Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

He also said that this should be the last week that they are using short trains...

Yes, it's only due to the practicalities of reversing HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s at Foxhall Junction whilst track replacement was taking place east of Didcot meaning the relief lines and Didcot East Junction was closed.  We discussed the work on here a couple of weeks ago - this weekend was the last weekend of work (though it looks like the high speed crossovers at Moreton Cutting are set to be replaced soon).

[willc]

Well if they are going to do that (doesn't seem that long since those crossovers were last renewed though I suppose they take a lot of punishment) maybe they could try running a couple of Sunday afternoon HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) from Hereford and Worcester via Stroud to avoid the reversals at Didcot and give people at stations east of Worcester some prospect of getting on board a Turbo and finding a seat.

[IndustryInsider]

(doesn't seem that long since those crossovers were last renewed though I suppose they take a lot of punishment)

The main ones at Didcot East Junction aren't very old.  One was replaced about three years ago.  The other was installed for Virgin's Operation Princess timetable around nine years ago.  I should imagine the one to be replaced will be the single track crossing allowing movements from Up Main to Up Relief or Down Relief to Down Main.  I can't remember the last time that was renewed - indeed it still has wooden sleepers which is a rarity on 125mph metals these days.  Sleepers and other components are sat in what used to be Moreton Marshalling Yard ready for pre-assembly.

[willc]

Concrete was poured in the trench at Ascott-under-Wychwood today and work to level the platform at Charlbury and lay and compact hardcore on top is proceeding quickly.

A newt barrier has been put in place all along the railway boundary with the sewage works across the River Evenlode from the station at Charlbury to keep them off the area where the last bit of double track and the new point for the transition from single to double line will be laid

[willc]

More excavating at Ascott this morning, while the newt barrier at Charlbury was being extended eastwards towards the Cornbury bridge. Signal and telecoms teams were out in force east of Charlbury and Finstock.

[Tim]

A newt barrier has been put in place all along the railway boundary with the sewage works across the River Evenlode from the station at Charlbury to keep them off the area where the last bit of double track and the new point for the transition from single to double line will be laid

... and keep them in the sewage works?  I thought they were freshwater amphibians

[willc]

Key thing is to keep them off the railway line after rounding them up...

More details on closure arrangements later this year now online at the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website, presumably on the back of the early-morning station events this week and next (I'm aiming to drop in at Moreton-in-Marsh tomorrow) as follows. The Charlbury turnback signal wil come in handy in August.

From Saturday 28th May until Sunday 5th June (inclusive) there will be no trains between Oxford and Kingham. There will be an express road transport service from Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh (and return). Between Oxford and Kingham (and return), there will be road transport, stopping intermediately along the line.   
 
From Saturday 6th August until Sunday 14th August (inclusive), there will be no trains between Charlbury and Worcester SH. Road transport between Charlbury and Worcester SH / Worcester FS (and return).
 
From Monday 15th August until Sunday 21st August (inclusive, there will be no trains between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester SH. Road transport between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester SH / Worcester FS (and return).

[FarWestJohn]

Good news Swindon - Kemble approved

^41 million rail boost for Kemble

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/headlines/8938450.__41_million_rail_boost_for_Kemble/?ref=rss

[ChrisB]

Mentioned days ago in the correct thread!

[grahame]

Mentioned days ago in the correct thread!

Kemble is in the Cotswolds, and this is a thread about Cotswold Line Redoubling ... in a perfect world, I suppose this post  should have going into that other area of the forum ... but then there is a crossover / relationship in that the team who's doing the north Notswold line could move on so some degree to the south Cotswold line.  Be harsh on me for misposting, ChrisB, but don't be a jobsworth with members who have posted far less than you have please ... one of the intents of the forum and the moderator team here is to run it as a talkative and friendly place, and sometimes that means taking a laid back approach.

FarWestJohn ... we're delighted that the second Cotswold line is to be redoubled, and we'll look forward to a thread as long as this one entitled "SOUTH COTSWOLD LINE REDOUBLING" ... but can whoever starts it please avoid the ALL CAPS? 

[Tim]

Key thing is to keep them off the railway line after rounding them up...

I am glad my post "spawned" a comment

[Electric train]

Good news Swindon - Kemble approved

^41 million rail boost for Kemble

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/headlines/8938450.__41_million_rail_boost_for_Kemble/?ref=rss

Cynic in me says this is to help with South Wales diversions for engineering possessions for putting knitting up in Seven Tunnel

[ChrisB]

Of course it is!

[willc]

And has already been discussed in the correct thread under Swindon to Gloucester/Cheltenham in the thread headed Kemble to Swindon re-doubling.

Graham, the idea that there are North Cotswold and South Cotswold lines is a very recent notion, so much so that the Network Rail press release from February 2007 announcing the redoubling study only talked about the Cotswold Line. The Oxford-Worcester route has been marketed as such since the mid-1970s and we have a CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) not an NCLPG.

The north and south idea only dates back to about 2009 and the draft Great Western RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy), so far as I can tell.

Most people wouldn't have a clue what you were on about up here, just as people to the south-west of here might have some grasp of the idea of a Golden Valley or Stroud Valley line, but not a South Cotswold line.

[willc]

Had a quick chat with David Northey from Network Rail at Moreton-in-Marsh station earlier. The station visits are being well received and they are also riding trains on the route, with the 17.31 from Oxford and the 15.51 from London to Worcester (west of Oxford) covered over the past two days.