Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[Boppy]

A good article here about the improvements (including best time to watch the bridge being put into place!) at Reading during New Year.  Also mentions the signalling changes and work at Goring.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2083641_station_revamp_launch_pad

Boppy.

[Fish]

Maybe they need a retaining wall on that side for the new track to the dive-under?

Yes, a retaining wall IS being built on the North side.

After Christmas, work on the 3 Guineas and heritage buildings will commence which will have more visibility to passengers.  Then the visible works start in earnest, beginning with the building of the new platform 4 (i.e. next to 4A and B).  Earthworks and the retaining wall will continue to progress to the north of the station.

[Mookiemoo]

Will the three guineas remain during the works



If not

[paul7575]

Will the three guineas remain during the works

It will either remain open or remain closed, I guess.   

But seriously, it ought to be unaffected, as it's the listed building they can't touch?

Paul

[Fish]

The 3 Guineas is remaining open, and yes as its listed not much is being done to it, but I believe it is taking on extra accommodation.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

According to the aerial schematic on the Network Rail site:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6341.aspx

• Vastern Road bridge will have extra tracks to both the North and the South so I'd expect to see the bridge widened on both sides.
• The Dive-Under to the east will eventually have new tracks running through it so that trains can access the line to Wokingham line from the Northern platforms.

Boppy.

On the map from Boppy's link, the new yellow line  from the up Berks and Hants to the new platforms to the north of the present station is shown as a "new Freight line".  But surely it will be used for up B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) passenger trains as well (and probably many more of them than freight trains heading towards London)? I asked this question at one of the exhibitions at Reading Civic Center a while ago, but the person I asked clearly didn't know much about pattern of operations at Reading and could not give a sensible answer.

It would seem to be illogical for up B&H passeneger services (including Bedwyn stoppers) to use other than the new "yellow" line, else they will conflict with down services towards Didcot.  So why call it a "new Freight track" ?

[paul7575]

It would seem to be illogical for up B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) passeneger services (including Bedwyn stoppers) to use other than the new "yellow" line, else they will conflict with down services towards Didcot.  So why call it a "new Freight track" ?

It's because that map has been simplified too much. On the more detailed drawings you'd see it actually represents two bidirectional lines, one which provides a dive under for B&H services, and one which links to the relief lines, for the freight flows.

If you follow the link to the Skyscraper City forum in an earlier post (the first Oct 10th post on page 9 by 'willc') the diagram on page 4 of that linked thread makes far more sense.

Edit: added as an attachment to this post. (Cropped and compressed)

Paul
 

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Thanks Paul, I'd never seen that schematic before and it makes much more sense.  Makes you wonder why NR^» (Network Rail - home page) produced such a useless "plan" as that on their website.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Network Rail (Paddington (London) - next trains)-FOR-MASSIVE-IMPROVEMENTS-TO-READING-S-RAILWAY-162c/SearchCategoryID-8.aspx" target="_blank">press release:

CHRISTMAS LAUNCH PAD FOR MASSIVE IMPROVEMENTS TO READING'S RAILWAY

With five days to go until Christmas, 250 Network Rail engineers and contractors are preparing to deliver the first phase of a six-year project to upgrade Reading^s railway.

Between Christmas Day and 3 January, Network Rail will complete the resignaling of 100 miles of railway around Reading, and lift a 1,000 tonne railway bridge into place over Caversham Road. The work will require 16,000 man hours, take ten days to complete, and is the biggest engineering upgrade Network Rail is undertaking anywhere on Britain^s railway this Christmas.

Bill Henry, project director for Network Rail in Reading said: ^The work we^re doing this Christmas is the launch pad for our project to improve Reading^s station and railway. The bridge we^re setting in place over Caversham Road will provide space for track to serve new platforms at the station; and the state of the art signalling technology we^re installing will allow us to make huge changes to the track layout to increase capacity and cut delays. This work will benefit passengers along the entire Western route, from south Wales and the south west to London.

^We^ve been planning and preparing for this work for well over a year now. We^re right ready to go and I^m excited to get started.^

The work over the Christmas period will mean substantial changes to train services through Reading, affecting the entire Western route. No trains will be able to run through Reading from 27-30 December, with an amended timetable in place until 4 January (the first working day of the New Year). Passengers will still be able to reach their destinations, with diversionary routes in place wherever possible to reduce the need for replacement bus services. Passengers should check the details of their journeys before they travel to see how they^re affected (www.nationalrail.co.uk).

Work to replace the rail bridge over Caversham Road will require the closure of Caversham Road between Tudor Road (Station Hill) and Caversham Road roundabout from 8pm on 30 December 2010 to 6am on 3 January 2011. Members of the public will be able to view the bridge lift from Caversham Road (the Caversham side of the railway tracks). The main lift is scheduled to take place on the morning of New Year^s Day.

Notes to Editors:

Improving Reading^s railway, key facts:

The project:

^ 730 trains per day serve Reading station. It^s the second busiest station in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) outside London (only Birmingham New Street is busier)

^ 14m passengers currently use Reading station every year. This is predicted to double by 2030

^ Journey time to London when Reading Station opened: 1hr 5mins. Journey time to London now: 30mins.

This Christmas

^ Working 24/7 for ten days

^ Over 250 Network Rail employees and contractors working over the Christmas period

^ Over 16,000 man hours

Caversham Road bridge

^ 1,000 tonne bridge deck

^ Moved by a self propelled modular transporter with 72 axels. Each axel can be turned independently to allow for very precise movements

^ 25cm ^ the amount of clearance between the new bridge and the corner of our offices on its route to Caversham Road. We^re removing part of the facia from our building to provide an extra metre^s clearance.

Signalling

^ The whole project will transfer control for over 100 miles of railway from Reading to Didcot

^ There are seven stages of recontrol. Stages 1-3 (between Woodborough and Theale on the Berks and Hants line, and from Goring to Cholsey on the Great Western Mainline) are complete

^ Stages 4-7 (between Ruscombe and Pangbourne on the Great Western Mainline, to Theale on the Berks and Hants line, and to Wokingham on the Southern lines) will be completed between 25 ^ 30 December

[Electric train]

The forecourt of Maidenhead Station would seem to have acquired some portacabins and marque type things obviously in readyness for the busitution west

[Electric train]

So it looks as though Reading Station is open

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-12020729

Reading railway station has reopened to passengers after it was closed for the first step of a ^850m overhaul.

Network Rail has started its remodelling of the station, which will include five more platforms, two additional entrances and a new viaduct.

Major re-signalling works have meant no trains have run through the station since Monday.

A bank holiday timetable will operate throughout New Year's Eve with the station due to fully reopen on Tuesday.

The lifting into place of a new 1,000-tonne railway bridge will also reduce services over the new year weekend, with full closures at certain times.

The main bridge lift is likely to start from 2100 GMT.

[Ollie]

So it looks as though Reading Station is open

Yes..as planned..

[IndustryInsider]

And well done to the project managers and engineers concerned.

[autotank]

Hear hear - well done to all the guys working unsocial hours to get this vital work done.

I passed the Caversham Road Roundabout last night and could see the bridge being rolled out - looked very impressive. Shame I'm working today and can't go and have a closer look.

I enjoyed my trip on the diverted HST^▸ (High Speed Train) last week - surprised how many semaphores there still are around Greenford just a few miles out of Paddingotn. It's the kind of trip you only really want to do a handful of times though - it was a bit annoyingly slow and time consuming! Well done to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) though for going the extra (several) miles and going for diversions instead of buses though.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Did a little day trip Reading to Weston-super-mare yesterday (excellent fish and chips at the end of the new pier by the way).  Reading station operating smoothly with Platforms 8 and 9 closed, and all through trains including Pad - Didcot stoppers using 4 and 5.  So well done to the operating people for this. As mentioned above, the new Caversham Road Bridge was in the road ready for its move into place to-day.  So well done to the engineers as well.

BUT what isn't as good is customer information.  Pangbourne and Tilehurst stations (there may be others) had very large signs outside stating "Station Closed" despite the fact there were trains every 30 minutes.  But what surely takes the biscuit is the little "Diversionary routes" postcards which have been distributed widely. It's full of errors (eg 1 TPH^▸ (trains per hour) Reading-Theale, a bus from Reading West going nowhere, etc), appallingly presented, and of little practical use to anyone.  FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s Customer Service people should first of all check what they produce against the facts, and then test it on focus groups before rushing into production. 

It's such a shame when the operators and engineers plan meticulously, then Customer Services fail to do their job properly by ensuring that information is accurate and clear.

Oh, and Happy New Year by the way.