HS2

[black and decker boy]

1 hour ago, lmsforever said:

Thank you Jamie for the Oxford Rd info , I did not realalise it was to be an under bridge on a diverted roadway this will be an interesting build.The new road will cut away from the existing one quite close to the Fairford roundabout so there is going to be quite a large diversion  .also with a bridge such as this the construction will be fast.There is going to be a lot to see and it will be an interesting time which I hope to watch.

There is also the Aylesbury A413/A418 Link Road to come in to the Fairford roundabout as all of the land south of the A418 between HS2 and the existing Aylesbury housing is designated for development as Aylesbury Garden Town (zone AGT2). I believe the developer is Gleeson and an outline planning submission may have been submitted earlier this year.

 

This will connect to the South East Link Road and Stoke Mandeville bypass near the Belmore Centre on Lower Road.

 

you can see the link road on page 8 of this 

 

https://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/VALP/Examination/Transport/CD.TRA_.004a Aylesbury Transport Strategy (AECOM%2C Jan 2017) summary.pdf

 

For the next 5 to 10 years, Aylesbury is going to be riddled with huge infrastructure and new housing developments but when it’s complete, will be a vastly better place to live (and easier to avoid).

Edited December 15, 2021 by black and decker boy
Typo

[phil-b259]

20 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Fair enough - I actually worked for a year in an office overlooking the Olympic Park - but at the Olympics, not all events at all the venues stop at the same time.  It has to be a pretty terrible game for more than a small proportion of football fans to leave a game before 90 minutes, they tend to leave in one block, I know, I've been in the middle of it.

 

No - but unlike a football match people tended to linger a lot before and afterwards - the park itself was a pleasant place and you could go and watch other events on the big screens so there there were always far more people about than just those at the various venues. IIRC I saw Jade Jones win gold one evening long after I had exited the event I had a ticket for as an example.

[RJS1977]

And, for the Olympics, the stadium had about 3x the capacity it does now.

 

One thing I do feel they got wrong (and may have been for security purposes) was that during the Olympics, the only exit from the Park was the main entrance near the Stadium and the Aquatics Centre. For anyone attending an event at the top end of the Park, it was a long walk to/from Stratford 'International'.

[Mike Storey]

19 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

The Olympic park consisted of more than just the Stadium!

 

You had multiple venues all hosting events at the same time! plus IIRC 'Olympic park only' tickets were on offer to allow folk to spend the day watching stuff on big screens.

 

The numbers needing to be moved were thus considerably more than you get from West Ham supporters and as such there was no way the pre existing transport options would have coped without the extra capacity afforded by HS1 (which also made access to the Stratford site far easier thanks to the connectivity provided by the Kings Cross / St Pancras hub)

 

P.S. I went on 2 separate days and the HS1 trains were packed with ordinary folk - not VIPs / 'important' folk

 

Northmoor is quite correct. I was the programme director at the ODA for all rail enhancements for the London 2012 Olympics, and HS1 was planned to carry just c.5% of all passenger movements to and from the Olympic Park, impressive though the service was. Far more were carried by the Central and Jubilee Lines, the GE Main lines, the NLL and DLR, and by the use of West Ham as an alternative egress, by a long chalk, which had all been enhanced to a greater or lesser degree by the time of the Games.

 

In actual fact, maximum capacity was only stressed on two days of the entire period, and not at all for the Paralympics. There were far more capacity issues to and from the Excel Centre.

 

Anyway, OT, so back to HS2.

 

[Mike Storey]

17 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

And, for the Olympics, the stadium had about 3x the capacity it does now.

 

One thing I do feel they got wrong (and may have been for security purposes) was that during the Olympics, the only exit from the Park was the main entrance near the Stadium and the Aquatics Centre. For anyone attending an event at the top end of the Park, it was a long walk to/from Stratford 'International'.

 

Not actually true. There was also an entrance/exit next to Pudding Mill Lane, both for the DLR, and to access the "Greenway" walking route to West Ham, which many used.

 

There were two other access points- one near the Tennis/Hockey stadium and Velodrome, which was not advertised much due to a lack of public transport (other than buses) anywhere near it, and the other was next to the Media Centre, on the West side, but this was restricted to pass holders and journalists only, as the capacity of Hackney Wick station was nowhere near capable of handling any large demand.

[RJS1977]

19 minutes ago, Mike Storey said:

 

Not actually true. There was also an entrance/exit next to Pudding Mill Lane, both for the DLR, and to access the "Greenway" walking route to West Ham, which many used.

 

There were two other access points- one near the Tennis/Hockey stadium and Velodrome, which was not advertised much due to a lack of public transport (other than buses) anywhere near it, and the other was next to the Media Centre, on the West side, but this was restricted to pass holders and journalists only, as the capacity of Hackney Wick station was nowhere near capable of handling any large demand.

 

Either way there was no exit that was handy for International. I can remember being one of quite a large group of people trying to find their way to International late at night and struggling to get out of the park!

[Mike Storey]

2 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Either way there was no exit that was handy for International. I can remember being one of quite a large group of people trying to find their way to International late at night and struggling to get out of the park!

 

International was about the same distance from the main entrance as Stratford "BR". You just turned left, instead of right, and went through that part of the shopping centre. There were lots of signs. If you were struggling to get out of the park itself, that is another matter......

[Ron Ron Ron]

Chiltern Tunnelling progress.

Jamie can update his graph.

 

15th Dec.

Florence - 2604 metres  (should be around 2640m by this Saturday).

Cecilia - 1970 metres  (should be past 2 km by this Saturday).

 

 

.

 

 

[jamie92208]

23 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Chiltern Tunnelling progress.

Jamie can update his graph.

 

15th Dec.

Florence - 2604 metres  (should be around 2640m by this Saturday).

Cecilia - 1970 metres  (should be past 2 km by this Saturday).

 

 

.

 

 

Thanks Ron, I've just updated the spreadsheet. Interesting figures. They have both averaged a shade over 15m per day this last 23 days. I believe that that was the target for these drives.  It will be interesting when we get some figures for Dorothy.

 

Jamie

Edited December 17, 2021 by jamie92208

[figworthy]

23 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Any pictures you can take will be much appreciated.  Hopefully I will be coming back to see family next week and will be looking out for signs of construction  work where our route crosses HS2, either Brackleynor Kenilworth.

 

Jamie

 

If by Kenilworth you mean the A46, then there is what looks like a big compound with a concrete plant on the east side, but on the west side there is nothing obvious apart from a bit of fencing.  There are road works on the A46 there, but they may be because of the work on the Stoneleigh junction, which is immediately north of the crossing point.

 

Adrian

[jamie92208]

35 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

If by Kenilworth you mean the A46, then there is what looks like a big compound with a concrete plant on the east side, but on the west side there is nothing obvious apart from a bit of fencing.  There are road works on the A46 there, but they may be because of the work on the Stoneleigh junction, which is immediately north of the crossing point.

 

Adrian

Yes it is the A46. We might use the M40/A46 route to the M1, or the A43 it will just depend on the traffic. I will look out as we go past.

 

Jamie

[Ron Ron Ron]

More on the TBM's arriving at West Ruislip.

The first 2 of the 6 TBM's that will dig the HS2 London tunnels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Ron Ron Ron]

 

 

 

 

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[jamie92208]

22 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

More on the TBM's arriving at West Ruislip.

The first 2 of the 6 TBM's that will dig the HS2 London tunnels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I better start making more columns on my spreadsheet once we know the names.

 

Jamie

[Ron Ron Ron]

 

 

 

 

 

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[Ron Ron Ron]

 

The Stechford to Aston Bridge 13 (SAS13) bridge replacement project is situated near Birmingham City Centre and is an enabler for HS2 on behalf of Network Rail.

The team is demolishing eight spans of an existing nine-span viaduct and replacing it with a new 306 ft single span bridge.

 

.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Ron Ron Ron

[Ron Ron Ron]

The new road bridges that have already been built at the HS2 Birmingham Interchange station.

 

Looking along the future track bed.

If all goes according to plan and planned timescales, there will be trains running through here on rails, in just over 6 years time.

In service dates following a couple of years later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Ron Ron Ron

[lmsforever]

4 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Thanks Ron Ron that vidio really has given me a good idea of what  is happenning just up the road from me.

 

 

 

 

.

 

[D826]

That drone footage shows just how much Aylesbury has already grown since I called it home - 1967 - 1995.  Black and Decker's post further back (excellent post that Black and Decker Boy) shows that the housing currently coming forwards delivers parts of the ring road the town needed 30 to 40 years ago.  (Only parts mind, and I'm curious about what it's doing to encourage active travel modes).   

 

Whether that will do anything to reduce congestion in the job lot of traffic signals (Highways signalisation off the back of traffic modelling* and no mistake) along the Tring Road into town, or encourage active travel to and through the town remains to be seen.

 

I used to walk/cycle from Broughton to 'The Floyd' secondary school via Adams Garage, Hazel's roundabout, Exchange Street, past the station to Oxford Road.  

 

Cycling that now would be akin to putting on a Banzai rising sun headscarf, drinking a cup of saki, strapping yourself into a Mitsubishi Zero with 2000lbs of explosives and pointing yourself at the nearest aircraft carrier.

 

Aylesbury has changed massively.  I really hope it gets its link to East West Rail.  Still feel fond of the town, warts and all.

 

I support HS2.  I don't support reductions in tax on domestic air travel or artificially high increases in rail fares.  (Watch the cups folks there's climate change commitments under one of the three, need to keep a careful eye on joined up Government policy).

 

Excellent and informative posts chaps.

 

Best regards

 

Matt W

 

*traffic modelling can almost tell you Black is white.  The results it churns out depends on the data and assumptions put in.  They may not necessarily reflect reality or real life experience.  Contrary to what people would have you believe transport Highways modelling is an art, not a science).

Edited December 18, 2021 by D826
Context

[Engineer]

North of West Ruislip, this afternoon.

 

[jamie92208]

20 minutes ago, Engineer said:

North of West Ruislip, this afternoon.

 

From the sizevof that crane jib they are expecting something rather large sometime soon.

[melmerby]

On 17/12/2021 at 18:41, Ron Ron Ron said:

The Stechford to Aston Bridge 13 (SAS13) bridge replacement project is situated near Birmingham City Centre and is an enabler for HS2 on behalf of Network Rail.

The team is demolishing eight spans of an existing nine-span viaduct and replacing it with a new 306 ft single span bridge.

 

.

Presumably that is the one over the Derby lines?

Currently blue brick arches with a plate girder centre span.

[96701]

On 09/12/2021 at 18:15, boxbrownie said:

Although funny, the new seats in the 800 are hard enough to stop us using the train and use the car to get from Cornwall to just about anywhere.

 

Oh for the HST First Class seats 

A friend of mine has had three operations on his fused discs and commented as to how much more comfortable he found the 800s over the HSTs, so each to their own.

 

[martin_wynne]

HS2 plans are being cut back.

 

 

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, 96701 said:

A friend of mine has had three operations on his fused discs and commented as to how much more comfortable he found the 800s over the HSTs, so each to their own.

 

True, Mrs BB has RA and can be in severe pain some days which is why we always book first class seats, she picked up our grand daughter up at Paddington last Thursday and went 800 there and back, a almost nine hour total journey (with just less than an hour between trains) she said the seats in the train were fine, so maybe the first seats in the 800 First have changed?

 

Or your friend is substantially less “bulky” than we are……that makes a difference to cushion comfort 

Edited December 24, 2021 by boxbrownie