Four track for Filton Bank - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[plymothian]

PTI = Platform - Train Interface.

[grahame]

Inspired by a wave of extra activities ... I have a question.  "What is the cost of the 4 track on Filton Bank project" and a corollary "is that cost included in or extra to the MetroWest budget / cost".

Quick look, I found Rail Technology Magazine from 4 years ago talking of a £33 milliion contract ( "Work to double the railway lines will begin in December 2014 and will be undertaken by Taylor Woodrow, following the award of a £33m contract by Network Rail.") but I wonder (a) is that the complete cost or are other contracts involved (and indeed there's Network Rail's own associated costs) and (b) is the figure current.

[SandTEngineer]

Well Grahame, for starters the TW contract doesn't include the signalling work as that is part of the ongoing BARS (Bristol Area Resignalling Scheme) project being carried out by ALSTOM.  Having seen the signalling plan for 4T, I would estimate that element of the work to them to be about £2-3M.

[TonyK]

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.

[stuving]

Inspired by a wave of extra activities ... I have a question.  "What is the cost of the 4 track on Filton Bank project" and a corollary "is that cost included in or extra to the MetroWest budget / cost".

Quick look, I found Rail Technology Magazine from 4 years ago talking of a £33 milliion contract ( "Work to double the railway lines will begin in December 2014 and will be undertaken by Taylor Woodrow, following the award of a £33m contract by Network Rail.") but I wonder (a) is that the complete cost or are other contracts involved (and indeed there's Network Rail's own associated costs) and (b) is the figure current.

Here's another report, this time from Construction News, that says a bit more about what work is included in the £33M:

Network Rail awards Taylor Woodrow £33m track upgrade
 31 October, 2014 By Lucy Mair

Network Rail has appointed Taylor Woodrow to deliver a three-year £33m track upgrade package in Bristol.

The contractor will increase the rail capacity from two tracks to four along a 15 km route from Dr Days Junction to Filton Abbey Wood Station in Bristol.

It will also replace or enhance 17 structures along the route, including four bridge reconstructions for electrification clearance and the refurbishment of two stations.

Taylor Woodrow project director Richard Hogg said: “This scheme is essential to deliver Network Rail’s vision of improving the Great Western Railway Network to help boost the local economy and will enable passengers to commute more easily around the Bristol area.

“The improvements to the infrastructure will make rail transport even more efficient and help reduce journey times; we are greatly looking forward to working with Network Rail on this important scheme.”

That doesn't say in as many words that no civils works were done under other contracts, so it's still possible that the replacement of Stapleton Road viaduct was - but the obvious reading of the text is that TW are doing the whole thing.

[TonyK]

That doesn't say in as many words that no civils works were done under other contracts, so it's still possible that the replacement of Stapleton Road viaduct was - but the obvious reading of the text is that TW are doing the whole thing.

In which case, it looks a bargain. The Stapleton Road viaduct needed a complete rebuild anyway, so may have been excluded from the figures, but even so there has been a tremendous amount of work. The rebuild of the Easton Road bridge alone must have cost a pretty penny.
15Km - presumably that is 7.5Km each way? Because it's less than 4 miles from Dr Days to Filton Junction.

[grahame]

Browsing during the night ... some interesting official GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) pictures from the 1930s from the Bristol Railway Archives http://bristol-rail.co.uk showing Ashley Hill and Horfield stations.





Both shown on some of the FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) suggestions ... what chance?  Any of the four track work being done in such a way as to protect the site(s) at least for platforms on what will become the slow (or will they be know as relief?) lines?

[SandTEngineer]

Grahame, the WR diesn't do FAST^▸ (Federation Against Software Theft) and SLOW lines its always MAIN or RELIEF lines........

[johnneyw]

Browsing during the night ... some interesting official GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) pictures from the 1930s from the Bristol Railway Archives http://bristol-rail.co.uk showing Ashley Hill and Horfield stations.





Both shown on some of the FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) suggestions ... what chance?  Any of the four track work being done in such a way as to protect the site(s) at least for platforms on what will become the slow (or will they be know as relief?) lines?

The Horfield site, shown on the photo, has not been chosen as a potential new station according to what I have read. Consequently, I think a lot of the bank reinforcement work there has made no passive provision for a platform.
The picture itself seems to show the station after it had closed as the access routes and  the wooden ticket office by the bridge have gone.
If you are heading north along the line you can still see recesses in the bridge structure on the left hand side where one or two of the wooden joists for the ticket office were fixed to to the bridge itself (the other support being posts into the bank).
I'll attempt to add a photo showing the station with ticket office in a while.

[johnneyw]

Horfield Station the aforementioned ticket office and access routes.


http://bristol-rail.co.uk/w/images/5/51/Horfield6.jpg

[martyjon]

Horfield didn't have a signalbox, the signals shown were the up relief and up main homes the main line being the pair of lines on the right in the photograph, the box operating those signals was Filton Incline Box the following box being Filton Junction box, a box I spent many hours in with my schoolmate train spotting in summer school holidays as his father was a signalman there.

Snowing in Yate right now, ahead of forecasts.

[Bmblbzzz]

Grahame, the WR diesn't do FAST^▸ (Federation Against Software Theft) and SLOW lines its always MAIN or RELIEF lines........

As it "It would be a relief to have some lines"? 

[Bmblbzzz]

I think the mooted site for a possible new Horfield station is further south, on Constable Road? And even then IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) the line seems to be that there is only capacity for one more station and the favoured one is Ashley Hill.

Nice photos by the way.

[TonyK]

Bmblzzz, that's correct. The preferred site for a Horfield station is by the Constable Road bridge. But that is only preferred as in where the local residents and councillors would like it. So far, there is no official body supporting the idea.

The work to prepare the trackbed for the new lines to go beneath the Bonnington Walk bridge seems to have obliterated the northbound former platform. The southbound may have gone too - it isn't easy to see or photograph over the bridge since the walls were raised for electrification work. I might be able to post some pictures when I get home (from a country that has had no passenger railways for 67 years).

[Bmblbzzz]

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.