HS2

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

I was under that impression, originally, but having seen the work site from a hotel window, the end of station works is a lot closer to Moor Street than I imagined, so transfers to and from Moor Street will be an easy walk and not to bad onto New Street.

 

The front circulating area is right on Moor Street itself, alongside the ex-GWR station.

The two stations will effectively be integrated with a proposed footbridge connecting them.

[Ron Ron Ron]

There were never any plans to incorporate the old station building into the new HS2 terminus.

All the various design proposals sat on the final footprint, set apart from the old building, which lies towards the far end of the new train shed and about just over halfway, or two thirds down the very long platform length.

As others have said, the main pedestrian entrance will be alongside Moor St. station, but the new tram, bus and taxi interchange lies close to where the old station building is sited.

 

For most passengers using the station, I would expect that the old building is not on their route to or from the new terminus.

 

In this CGI you can see the old station building at the far end of the new  train shed….

 

 

A plan view, showing the location and proximity to Moor St. and New St. stations, is here….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Curzon_Street_railway_station#/media/File:Birmingham_Curzon_Street.svg

 

 

 

.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Ron Ron Ron

[corneliuslundie]

Thanks. I suspect that it was "interpretation" of the official announcements by the press which gave me (and it seems others) the wrong initial impression. 

Perhaps the original station should house the board room for HS2! As the original Euston station  did for the LNWR. Anyway, I hope they find a better use for it than a cafe. There are plenty of those in New Street.

Jonathan

PS Where is the tongue in cheek emoji?

[icn]

On 25/05/2022 at 01:32, Edwin_m said:

There will be an entrance to the station at that end, but the alignment means the old building is actually a short distance away from it, so it's difficult to see how it could have been incorporated as part of the operational station.  To do so would probably have required drastic changes in the historic structure in any case.  

At the risk of being OT: buildings have been moved for railway reasons in recent times, although the one I know of was moved in order to make space for additional platforms. (Obviously worth the money in that case, but not really worth the money if it's not in anyone's way.)

Edited May 26, 2022 by icn

[Edwin_m]

On 26/05/2022 at 14:09, icn said:

At the risk of being OT: buildings have been moved for railway reasons in recent times, although the one I know of was moved in order to make space for additional platforms. (Obviously worth the money in that case, but not really worth the money if it's not in anyone's way.)

I don't think the new station site is chosen to avoid the old one - it's the logical place to put it particularly so the main entrance is alongside Moor Street and as close as possible to New Street without demolishing the Bullring or going underground.  If the old building had been in the way of this site then I guess they would have considered moving it, but I suspect we would have ended up with a station somewhere a bit less convenient instead.  

[melmerby]

The new Curzon St. station is as it is because it comes in roughly parallel to the New St lines. As such that means the front ends alongside Moor St. station, which the New St. lines dive under.

Edited May 27, 2022 by melmerby

[kryten65]

Well it's only taken a week, but they've managed to put half of one arch together. Apparently the goal is 150m of completely erected twin bores by the end of July. Meanwhile I'm off to see if I can find an industrial size bucket of patience. I'm going to need it

[Siberian Snooper]

No doubt they will speed up production a bit, once they get into the swing of it.

 

 

[Edwin_m]

Looks like the two side pieces would have to be placed at exactly the correct spacing and exactly vertical, otherwise the top piece won't fit.  

[SamThomas]

3 hours ago, kryten65 said:

Well it's only taken a week, but they've managed to put half of one arch together. Apparently the goal is 150m of completely erected twin bores by the end of July. Meanwhile I'm off to see if I can find an industrial size bucket of patience. I'm going to need it

Am I correct in thinking that the RH half will be a side & top & they will sit on the concrete bed, the space between the rebar will be filled with concrete for the trackbed to sit on, then the whole thing will be backfilled (please excuse my ignorance with these matters).

[Richard E]

4 hours ago, kryten65 said:

Well it's only taken a week, but they've managed to put half of one arch together. Apparently the goal is 150m of completely erected twin bores by the end of July. Meanwhile I'm off to see if I can find an industrial size bucket of patience. I'm going to need it

 

Surely the thing is get the first arch right and the rest will slot in far more quickly and easily.

[kryten65]

The key is that central pier, the 2 x bores are built from it, either side and longitudinally, the design of the pieces has very little deviation from where it should be, it's actually free standing there such is the close tolerance. After a few rings have been erected they will pour a slab covering both rebar loops And making a pad for fixing the track too. This ring is I think number 36, the tunnel will extend back toward the photographer and away up the excavation. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

The first of more than 1,000 segments, each weighing up to 140 tons, that will make up the Colne Valley viaduct, have been put in place.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Ron Ron Ron

[nightstar.train]

That gantry is amazing. I'd love to go and see it in action, maybe I'll be able to make it down sometime in the next 2-3 years. 

[rockershovel]

On 28/05/2022 at 10:17, Edwin_m said:

Looks like the two side pieces would have to be placed at exactly the correct spacing and exactly vertical, otherwise the top piece won't fit.  

That's a general comment on erecting precast concrete structures, or any other prefabricated structure for that matter. People unfamiliar with this sort of work are often amazed at the accuracy required. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

20 minutes ago, nightstar.train said:

That gantry is amazing. I'd love to go and see it in action, maybe I'll be able to make it down sometime in the next 2-3 years. 

700 tonnes and 160 metres long.

 

Originally built in 2004, it was first used  to build the in East Tsing Yi Viaduct in Hong Kong.

Specially designed to handle complex viaduct construction, the machine is named ‘Dominique’ in memory of Bouygues engineer Dominique Droniou who played a leading role in its design and development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rockershovel]

I don't pay much attention to HS2 on the whole but it's interesting to see its effect on the wider industry. Between Brexit and IR35, the whole chaotic revolving door of wage-cutting, constant labour turn-over and  abandonment of training which was the British civil engineering sector has well and truly come off its hinges (pivots?), to the regret of just about no-one involved. 

 

HS2 needs Labour, it needs skills and it needs them in large numbers, for a long enough period and a large enough scale that the usual gambits of wage-rigging and short-term peaks in rates just won't wash. 

 

I've received a number of approaches recently from recruiters painting a more organised, coherent picture of wage rates and tax than I've seen for a long time. It is a chronic problem of agency work that 75% of workers don't properly understand the relationship between gross and nett earnings, and another problem that the tangled undergrowth of industry certification makes it very difficult to upskill, or switch workers between fields. 

 

The move towards direct employment makes it much easier to tackle these issues, not least by providing a degree of stability and continuity. So while I remain wholly unconvinced of the benefits of the project per se, especially as it becomes increasingly obvious that most of it will never be built (or at least in any foreseeable future) it seems to be doing the construction industry a considerable favour by providing a means for confronting uncomfortable truths, and (not incidentally) doing more for "British jobs for British workers" than was ever done under that name. 

 

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

I don't pay much attention to HS2 on the whole ……

 

…….So while I remain wholly unconvinced of the benefits of the project per se, especially as it becomes increasingly obvious that most of it will never be built (or at least in any foreseeable future) ……..

 

 

Mmmmm?

Maybe you should pay a bit more attention?

 

Increasingly obvious?

With due respect, I think the opposite is increasingly obvious.

Work is well underway along most of the length of phase 1 and now getting going on Phase 2a.

Some of it is quite advanced, with contracts in place to completion on many large sections.

I can’t see how it would be stopped now.

[rockershovel]

46 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Mmmmm?

Maybe you should pay a bit more attention?

 

Increasingly obvious?

With due respect, I think the opposite is increasingly obvious.

Work is well underway along most of the length of phase 1 and now getting going on Phase 2a.

Some of it is quite advanced, with contracts in place to completion on many large sections.

I can’t see how it would be stopped now.

Last time I looked (Nov 2021) the Leeds section had been cancelled, and a high speed link from Manchester downgraded to improvements to existing infrastructure? 

 

I'm long enough in the game to remember the original Jubilee Line Extension being cancelled after work had begun at Aldwych. Cross Rail is finally coming into service, several decades late and altered out of recognition. 

 

No, the project is heading into a protracted round of tendering with every likelihood of a General Election arriving before those tenders being let. 

Edited May 31, 2022 by rockershovel

[lmsforever]

An update on the Aylesbury Wendover section  ,driving into Wendover the work on demolishing cottages on road from Butlers Cross, only a couple of chaps but fencing in place O,ut of wendover on A413 vast area being worked  and formating of track base on way towards tunnels. When I dropped my other half off to her uakalaie session talked to some lovely ladies on a mobile info truck.HS2 are going to build the Waddesdon bypass starting in July its going to be built in two halves and will be open in two  years.Round the back of Aylesbury a wide swathe of land is being worked on ready for the viaduct embankments etc are starting to form here.The lasses on the info van said it would be three or more years before any trackworks start ,and  looking at the works outside of Waddesdon it will be a long time. It is amazing how relatively quickly change on construction sites is happenning.Wendover is starting to show the route of the line  with the route to the aylesbury Chiltern line clearly visible.The section beside the Wendover bypass has a large cement operation in place with access to the haul road .Our neighbour is not happy with new company as work is not regular and is looking at other companies on site.Overall the shape of a railway is appearing but a bit sad at Quainton Rd as no track north hope its not to long before trains run again.Not much noise from antis now maybe they are being realistic.

[melmerby]

2 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

.Not much noise from antis now maybe they are being realistic.

Realistic is not part of their vocabulary.

They're in Staffordshire now, trying to stop the land possesions.

[billbedford]

8 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Last time I looked (Nov 2021) the Leeds section had been cancelled, and a high speed link from Manchester downgraded to improvements to existing infrastructure? 

 

I'm long enough in the game to remember the original Jubilee Line Extension being cancelled after work had begun at Aldwych. Cross Rail is finally coming into service, several decades late and altered out of recognition. 

 

No, the project is heading into a protracted round of tendering with every likelihood of a General Election arriving before those tenders being let. 

 

Dissappionted with this answer. 

I thought you were going to suggest the imminent collapse of western economies leading to a period of revolution and chaos. 

 

[rockershovel]

1 minute ago, billbedford said:

 

Dissappionted with this answer. 

I thought you were going to suggest the imminent collapse of western economies leading to a period of revolution and chaos. 

 

Well, that could be, but it deserves a thread of its own.... on a more serious note, the government's spending plans seem, shall we say, self defined and I have a distinct suspicion that there will be reality check, long before that. 

 

I'm presently working for a major construction company at present, and the next phase of HS2 doesn't appear to figure in their thinking. They seem to expect a very busy period over the period to late 2024/early 2025 with a hiatus beyond that date. 

[Bob83a]

Construction of the TBM’s at the West Ruislip Portal seems to have started.

 

But all you can see is parts being lowered into the cutting at the tunnel mouth.

 

Road works for the TBM’s power and upgrading services means that the is nowhere to stop and watch with a good view. Besides it is slow work.

[Ron Ron Ron]

As the gaps between work sites are slowly being filled in, the path of HS2 is becoming clearer across the landscape.

 

At 7.40 you can see the south portal of the Long Itchington Wood tunnel, under construction.

The footage continues over the woods to the north portal on the other side, where the construction path continues.

Warning:  The industrial electronic music may irritate many of you.

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by Ron Ron Ron