Crossrail/Elizabeth Line. From construction to operation - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[eightf48544]

The ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) refused the additional off peak paths requested.

What a mad mad world we live in!

[eightf48544]

Does anyone know if Crossrail is W10 loading gauge.

Container trains from Southampton to Felixstowe during the night.

[Zoe]

The ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) refused the additional off peak paths requested.

What a mad mad world we live in!

Not that mad, the ORR concluded that there was no business case for the additional paths and there were valid capacity concerns from the Railfreight Group.

[Electric train]

Does anyone know if Crossrail is W10 loading gauge.

Container trains from Southampton to Felixstowe during the night.

It is not being built for freight, is better to improve the NNL and routes south of the Thames for freight,  also I am not sure there is a need to run container traffic by rail between 2 sea ports, most of the Southampton and Felixstow traffic heads north into the midlands Scotland etc.  Also there will be no over night running as with all other underground railways thats when maintenance will be done

[Surrey 455]

Also there will be no over night running as with all other underground railways thats when maintenance will be done

I wonder if Crossrail or FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (or their successor) will run some sort of local overnight service between Paddington main line station and Reading as FGW do now, as this section is above ground.

[ChrisB]

I suspect the relief lines will be in the Crossrail franchise, allowing competing fares twixt London & Reading. Hence its likely yto be a requirement of the Crossrail franchise, not the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise.

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion), of course.

[Zoe]

I wonder if Crossrail or FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (or their successor) will run some sort of local overnight service between Paddington main line station and Reading as FGW do now, as this section is above ground.

Crossrail is only going to Maindenhead though, not Reading.

[eightf48544]

Recent post about Crossrail sum up the main problems with project.

Because it was planned to link the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) and the GEML^▸ (Great Eastern Main Line) the problem arose that the GWML was only electrified as far as Hayes/Heathrow. They then costed extra the electrification Westward and ran out of money at Maidenhead. Hence the odd choice of Western terminus.

With the annoucement of GWML electrification the Western terminus can be anywhere from Oxford/Newbury/Bristol/Cardiff. Reading being the msot obvious.

Whilst Crossrail works East of the tunnel with 12tph taking over the existing local services from  Liverpool Street and 12tph terminating at the end of a new branch line at Abbey Wood, with the possibility of dual voltage trains going further East.

The GWML cannot accomodate 24 tph on the Relief lines West of the tunnel exit hence the need to turn back over 50% of the service at Westbourne Park with the need to build a non advertised station so that those left on a terminating train at Padd can get off and get back on to go back to Padd. Still it gives more track for the Branch Line Society to bash.

The complete dedication of the Relief Lines to Crossrail  is absurb and would be the complete misuse of a four track railway. It would be, I don't know a word strong enough, to try to run 125 HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train)/IEPs^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) and 3000 t stone trains on the mainlines. Unless of course DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about) don't want freight trains.

My comment re Southampton Felixstow containers was based on somehthing I read that it can be quicker to offload the large trans ocean ships at Southampton forward the container to Felixstowe and reload on a smaller ship Rotterdamm. It saves the large ship having to call into Southamton and then flog up the Channel to Rotterdamm to have the rest of its containers unloaded. Thus it can be back at sea on its return journey several days sooner. Hence saving time, fuel and of course money.

[ChrisB]

I believe freight frim stone terminal is allowed gor under Crossrail?

[Electric train]

The principle reason for Crossrail not going to Reading was the cost of remodeling Reading station also the immunisation of the signaling and telecoms past Ruscombe / Slough boundary the actual electrification costs are relatively small.

The Relief Lines will be principally used by Crossrail but not exclusively, its is not the same as say the District Line and the LTS between West Ham and Upminster where there is total separation.

There are quite a few years to run on both the Crossrail and GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification projects, Crossrail being subject to an Act of Parliament therefore it is simpler as far as funding is concerned to keep to the limits set out in the Act, Crossrail funding is complex enough without adding the complication of extending it.   My personal opinion will be that Reading - London local services will be dealt with in the up and coming GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise tender where I believe all of the TV Lines may even be taken out of the main line franchise this could fit in with a reshape of the GE / WA lines where there has been some talk that some of the WA services could be handed over to TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Overground.

[paul7575]

Pardon my ignorance - at Paddington, where are the taxis going to be moved to?

Found this while browsing today - pictures 7 and 9 in the 'gallery section' at the end of the page give a good idea of the taxi setup.

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/route/stations/paddington/

Paul

[anthony215]

Roger ford informed us in his latest newsletter now that Crossrail when it opens in 2018 could be cut back to Westbourne park. This is aparantly because of the signalling system or something. Any views on this?


http://groups.google.com/group/uk.railway/browse_thread/thread/a4b7e94b082b42fc#


 This information is in his latest newsleter which i havnt received a copy of yet, but this has been posted by a user on the uk railways group on google.

You can sign up to roger fords newsletter at:

http://www.alycidon.com/ALYCIDON%20RAIL/Archive.htm

[ChrisB]

I've read that too....I think you could post a link to the thread on Google groups, or even the whole post as its on a public ng

Thanks for the sign-up pointer!

[IndustryInsider]

Paddington's Crossrail station building contract has been awarded - the first station contract signed, though along with several other construction contracts, it has come in well under the guide price.

http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2011/07/26/contractors-knock-40-off-cost-of-crossrail-station-job/

The more money saved the better I suppose - provided all these construction giants don't go bust as a result halfway through the job!

[Electric train]

The more money saved the better I suppose - provided all these construction giants don't go bust as a result halfway through the job!

There is a bit of famine of work especially for big projects like this so the giants are willing to reduce their prices