Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[ironstone11]

It's been on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) site since you first quoted from it a few weeks ago though:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/~/media/PDF/YourJourney/Rail%20Improvements/Reading%20Station%20Improvements/fgw-reading-station-news-issue-seven.ashx
Paul

Wow, thanks for that. I had looked at the FGW website and now I understand why I didn't find it!

[paul7575]

Re: 5Z41/2/3 - these are route learners for SWT^▸ (South West Trains) drivers who are about to operate the Wessex area autumn railhead treatment trains, (RHTT^▸ (Rail Head Treatment Train)) hence they also cover Guildford to Reading via Blackwater. 

They were reported running in mid August for a few days using the 6 car 159 that usually berths at Basingstoke in the weekday off-peak.

They only cover areas the intended drivers don't already have route knowledge though, so bear little or no resemblance to the eventual RHTT paths when they start running in earnest with the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Windhoff MPVs.

Paul

[stuving]

Re: 5Z41/2/3 - these are route learners for SWT^▸ (South West Trains) drivers who are about to operate the Wessex area autumn railhead treatment trains, (RHTT^▸ (Rail Head Treatment Train)) hence they also cover Guildford to Reading via Blackwater. 
They were reported running in mid August for a few days using the 6 car 159 that usually berths at Basingstoke in the weekday off-peak.

Ah - that makes sense, at least, and I think I remember seeing something of the kind coming from Basingstoke. These ones, on closer examination, ran from and to Guildford, and starting before 8:00 are not exactly off-peak. They managed to dodge round the Redhill train at Reading by both being a few minutes early or late - so I may have missed it as it passed here.

[paul7575]

Ah - that makes sense, at least, and I think I remember seeing something of the kind coming from Basingstoke. These ones, on closer examination, ran from and to Guildford, and starting before 8:00 are not exactly off-peak. They managed to dodge round the Redhill train at Reading by both being a few minutes early or late - so I may have missed it as it passed here.

Yes, I used 'offpeak' in the context of this particular 6.159 diagram, because the pair of DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) normally only does the 0543 from Salisbury to Waterloo arriving 0714, then departs Waterloo empty at 0720, arriving at Basingstoke at 0814 where it berths for the day to form a pair of 3 car trains in the evening peak.  So 'contra peak' might have been a better description.   

What they do by short term planning (STP) is to run the 6.159 in its normal ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) path (5L89) as far as Woking and then divert it via Guildford onto route learning for a few hours and get it back to Basingstoke later on to do its afternoon peak work...

You can see here how 5L89 is altered to form 5Z41:  http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/WOK/2013/09/09/0747

Paul 

[Jason]

I had a look round on Tuesday, the escalators were still there at that time, but they were nibbling away at various parts of the concrete structure above and surrounding them.

As of yesterday evening both escalators are gone and the structure is little more than a shell.
There are lots of markings and filled concrete holes appearing on P7 overnight(s).

[paul7575]

A few pictures captured from a 'phone video', taken from a train, showing the 'Central Viaduct' site.

The first two shots show the two variants of concrete pier, the larger one is where the fixed ends of the steelwork are supported, alternate piers are not so substantial (in terms of thickness), and they carry the floating ends of the steelwork sections.

If I've got my bearings correctly, the third picture shows the blind spot between the two webcam views, and shows them pouring concrete into the shuttering that forms the 'pile cap' for the north side of the Festival Box slab.   The corresponding views on webcam 6/2 are around 1200 today, 12th Sept.

Hope these are of interest for anyone who doesn't get through Reading often, even if relatively poor quality...

Paul

 

[stuving]

Various little steps forward visible today - some expected, some perhaps not...

There are lots of markings and filled concrete holes appearing on P7 overnight(s).

Not only that, they line up with the stanchions for the canopy on P1/2.

It appears that the sections have always been bolted to the beams, but the spars are still not fixed to each other at their tips, and there are gaps of several cm. Maybe there is a sneaky method of shimming them to spread any gaps more evenly when they are finally bolted through the holes provided.

I'm not sure much was done to straighten out the canopy sections. The ends are bolted together directly where they touched, and shimmed with one or two (never more that I saw) 5 mm-ish plates where gapped.

What has been done that needed P6 closed? Well, there's some scaffolding appeared (1st pic). Not quite a self-assembly platform kit, as you need a gang of scaffolders to come and build it. This amount only looks enough to cover the near end of P6, and I can't see why that needs to wait until this weekend. The built-out P7 has to go in during the same possession as the track is moved, expected to be 20th-23rd?

And finally - some little I-beams have been piled in the 6-foot between P9B and P10B (Second pic - there are some more further down, towards and under the deck). I'm not sure what to call them, as they look too short to be called pillars or stanchions. I guess these are the two piling machines that put them there. Maybe that's what the track was left in place for - and it goes on well past the deck, so perhaps some more will appear. Now the question is, what are they for? And why just here, not between other platforms?

[paul7575]

Guessing, and mainly based on a drawing posted ages ago (somewhere in this thread), the finished height of the track for P10 is significantly higher than that through P9, and they are possibly going to put some sort of barrier in to deal with the ballast levels being different.

(I'm thinking here of a cross section across the station perpendicular to the tracks, it showed that the new platforms were all significantly higher than the existing...)

Paul

[stuving]

Guessing, and mainly based on a drawing posted ages ago (somewhere in this thread), the finished height of the track for P10 is significantly higher than that through P9, and they are possibly going to put some sort of barrier in to deal with the ballast levels being different.

(I'm thinking here of a cross section across the station perpendicular to the tracks, it showed that the new platforms were all significantly higher than the existing...)

Paul

I think you're right - and if you look closely at that cross-sectional view, it shows a little retaining wall with its own foundation. The height difference is about the height of track plus sleepers - whatever that is. In that case it must run all the way along, surely.

[ironstone11]

If I've got my bearings correctly, the third picture shows the blind spot between the two webcam views,

The cameras are visible in the picture, top right.

and shows them pouring concrete into the shuttering that forms the 'pile cap' for the north side of the Festival Box slab.   The corresponding views on webcam 6/2 are around 1200 today, 12th Sept.
Paul

Parts of the concrete pump can be seen very much in the foreground on Cam06/2 at that time.

[paul7575]

...and shows them pouring concrete into the shuttering that forms the 'pile cap' for the north side of the Festival Box slab.   The corresponding views on webcam 6/2 are around 1200 today, 12th Sept.
Paul

Parts of the concrete pump can be seen very much in the foreground on Cam06/2 at that time.

  That's what I meant above (in bold)...

[ironstone11]

What has been done that needed P6 closed? Well, there's some scaffolding appeared (1st pic). Not quite a self-assembly platform kit, as you need a gang of scaffolders to come and build it. This amount only looks enough to cover the near end of P6, and I can't see why that needs to wait until this weekend.

The third rail power will have to be off during materials delivery and scaffold contruction. Whether that justifies P6 being out of use. According to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) P6 comes back into use after Sep 23, contrary to the statement in Reading Station News No7.
What really puzzles me though is how P7 is going to be part re-constructed in as little as 3 months adjacent to a running line. I had thought that perhaps P8 would be used for down Westbury trains, but according to RTT,  (and FGW^▸ (First Great Western)), P7 remains operational.

[paul7575]

I've been thinking that they might do the majority of the work to build the new block wall during overnight or weekend (late Sat/early Sun) possessions, does RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) show P7 being out of use at all on all these weekends later in the autumn (when we know XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are diverting via Reading West curve etc)?  Once the wall is built up and the copings installed they can then work away from the platform edge.

I haven't looked through RTT in detail over the whole period yet, but for example P7 and P8 are not mentioned on Sun 29th:  (resolve)/2013/09/29/0200-0159?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt" target="_blank">http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/RDG/2013/09/29/0200-0159?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

They'd put a warning on the website that SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) will have to be used on weekday servcies that call, but wouldn't necessarily mention if the services were using different platforms on a weekend, that would be considered a normal situation I think...

Paul

[paul7575]

Found some Network Change details for the 'Stage J' works this Christmas period.  Basically resignalling of the Westbury Route as far as Southcote Jn, and the Reading West Curve, and installation of some crossovers and points associated with the future 'Feeder Lines':

By way of a brief summary the main changes that will take place as part of the Stage J Works are:
^  Re-modelling of Oxford Road Junction and installation and renewal of a number of point ends to support the future introduction of the new Up Reading Feeder Main Line and Down Reading Feeder Relief Line.
^  Introduction of new signalling between Southcote Junction inclusive and Reading Westbury Line Junction inclusive. To  include:
   o  Thales AzLM axle counters as means of train detection.
   o  Bi-directional signalling on the Down Westbury between Reading Station and Reading West Station.
   o  Provision of two preliminary route indicators on the Up Westbury Line on approach to Reading West Station.
   o  A number of position light signals changing to main aspect signals.
^  Introduction of a new Double Junction and associated signal route between the Down and Up Reading West Curves in the vicinity of Oxford Road.
^  Changes to Permissible Line Speeds (PSR^▸ (Permanent Speed Restriction)).

From this document, which gives greater significantly greater detail:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/network%20code/network%20change/current%20proposals/reading%20redevelopment/ncn%20g1%202013%20rsar%20003%20stage%20j.pdf

Paul

[ironstone11]

I've been thinking that they might do the majority of the work to build the new block wall during overnight or weekend (late Sat/early Sun) possessions, does RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) show P7 being out of use at all on all these weekends later in the autumn (when we know XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are diverting via Reading West curve etc)?  Once the wall is built up and the copings installed they can then work away from the platform edge.
Paul

Yes, I think that your suggestions for building the platform walls are most likely. RTT shows P7 & 8 out of use for the last two weekends in September and all weekends in October.  I wonder if it is a mistake, but RTT shows P7 & 8 back in use on the first weekend in November - I haven't explored all weekends beyond the start of November. Also P6 comes back into use from Sept 21 onwards, according to RTT.