GWML Electification

[Edwin_m]

Here's a description of the bridge jacking. 

https://www.railengineer.uk/2016/08/19/planning-for-a-worlds-first-elevarch-masonry-arch-jacking-trial/

[Geoff Endacott]

The problem is they haven't jacked it up - they've jacked it in!

 

Geoff Endacott

[Budgie]

How much would it cost to improve the road access to the part of Steventon that's on the wrong side of the tracks, so the level crossings can be closed?

[Northroader]

While they’re paying out to fit diesels to all the new electrics, could they add just a little bit more electrical stuff while they’re at it, and then lay a mile of third rail through Steventon?

[Mike Storey]

Here's a description of the bridge jacking. 

https://www.railengineer.uk/2016/08/19/planning-for-a-worlds-first-elevarch-masonry-arch-jacking-trial/

 

Interesting stuff, but the prediction that it could make a significant difference to the UK electrification plan is a little wide of the mark. An occupation bridge, with no utilities to be severed and re-connected, and the ability to have about a foot and a half change in elevation without re-grading of the approaches, is not going to be very typical of the vast majority of the key problem sites (but it will have its place on some works, no doubt).

[The Stationmaster]

Interested to know how that would actually work. Presumably some form of supporting structure, with associated jacking equipment and its bases/foundations, would be built under the brick arch; This would then have to be disconnected from the bridge structure either side, and jacked up to the required height. Then new abutments to support the raised arch would be required. Then the supporting structure etc would have to be deconstructed and removed (and hopefully the arch would remain in place !). This would allow the railway at least to re-open, but the road either side would still have to be raised to match the new bridge height. How long a closure of a) the railway and b) the road would this need ? And we haven't even mentioned whatever services are carried across the bridge. Is this really a realistic method of solving this problem ?

 

Another point about the bridge at Steventon is that it actually consists of three arches.  So unless the wing arches are to be broken when jacking the central (over rail) arch it will mean that the jacking would have to take place simultaneously in 4 places instead of the two needed for a bridge with a single arch.

 

In addition the south end abutment is effectively a retaining wall due to the road descending a gradient towards the bridge and the ground on that side being higher than ground level datum on the north side of the railway.  Attempting to jack This to jack up this bridge would, I suspect, be a bridge lift too far.

Edited November 16, 2017 by The Stationmaster

[caradoc]

Perhaps the eventual solution will have to be a Selby style diversion to avoid Steventon altogether ?

[jamie92208]

Perhaps the eventual solution will have to be a Selby style diversion to avoid Steventon altogether ?

 

There is certainly a large untapped coalfield under northern Oxfordshire, perhaps they should do some test drilling.........

 

Then there would be riots in the streets or whatever the genteel version of a riot is.

 

Jamie

[lmsforever]

A genteel riot ,quiche at dawn plus shouts of,please no coalfield here!

[Coryton]

Regarding coasting across the level crossing - presumably the line speed will be 125 mph so the level crossing barrrer controls will be set up for that speed.

However, if many trains are actually approaching the crossing at 60 mph this will extend considerably the time the crossing is closed to road traffic. Even if it is only a minute each time (the increased time for the mile approaching the crossing and a bit after) this will soon add up on a busy railway. This will not please the road users.

Jonathan

 

I didn't think the idea was to slow any trains down to 60 mph.

 

I thought the plan was that trains travelling at 60 mph or under (because they haven't reached a higher speed from a previous stop) stay in electric throughout, but anything faster puts the pan down and 'coasts' (with the diesels available if required).

 

Or have i got that wrong?

[The Stationmaster]

There is certainly a large untapped coalfield under northern Oxfordshire, perhaps they should do some test drilling.........

 

Then there would be riots in the streets or whatever the genteel version of a riot is.

 

Jamie

 

Believe it or not there was a plan some years ago to create a massive reservoir by flooding farmland to the west of Steventon and the railway embankment would have formed one boundary of the reservoir.  The locals for many a mile around were not at all impressed by the idea - what a surprise (NOT).

 

Diverting the railway would nowadays be quite difficult as which way it was re-routed towards would inevitably involve demolitions of something or other, including digging up part of the A34, as the whole area around Didcot has expanded enormously in recent years with both housing and industrial/warehouse construction.  Simplest answer remains the simplest answer - demolish the bridge and build a new one.  

 

Easy to overlook the fact that those of us east of Reading who like or need to use the railway have suffered more than two years of disruption on numerous weekends (with a disrupted timetable virtually every weekend) for a mixture of signalling, electrification and Crossrail work which has often meant either a replacement 'bus (connecting into another replacement 'bus, and possibly even a third or fourth connecting 'bus) or driving to either a station on the Reading Waterloo route or one on the GW/GC Joint Line.  The extra time and in some cases financial costs imposed on us in this area is easily forgotten if you're not a 'victim'.  Sorry folks but you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, or closing bridge in order to rebuild it

[phil-b259]

A genteel riot ,quiche at dawn plus shouts of,please no coalfield here!

Change 'coalfield' to Fracking and you can be assured that the reaction will not be that polite.

 

The attitude of most 'home counties' residents to such activities (who seem more concerned about their precious house prices than anything else) is that such activities should be restricted to 'up north' where 'poor people live'

[Ron Ron Ron]

This bridge was replaced and the approach roads regraded and rebuilt, in less than 3 minutes....

 

 

[jamie92208]

The coalfield is actually no joke. The coal measures are an extension of the Warwickshire field and there were serious suggestions about tapping them in the 70's. A guy I know who worked in the industry was involved in some of the initial feasibility studies within the coal board. I have no idea how far south the seams actually run.

 

Jamie

[Budgie]

The coalfield is actually no joke.

I thought we as a country were trying to move away from dirty fuels and the contribution they make to global warming.

[locoholic]

This thread is thoroughly depressing recently. The situation at Steventon is a perfect microcosm of the state of railways in this country - trying to shoe-horn a modern railway through old structures, creating problems that should have been foreseen and now wrecking the project schedule and budget.

 

I find it hard to believe that this situation hasn't been seized upon as a great excuse to close the level crossings, which have no place on a busy high-speed main line.

[caradoc]

Actually, on second thoughts (given the progress of the GWML electrification so far), it might be quicker to relocate Steventon rather than the railway.

[billbedford]

I thought we as a country were trying to move away from dirty fuels and the contribution they make to global warming.

 

 

Once the NIMBYs realise that the alternative to a coalfield is filling Oxfordshire with windmills, then I'm sure they'll accept the coalfield.

[billbedford]

This thread is thoroughly depressing recently. The situation at Steventon is a perfect microcosm of the state of railways in this country - trying to shoe-horn a modern railway through old structures, creating problems that should have been foreseen and now wrecking the project schedule and budget.

 

 

Are you saying that Brunel should have had the foresight to build his railway to the Berne loading gauge?

[Mike Storey]

Are you saying that Brunel should have had the foresight to build his railway to the Berne loading gauge?

 

Well he was half-French, so that is the least he should have done, instead of messing about in boats and stuff. Wot wos he thinking?

[Ron Ron Ron]

Well he was half-French, so that is the least he should have done,.....

 

 

That wouldn't have been much use, as the French didn't anticipate the larger Berne Gauge either; having to upgrade the whole of their standard gauge network to the wider and taller Berne Gauge (after WW1).

[Mike Storey]

That wouldn't have been much use, as the French didn't anticipate the larger Berne Gauge either; having to upgrade the whole of their standard gauge network to the wider and taller Berne Gauge (after WW1).

 

Exactly. What on earth were they thinking too????.............................  

[Peter Kazmierczak]

As Mike says, above, if Brunel had been a bit more forceful, determined and focussed on what he did, just think what he could've achieved.

 

Not just a few bridges, some boats and a bit of railway track. If he'd really put his mind to it, we'd have colonised Mars by now and probably sorted-out time travel.......

 

Though, come to think of it, the GWR would've been a time machine to the locals of Steventon and beyond.

[jamie92208]

At least if they do locate a pit at Steventon when all other systems have failed their a handy site to build a power station nearby.....

 

Jamie

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Still with a chimney and a few cooling towers too........