Great Western Main Line electrification - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Good to see GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have listed on their 'Planned Engineering Work' page all the major engineering work projects due to take place between now and the end of the year. Best check this page from time to time as more info becomes available, particularly for the work between Didcot and Oxford in August and when the Severn Tunnel is closed September/October:

https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering

[IndustryInsider]

Meaning that Chiltern are likely to be rubbing their hands with glee, as the nly direct Oxford services would be the (then) hourly bi-mode service along the Cotswold Line, unless they retain some turbos to augnment these.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will continue to operate 2tph between Oxford and London.  It's part of their SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment) as well as making financial sense.  Could be that Turbos operate it or Bi-Mode SET^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET))'s, or a combination of the two, perhaps even HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s. 

[ChrisB]

Indeed, comment elsewhere that naybe HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) may be retained. They also own 5 of these that obviously aren't part of the cascade to Scotrail either

[TaplowGreen]

...........strangely there don't seem to be quite so many FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) "We're building a Greater West" posters around these days.......funny that! 

[IndustryInsider]

...........strangely there don't seem to be quite so many FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) "We're building a Greater West" posters around these days.......funny that! 

Not so sure about that.  There's still seven full size billboards advertising GWR on the walk up the ramp to Praed Street at Paddington.  Difficult to imagine how they could be much more in your face!

[Tim]

I don't think that I am usually a particularly tolerant or patient person when it comes to the railways (for example I think that First should have been stripped of their franchise years ago because unlike NR^» (Network Rail - home page) which has managed to get difficult things wrong, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) has managed to get easy things like ticketing and information provision wrong) , but I do have a fair degree of sympathy with NR over these delays.  It was clear that what they were originally proposing was not achievable.  I expect that they agreed to the unrealistic timescales and costs because that was what the politicians asked of them and they found it hard to say no.

I am inclined to agree with the thought that the original timescales were imposed with significant input from HM Government. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Network Rail currently publicly owned? It is my belief that some public institutions are being deliberately interfered with by government ministers in an effort to give the public the impression that these institutions would be better off in the private sector and Network Rail is no exception to this cynical interference by HM Governent.

Gosh that is cynical.  You may be right though.  Most doctors think that the NHS is deliberately being set up to fail as a prelude for privatisation. 
I'm more inclined to think that it is more a case of being ideologically opposed to the public sector. If you are ideologically opposed to the public sector, then you kind of expect it to fail and that can become a self fulfilling prophesy.

Maybe cynical, but in fact exactly the same as how the last Labour Government engineered the downfall of the privately-owned Railtrack for their ideological reasons.  So your point against political interference is well made, but it^s not confined to one political party.

I don't disagree with you on that at all, although I would suggest that engineering the bankruptcy of Railtrack was not just ideological.  I think it was also about saving a huge amount of money (or to put it slightly more cynically, it was about jumping at the opportunity to make an ideological move during a brief time period when affordability and public acceptability coincided)

[John R]

It wouldn't have happened if Railtrack hadn't managed the engineering side of their business so incompetently. Remember the meltdown post Hatfield, with journey times doubled for weeks on end?  That was one of the blackest periods for the railway in my lifetime.

In contrast, we're now around 9 years since the last passenger fatality due to a crash. Yes, a lot of that is due to TPWS^▸ (Train Protection and Warning System), and improvements in rolling stock crashworthiness, but Network Rail's stewardship of the track will also be a major contributory factor. 

Which is why I really don't get the rumblings of returning NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to the private sector...

[TonyK]

Which is why I really don't get the rumblings of returning NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to the private sector...

John R, what you say makes perfect common sense. Much of the actual engineering work is contracted out, but it makes no sense to have the overall responsibility for the infrastructure outside of direct government ownership.

Which worries me a bit...

[ellendune]

It wouldn't have happened if Railtrack hadn't managed the engineering side of their business so incompetently. Remember the meltdown post Hatfield, with journey times doubled for weeks on end?  That was one of the blackest periods for the railway in my lifetime.

The major problem with maintenance was they way that day to day maintenance was outsourced.  The contractor was in charge of deciding what was done and at what price, and if it got so bad it needed renewal then it was another contractors job to replace it from another budget.  I've heard of subcontractors having their quotes sent back because they were too small and would show up the inflated prices of the main contractor. 

It incentivised rising costs and declining condition.

[Electric train]

Which is why I really don't get the rumblings of returning NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to the private sector...

There is no common sense about just pure political dogma

[Thatcham Crossing]

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea late night trains running down the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) (then via Bath) tonight - I assume some work underway between Reading and Didcot?

Edit: Answered my own question (probably) - NR^» (Network Rail - home page) website says work underway between Royal Wooton Bassett and Hullavington.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Going back to the AONB^▸ (Areas Of Natural Beauty) issues around Cholsey, The Henley Standard carries this item:

http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=140072

As I^ve said before, the extension of the masts (at random heights) above the booms looks ugly.   I acknowledge that the auto-transformer cables need to be carried above the booms, but extending the masts for this purpose is an over-engineered and visually intrusive way of doing this.  Far better to have light tube-type supports bolted to the boom, as happens elsewhere.

I suspect NR^» (Network Rail - home page)^s response to the objectors will be no more than this and may be even less.  I for one am not arguing that the basic mast/boom design is unacceptable.

[Stroud Valleys]

I travelled between from Cam and Dursley to Bath via Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads, and travelling along this stretch for the first time in a couple of months. Noticed a few holes between Westerleigh Junction and Bristol Parkway, but nothing of noteworthy apart from that, and no sign of electrification work between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath. When will either stretch be complete - any timetables of the plans?

How is Bristol Temple Meads going to be electrified? I saw a document stating that the X's were being replaced at Temple Meads with coloured signals, but no news about electrification. How will this fit in with the signalling work and any other redevelopments works in and around the station?

[Noggin]

I travelled between from Cam and Dursley to Bath via Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads, and travelling along this stretch for the first time in a couple of months. Noticed a few holes between Westerleigh Junction and Bristol Parkway, but nothing of noteworthy apart from that, and no sign of electrification work between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath. When will either stretch be complete - any timetables of the plans?

How is Bristol Temple Meads going to be electrified? I saw a document stating that the X's were being replaced at Temple Meads with coloured signals, but no news about electrification. How will this fit in with the signalling work and any other redevelopments works in and around the station?

Focus is on the Reading to Didcot section to enable IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) testing, thence to Swindon and Cardiff. Bear in mind that Maidenhead to Airport Junction electrification is a different contract anyway as part of Crossrail, and there's no way TfL^» (Transport for London - about) will allow that to be messed with, so no electric services beyond Airport Junction until that is in place. Various dates have been mooted for public services, but Network Rail's current philosophy seems to 'right first time', and that short-cuts will not be taken and the introduction of electric services will not be rushed..

Lots of piling going on between Bath and Bristol, though no masts going up at this point. Two more blockades to lower track, one this April, one next (see http://www.networkrail.co.uk/great-western-route-modernisation/banes/). Bath Spa is having platforms extended and rebuilt to allow for longer trains and to provide clearance for overhead wires, leaving canopies intact as far as I know. Based on that, no public electric services until at least summer 2017, if not later.

Bristol resignalling and Filton Bank redoubling work is going slowly, so rather than the original plan, which was to wire Parkway to TM^‡(resolve) first, Wootton Bassett to Bristol TM will open first. I *think* that means that the Bristol Signalbox will be required longer than expected, so trains will not run into reopened platforms on the north side of the station, but instead will be somewhere in the main train shed. As the new trains are 26m long, I'd guess that they might move away from 13/15. 

 

[TonyK]

I travelled between from Cam and Dursley to Bath via Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads, and travelling along this stretch for the first time in a couple of months. Noticed a few holes between Westerleigh Junction and Bristol Parkway, but nothing of noteworthy apart from that, and no sign of electrification work between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath. When will either stretch be complete - any timetables of the plans?

How is Bristol Temple Meads going to be electrified? I saw a document stating that the X's were being replaced at Temple Meads with coloured signals, but no news about electrification. How will this fit in with the signalling work and any other redevelopments works in and around the station?

Focus is on the Reading to Didcot section to enable IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) testing, thence to Swindon and Cardiff. Bear in mind that Maidenhead to Airport Junction electrification is a different contract anyway as part of Crossrail, and there's no way TfL^» (Transport for London - about) will allow that to be messed with, so no electric services beyond Airport Junction until that is in place. Various dates have been mooted for public services, but Network Rail's current philosophy seems to 'right first time', and that short-cuts will not be taken and the introduction of electric services will not be rushed..

Lots of piling going on between Bath and Bristol, though no masts going up at this point. Two more blockades to lower track, one this April, one next (see http://www.networkrail.co.uk/great-western-route-modernisation/banes/). Bath Spa is having platforms extended and rebuilt to allow for longer trains and to provide clearance for overhead wires, leaving canopies intact as far as I know. Based on that, no public electric services until at least summer 2017, if not later.

Bristol resignalling and Filton Bank redoubling work is going slowly, so rather than the original plan, which was to wire Parkway to TM^‡(resolve) first, Wootton Bassett to Bristol TM will open first. I *think* that means that the Bristol Signalbox will be required longer than expected, so trains will not run into reopened platforms on the north side of the station, but instead will be somewhere in the main train shed. As the new trains are 26m long, I'd guess that they might move away from 13/15. 

 

Welcome to the forum, Noggin, and thanks for the update! The stock of piles by North Somerset Junction has remained steady over the past week. I shall be watching for any reduction.