that you didn't have a regulator going round demanding houses be re-wired where the build date occurred before the new regs came into force but the new occupant didn't move in till after the change took effect.

 

(ii) True derogations can be applied for where stuff doesn't meet the standard but the expectation is that this is a 'method of last resort' and should never be applied to new installations (according to ORR thinking). I suggest you have a read of the electrification threads on here because in one of them you will find details of the Scottish electrification programme where several previously 'compliant' bridges were suddenly found not to be after the ORR / DfT implemented new EU standards and were unwilling / unable to 'prove' that the old BR clearnesses were sufficient. See https://www.railengineer.uk/2017/02/24/egip-electrification-clearance-woes/ http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2785898

 

(iii) I'm not sure what you mean by 'easements' - but to acquire land through compulsory purchase these days, however small requires a Transport & Works Order to be granted by the secretary of state and potentially a public enquiry to be held. In this particular case while most of the widening work could (and indeed was) undertaken within NR held land, on a crucial but short section, the amount of land NR owned was insufficient to progress the installation. As such the full legal CP process had to be gone through - which BT contested (as they have every right to do) causing significant delay to the project that had not been foreseen (I believe BT had indicated their agreement in principle to sell the land in advance and NR were not expecting any complications).

[jim.snowdon]

Rubbish.

 

We invented railways in the UK and have been building stations since around 1830. you would have thought we would know what we are doing by now. The track is new, the platform is new, the build was wrong. Not got the legal easement for the land ? - then don't build till you have. Quite simple.

 

Network Rail is the principal overseer of all new works. Whoever fouled up the final responsibility lies with Network rail - full stop.

 

True though that skills are lacking, from the humble labourer right to the very top, contractors included, and perhaps the legal "eagles" also.

 

A total disgrace is the above fiasco.

 

edited to add - The Liverpool & Manchester Railway, of which both Huyton & Roby stations are located was the UK's first public passenger carrying railway, opened in 1830. Ironic isn't it !!

 

Brit15

Not necessarily. That the remedial works include not just the removal of the platform copers but also the blocks underneath them would suggest that the discrepancy was a goob bit more than 15mm, as that could normally be dealt with simply by adjusting the copers. Building platforms ahead of the track with which they interface is riskier than doing things the other way round, given that it depends on both the track design being complete and frozen and on accurate setting out by the sub-contractors responsible, and both are probably working for a principal contractor that is unlikely to be Network Rail - NR do not normally take on the role of PC other than in very complex projects.

 

Clearly someone has got things wrong, but although the reputational buck may stop with NR, the commercial liability may lie elsewhere.

 

Jim

[brushman47544]

(i) At the time the platform was built (a good 5 years or so IIRC) - it WAS correct to the standards that applied at that time. These are not set by NR and have been altered recently meaning that what was once perfectly compliment no longer is.  If you don't like that then you need to be having a hissy fit at the ORR /RSSB / DfT and NOT NR. (See https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwio0u7votDWAhWB2BoKHT2aA9sQFghGMAY&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rssb.co.uk%2Frgs%2Fstandards%2FGIGN7616%2520Iss%25202.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3vxWXtMh5ILEE_dmMM58T9 for the latest guidance). Complaining about NR 'not building things to standard is the same as complaining about a 1990s house using red and black wiring (rather than brown and blue) cable - the only difference is that you didn't have a regulator going round demanding houses be re-wired where the build date occurred before the new regs came into force but the new occupant didn't move in till after the change took effect.

 

There's a lesson in that... once built, make sure you "use" it enough to count as existing infrastructure.

[The Stationmaster]

But equally there have been reports of footbridges and signal gantries installed relatively recently and supposedly OHLE compliant having to be raised further west.

 

Definitely some recent signal gantries to be raised in the Newport area but I'm not aware of any that have been installed east of Swindon having to be subsequently altered and one of them went in 4 years ago and hasn't been altered.  Neither - from observation have any we had put in for the Wantage Road - Challow re-quadrupling and the layout alterations at Didcot in connection with my imported coal scheme.  However one gantry at Didcot has gone - although it was 25kv compliant - because of platform lengthening.

[Rail-Online]

Not having been there for many many years I was surprised to see Chaddesden sidings still exist.  What are they used for nowadays?

 

Tony

[Titan]

Not having been there for many many years I was surprised to see Chaddesden sidings still exist.  What are they used for nowadays?

 

Tony

 

They appear to be used to serve a 'virtual quarry'  That is an area where a large amount of aggregate etc. is stored, for onward shipment by train or lorry in the local area (Or ancient Range Rover with an ex utilty board trailer!). My drive was laid on rubble, topped by spent railway ballast complete with the odd pandrol clip that all came from a big heap at Chaddesden sidings!

Edited October 5, 2017 by Titan

[Reorte]

They appear to be used to serve a 'virtual quarry'  That is an area where a large amount of aggregate etc. is stored, for onward shipment by train or lorry in the local area (Or ancient Range Rover with an ex utilty board trailer!). My drive was laid on rubble, topped by spent railway ballast complete with the odd pandrol clip that all came from a big heap at Chaddesden sidings!

When I was small I remember being driven along the A52 a few times and seeing a wide expanse of not much left there. I think there was a van on some bit of remaining track that looked a little more forlorn every time I went past.

[Rail-Online]

I think there is still one MR building still visible from the A52 - now a fireplace showroom IIRC

 

Tony

[Titan]

I think there is still one MR building still visible from the A52 - now a fireplace showroom IIRC

 

Tony

 

That's right. Used to be a wagon repair shop, and not far from the end of Chaddesden sidings.