Well, I could say I’ve done Sheffield to Shenfield, Stroud to Strood, Hove to Hope (X2), Fareham to Wareham, Deal to Dean, Diss to Liss, Gatley to Batley, Parton to Barton (on Humber), Poole to Goole, Wanborough to Hanborough , Swindon to Swinton (X2), and the best one  Strines to Staines……

Well I hope Pangbourne, which is now busier than both Goring & Streatley (which has lifts) and Tilehurst, is next.  There’s only a subway at Pangbourne and no footbridge, but I guess that above-ground lifts (2 required) and a new bridge in between would be cheaper than lifts down to the subway. 

Lack of Government funding is often used as an excuse for poor railway performance, but there are some things which the railway industry can and should be doing better which are down to the management eg
•   Better regulation and thus better punctuality
•   Better customer information, particularly when the service is disrupted.
•   Better incident management to get the service back more quickly.

I think there is a cultural issue to be addressed which encourages risk-averse management and discourages initiative.

I think we all agree that it needs railway people to guide evacuees from the trains to a place of safety.  The issue is why did it took so long for this to be organised, in this case within a few hundred yards of Paddington station.  The sooner “guides” are mobilsed with a controlled evacuation, the less chance there is of people self-evacuating and wandering off – that WOULD have been a safety hazard.

Sorry, ET, I have to disagree.  The fact that the passengers were in a “place of safety” (although that is arguable) is no excuse for managers not acting more quickly to evacuate the trains. 

The management of safety requires a balanced and informed approach to risk and benefit.  It seems to me that to-day’s managers and/or management systems tend to find reasons – particularly around the interpretation of H&S^▸ (Health and Safety) - not to take decisive and quick action when things go wrong.   

Managers should have the competence and confidence to use their judgment to act decisively and solve problems quickly.  That’s what they’re paid to do. 

I too was a lifelong railway engineer.  If to-day's managers are incapable of devising systems to safely evacuate electric trains before the batteries run out you need either better batteries or better management. 

A “return on sales” of 2% is – assuming it’s been reported correctly– hardly ”bumper profits”.

Is it on Portland?

A Crossrail has been put in P10 which I've seen before to help free up P12-P15.   

The UM appears to be shut between Moreton Cutting and Reading, which means that all Up trains are currently using the UR.  This exposes a weakness in the layout at Reading, in that you can’t access P10 and P11 (the UM platforms) from the UR, so all Up trains have to use P12 -P15, which are getting a bit congested.  This is exacerbated by the fact that Crossrail trains normally take up 2 platforms, which wasn’t envisaged when the station layout was designed.     

A solution would be a trailing crossover between the UM and DR just west of the station, but I suppose the chances of that happening are about zero.

800316 is now (at 1605) showing as 5C78 FAIL at Westbury P1.  Perhaps it is quite likes Westbury and doesn’t want to leave even if it is cluttering up the station.  It is/was called “#Lionesses” – is this a bad omen?

 … and 5C78 (formerly known as 1C78) is still at Westbury with a RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) path at 1520 to Stoke Gifford.  Hope they clear the debris off the roof before it gets to Bristol Parkway. 

From what Stuart Calvert says at 1:18 I wonder if they are going to make openings in the bridge deck so they can insert the piles and drill down through the deck from above.

If this is so the deck will be jacked up slightly so the new abutment can then be constructed underneath it before the deck is lowered down on to its new bearings.

So I gather, though no-one has actually said it, that we're talking about increased train services to Gloucester ... from Bristol. It could be Worcester, Birmingham, Swindon, S Wales, or all of them.  Have we got to follow an external link before we find out?  It would be good if posts were self-explanatory and understandable without having to follow an external link. 

The length of the pile casings is determined by the ground conditions as determined by site investigations.  They go down as far as is necessary to ensure that the ground will not collapse inwards when the drill exits the bottom of the pile casing.  The drilling continues on downwards as far as is necessary for the loads to be supported.

It’s always good to get the void filled with the steel reinforcing and concrete as quickly as possible, until you do there’s always a concern that the void will collapse inwards.