Four track for Filton Bank - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[martyjon]

Constable Road is easier to construct a step free access to platforms.

When a child we used to walk to Ashley Hill station although we lived in Horfield as there was no step free access to the platforms at Horfield for brother then sister in the pram. We crossed the lines using the barrow crossing.

[ellendune]

I had a trip down the M32 today for the first time in a while.  The new north abutment for Stapleton Road Bridge seems to be in place and there was a large crane in the folded position and what seemed to be a DIY steel bridge deck kit next to it.  Looks like the Easter shutdown could also be used to put that in place.

[Bmblbzzz]

The DIY steel bridge deck kit probably came from Ikea just the other side of the M32. 

[eXPassenger]

The DIY steel bridge deck kit probably came from Ikea just the other side of the M32. 

Hope it is open on the Tuesday when they have almost finished and there are 2 nuts and a washer missing.

[johnneyw]

To celebrate my first day of doing proper part time working hours, I took a midday detour home to see how the new platform at Filton Abbey Wood was coming on. Clearly some way to go but without doubt getting there. No pics sorry but well past elementary ground work.

[TonyK]

If you want to get a good view of the works at Bonnington Walk, try Constable Rd overbridge. For some reason its parapet has not yet been raised.

I've used that a few times with the telephoto lens. Here's the latest:

[grahame]

I would be astonished if the track work alone could be done for £33 million. The amount of work done so far is remarkable. The whole line has been reinforced and cleared, the bridge at Stapleton Road has been demolished in readiness for a new one, and there is still a long way to go before the easy bit - laying the rails - happens. Some work will have been done under the aegis of the paused electrification work or resignalling, so will appear under different headings in the accounts, but I seem to recall a figure of around £90 million being mentioned some time back.

Chatting with someone really well in the know this morning, and he came up with a fairly tight band (10% from base to top) with that figure in the middle.

[TonyK]

Chatting with someone really well in the know this morning, and he came up with a fairly tight band (10% from base to top) with that figure in the middle.

Considering what has been done, it's still a bargain.

[SandTEngineer]

I can confirm that the Filton 4 Tracking Project signalling scheme has made passive provision for a new 4 platform station at Ashley Hill.

[Bmblbzzz]

Four platforms? That seems to run counter to the idea of having two fast through lines and two for stopping trains. Good to have it there, though. And good to have the whole thing there, seconding its bargainness!

[TonyK]

I can confirm that the Filton 4 Tracking Project signalling scheme has made passive provision for a new 4 platform station at Ashley Hill.

Four platforms? That seems to run counter to the idea of having two fast through lines and two for stopping trains. Good to have it there, though. And good to have the whole thing there, seconding its bargainness!

Good news! I suppose the four platforms adds flexibility in case one of the slower lines is closed.

I didn't get that far today, although I had intended to have a look around the whole project. Instead, I called into Stapleton Road again to see what's occurring. This is a time of great activity, it happens!

The first thing of note is the temporary exit from the Temple Meads-bound platform, P2. The space formerly occupied by, and soon to be again occupied by, two lines has been levelled further, and contains the Mobile Welfare Unit. I thought this might contain a couple of social workers, some bean bags, crayons, maybe a psychiatrist, but I think it's just the brew hut on wheels.



Every temporary exit must have a temporary entrance:





Looking the other way, the space between the former platforms 3 and 4 has bee filled in and levelled, no doubt temporarily to allow free movement of men and machines behind an equally temporary fence:



Looking back over that area from further along the plaltform:



And now, laydeez and gennermen, from the far northern end of P2, your first sight of the new viaduct, intentionally of a rusty appearance, sitting quietly between Stapleton Road and the M32, and awaiting installation in June this year:



If ellendunne is right, it came from the nearby Big Stupid Place, as Ikea was once known in adverts, and is called something like Trolleboda*

A further glimpse of the bridge from the station approach:



Work on the northern abutment continues:



A slightly wider view, including the booth where the diggers pay for parking:



The abutment on the southern side seems as ready as it has ever been:



And my final shot is of the whole hole, soon to be bridged:



The schedule is for the viaduct to be installed in June, with Stapleton Road being closed for a period yet to be specified. Track formation work will begin very soon after that, with completion by November, and opening of the line in December, just in time for the January 2019 new timetable.There is a factsheet by National Rail covering the Stapleton Road work,  and a further NR^» (Network Rail - home page) document covering all of the work in Bristol.

(*Many of the names given to products offered in Ikea are names of towns and villages in Sweden. My niece worked for Ikea all around the world, and said that it was strange, when she was in Sweden, to see buses going to a wardrobe or table)

[ellendune]

Am I correct that this will be a two span bridge and that only one span is currently on site?  Or is it just the angle of the photograph making the deck seem shorter than it is.

[stuving]

Am I correct that this will be a two span bridge and that only one span is currently on site?  Or is it just the angle of the photograph making the deck seem shorter than it is.

As planned for planning in 2015 it was to have 3x20m spans. I think that picture looks like the whole thing, assuming it's not been replanned much since.

As for its being "intentionally of a rusty appearance", that's called a "weathering steel finish", that is. Apart from that it looks almost traditional in design, if decidedly post-Victorian. Except perhaps for the plastic walkway along the side, which is the reason for all those closely-spaced supports sticking out of it.

[TonyK]

As for its being "intentionally of a rusty appearance", that's called a "weathering steel finish", that is. Apart from that it looks almost traditional in design, if decidedly post-Victorian.

I couldn't remember the jargon! My description was not a criticism - I like the look of it.

[grahame]

And progress at Lawrence Hill ...