Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[mjones]

I've noticed work taking place on bridges both the East and the West of the station. To the East, over Vastern Rd what look to me like preparatory work for a new bridge next to the Waterloo lines has been done, which I'd assumed was for the extended platforms and third platform there. To the West, over Caversham Rd, two old sections of bridge have been taken away on the northern side of the tracks.

Now, I'd got the impression from Rail that during the Christmas possession one of these bridges, Caversham Rd I think, is to be completely replaced, which I'd assumed to mean the whole width, including lines still in use. But I don't see why this would be needed for the Caversham Rd bridge, as the old sections of bridge have already been demolished, so I'm unclear why the rest of the bridge would have to go? And when will the new Waterloo line bridge be installed?

[paul7575]

The moral of the story?  Don't necessarily rely on 'Rail' for accuracy. AFAICS^▸ (As Far As I Can See) Network Rail explain it is only the northern two spans that are to be replaced:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Press-Releases/READING-RAIL-BRIDGE-REMOVAL-PREPARES-GROUND-FOR-CHRISTMAS-WORKS-1576/SearchCategoryID-8.aspx

I reckon what they are doing is putting in a much wider span at the north side only, so that they can relay the relief lines further north in due course.  Then they'll have room to do more changes to the track layout on the remaining spans.  A sketch I have indicates that there will be 11 tracks over the bridge, there are 8 at the moment.

PS...   Comparing that right hand picture on NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s press release with Google Maps, it looks as though they have filled in that small space at the east side of Caversham Rd, ie between the road and end of the old viaduct shown being used as a carpark - perhaps about a 20ft square space?  That'll give quite a bit of extra width (from the rail perspective)...

Paul

(BTW^▸ (by the way) - isn't it odd that this was in NR's London and Southeast, not the Wales and West area of the media section...)

[Chris from Nailsea]

(BTW^▸ (by the way) - isn't it odd that this was in NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s London and Southeast, not the Wales and West area of the media section...)

Thanks, Paul - that would perhaps help to explain why I didn't pick that up, in my regular trawl for news items relating to the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) area ...

[willc]

(BTW^▸ (by the way) - isn't it odd that this was in NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s London and Southeast, not the Wales and West area of the media section...)

Just the way that the NR press offices operation is organised. London and Southeast covers roughly the old BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Network South East area. Wales and West is everything west of Didcot. There is some crossover, eg Cotswold Line is normally an L&SE route in news terms but redoubling project news is handled by Wales and West, as the project team and the Wales and West press officer are based in Swindon.

[ChrisB]

The moral of the story?  Don't necessarily rely on 'Rail' for accuracy.

Or Modern Railways.....at last, others are realising what I worked out a while ago - that they are trawling these & other boards and Newsgroups for their editorial, and running stories without checking with press offices.

[paul7575]

Had a look at the concrete work at the north end of the Caversham Road bridge this morning.
The 'block in the corner' I mentioned earlier seems to add about 25ft to that side's abutment (along the line of the road), and on the west side of the road between the fire station and the railway there is reinforced concrete piling in place to form the foundations for another new abutment, probably about 15-20 ft wide as well, so I guess the S&C^▸ (Settle and Carlisle ) for the track 'fan out' to the eventual platforms 14 and 15 will start some way to the west of the bridge.

Paul

[mjones]

...
I reckon what they are doing is putting in a much wider span at the north side only, so that they can relay the relief lines further north in due course.  Then they'll have room to do more changes to the track layout on the remaining spans.  A sketch I have indicates that there will be 11 tracks over the bridge, there are 8 at the moment.

PS...   Comparing that right hand picture on NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s press release with Google Maps, it looks as though they have filled in that small space at the east side of Caversham Rd, ie between the road and end of the old viaduct shown being used as a carpark - perhaps about a 20ft square space?  That'll give quite a bit of extra width (from the rail perspective)...

Paul
...

That certainly seems likely, though the Google picture also shows quite a big gap between the fast and relief lines over the bridge, so I wonder if they plan to fill that as well, if you think there's 3 more tracks to go in?

Does anyone know more about what is planned on the Vastern Rd bridge, where the extra Waterloo platform is going in?

[paul7575]

I'll try and describe what it ends up like, as I haven't a detailed linkable drawing to hand.

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6341.aspx  gives an idea but it's important to note it doesn't show all the tracks.  (If someone has a better drawing link please put it up, thanks.)

At the moment you have the three fast lines between P4 and P5, but there will eventually be just two tracks there, a 'down Newbury' through P7, (the current P4 built out), and a down fast P8 (current P5) and a second down fast P9, being roughly where the current P8 is.   A second island allows for two up fast lines through P10/11.

There will also be four relief line platforms and tracks, another two islands.

So ignoring the four southern most tracks as seen on Google for a moment, then you've basically got seven more lines south to north across the site, one in hte rough position of the current P8, (down relief) then three more islands with six tracks.

I'm assuming that the bridge they're about to install at Christmas will definitely carry at least two tracks towards the up relief island, possibly a third for the P13 down relief.  I also assume that the southern four tracks will be in roughly the same position as now, so the remaining current spans will need to carry four or five tracks.

However what would be really useful to see is a scale drawing of the completed station, but all I've ever seen are schematics, which don't really give you the relative positions of the four finished island platforms, although I have heard that the current P10 will be remodelled and extended west to form the new P11, if that makes sense. 

It wouldn't surprise me if a few more bridge spans get repositioned slightly, even if they aren't replaced, and of course there'll have to be a number of transitional layouts, for instance the two new island platforms will be built first, P12/13 and P14/15.  Once they are in use they'll have a huge amount of working space between the mains and reliefs to play with.

All I know about Vastern Rd is that there will be two tracks splitting into three platform lines somewhere east of the bridge, the platforms cross the bridge, and it is all very tight between the existing railway boundary and the various buildings...

Paul

[mjones]

Thanks Paul,

I've seen the Network Rail diagram, but as you say it is only schematic and it is hard to relate it to what is going on there at the moment. Indeed, looking from trains when passing through it is very hard to see how  another two island platforms will fit on the other side of the current p9/10!

I've been watching the work going on on the eastern side of Vastern Rd from my train as I commute to Wokingham. As you say, it is very squeezed, particularly now that large new office block has been constructed. It looks like they've started to build a retaining wall from where the new section of bridge will end, back to the current trackbed, presumably this will then be filled in to create the new trackbed. The new concrete abutment that has been built is currently at the same level as the footpath at the top of that bank, well below the level of the track, so I'm assuming the new bridge will have quite a high support structure on top of the concrete base.

Yesterday it looked like the traffic has now been moved away from the western side of the road, presumably so that piling can start on the other side.

[IndustryInsider]

Indeed, looking from trains when passing through it is very hard to see how  another two island platforms will fit on the other side of the current p9/10!

It is going to be a bit of a squeeze, but don't forget that the brick buildings which house the current panel box and equipment will all be demolished along with parking spaces, so there's just enough room.  The extension to 4A/B and the third 'southern' platform will be an incredibly tight fit.

It's worth looking at a close-up in Google Earth, as there's an 8-car train in Platform 4b which gives you a very good idea how far the 12-car length platforms will be, extending all the way over Vastern Road.

[eightf48544]

Although perhaps not given a much publicity as the new mainline platforms and flyovers the third "Southern" Platform will be a big improvement for pasengers on the Waterloo and North Downs services. Giving as it does a 3rd platform and more importantly eliminating the single track bottleneck over Vastern Road bridge.

Sometime back they (NSE^▸ (Network South East)?) managed to derail a train on the bridge. Total chaos for the electric services.

[Electric train]

................. and its all being built Crossrail "friendly"

[eightf48544]

................. and its all being built Crossrail "friendly"

Let's hope that in the spending review Crossrail isn't given the go ahead to Maidenhead and GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification is posponed.

Which means they will spend millions on the turnback sidings at Maidenhead which will be totally unecessary once the wires reach Reading. One option I've heard (unsubstantiated) is that Crossrail's Central  London Tunnel and the Eastern links will go ahead, but the wires will only be extended to West Drayton which is currently a designated turnback point.

This actually makes a lot of sense as it causes less damage to the Reading to Ealing Broadway local services than splitting at Maidenhead.

You can have a mixed semifast/stopping  servce Reading Hayes Ealing Padd (as today) and an all stations West Drayton Shenfied/Abbey Wood. However, they'd probably have to cut down to 20tph through the tunnel.
 

[Electric train]

There is NO reduction in the planned Crossrail stations, the significant change is on the Abbey Wood branch where third rail is going to be used on the surface and the Connaught tunnel (form North Woolwich line).

Even if Crossrail reaches Reading and the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) is electrified as far as Oxford it could still make sense terminating local stoppers at Maidenhead with a similar service pattern used before the Heathrow Connect days with the terminating at Slough.  Currently the XX:42 is caught up by the XX:57 at Maidenhead likewise the XX:12 is caught by the XX:27 at Maidenhead.

[paul7575]

There is NO reduction in the planned Crossrail stations, the significant change is on the Abbey Wood branch where third rail is going to be used on the surface and the Connaught tunnel (form North Woolwich line).

There's been so many mainstream media 'what ifs' about Crossrail it was difficult to keep track - IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) one fairly respected newspaper mentioned doing away with 'one or two of the western branches' which sounded odd at the time because both of the branches are already built, ie the Heathrow branch, and the existing GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) reliefs. Not sure how that removal would have worked.   

But anyway, having an AC/DC^▸ (Direct Current) changeover, possibly during the Custom House stop, makes some sense. AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) much of the refurbishment planned for the Connaught tunnel was to do with increasing clearance for overhead electrification by lowering the track bed.  A decision to go back to third rail through there puts some more flesh on the bones of recent stories about 'reusing existing infrastructure in Docklands'...

Paul