Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Useful info, Chris.  Thanks.

[The SprinterMeister]

Also on that date, signal TR253 at the London end of current platform 5 is being moved approx 10 metres further west (back down platform), to enable other signalling equipment to be installed. THe HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) stopping point may move too.

Don't think you'll get an HST to stand in rear of TR253. That's the signal that protects the exit from the current East end facing bay platform 6....

TR53 is the LED signal on the London end of platform 5.

[Electric train]

and current platform 6 (new 16) closes permanently.

Must be one of the shortest lived platforms .. platform 16

[bobm]

Workington North anyone?  (but I know what you mean  )

[Electric train]

Traveled through Reading for the first time in months; the new MDU (Maintenance Delivery Unit) UP side on the London end of the station looks to be open, the old panel box has a lot of it operating floor ripped out can not be ong before the big wreckers move in.

[SandTEngineer]

RIP http://photos.signallingnotices.org.uk/photo.php?pc=245&p=IMG_3898.JPG 

[paul7575]

Traveled through Reading for the first time in months; the new MDU (Maintenance Delivery Unit) UP side on the London end of the station looks to be open, the old panel box has a lot of it operating floor ripped out can not be ong before the big wreckers move in.

Is that at mainline track level - or is that what that large concrete floored compound at a lower level down by the roadside is? 

(On the way along towards Tescos at Kings Meadow - I'm not sure of the road name...)

Paul

[Electric train]

Traveled through Reading for the first time in months; the new MDU (Maintenance Delivery Unit) UP side on the London end of the station looks to be open, the old panel box has a lot of it operating floor ripped out can not be ong before the big wreckers move in.

Is that at mainline track level - or is that what that large concrete floored compound at a lower level down by the roadside is? 

(On the way along towards Tescos at Kings Meadow - I'm not sure of the road name...)

Paul

On the way to Tescos the old "Cattle Pens" Depot has gone although the modern modular building look inhabited and still has a sign on it

[bobm]

OMG^▸ (Oh My doG - Teenage expression of mock surprise, normally used in social media posts) - a news update on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website!  Dated 27th May - it says the work at Christmas went well.

Network Rail and First Great Western have welcomed a report by Passenger Focus, which singles out the engineering works in Reading over Christmas 2010 and the associated passenger communication as best practice.
Network Rail Project director Bill Henry said: ^Close partnerships with train operators including First Great Western were key to our success over Christmas. The Reading job was a huge engineering challenge, but just as important for all of us was minimising the impact of our work on passengers.

^Before Christmas, we made big upgrades to the railway so that trains could be diverted around Reading, reducing the need for replacement buses. We also worked with train operators to run the largest joint communications campaign we^ve ever delivered to support engineering works, making sure people knew the facts before they planned their journeys.

^This Christmas was the launch pad for a five year programme of upgrade work that will transform Reading^s railway. We^ll continue to work with train operators to plan our work efficiently, keeping the railway running and getting passengers where they need to go.^

More on the link above.

Also includes a link to Passenger Focus for the full report.

[eightf48544]

Traveled through Reading for the first time in months; the new MDU (Maintenance Delivery Unit) UP side on the London end of the station looks to be open, the old panel box has a lot of it operating floor ripped out can not be ong before the big wreckers move in.

Is that at mainline track level - or is that what that large concrete floored compound at a lower level down by the roadside is? 

(On the way along towards Tescos at Kings Meadow - I'm not sure of the road name...)

Paul

The old panel box was by the North side of the goods lines which ran behind platform 9. I assumme that's what Electrictrain was refering to. Don't think the concrete base you are refering to is on railway land, although it may have been in the past pre closure of goods yard and signal works.   

[Electric train]

Traveled through Reading for the first time in months; the new MDU (Maintenance Delivery Unit) UP side on the London end of the station looks to be open, the old panel box has a lot of it operating floor ripped out can not be ong before the big wreckers move in.

Is that at mainline track level - or is that what that large concrete floored compound at a lower level down by the roadside is? 

(On the way along towards Tescos at Kings Meadow - I'm not sure of the road name...)

Paul

The old panel box was by the North side of the goods lines which ran behind platform 9. I assumme that's what Electrictrain was refering to. Don't think the concrete base you are refering to is on railway land, although it may have been in the past pre closure of goods yard and signal works.   

The concrete base Paul is referring to is at the low level East of the station on the North side used to be part of the Gas Works sidings

[Timmer]

OMG^▸ (Oh My doG - Teenage expression of mock surprise, normally used in social media posts) - a news update on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website!  Dated 27th May - it says the work at Christmas went well.

Whilst everyone should be pleased that in general arrangements for covering services around the time of the Reading blockade went well, it was disappointing that a number of services, particularly on December 27th and January 1st, ended or started short of Paddington/Waterloo at Oxford and Basingstoke respectively because of a lack of pilots to cover the diverted routes. This seems to have been missed in reports/articles that I have read about the Reading works over Christmas/New Year.

If I had been a passenger on these trains I would have been none too pleased particularly if had been travelling to London and only getting as far as Oxford. Basingstoke not so bad as SWT^▸ (South West Trains) were running a normal service to Waterloo and you may have actually found yourself arriving into London earlier because the FGW HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) had to go via Staines.

I hope lessons have been learned from this even if they have not been made public with a view to ensuring less trains end up terminating/starting short of London when the next blockade takes place.

On the whole I thought the communication of these works was excellent and should be used as an example for future major rail engineering projects.

[willc]

Contractor chosen for the station rebuilding. From Network rail press release:

A Costain/Hochteif joint venture has been named preferred contractor for Network Rail^s rebuild of Reading station.

The contract will see five new platforms constructed at Reading, relieving congestion on the Great Western Main Line and spelling an end to the familiar experience of waiting outside the station for a platform.

The contract, worth approximately ^80m, is one of the biggest that will be awarded as part of Network Rail^s ^850m project to transform Reading^s railway.

Full release here: http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Press-Releases/NETWORK-RAIL-ANNOUNCES-PREFERRED-CONTRACTOR-FOR-READING-STATION-UPGRADE-179e/SearchCategoryID-8.aspx

[paul7575]

Big chunks being taken out of the old 'signal box' this afternoon while I was waiting for my train on P8.

I had a walk round for a look at the new Vastern Rd bridge from the roadside - what seemed noticeable (to me) is that the three new spans that are now in position on the north side (for the new line down to the underpass) are at a different spacing to the rest of the bridge, including the new stuff on the south side.

The only explanation I can think of is that the 'pitch' of the original spans didn't quite fit a single track width IYSWIM, ie two wouldn't have been enough, and three at teh normal spacing would have been unnecessarily wide?

Paul

[paul7575]

...and some updated pictures taken yesterday:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=79677666&postcount=117

Paul