Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[Adrian the Rock]

Oxford area resignalling falls due early in the next Network Rail control period (2014-19). Worcester is also due for renewal in CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) (there may be more on their thinking on Worcester in the new West Midlands and Chilterns RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy), due out in draft consultation form some time this month). They're not going to leave 50 miles of rag-tag signalling in between the two areas, whatever technology is chosen to re-equip them and the intention is still to move control to Didcot at some point, Oxford resignalling being the obvious moment. It was only with deep reluctance that they dropped full resignalling and moving to Didcot this time round. Having visited the signalling centre and seen it in action, I can understand why they wanted to make the switch. Light years away from lever frames, bells and semaphores...

Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that large modern Integrated Control Centres is the future.  What is far less clear is how rapidly that future will arrive.  I suspect there will be a major squeeze on funding in CP5 and that will force NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to stick to essential schemes only.  Oxford: very possibly.  Worcester area: well, I remember when the planned date for doing that was 2009.  If push comes to shove, mechanical signalling can be kept going more easily than 70s panel boxes.  Recontrol of Ascott to Didcot would be very feasible.  But will they really be able to afford resignalling Moreton-in-Marsh?

I've heard in six years time Network rail plan to install ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) (currently being trialled on the Cambrian route) to the western region, so I guess that would make signals obsolete.

Unfortunately they don't have a magic wand which will enable the whole of the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) area to be resignalled with ERTMS overnight.  It will take years.  They need to find some suitable successor to the existing GWML ATP^▸ (Automatic Train Protection) system, but I suspect the affordability of full-blown ERTMS will be questioned again.  Just the same as they didn't extend the original ATP pilots, but developed the much more cost-effective TPWS^▸ (Train Protection and Warning System) instead.

[IndustryInsider]

I'm pretty much with Adrian on those points.  I'd not be at all surprised if nothing has changed signalling wise at Worcester (or for that matter Banbury) ten years from now.

[willc]

But will they really be able to afford resignalling Moreton-in-Marsh?

Won't really be an awful lot left to resignal once they've finished next year - six semaphores, one crossover and the refuge siding (the retention of which baffles me, as I can't remember ever seeing anything use it in the past 10 or 11 years). Both Moreton's remotely-operated level crossings are being renewed with modern kit, which could be plugged in anywhere, there's a large new electrical cabinet behind Moreton signal box to plug it into the rest of the route and as far as I can see, every inch of cabling on the redoubled sections is being renewed, so a great deal of the preparatory work is being done now anyway. The new kit at Ascott and Evesham is certainly easily plugged into modern systems when required.

As for ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.), electrification, new trains, etc, watch out for the Transport Secretary's announcement on Thursday, much of which will involve CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) spending, ie post 2014, if some degree of modernisation is going ahead.

To reach Honeybourne airfield you'd need to sort out the old level crossing just beyond the curent sidings and remove the building that's helpfully been built on the old through lines. Not saying it couldn't - or indeed shouldn't - be done. Then opens up the line back to Stratford, which I would guess could become important again.

Sounds like you're getting confused with Long Marston airfield, which is north of the old MoD sidings there and where there is indeed a business park on the station site. The entire area was infested with military installations in the 1940s and Honeybourne airfield was south of Honeybourne, beside the railway line towards Broadway and Cheltenham and the Weston-sub-Edge to Honeybourne road, hence my reference to the new Cotswold Line overbridge, which crosses the section of line you would need to reinstate to reach the airfield area. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/423035 there's a map link at the bottom.

Same problem at Cheltenham where there's a car repairer on the trackbed of the old GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) line just before the former junction with the current track, down the bottom of the station car park.

The building was put up as a depot for Royal Mail, before they axed most mail trains, so I should imagine that the freehold is still rail-owned and there is indeed a break clause allowing it to be removed if required. And almost all the rest of the route to Stratford is protected as a transport corridor in the relevant local plans, including a strip of land set aside for any reinstated rail line to go around the Long Marston station business park.

I assume the gap in rail dropping in west Oxfordshire may be something to do with what looks like a regular tamper visit next week, as the last trains each way are cancelled Monday to Thursday.

And they're not hanging around at Charlbury, there was a small drilling rig set up at the north end of the car park this morning, where the supports for the footbridge ramps will go. I'm assuming they were testing the ground underneath to prepare the way for the foundations.

[stebbo]

Apologies, I was referring to Long Marston. I didn't actually realise there was an old airfield at Honeybourne as well.

[IndustryInsider]

Don't think this has been posted before, but check out the following link for a time-lapse video of the replacement of the bridge at Honeybourne.

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/8645.aspx

These time-lapse videos from Network Rail are rather a good idea - there was also one of the Newport station rebuild the other month.

[willc]

Removal of signal posts made redundant in summer 2009 finally under way, with a couple dumped at Moreton-in-Marsh. And a lorry was off-loading bags of ballast at Moreton yesterday morning.

I doubt the progress on troughing will be two miles a week on some parts of the line, as it appears that in a lot of the cuttings those trough supports cum mini-fences using posts and concrete shuttering (see my picture of the cutting west of Charlbury) are being put in to stop the earth banks encroaching and covering the troughs in the future. Fitting these seems to take a lot of time. The 'old' - four years or whatever it was - troughs have pretty much all been pulled out between Charlbury and Ascott now, but the new wider ones have yet to go in for much of the way.

The December timetable shows, alongside the late evening bustitutions, a couple of changes to help passengers to and from Worcester. There is a weekday connection at Swindon out of the 20.45 from Paddington, with the Cheltenham dmu extended to reach Shrub Hill at 23.25 and the 20.59 HST^▸ (High Speed Train) from Foregate Street will run non-stop from Shrub Hill to Swindon, for a connection reaching Paddington at 23.40 (I assume no intermediate stops so people don't get the idea it will become a permanent service). Also offers an Oxford connection via another change at Didcot, arriving 23.16.

No mention of ticket validity but it's a safe bet to assume that via Evesham tickets will be valid on these trains.

Suspect not too many will be boarding the 23.00 bus from Worcester, which reaches Oxford at 02.06! And the 23.02 bus from Oxford reaches Shrub Hill Road at 02.16. My advice is don't miss the 20.45!

Perhaps indicating how far in advance these timetables were prepared, there's no mention of the buses now running from Moreton-in-Marsh station.

[IndustryInsider]

The December timetable shows, alongside the late evening bustitutions, a couple of changes to help passengers to and from Worcester. There is a weekday connection at Swindon out of the 20.45 from Paddington, with the Cheltenham dmu extended to reach Shrub Hill at 23.25...

Suspect not too many will be boarding the 23.00 bus from Worcester, which reaches Oxford at 02.06! And the 23.02 bus from Oxford reaches Shrub Hill Road at 02.16. My advice is don't miss the 20.45!

Yup that is indeed a help, also for Great Malvern passengers who can pick up the bus from Shrub Hill - complete with over an hours wait - and still cut down the journey time by 25 minutes over getting the train to Oxford and then the bus!  That's a mere 4h 31m Paddington to Great Malvern, or from Oxford to Malvern - for a journey of just over 50 miles as the crow flies - that's 3h 45m.  I've made my opinions known about that kind of extended journey before, so I won't repeat myself, except to echo Will's comments about not missing the last train!

By the way, new rail has now been dropped all the way from Ascott to Charlbury, so just Clayfields to Evesham to go.

[willc]

I think they're just hoping no-one will turn up, so it won't matter what the journey times are.

While there's nothing much you can do out of Oxford for the late service, it would surely have made sense to try to come to some arrangement with Stagecoach about extending the current 21.45 S3 bus from Gloucester Green to Chipping Norton via Charlbury to start back at the station at 21.30 or 21.35 to take Charlbury passengers, and lay on a minibus to cover Hanborough, allowing the rail replacement bus to go straight to Kingham and avoid at least some of the country lanes.

[IndustryInsider]

I doubt anybody would twig that kind of arrangement was possible, even if it was a FirstGroup operated bus route, given that the planning for such a thing would not be done locally.  Makes some sense though.

[willc]

Mini-photo update from West Oxfordshire, courtesy of Insider's tip-off, showing the rails dropped out to Ascott-under-Wychwood here http://www.flickr.com/photos/willc2009

The number of individual views of my photos along the line has now passed 10,000, which I find a bit staggering, so thanks for the interest.

[IndustryInsider]

The number of individual views of my photos along the line has now passed 10,000, which I find a bit staggering, so thanks for the interest.

I reckon it's all down to your catchy titles! 

[willc]

Three pictures taken earlier today online at the usual place. Cable trough activity pretty much all that's going on at the moment, though there were signal technicians working on a cabinet at Charlbury at the end of last week. Looks like most of the troughing in west Oxfordshire is complete now. Also laid out but not connected at Aston Magna, while at Dorn they are still fitting shuttering to stop encroachment along the bottom of much of the cutting sides before starting on the cable route itself. A gang was working south of Chipping Campden today. Last few miles of rails still to arrive between Clayfield level crossing and Evesham.

[IanL]

Update from Teresa this morning, at the start of December the old allotments start getting used as a compound, 13th Dec first rails being laid at CBY, when finished the old allotments will be filled and left with a gravel surface as 100 space overflow carpark.

[IndustryInsider]

Update from Teresa this morning, at the start of December the old allotments start getting used as a compound, 13th Dec first rails being laid at CBY, when finished the old allotments will be filled and left with a gravel surface as 100 space overflow carpark.

That's great news about the car park!  Sensible killing of two birds with one stone (not referring to Teresa!).

I reckon about 80% of the troughing has now been completed, or completed to the stage where the 'lids' just need putting on top which takes very little time, but quite a lot of effort as the damn things are heavy!

[willc]

Not sure the Charlbury car park extension is quite a done deal just yet, as there are obviously highways, H&S^▸ (Health and Safety) rules, etc, to satisfy - plus the drainage issues, as the allotments area does have a drainage function of some sort - but it is certainly the hope that what Ian describes will happen.

Frankly, the place in most urgent need of attention is Honeybourne, where the car park always seems jam-packed whenever I'm there on weekdays. Half-a-dozen extra spaces promised for next year on the approach road will be taken instantly. And then there's Hanborough, where spaces are all gone most days after the departure of the 6.42 to London, with later arrivals parking on nearby roads and verges.