GWML Electification

[Reorte]

This happened just down the road from me. Not always the victim's fault.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-37501012

Better or worse than being squished against a higher, more solid one?

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I doubt if it would interfere with the galvanising but it would need repainting every 5 years or so. To do so costs money, so I really don't think it will be NR preferred option. That said they could have used the sprayed/heated treated finish used on my garage door. But again it would cost money! The galvanising will tone down in time and become more of a grey.

 

Regards

There's one new Moreton painted a dark green - at least the visible road sides are painted.

[St. Simon]

Lots of detail bits & bobs still to sort on the Reliefs perhaps although they might be heading east of Scours as Tilehurst will I think be the nearest straightforward access point

 

Hi,

 

A similar sized fleet was again at Tilehurst on Thursday, whilst the HOPS was also out (I saw it leave Swindon at circa 20:00). I think they could be starting to focus on Reading Station itself as I have noticed there have been more and more bits hanging off the gantries around the station, specifically Platform 9, which I have noticed has been been showing as 'shut' on Open time trains for several nights in the last week as well as a selection of other bits.

 

Simon

[The Stationmaster]

A useful reminder thanks Simon - pics below show state of addition of fittings, and the stockpile of materials, at Reading as at Thursday 22 Septr, with fittings being added to the booms and gantries ready to take the registration arms.  the 'silver' coloured cable on the drums in the stock area are for either earth or catenary wire

 

 

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

Just spotted this new vid from yesterday by Mike Wilcock, this is a ride on board a service from Bridgend to Swansea and back. Apart from the nice blue-grey power car, to me the really interesting part is the fully masted and partly wired rebuilt carriage sidings at Swansea (Malliphant?), seen just before halfway through.                BK

 

[Northroader]

The hst in that paint job rolls back the years, doesn't it? I saw it go by yesterday while I was out pressing my nose to the window on the Swindon - Bristol stretch. I'm open to correction, but this doesn't look in any hurry at all. I'd say there's just over half the mast bases in from Swindon to wootton Bassett, mostly downside, then there's a stretch from the old summit box down to Dauntsey with bases and quite a few masts. Then there's some bases around Keynsham, and that's it. In the Chippenham area there's some activity on laying a long stretch of a fancy new signal duct, nearer to Swindon the ducts were refurbished well over a year ago, which I took to be the opening move of the campaign. Again last year there was a big effort to drop the track level through the Box Tunnel and Sydney Gardens, but nothing has happened since to build on that. It looks like the lineside sectioning feeders / substations? compounds are in and ready, Swindon Junction, Wootton Bassett goods yard, Christian Malford, and quite a spread at Thingley.

The broad town bridge at W.B. should be ready soon, they been at it all summer, but then there's the Lyneham road bridge to start. We were discussing parapet extensions recently, I notice that the high overbridge in the cutting east of Chippenham is being done, it looked like breeze-blocks? Bridges and Chippenham set me thinking about the station there. The new footbridge at the west end is in, and has lifts placed alongside with stairs down to the island platform. The old central footbridge serving the platforms will obviously need to be altered. Will it be renewed, or just cleared? There's a parallel with Reading, but I fear the resemblance ends there, and whatever happens won't involve much spending, leaving the place ... oooh, what's the word?

[Zomboid]

Given the impending resignalling and remodelling of Bristol TM, I'd be putting the effort into the Cardiff line, and deal with Bristol after that.

[lmsforever]

The new bridge at Wantage is quite an impressive structure and the overhead structures are all in but no wires hen do they installed?

[RJS1977]

Just spotted this new vid from yesterday by Mike Wilcock, this is a ride on board a service from Bridgend to Swansea and back. Apart from the nice blue-grey power car, to me the really interesting part is the fully masted and partly wired rebuilt carriage sidings at Swansea (Malliphant?), seen just before halfway through.                BK

 

 

Malliphant sidings have been masted for probably a couple of years now.

[HillsideDepot]

It looks like the lineside sectioning feeders / substations? compounds are in and ready, Swindon Junction, Wootton Bassett goods yard, Christian Malford, and quite a spread at Thingley.

The broad town bridge at W.B. should be ready soon, they been at it all summer, but then there's the Lyneham road bridge to start. We were discussing parapet extensions recently, I notice that the high overbridge in the cutting east of Chippenham is being done, it looked like breeze-blocks? Bridges and Chippenham set me thinking about the station there. The new footbridge at the west end is in, and has lifts placed alongside with stairs down to the island platform. The old central footbridge serving the platforms will obviously need to be altered. Will it be renewed, or just cleared? There's a parallel with Reading, but I fear the resemblance ends there, and whatever happens won't involve much spending, leaving the place ... oooh, what's the word?

 

Thank you, Northroader, for a comprehensive update.

 

The electrical equipment at Thingley is one of 3 feeds from the National Grid, being fed from Beanacre.

 

Work on the bridges on the A3102 at Royal Wootton Bassett starts on October 24th, when all traffic will have to use the new Broad Town Road bridge. I've just had notification from Stagecoach who will retime their 55/55A from that date to accommodate the few extra minutes they think the diversion will take. Bath Road Bridge (the one over the South Wales Line) will be demolished and rebuilt whereas Hunts Mill Bridge over the GWML is listed so the track will be lowered and a raised parapet fitted.

 

A couple of screenshots from the NR PDF of the project (available on their website).

 

I'll have to get out and have a look at the work on Cocklebury Bridge (just east of Chippenham), and I will report back on that one.

 

With regard to Chippenham station, the original presentation given by NR to Wiltshire Council Highways Planning which I attended specifically said that the "station" foot bridge at Chippenham would not be changed, although the "public" one was to be replaced (it was raised in the '70s to accommodate the 'pressure shock' of an HST at full speed). However when I went to watch the installation of the spans of the new public bridge I happened to meet an old school friend who is now a building inspector (not sure of his exact title) for NR, and he said that the station footbridge did need to be raised. We were also looking at the rusty state of the girders behind the fancy GWR canopy valancing, to which his comment was "we hope to get to those and replace them further from the OHLE before they completely rust away".

 

I have noticed that the crop of Buddleia atop the Western Arches (I think it's actually "Chippenham Viaduct" in railway terms) has been harvested; whether that's because it was in the way of the signal cable ducting, or whether there has actually been some maintenance I know not - but it looks better when viewed from New Road!

Edited October 6, 2016 by HillsideDepot

[Northroader]

It's a pity the old hunts mill (Bristol line) bridge will be left, even if it is listed, as the alignment, narrowness, and humpiness isn't really suited to the traffic on the main road. They'll have a job getting a good line with the Bath road (wales line) bridge. Looking forward to a year of chaos before the new diesels, with electric accessories, start sliding through.

It's nice to hear that buddleias are actually being removed from the masonry somewhere, hope it doesn't stop there!

[The Stationmaster]

The hst in that paint job rolls back the years, doesn't it? I saw it go by yesterday while I was out pressing my nose to the window on the Swindon - Bristol stretch. I'm open to correction, but this doesn't look in any hurry at all. I'd say there's just over half the mast bases in from Swindon to wootton Bassett, mostly downside, then there's a stretch from the old summit box down to Dauntsey with bases and quite a few masts. Then there's some bases around Keynsham, and that's it. In the Chippenham area there's some activity on laying a long stretch of a fancy new signal duct, nearer to Swindon the ducts were refurbished well over a year ago, which I took to be the opening move of the campaign. Again last year there was a big effort to drop the track level through the Box Tunnel and Sydney Gardens, but nothing has happened since to build on that. It looks like the lineside sectioning feeders / substations? compounds are in and ready, Swindon Junction, Wootton Bassett goods yard, Christian Malford, and quite a spread at Thingley.

The broad town bridge at W.B. should be ready soon, they been at it all summer, but then there's the Lyneham road bridge to start. We were discussing parapet extensions recently, I notice that the high overbridge in the cutting east of Chippenham is being done, it looked like breeze-blocks? Bridges and Chippenham set me thinking about the station there. The new footbridge at the west end is in, and has lifts placed alongside with stairs down to the island platform. The old central footbridge serving the platforms will obviously need to be altered. Will it be renewed, or just cleared? There's a parallel with Reading, but I fear the resemblance ends there, and whatever happens won't involve much spending, leaving the place ... oooh, what's the word?

 

There is actually quite a lot of signalling cable related work in progress  at various sites between East Depot and Thingley Jcn on the Up side with location cupboard base areas complete and just awaiting the cupboards in a number of places pus odd bits of work done with new cable troughing or materials dumped on site/at storage sites.

 

The Up side work on ohle mast bases between Wootton Bassett and Rodbourne Lane appears to be little or no further forward than it was months ago but I think the bases are now almost all done beteen Rodbourne Lane (possibly even as far west as the MSWJR overbridge site) and the old works Drawing Office building judging by what I saw a couple of weeks back although i was just passing and not noting as I went.

 

The old footbridge at Tilehurst - a broadly similar type to that at Chippenham and similarly, but not as extensively, built into platform canopies - was removed once the new bridge had been commissioned.  The interesting one as far as I'm concerned is Taplow which I understood was originally due to be retained but has been supplemented (if not, at least temporarily, replaced by a scaffolding built structure at the east end of the station so whether the old bridge is now going to go is far from clear.  the same question could also be asked at Slough where - unless it has changed recently - the old footbridge has been left in use long after completion and commissioning of the new one.  Of course one fortunate aspect of the route through the Thames Valley is that because much of it was built on embankment many of the stations between West Drayton and Didcot had subways instead of footbridges although oddly West Drayton has gained a footbridge (presumably to improve capacity?)

[Mike Storey]

A 'value per casualty' is applied to rail, as it is to road; however, the figure for rail is several times higher (a 1999 reported £3 million per life saved on rail, as opposed to £1 million per road fatality). Part of this discrepancy is  probably due to railway accidents having a much higher profile: a look through the BBC News or Google News when a rail incident occurs shows this. A single fatality in a level crossing accident will make it to national headline levels, whilst several young people being killed in an RTA might make regional headlines at best.

The increasing cost per life saved with each new safety measure is not surprising; the 'cheap (or at least easy) fixes' will normally have been done first (continuous brakes, block signalling etc), so it's those initially seen as 'too difficult' or 'too expensive' which remain.

There has been mention on here of French railway bridge parapets; what I haven't seen mentioned is that the majority of such parapets in areas with overhead eletrification have brackets extending out some distance from the outer edge of the bridge, supporting wire mesh, and making it difficult to make contact with the knitting.

 

Not sure I can agree with you on this. I was writing and submitting business cases for rail investment projects up until 2011, latterly direct to government and previously within BR, RT and NR. As Project/Programme Sponsor and then Programme Director, I was obliged to follow the Treasury Blue Book. This did not differentiate between road and rail in terms of value per life saved over 100 years (the usual base calculation). £1 million per life was the norm for decades until revaluation by those chaps who normally work for insurance companies, but whose title escapes me for the moment. It suddenly went up to £2m. It did not affect most rail business cases, because what actually dictated safety measures was the application of ALARP. The Highways Agency did not apply ALARP in the same way, until they fell under the auspices of the ORR, an organisation still trying to find a reason to exist.

 

Whatever, don't dismiss ALARP. It led to the reduction of rail fatalities (and life threatening injuries) on Britain's railways to almost zero, from a time when I first joined that dozens per year were deemed acceptable (because they were thought to be inevitable), and staff deaths and injuries were horrendous. Cannon Street and then Clapham changed all that, not the EU, not privatisation, not accountants. Public mood shifted. I don't know why but it did. Hatfield showed the new public cost of getting it wrong, howsoever unintentionally. There is a cost, in time and money, and there are many, many engineers, sponsors and clients who don't want to be at the end of another one of those.

 

I do not think the GWML Upgrade is suffering unduly from that, as it would have been built in from the original estimates. Peer Review, if it was done correctly, would have seen to that. We now have Roger Dickinson in charge of the Programme, who has form. I worked for him and then had him as my primary supplier, during the Olympics rail works, one of the most time-boxed and complex projects since 2000. He came in on time and under budget, despite many, many variations. If anyone can sort this out, he can.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Mike Storey

[Budgie]

... those chaps who normally work for insurance companies, but whose title escapes me for the moment. ...

Actuaries.

[david.hill64]

Not sure I can agree with you on this. I was writing and submitting business cases for rail investment projects up until 2011, latterly direct to government and previously within BR, RT and NR. As Project/Programme Sponsor and then Programme Director, I was obliged to follow the Treasury Blue Book. This did not differentiate between road and rail in terms of value per life saved over 100 years (the usual base calculation). £1 million per life was the norm for decades until revaluation by those chaps who normally work for insurance companies, but whose title escapes me for the moment. It suddenly went up to £2m. It did not affect most rail business cases, because what actually dictated safety measures was the application of ALARP. The Highways Agency did not apply ALARP in the same way, until they fell under the auspices of the ORR, an organisation still trying to find a reason to exist.

 

 

But practically speaking, in determining what was 'reasonably practicable', the Value of a Fatality Prevented was often used. When Railtrack did the assessment of the benefits of a nationwide roll out of ATP back in 1993 they came to the conclusion (unsurprisingly) that ATP at something over £14 million per life saved was not reasonably practicable. Hence the development and roll out of TPWS which itself failed the VFP measure but was considered still to be reasonably practicable. One reason for this is that the £1m (I remember £1.4 for some reason) was escalated in case of potential catastrophes where the public horror factor would be important. Germany does something similar with its minimum endogenous mortality concept.

 

I completely agree that ALARP has been a huge benefit and am truly grateful that the UK government successfully defended it when the French and Germans attempted to outlaw it as a methodology for application within the EU. I think that one of the reasons that the Highways agency could not apply ALARP in the same way is that roads are so inherently dangerous that if you mandated every safety feature that would cost less than £1m per fatality saved there would be no money for anything else (health, defence, education, railways etc).

 

Sorry:   

Edited October 7, 2016 by david.hill64

[Edwin_m]

I think that one of the reasons that the Highways agency could not apply ALARP in the same way is that roads are so inherently dangerous that if you mandated every safety feature that would cost less than £1m per fatality saved there would be no money for anything else (health, defence, education, railways etc).  

Inherently dangerous, or is it just that a significant proportion of the users are (or at least behave like) incorrigible idiots? 

[talisman56]

Actuaries.

Bless you.

[david.hill64]

Inherently dangerous, or is it just that a significant proportion of the users are (or at least behave like) incorrigible idiots? 

Fair point as always but can you imagine getting approval for a railway system where:

 

1. There is no segregation between fast moving trains and pedestrians
2. Trains can make unprotected moves across on-coming trains
3. Headway distance is less than the braking distance of the following train (OK: this may be coming to rail too)
4. No active guidance to ensure traffic moving in opposite directions stays in its right of way
5. Driver training is minimal and standards not routinely assessed
6. Sanctions for rule breaking are trivial
7. etc

Even before you add in the idiot factor!

[The Stationmaster]

Noted yesterday that although it doesn't seem apparent at Scours Lane there looks to be a catenary wire in place a bit further east on the Up Relief Line (or the additional Up line to the north of it) and what looks like some other wires as well in addition to the earth wire now lashed into place on various masts eastwards from Scours Lane itself  (alas diversion from shopping for a closer look was not possible).

[D1059]

Inherently dangerous, or is it just that a significant proportion of the users are (or at least behave like) incorrigible idiots? 

 

Having just followed a driver into the local garage and watched as they completely ignored the No Entry sign and went in via the Exit, I would agree with you.............there is a worryingly high proportion of drivers on our roads who should have their license revoked (if indeed they had one to start with)

Edited October 7, 2016 by D1059

[Richard E]

there is a worryingly high proportion of drivers on our roads who should have their license revoked (if indeed they had one to start with)

Don't they come in cornflakes packets anymore then?

[Geoff Endacott]

Having just followed a driver into the local garage and watched as they completely ignored the No Entry sign and went in via the Exit, I would agree with you.............there is a worryingly high proportion of drivers on our roads who should have their license revoked (if indeed they had one to start with)

 

Why did you follow him if he was going the wrong way?

 

Geoff Endacott

[6892 Oakhill Grange]

Having just followed a driver into the local garage and watched as they completely ignored the No Entry sign and went in via the Exit, I would agree with you.............there is a worryingly high proportion of drivers on our roads who should have their license revoked (if indeed they had one to start with)

Where I live using a garage to bypass traffic lights is perfectly normal. UK is a bastion of decent road behaviour and this is reflected in the death per million of population or death per billion km figures. The second world is slaughter on the roads and the third world is chaos.

 

Oakhill

[RJS1977]

I've seen a motorcyclist use this garage to bypass the one-way section of London Road, Reading on numerous occasions. He would come down Redlands Road, through the garage, up Watlington Street (where there used to be a model shop 20+ years ago!) then out through the bollards at the blocked-off north end by the Lyndhurst Arms.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4494448,-0.9601241,227a,20y,45t/data=!3m1!1e3

[Judge Dread]

I've seen a motorcyclist use this garage to bypass the one-way section of London Road, Reading on numerous occasions. He would come down Redlands Road, through the garage, up Watlington Street (where there used to be a model shop 20+ years ago!) then out through the bollards at the blocked-off north end by the Lyndhurst Arms.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4494448,-0.9601241,227a,20y,45t/data=!3m1!1e3

It's when you see a motorist turn into a one way street, the wrong way. They then do a three point turn and park in one of the loading bays. Said loading bays are now being removed by our beloved council because it's more than obvious that everyone uses them. I fear the one way system may soon follow.