Great Western Coffee Shop

The Bristol Evening Post is reporting

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/local-news/bristol-parkway-close-completely-two-186410 (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/local-news/bristol-parkway-close-completely-two-186410)

This will last from September 2nd (2017) to Sunday 17th (2017) to allow the fourth platform, Platform 1, to be built.

Is i necessary to shut the station for two weeks for this? It didn't shut for two weeks when Platform 4, the third platform, was added.

shutting for two weeks will undoubtedly be cheaper than keeping the trains running.  Personally, I think it hard to justify, although I might be persuaded that it is the right decision if the closure is also used to sort out other work needed for electrification of the route.  If that part of the route is closed at Christmas for electrification work (for example in the Chipping Sodbury tunnel) then I will not be impressed by NR's project planning. 

Other works are also involved in that area, as discussed on this thread (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=18452.msg215814)

That was my guess too, after all major platform work at Temple Meads is only taking a few days.

The big shame about this work, is that once BPW is shut, no other station nearby (Patchway and Abbey Wood) has space for 200-300 bicycles, or good bus services. So my current journey to|from Bristol of 30 minutes by bike+train, will be 40 minutes in the morning and anything up to 90 minutes in the evening.

Shame that MetroBus hasn't happened yet! I could have tried it for two  weeks!

Isn't that typical of what passes for joined up thinking in the WoE. Never was an acronym more apt !

The replacement of the Hatchet Road overbridge is to take place during this closure and NR are taking advantage to have 24 hr / 7 day a week working to install piles and erect stantions on the Westerleigh Junction to Parkway line and also on the Charfield line towards Yate station to enable the 80X trains to reverse back to Parkway on the down line in cases of emergencies arising after a London service had departed Parkway. The up Charfield line being signalled for two way running at this location. The up London line was signaled for two way working but this facility was removed a few years ago as it hadn't been used since the facility was installed although the signal gantries which held the controlling down signals for the up London line may still be in situ as they are the location of the down line signals. Also Cheltenham - London services are diverted via Parkway, I suppose the installation of OHL from Westerleigh Jct. towards Yate will be used for up pantograph / down pantograph actions for such diverted services as there is a PW speed restriction over this stretch of curved track.

Apart from peak hours London services will also NOT be calling at Parkway in the previous 2 week period either as electrification will close the line from Westerleigh to Wotton Bassett.

My understanding is that this bridge is to be repaired and strengthened, not replaced:

Shame they can't replace both bridges and widen the road to allow two proper width pavements, cycle path and the two current traffic lanes.

Will know more tomorrow after a progress meeting.

Splutter -splutter - pah!

Just spat hot tea over my laptop! Go on, get out of here!

Just as well it was there - might have spat it in your lap otherwise.   ;D

Lol. I would rather work from home than try that [....] Metrobus. Better still, from where I live, I would use the number 18 bus (soon to be split into 10, 11 & 11A) and go to Patchway station that way if I had to.

Dave

Come home this evening through Westerleigh to have a nose at whats happening around Westerleigh Junction.

A number of uprights for the OHL have been erected on the piles already constucted from Westerleigh Junction towards Bristol Parkway itself. I could see 4 sets in all but couldn't stop as there was a line of traffic behind me and the road isn't particular wide through the village.

Might take a walk out later as its a pleasant evening to see what has happened east of the junction in the past two weeks.

Out of interest, why is XC running via Newport? I recall the Newport resignalling scheme specifically included provision to reverse at STJ. Is this another example of an infrastructure improvement that was a good idea other than nobody ever thought to ask the TOC whether it was actually needed?

Connections with GWR who don't tend to stop their HSTs there?

That's certainly one possibility, although the Patchway call should cover that?

There is potentially a difference between a planned diversion such as the current one, where it's decided well in advance that the trains should call at Newport for connectional purposes, and last minute diversions where there's not going to be any extra planned connections and there's going to be a greater priority on minimising added minutes (so a Severn Tunnel Junction reversal).

The Severn Tunnel Junction turnback has been used during the current blockade.  Seen at least two evening northbound services use it over the past two days since the blockade started.  Have been on two trains that reversed at Newport and there were quite a few people making connections there for stations further West (I assume instead of BPW).

Real Time Trains today shows none turning back at Severn Tunnel Jn

Sorry, but you appear to be wrong there: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/SEVT730/2017/09/04/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt
The turnback takes place at NT1730 Signal: http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/bristolparkway

Sorry, didn't realise Sig NT1730 had it's own timing point on RTT.   Seem to be the late trains

Well, in the end I didn't take that walk, I took a run over to the station as I espied that a movement from Swindon Transfer to Yate was in progress on RTT.

Quite a setup in the station car park, a 'shipping container' cum office, rest room with en-suite wc with the red and white plastic temporary wall barriers marking the route within the car park for the double decker buses to follow. A mobile generator was positioned at the end of the shipping container thingy to provide power for lighting in said container as well as for boiling the kettle and powering the microwave. A second mobile generator was, like the first, sited in a hired-in trailer to provide lighting on the inside of a large gazebo equipped with temporary seating bolted to the car park surface presumably with largish rawbolts. One First Bus double decker was in use and a second, standby vehicle, was parked up in the north end of the car park. This had increased to two dds and a coach when I passed the station on Tuesday 05/09.

However, Saturday nights sleep was disturbed by the continual thumping of the cylinders fot the piles which reverberated through my house and Sunday morning whilst waiting for the bus I was able to view the efforts of the Saturday nights work by seeing two sets of capped cylinders which I presume will be for an upright stantion and a diagonal support where two OHL wire sections starts / finishes.

Tuesday, I purposely traveled on the top deck of the bus and passing through Westerleigh village I could see many uprights in position on the down side only of the line towards Parkway Station.

Yesterday, I detoured on my return home after my midweek visit to the supermarket and parked on one of the overbridges at Chipping Sodbury that leads nowhere except a dead end but could see no evidence of any work being done from the western portal of CS tunnel towards Westerleigh Junction apart from capped piles on the down side only. Nearer to home I stopped off at Wapley bridge, the one depicted in the time lapse video on Network Rail's website, and here there was much more evidence of progress. All the uprights seemed to be in place from the bridge to Westerleigh Junction itself and from the bridge eastwards towards the Sodbury tunnel so the work site at that time could have on the curve of the line not visible from either of the two bridges I visited. There is a third bridge which I can visit between these two but for today I'll be taking a different bus route towards Bristol and I'll report back any noticeable activity on the stretch of the line between Coalpit Heath and Winterbourne.

Thanks for posting your detailed update on progress there, martyjon.  ;)

The proposed plan of work can be found here (not sure if they are keeping to the plan though; this is NR we are talking about  ::) ):
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/great-western-mainline/south-gloucestershire/  and in particular for the current Bristol Parkway works here: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/great-western-mainline/upgrading-railway-wiltshire-south-gloucestershire/

One interesting new fact I have learnt about is the floodwater storage lagoon at Chipping Sodbury: https://16cbgt3sbwr8204sf92da3xxc5m-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Chipping-Sodbury-flood-resilience-factsheet.pdf

Now 9 times larger?

Network Rail have released a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KNCV2XNPik&feature=push-u&attr_tag=ZIUSYLibDbVRfDLW-6) about this scheme. Don't get too excited, it's just a talking head. (No offence, Matt, but I was hoping for timelapses and uplifting music...)

...and another (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsiQiFemqmM&feature=push-u&attr_tag=hfRYQbhIDIzU_s9v-6), this one starring Stephen Merchant I think...  'biggest upgrade since Brunel built this railway', he says. Gosh, that's a new way of looking at it - hadn't thought of it like that.

.... and the planned work had not been completed in that two weeks although the station opened as planned on Saturday.

We have been advised by Network Rail thus ;

I am writing to let you know we have updated our piling dates for Old Sodbury/Chipping Sodbury during the temporary line closure between Swindon and Bristol Parkway. Unfortunately, tougher than expected ground conditions have slowed our progress in this area.

The details can be found on our website at www.networkrail.co.uk/westernupgrade.


I'm not surprised, NR admitted about 2/3 years ago that a proper geological survey had not taken place on the line and to my untrained eye there may even be a need to hack away the rock face in the Sodbury and Winterboune cuttings to allow for the cables which will be slung from upright to upright without fouling the rock face itself. Besides that there seems to be a tremendous amount of vegetation clearance work to be done to eliminate the possibility of falling trees bringing down the OHL.

It is indeed a new way to look at it. The line through Bristol Parkway was built over 40 years after Brunel's death. Nothing to do with the Little Giant. Wootton Bassett to Patchway (South Wales Main Line) opened in 1903.