Portishead Line reopening for passengers - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Here's the link:

http://travelwest.info/project/portishead-branch-line-consultation

[Bmblbzzz]

I thought the decision to reopen the line had already been taken? Guess I was misled by optimism!

[Red Squirrel]

The thing of it is, is that when a decision takes as long as a rail development decision takes to take, then it's difficult to really put your finger on any one event and refer to that event as the 'decision'. To remind you, here are the stages of the GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) process for making a decision:

1. Determine what you are going to decide;
2. Decide whether you will be able to make a decision once you've decided what to decide;
3. Think up some other things you could decide about to make it look like you've looked into all the other things you could possibly have done had you not decided to make a decision;
4. Decisively rule out all the plainly mad things you thought up to satisfy stage 3;
5. Clarify what you meant by 'decision' in this context;
6. Remind yourself what you decided;
7. Review your position relative to the position of the exit, in case you need to make a sharp one;
8. Decide whether to claim the glory for a brilliant decision, or blame someone else for a cataclysmic cockup.

[TonyK]

To remind you, here are the stages of the GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) process for making a decision:

GRIP - Get Rid If Possible??? 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Portishead railway reopening consultation begins


Reopening the Portishead line is part of the MetroWest Phase 1 project

A public consultation into plans to reopen a Bristol railway line has begun.

The Portishead branch line shut in 1964 but is now part of the MetroWest Phase 1 project which aims to reopen the line to passenger services by 2019. Work will involve opening a new station in Portishead, reopening Pill station, building new footbridges and doubling part of the track.

A six week consultation will run until 3 August.

When complete the line will link Portishead with Bristol Temple Meads and the Severn Beach Line.

Nigel Ashton, leader of North Somerset Council, said it was a "fantastic opportunity".

"I've been hearing about [the plans] for 25 years... but now I really do think that we're there, and we've got the plans for the station so it's getting quite exciting. It'll make a huge difference to businesses and work travel, and to social life in Portishead."

The reopening the Portishead branch line is part of a wider ^100m scheme investing in local rail projects by West of England councils.

It is not yet known which company will run trains on the line. First Great Western's current franchise is due to end in 2019.

[JayMac]

From Construction Enquirer:

Arup wins ^60m Bristol rail link design

Arup has been appointed by Network Rail to undertake the outline design for the ^60m Phase 1 of the MetroWest project in Bristol.

This first step marks the beginning of ^100m investment in the area^s rail infrastructure.

A new station will be built at Portishead as a part of the project, and Pill station and 5km of previously disused railway line will be re-opened by May 2019.

The line will restore the rail link between Portishead and Bristol city centre. Enhancement works at Bathampton and Avonmouth complete the scope.

Simon Snell, Project Manager, MetroWest Phase 1 for Network Rail, said Arup would provide multi-disciplinary railway design services including track, drainage, civils, structures, telecoms, signalling power, points heating, OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"), M&E and Geotechnical engineering, plus environmental consulting.

Plans for a ^43m Phase Two ^ delivering the long-awaited Henbury Loop or Spur ^ will be detailed at a later date.

[Rhydgaled]

From Construction Enquirer:

Simon Snell, Project Manager, MetroWest Phase 1 for Network Rail, said Arup would provide multi-disciplinary railway design services including track, drainage, civils, structures, telecoms, signalling power, points heating, OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"), M&E and Geotechnical engineering, plus environmental consulting.

OLE? (My bold). I'm guessing this means MetroWest phase 1 is a wider scheme than just the Portishead line, since I didn't think Overhead Line Equipment (electrification) was planned for Portishead.

[Oberon]

Maybe OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") is for the extra lines up Filton bank?

In a rational world all Bristol suburban lines, Portishead-Severn Beach-Henbury-Filton would be electrified..

[chuffed]

Opening of Portishead rail line delayed by up to a year
By H_Pickstock  |  Posted: January 20, 2016


THE long awaited opening of Portishead's defunct railway line could be delayed by up to a year ^ due to technical and construction issues.It had initially been hoped the three mile section of the line would be open in early 2019, but this could now be pushed back to early 2020.

The Portishead rail line opening is the first part of the MetroWest project which will see the town's branch line reinstated, a new station built in the town and the Pill station re-opened.

It is understood the delay in the Portishead scheme will not impact other MetroWest project improvements planned across the Bristol area.

The delay is being blamed on a number of technical, construction and access issues which have emerged as the project moves forward.

These include the work needed to the Pill tunnel as well as the fact that Network Rail will also have to change signalling around the Bristol area to cope with the impact of more trains.

The extent and detail of the issues are due to be revealed in a report which will be discussed by the West of England Partnership Joint Transport Board at the end of the month.

The hold-up also follows the publication of the Sir Peter Hendy report to scrutinise Network Rail's future projects across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Network Rail is investing in the biggest programme of railway modernisation since the Victorian era.

The Transport Secretary asked Sir Hendy to develop proposals for how the rail upgrade programme could be put on a realistic and sustainable footing.

All the implications of the report are not yet known.

Work on building a new station in Portishead to serve the railway was due to start next year.

It is not yet known whether that building work will go ahead as planned.

A Metrowest spokesman said: "The combined impact of the constructability issues and the Hendy report is pushing the opening date for MetroWest Phase 1 into late 2019 or the first half of 2020.

"This is a complex project.

" As the project progresses there are technical, construction access and construction issues that have emerged.

" The details will be available in a full report that is going to the Joint Transport Board on January 29.

The news comes at the same time as it was revealed that 95 per cent of people who took part in a consultation backed plans for the re-opening of the Portishead line.

The re-opening the Portishead branch line includes plans for a new Portishead railway station at Quays Avenue, the reopening of Pill railway station, the provision of new footbridges across the line and other work including double tracking through Pill.

The opening of the Portishead line is a key priority of the Metrowest Phase One project being pioneered and funded by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP^» (Local Enterprise Partnership - about)) and is expected to cost up to^58 million.

Passenger services from Portishead to Bristol were cut in 1964, although the line to Portbury Dock reopened in 2002 for freight trains only.

A study in 2010 showed that travel time from Portishead would be 17 minutes compared to an hour by road during peak times.



Read more: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Opening-Portishead-rail-line-delayed-year/story-28570892-detail/story.html#ixzz3xnwQQ3QP
Follow us: @BristolPost on Twitter | bristolpost on Facebook

I hope this is the Post being unduly pessimistic or just plain wrong.

[chuffed]

Dear Member,
 
You will probably have been as surprised and disappointed as we were, about the sudden news this week of substantial delays to the Bristol-Portishead line project. Some of what was reported did not make sense with other information we (and you) have been given and I^m pleased to say that a lot more information has now become available, which describes things in a clearer and somewhat less negative light.
 
I^ve extracted below the key pieces that were published this afternoon on the West of England Joint Transport Board website. You can find and read all the document here www.westofenglandlep.co.uk/meetings/joint-transport-board using the link to ^29 Jan 2016 Agenda and Papers^
 
In summary, completion has been delayed by up to a year. There are a number of issues causing delays that are outside the scope of the Portishead project itself, as well as some that are within. The entire ^100 million funding for the project ^ Phase 1 and Phase 2 - is now entirely in place. The delay allows GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 4 to actually be brought forward, so improving the quality of the DCO^▸ (Driver Controlled Operation) submission in late 2016. So it^s not all bad news.
 
MetroWest Phase 1 Update from West of England Joint Transport Board

5. Two critical issues have emerged which are likely to have a significant impact on both the cost and programme of the MetroWest Phase 1 project:

^         Operation and Deliverability of upgraded Level Crossing in Ashton Vale (Ashton Vale Road). Following a number of technical issues which have arisen in relation to the operation of the level crossing and opposition from businesses in the Ashton Vale industrial estate, alternative access arrangements need to be provided and these are under active consideration. Consultation on potential options including provision of a new link via the Ashton Vale park & ride junction and/or changes to the junction on Winterstoke Road will take place in February/ March 2016.

^         Construction access and construction issues associated with the line to Portishead including Pill Station and its immediate environs, Pill Tunnel and the existing freight line between Pill station and Bower Ashton through the Avon Gorge. Full details will be available by April 2016, when the outline engineering design due to be completed. It is, however, likely to report a number of constructability, cost and programme challenges.

6. The issues above have resulted in a delay to the start of the Stage 2 (Section 42) Development Consent Order (DCO) consultation. This was planned for January 2016 but is now likely to be June 2016. The proposed submission date of the DCO application will also be delayed from June 2016 to November 2016 with subsequent delay to all further stages of the project.

7. A further programme pressure and one outside of the control of Phase 1 is Sir Peter Hendy^s report to the Secretary of State for Transport on the replanning of Network Rail^s investment Programme (see paragraph 18). Its implications are not yet fully understood as the report did not include ^renewals^ such as BASRE^▸ (Bristol Area Signalling Renewal and Enhancement) (Bristol area re-signalling) and Bristol East Junction. MetroWest Phase 1 cannot be implemented without BASRE being implemented first whilst Phase 2 requires Bristol East Junction for Henbury services. Furthermore the Phase 1 programme will have to take account of Network Rail^s standard 6 month embargo on further network/signalling changes from completion of the BASRE works.

8. The combined impact of constructability issues and the Hendy report is pushing the opening date for MetroWest Phase 1 into late 2019 or the first half of 2020.

9. The revised timescales, however, provide an opportunity to bring forward GRIP 4 (Single Option Development) and complete it by July 2016 (originally October 2016) and feed the output into the DCO application. This will increase the robustness of the DCO application and help to de-risk the programme.

 
Obviously any delay is disappointing, but as has been said previously, ^this is not a show-stopper^.  We will continue to question, to monitor progress and to inform you and the wider public of what^s actually going on.
 
Regards,
 
Peter
 
Peter Maliphant
Membership Secretary
Portishead Railway Group
 

[SandTEngineer]

Just another example of why work of this nature needs to be taken away from NR^» (Network Rail - home page) (yes I know its not all their fault).  As I have said in many other threads there are plenty of companies out there that can deliver infrastructure work of this nature that can be handed back to NR at completion for operational and maintenance purposes.  If there is such a shortage of critical resources (such as signalling) then why are some of the major companies in the business talking of slimming down due to a lack of orders??

End of whinge

[Tim]

No sure it is quite as simple as that.  A lot of the work on the Portishead line IS being done by private contractors.  For example ARUP is doing the design work and the construction work will presumable be tendered to other companies.  These are professional outfits who can get the job done on time if they are left to get on with it.

The kind of problems I have heard are things on the ground not working out as planned.  Things like turning up on site and finding the services are not in the position shown in the plan.  Or turning up to walk the line one night and finding that the signaller isn't happy with the paperwork and refuses you possession meaning that a highly paid team of engineers have to try again the following night when someone more accommodating is on duty.  A contractor doesn't face those kind of problem when building on a greenfield site. 

I don't think it is a NR^» (Network Rail - home page) versus private contactor problem (the Boarders railway is an example of the private sector pulling out and the project being rescued by NR stepping in).  Rather it is an interface problem.  NR and contractors both have a part to play but need to collaborate better. 

[SandTEngineer]

The point I am making is that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) has turned into (by its own fault) to be a very disorganised, disfunctional and inexperienced outfit.  Most of the engineers they have on projects that I have an involvement in are totally inexperienced and really don't have a clue how to manage the technical aspects of such projects.  I know we all probably started in the same way but we were not let loose for a considerable number of years and were guided by the ' old hands' so hated by recent NR directors and senior management.  I'm afraid that the requisite experience now lays in the hands of consultants and contractors hence my comment in my post above.

I'll keep quite now.

End of whinge No.2.......

[Tim]

The point I am making is that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) has turned into (by its own fault) to be a very disorganised, disfunctional and inexperienced outfit.  Most of the engineers they have on projects that I have an involvement in are totally inexperienced and really don't have a clue how to manage the technical aspects of such projects.  I know we all probably started in the same way but we were not let loose for a considerable number of years and were guided by the ' old hands' so hated by recent NR directors and senior management.  I'm afraid that the requisite experience now lays in the hands of consultants and contractors hence my comment in my post above.

I'll keep quite now.

End of whinge No.2.......

That agrees 100% with what I have heard from other engineers.  NRs needs to increase its competency and experience even if outside contractors do most of the work.  I get the feeling that NRs sometimes lacks the experience to manage contractors properly.   

[dviner]

NRs^» (Network Rail - home page) needs to increase its competency and experience even if outside contractors do most of the work.  I get the feeling that NRs sometimes lacks the experience to manage contractors properly.

You only get experience by doing something. If you don't have the opportunity to do something, you don't gain the experience in doing that thing. If you contract someone in to do it for you (because you don't have the experience in doing it) you don't gain any experience in doing that thing. If you cock it up, you can either throw up your hands and say "I'm not doing that again, someone else can do it!", or you can look at what went wrong, work out why it went wrong and not do that thing when you have to do a similar thing again.

Remind me - were there any catastrophic over-runs of the Christmas/New Year engineering works this time?