HS2

[jamie92208]

There has been another 6  monthly update by Keith Hofmeister of the Chiltern Society.. I didn't fall aleep.

There are some excellent photos  of the work as it progresses. 

 

Jamie

Edited January 23 by jamie92208

[APOLLO]

Money would be better spent storm proofing the WCML north of Preston.

 

Pretty windy last night, most Avanti trains cancelled, but late PM a diesel hauled Daventry - Mossend container train "stormed" past my house, Real time trains showed it running 42 minutes early through Wigan.

 

Our railways (Avanti etc) are a joke.

 

Brit15

 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

On 19/01/2024 at 21:02, Artless Bodger said:

OT, I hope their pothole repair projects improve, the local 'Jetpatcher' does a worse job than my ballasting. Seems they forget to add the glue. 

The County Council sent me an email the other day, claiming to be testing the "World's first pothole preventing robot".

 

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/about-the-council/news/news-archive/worlds-first-pothole-preventing-robot-to-be-road-tested-in-hertfordshire?dm_i=5ESZ%2CYFEI%2C1M84XR%2C3XLA7%2C1

 

I don't know whether it simply hasn't got as far as North Herts yet. or whether it just doesn't work!

[jamie92208]

The big breakthrough is getting closer.  Florence is now at 15842m with  just 218 to go.  Cecilia is at 15271.  According to Keith Hofmeister a public viewing platform has been built on Th West Side of the cutting by the North portal.  Though intiallyfor theVIP's and politicians (pause while I disinfect my finger after typing that word) but should be open to the public. 

 

Other snippets from that video.  The segment factory at the south portal is now due to be decommissioned. Also Align are to build the overbridges on the first section for several miles. Some of these are being held up by planning permission problems with Buckinghamshire County Council. 

 

Jamie

Edited January 22 by jamie92208

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Money would be better spent storm proofing the WCML north of Preston.

90mph winds over Shap (several lorries blown over on M6) , other peoples debri getting tangled in the OHE.

What would you suggest?

Ban people from having any loose material withim 5 miles of the railway?

[Artless Bodger]

2 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Pretty windy last night, most Avanti trains cancelled, but late PM a diesel hauled Daventry - Mossend container train "stormed" past my house, Real time trains showed it running 42 minutes early through Wigan.

Proof of the advantage to be gained by removing fast trains onto HS2, as if one were needed.

With so much in tunnel presumably HS2 should suffer less damage to OHLE from storm winds?

[APOLLO]

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

90mph winds over Shap (several lorries blown over on M6) , other peoples debri getting tangled in the OHE.

What would you suggest?

 

Thunderbirds are go gone !!

 

 

Any excuse these days to not run trains.

 

Brit15

[GordonC]

3 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

Proof of the advantage to be gained by removing fast trains onto HS2, as if one were needed.

With so much in tunnel presumably HS2 should suffer less damage to OHLE from storm winds?

 

Perhaps less for the sections in tunnel, but you wouldn't exactly be able to blast through the uncovered sections at full line speed either. I'd be surprised if HS2 made much difference for storm disruption

[Northmoor]

4 hours ago, APOLLO said:

 

Thunderbirds are go gone !!

 

 

Any excuse these days to not run trains.

 

Brit15

A Thunderbird is no help to you if:

1. The wires are hanging down such that a train will come into contact with them.
2. A team are trying to remove something from the wires and working above or within about 10 feet either side of the track.
3. The line is blocked by a tree or a landslide or in imminent danger of becoming so (the media love to talk about "Leaves on the Line", particularly when complaining about NR cutting back the lineside, but the bigger safety issue is "Trees on the Line").

In all those scenarios you can't run any trains at all.  Did that Mossend service continue to its destination?  I'd be surprised if it wasn't looped somewhere North of Preston, with the driver's hours counting down all the time.

 

A Thunderbird is useful if you know where the route is going to be blocked and you are able to divert around it.  To do so would need about ten Thunderbird locos on permanent standby (with crews on standby as well) along the whole WCML, with probably 80-90% of their usage in 25% of the year.  No private company is going to pay for that and the DfT aren't going to be keen either.

Edited January 22 by Northmoor

[adb968008]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

90mph winds over Shap (several lorries blown over on M6) , other peoples debri getting tangled in the OHE.

What would you suggest?

Ban people from having any loose material withim 5 miles of the railway?

If all else fails, Use the diversionary route…..  via Settle… no ohle and most of the route has no one within 5 miles of the railway.

 

if only they had a diesel… it doesnt need a fleet, often just a couple will do in an emergency, past Preston, to get a rudimentary service going.

Edited January 22 by adb968008

[adb968008]

8 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

Proof of the advantage to be gained by removing fast trains onto HS2, as if one were needed.

With so much in tunnel presumably HS2 should suffer less damage to OHLE from storm winds?

Tunnels flood.

 

i did notice the airline industry survived relatively unscathed yesterday, a few delays a few go arounds, but the job didnt fall apart and stop… remarkable considering this was all about the wind.

Edited January 22 by adb968008

[GordonC]

36 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Tunnels flood.

 

i did notice the airline industry survived relatively unscathed yesterday, a few delays a few go arounds, but the job didnt fall apart and stop… remarkable considering this was all about the wind.

 

Not sure thats true when I saw a few domestic flights within the UK somehow ended up in France and Germany yesterday.

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

Tunnels flood.

 

i did notice the airline industry survived relatively unscathed yesterday, a few delays a few go arounds, but the job didnt fall apart and stop… remarkable considering this was all about the wind.

A typically 50mph wind doesn't matter much to something that normally flies through air at 600mph.  Unless the wind is an especially gusty crosswind, it shouldn't matter.

 

With a few exceptions like the Severn and Mersey Tunnels which pass under rivers, most tunnels on the national network never had pumps installed.  The extreme weather events we are now becoming accustomed to were much more rare; Chipping Sodbury didn't flood twice a year when it was run by the (original) GWR.  London Underground however, has hundreds of pumps and is almost never stopped by excess water.  

[APOLLO]

Yes our railways neet to get more severe weather ready.

 

I wonder what is built into HS2 specs regarding future increases in such severe weather events.

 

Brit15

[Ron Ron Ron]

The 2nd part of the YouTube video, posted a few days ago, showing the Colne Valley viaduct.

This video shows half the length of the two thirds of the viaduct that have already been built.

 

See if you can spot the launching girder in the distance.….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited January 23 by Ron Ron Ron

[APOLLO]

4 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Did that Mossend service continue to its destination?  I'd be surprised if it wasn't looped somewhere North of Preston, with the driver's hours counting down all the time.

 

 

It got to Ribble Jcn, just south of Preston 44 min early and presumably terminated there.

 

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H01803/2024-01-21/detailed

 

Brit15

[Stoke West]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

A typically 50mph wind doesn't matter much to something that normally flies through air at 600mph.  Unless the wind is an especially gusty crosswind, it shouldn't matter.

 

With a few exceptions like the Severn and Mersey Tunnels which pass under rivers, most tunnels on the national network never had pumps installed.  The extreme weather events we are now becoming accustomed to were much more rare; Chipping Sodbury didn't flood twice a year when it was run by the (original) GWR.  London Underground however, has hundreds of pumps and is almost never stopped by excess water.  

Chipping Sodbury tunnel doesn't flood its the line after its west portal that gets flooded , ever since it was built

[adb968008]

4 hours ago, GordonC said:

 

Not sure thats true when I saw a few domestic flights within the UK somehow ended up in France and Germany yesterday.

Hmm, sounds a bit like snow drift at breath gill, in that the airlines put in the effort and diverted to a safe location when it wasn’t possible…

 

it was however the very odd exception of the thousands of flights a day.

 

where as after dinner it very much was the exception to find any train service in many places.

 

One does wonder the hs2 weather tolerance considering it’s being touted as the new London commuter service…. It will be an issue if the commuters cannot get home… Epping is one thing Birmingham commute is something else

Edited January 23 by adb968008

[Ron Ron Ron]

2021 to late 2023 - Oxford Rd., Aylesbury 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Arun Sharma]

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

A typically 50mph wind doesn't matter much to something that normally flies through air at 600mph.  Unless the wind is an especially gusty crosswind, it shouldn't matter.

 

Ermm! Sorry that's not quite true. Agreed that it may not matter at altitude when flying at top speed but when slowing down to land at around 140 mph, having that sort of wind either in your face or at greater than 20degrees to the longitudinal axis of your aircraft is not something you or your passengers really want to experience. Perhaps you might want to read up on the concept of 'crosswind component'. 

[Compound2632]

12 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Tunnels flood.

 

Sometime back in the 90s I was very delayed going from Euston to Birmingham because of flooding in Kilsby Tunnel, which is the summit of the L&B! Diesels dragging the trains through. 

[The Stationmaster]

15 hours ago, Stoke West said:

Chipping Sodbury tunnel doesn't flood its the line after its west portal that gets flooded , ever since it was built

S*dding Chipbury Tunnel - as a pasr boss of mine one day called it in exasperation - does flood, and long has.  The water then runs out of the tunnel down towards Chipping Sodbury station/site thereof.  The flooding has been a problem for many years and always occurred during extended heavy rainfall and special Instructions were included in the Sectional Appendix for dealing with three identified locations for flooding, including the tunnel itself, between Badmonton and Chipping Sodbury stations

 

Back in the 1970/80s a friend of mine who had become Area Civil Engineer (post previously called Divisional Civil Engineer) at Bristol tackled one of the most serious associated problems which was an iron culvert over the railway between the western tunnel mouth and the station site.  This culvert caused a dip in the track which got much worse with deep ballasting for cwr,  He found a way of raising the culvert to remove the dip in the track.  But flooding still occurred in the tunnel and ran down to the station.

 

In more recent times NR have further tackled the problem by trying to route the water down a lineside culvert which leads to a large catch pond in what was once Chipping Sodbury goods yard.  Presumably the idea is to better drain any build up of water in the tunnel and then try to keep it clear of the running line while guiding it to a suitable spot well clear of the running line.  I don't know how successful this improvement has been but i I would presume that it has some effect in all but the most serious wet weather.

 

 

[caradoc]

15 hours ago, adb968008 said:

where as after dinner it very much was the exception to find any train service in many places.

 

 

I was at Glasgow Airport at 2000 on Sunday and there was scarcely a flight operating to or from anywhere; And my wife's plane was diverted to Liverpool, resulting in an eventual arrival in Glasgow at 0530 vice 2050. 

 

[jamie92208]

Hurrah.  TBM Lydia has finally emerged and in the right place at the eastern end of the Old Oak station box. 

 

Jamie

[APOLLO]

Yanks have flooded tunnels sorted !!!

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/york-citys-giant-inflatable-plugs-162100683.html

 

 

Brit15