Great Western Coffee Shop

To wrap up all the details of the Cotsowold re-doubling, the gov have (finally ::) ) responded to the petition.


Yes, a very short reply; obviously, the re-doubling has been on the cards for a while now, but when the petition was set up just over a year ago, the idea of a time-scale for re-doubling was a long way off! I would like to thank everybody who signed it, and all other parties/groups who campagined for the infrastructure enhancements.

Thanks also for putting up with my constant posts about the subject....... :-[

So, the gov are not backing off, and let's hope it is done soon! :)

Regards,

Btline :D

The first definite signs of preparation work (apart from random vegetation clearance) can now be seen at Charlbury station where cable trunking is being laid in order to shift cables to the other side of the track to facilitate building of the new platform - and the increase in cabling that will be needed to provide for the end of the extended double track section.

How wide is the cable trunking?  If it is quite narrow, this could be the new trunking for the new radio comms system that is going in at the moment instead and not for the second platform

Pretty wide I think. I'll have a look next time I'm in the area. Of course it could be ready to house both new and old cables?

This was the first time that any petition I've signed on the Number 10 website has come back with a positive response, I hope it will be the first of many (although I won't hold my breath!)


Nice one BT line !

The ducts are nice and big, room for lots of cables.

The troughing for the new fixed telecoms network was laid along the Cotswolds Line a few years ago....most of this is now having to be relocated as it was laid where the old track used to be and is therefore in the way of redoubling. Obviously it shows that even a few years ago the prospect of track reinstatement was not seen as imminent!

West of Moreton maybe, but east of Ascott most of it was renewed last year or perhaps the year before and apart from Charlbury station, pretty much all of it, almost as far as Hanborough, was carefully placed at the edge of the formation, so someone had their thinking caps on.

Hmmm, I'm not sure about that. From what I've observed in most locations wherever there is currently a vehicle pathway by the track the troughs were laid at the edge of the formation, and wherever there isn't they were laid smack bang where a second line will go. The reason it might look like better planning is because there are more parts of the route with vehicle pathways on the Ascott-Wolvercote section than there are on the Evesham-Moreton section.

The whole project, which took about a year to complete, was finished in 2007. Even if the redoubling wasn't firmly on the agenda back then, it was being whispered about loudly. Heads should be banged together for not ensuring that projects like that don't hinder the potential or add unnecessarily to the cost of future work.

Well, whether it was luck or design, they shouldn't need to replace much of the troughing on the Oxfordshire section of the redoubling. But knowing Network Rail, they still might, just for the hell of it...