St Erth to St Ives line - ongoing discussion, including a book about the line (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[RailCornwall]

The Logistics of this operation must be frightful. I presume almost all of the Car Park at the Station is being used at St Ives. Transporting heavy machinery to all sites of the work will be quite a task. 

[Electric train]

The Logistics of this operation must be frightful. I presume almost all of the Car Park at the Station is being used at St Ives. Transporting heavy machinery to all sites of the work will be quite a task. 

You will be surprised how little equipment is used that requires the use of car park type space.  The biggest demand will be the parking for the workforce and welfare facilities, I expect the project team will have planned for this.

Rail, sleepers, ballast is delivered and recovered by rail

[bobm]

You can see the first couple of sleepers have been delivered in the photo above.   

[TonyK]

Rail, sleepers, ballast is delivered and recovered by rail

1.5 miles is 20 x 250m lengths of rail. 400 tonnes of ballast is presumably about 20 wagon loads? Concrete sleepers are about 200 - 220 Kg, so about 800 to 900 tonnes, a lot less if wood is used. So in total, five or six trains, at a rough guess. Perhaps a real expert could fill in the details, but what would be a massive logistical exercise for road vehicles is all in a day's work on a railway. Still impressive, though.

[Electric train]

Rail, sleepers, ballast is delivered and recovered by rail

1.5 miles is 20 x 250m lengths of rail. 400 tonnes of ballast is presumably about 20 wagon loads? Concrete sleepers are about 200 - 220 Kg, so about 800 to 900 tonnes, a lot less if wood is used. So in total, five or six trains, at a rough guess. Perhaps a real expert could fill in the details, but what would be a massive logistical exercise for road vehicles is all in a day's work on a railway. Still impressive, though.

Expect the majority of the sleepers top be steel

[Pb_devon]

The CRS website news today has images that confirm steel sleepers. No doubt there will be updates on there as work proceeds.

[TonyK]

The CRS website news today has images that confirm steel sleepers. No doubt there will be updates on there as work proceeds.

So that's 12 standard container loads, max, if British Steel aren't exaggerating.

Steel ties are lighter than concrete sleepers and have the added benefit of being stackable. Container shipping is an economical option with 300-400 standard gauge sleepers or 450-600 metric gauge sleepers being contained within one standard 20ft shipping container. Sleepers are typically stacked in bundles of 10 which can be lifted with a standard forklift truck. Individual sleepers are light enough to be manually handled on site if required. Fewer vehicle movements on site improves safety and reduces the environmental impact of the project too.

[Electric train]

The CRS website news today has images that confirm steel sleepers. No doubt there will be updates on there as work proceeds.

So that's 12 standard container loads, max, if British Steel aren't exaggerating.

Steel ties are lighter than concrete sleepers and have the added benefit of being stackable. Container shipping is an economical option with 300-400 standard gauge sleepers or 450-600 metric gauge sleepers being contained within one standard 20ft shipping container. Sleepers are typically stacked in bundles of 10 which can be lifted with a standard forklift truck. Individual sleepers are light enough to be manually handled on site if required. Fewer vehicle movements on site improves safety and reduces the environmental impact of the project too.

They will arrive by rail and one of these track laying consists used https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/stafford-rail-development-sets-track-laying-record-as-it-enters-final-stages-1

[GBM]

Is it me? 
The clear track adjacent to the track laying equipment (Stafford picture https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/stafford-rail-development-sets-track-laying-record-as-it-enters-final-stages-1) looks very 'kinked'.
Guess there is a technical term for it.

[stuving]

Is it me? 
The clear track adjacent to the track laying equipment (Stafford picture https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/stafford-rail-development-sets-track-laying-record-as-it-enters-final-stages-1) looks very 'kinked'.
Guess there is a technical term for it.

That's not track - it's two rails sitting on the ballast waiting for another of those clever machines to put sleepers under it and clip it down. Rail is quite floppy on its own - at least when seen foreshortened like that.

[paul7575]

I found a quite recent video of the overall track laying process involving the Balfour Beatty new track construction train, (NTC^▸ (New Track Construction)).  It?s installing track on steel sleepers in this example, at Shildon, the machine can be seen at around 15 mins into the video.

https://youtu.be/vUd2kc-JsB8

It seems to me this machine is possibly more relevant to installing brand new track, or for single track replacement, but on double track a lot of replacement will still get done one side at a time by conventional road rail equipment working from the existing parallel track?

Paul

[smokey]

Heck of a lot of Steel sleepers in and along the line from Carbis Bay to St Ives.

I don't Understand the Quote from Rail Advent that this is the biggest investment in Track renewals in Cornwall since the 1950s, this relaying will extend the Continuously Welded Rail (CWR^▸ (Continuously Welded Rail)) laid from St Erth towards St Ives  that was installed about 4 years ago.
Would think the whole branch will be Continuously Welded Rail  (CWR) after work is completed, so if 1 1/2 miles is being done then 3 miles has ALREADY been relaid with Continuously Welded Rail  (CWR.)


Edit: VickiS - clarifying acronym

[TonyK]

I found a quite recent video of the overall track laying process involving the Balfour Beatty new track construction train, (NTC^▸ (New Track Construction)).  It?s installing track on steel sleepers in this example, at Shildon, the machine can be seen at around 15 mins into the video.

https://youtu.be/vUd2kc-JsB8

It seems to me this machine is possibly more relevant to installing brand new track, or for single track replacement, but on double track a lot of replacement will still get done one side at a time by conventional road rail equipment working from the existing parallel track?

Paul

Seeing that machine, I wonder why it's going to take a week to relay St Ives!

[RailCornwall]

I found a quite recent video of the overall track laying process involving the Balfour Beatty new track construction train, (NTC^▸ (New Track Construction)).  It?s installing track on steel sleepers in this example, at Shildon, the machine can be seen at around 15 mins into the video.

https://youtu.be/vUd2kc-JsB8

It seems to me this machine is possibly more relevant to installing brand new track, or for single track replacement, but on double track a lot of replacement will still get done one side at a time by conventional road rail equipment working from the existing parallel track?

Paul

Seeing that machine, I wonder why it's going to take a week to relay St Ives!

not a week but five weeks.

[Electric train]

I found a quite recent video of the overall track laying process involving the Balfour Beatty new track construction train, (NTC^▸ (New Track Construction)).  It?s installing track on steel sleepers in this example, at Shildon, the machine can be seen at around 15 mins into the video.

https://youtu.be/vUd2kc-JsB8

It seems to me this machine is possibly more relevant to installing brand new track, or for single track replacement, but on double track a lot of replacement will still get done one side at a time by conventional road rail equipment working from the existing parallel track?

Paul

Seeing that machine, I wonder why it's going to take a week to relay St Ives!

not a week but five weeks.

Depends on what else is being done.  Earthworks, culvert work, repairs to structures, what is referred to as a deep dig (ie going back to or near to the original formation and putting new layers of stone back)