Great Western Coffee Shop

At the end of May 2016 the first stage of the Bristol area resignalling gets commissioned and control transferred to Thames Valley Signalling Centre.  The area concerned is the South Wales main line from Charfield/Chipping Sodbury through Bristol Parkway to Piling and down to Henbury/Horfield (including the new connections to the IEP Depot at Stoke Gifford).  This area is controlled from what is known as the subsidiary panel in Bristol Panel signalbox.

http://www.networkrailconsulting.com/our-projects/bristol-area-signalling-renewal-and-enhancement/

http://www.networkrailconsulting.com/assets/Uploads/Bristol-Area-Signalling-Renewal-Enhancement-BASRE.pdf

See second page here for details of the services affected by the blockade: https://www.gwr.com/~/media/gwr/pdfs/planned-engineering/2016/bath-spa-warm-up-leaflet-web-version.pdf?la=en

I see in one of those links that they aren't resignalling "Bristol South", because it is out of electrification scope.   

Presumably as that area's panel is co-located within Bristol Power Box it will have to be recontrolled anyway, as don't they want to run trains through the present signal box location into the re-opened platform (or platforms) beyond?

Paul

But it goes on to say:

Of course that just excludes it from this project, so it may be done in another - odd though that might seem, since it would presumably have lower priority.

On the signalling plans I have (usual disclaimer about updated-ness ;) ) the two new platforms in the Brunel trainshed are not commissioned until a later date.  The area south of Flax Bourton to Bridgwater is not part of the resignalling for electrification but is shown as being re-controlled onto TVSC at Didcot. The mid-platform X signs at Bristol Temple Meads also get replaced by 'Back to Back' conventional signals.

Stage 2 (but in fact the first to be commissioned!) is just the Filton Diamond, including Parkway, Patchway, Filton Abbey Wood and Filton West Jn. Narroways Hill Jn and Westerleigh Jn remain under Bristol PSB control at present.  I think this is to avoid having to alter Bristol PSB for the IEP Depot connections.
Due to go Live August 2016.

Is Patchway the interface with S Wales signalling centre?

Yup.  All signals beyond there, Pilning loops etc and the Severn Tunnel itself,are prefixed "NT" which I assume is Newport PSB.

Newport (Panel) Signalbox closed on 29 October 2012.  The NT prefix refers to the Newport Workstation in Cardiff ROC.

May I kindly ask where you got your information from for the first stage of the Bristol re-signalling? The Signalling Scheme Plan I have (may be out of date) shows the first commissioning as I stated in my post above.

I confirm, but without naming my source of information, that I also understand that the new signalling around Parkway, Patchway, Filton AbbeyWood and Filton West Jcn will not go live until August 2016.

Two things in the meanwhile:
- for the May blockade, I note from a map on a leaflet on GWR's website that during the May closure CrossCountry services will divert between Bristol Temple Meads and Cheltenham Spa via. Bath Spa, Chippenham, Swindon (reverse) and Kemble. Nice detour: don't think i have ever seen a CrossCountry service heading through Kemble!

- GWR's website also advises that the lines from Bristol Parkway / Filton AbbeyWood to the Severn Tunnel will be closed 24/7 between Monday 12th September and Friday 21st October 2016 although the line from Filton AbbeyWood to Bristol Parkway will; remain open. I don't commute from South Wales but go there fairly regularly when working due to the nature of my job so things will be rather tricky for a while!

Dave

For a time when Virgin XC proposed to run services from Birmingham to Paddington via Cheltenham and Swindon all the local services from Glos to Swindon transferred to Virgin XC.  But then when they plan all went wrong this was undone. So normal XC services have run through Kemble before not just diverted services. 

Indeed, and the proposed Birmingham to Paddington via Swindon was to use a fleet of 2+5 HST's IIRC. 

I notice that they will also be calling at Bath, to set down only 'southbound' and pick up only 'northbound'

Makes sense so Bath passengers heading North don't have to double back travelling to Bristol first.

It does make sense as there's a huge passenger flow through Bath Spa ... though could they not have changed at Swindon onto the XC rather than doubling back?

I am a member of a couple of signalling-related forums and it seems that the timescale for this national ROC (Rail Operating Centre) idea. It came to my attention on one forum last week that the resignalling of the Medway Valley (Kent) line between Cuxton, Aylesford and Wateringbury to East Kent SCC - which, I believe, was supposed to have been done recently in connection with Phase 2 of the recontrol work - has been put back by several years, possibly to 2024-2029 at the earliest.

The whole of the area south of Bristol all the way to Penzance is eventually supposed to be passing to TVSC (Thames Valley Signalling Centre) at Didcot which will, I believe, eventually be renamed as the West of England ROC. I believe Devon and Cornwall are due to be done around 2017 - 2020 though I suspect that will probably slip.

In terms of the transfer of the Bristol Parkway / Filton / Westerleigh area to the TVSC I was at Clifton Down station this evening and noticed that there is, as I think we already knew, a closure of the lines from Bristol Parkway to Filton, Temple Meads, Severn Tunnel and Westerleigh Junction for Saturday 28th to Monday 30th May inclusive. I note, however, that buses will replace trains Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach for Saturday 27th to Monday 29th August inclusive. Perhaps the works for May are simply preparation for the recontrol of Bristol Parkway, Filton and Westerleigh while the commissioning date will indeed not be until August? Saying that I heard from someone connected with GWR that the commissioning date is indeed the May weekend. I guess we just wait and see.

For anyone interested in how the Thames Valley SCC looks there are pictures here of the building, along with some of the workstation screen layouts:
http://photos.signalling.org/index?/category/205-thames_valley_sc

HTIOI,
Dave

Looking at

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/143426.aspx#GWR

I find it amusing that the two stations severely affected, Bristol Parkway and Filton Abbeywood, are not actually mentioned in Network Rails notes.

The mention just about everything else.

Also no mention on completion so I assume that all will be ok Tuesday morning.

The site normally gives brief summary of the routes involved and these two stations come within the parameters quoted.

This is for the first stage of the Bristol Area Resignalling discussed further here: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16746.msg191165#msg191165

Control of Bristol Parkway, Filton Abbey Wood, Patchway, and the entire Filton Diamond has now transferred from Bristol PSB to Thames Valley Signalling Centre.

(I've looked for threads referring to this, but couldn't find anything.  Mods - Please move - or delete - this if I didn't look hard enough.)

No major disruption or late handback or anything.  As far as I know.

There is a thread here and this thread also contains a link to another one with more detailed info:-

www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=17395.0

Does TVSC now control all the way from Paddington to Filton Diamond or is there a small gap between Alderton and Parkway?

With thanks for your efforts in trying to find previous references, rower40, I've now found and merged three topics discussing this development.

Hopefully, suitably renamed, this combined topic will make it easier for our readers to find what they are looking for.  ;)

Yes there's a gap - Westerleigh Junction and Chipping Sodbury are still under Bristol PSB.  Control of this bit, and Westerleigh to the Gloucester PSB fringe, will transfer in Feb 2017.

Anyone know when the planned closure date for Bristol PSB is?

Bit of an update regards the resignalling and recontrol work to TVSC, as well as other related work in the Bristol area. A magazine article recently came to my attention through another forum and it gives some of the work dates for 2017 to 2019 so it looks as if the schedule is currently as follows:

February 2017: Recontrol of Badminton line from Bristol PSB to TVSC Didcot. This will bridge the gap through to Alderton and will also render the Stoke panel at Bristol PSB redundant. A website (RealTimeTrains) suggests that there will be a line closure - the only one in the Bristol Parkway area for the whole of the month - for the weekend of 18th & 19th February so I guess the work is to be done then. Buses will replace direct trains Bristol Parkway to Gloucester but CrossCountry trains will, by the looks of things, be diverted via. Severn Tunnel Junction to Newport from which they will head back to Severn Tunnel Junction and take the line via. Lydney up to Gloucester and then rejoin their normal route.

November 2017: More work at Bristol Parkway! Reconfiguration of layout with new platform.

April 2018: Control of signalling at Bristol Temple Meads to pass to TVSC Didcot.

December 2018: New platform brought into service at Filton Abbey Wood and also new signalling, with re-quadrupling between Filton Abbey Wood and Dr. Days Junction. I am guessing that the signalling from Lockleaze (Wessex Avenue bridge, current boundary between Bristol PSB and TVSC Didcot) through to Dr. Days Junction will pass from Bristol PSB to TVSC Didcot on completion of this work. I also think that TVSC Didcot will, at this point, take over the Severn Beach line from Narroways Junction, where the SBL leaves the main line to Filton, through to Clifton Down. There is a plan to amend the signalling at Clifton Down to make it similar to that used at Avonmouth so that it will be possible for late-running trains from Temple Meads to cross over to the other line and terminate at Platform 2. Terminated trains will then be able to start back to Temple Meads from Platform 2 which is the platform they normally use when travelling in that direction.

A new timetable is expected to commence between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads using the new Class 800 (I.E.P) trains.

April 2019: Control of signalling between Bristol East Junction and Bath Spa to pass from Bristol PSB to TVSC Didcot. The article refers to the "Bath corridor" so I guess that TVSC Didcot will also take over control up to just east of Box Tunnel (where the current Bristol PSB / TVSC Didcot boundary is located on that line) and also down the Avoncliff line as far as Avoncliff / Bradford-on-Avon.

Once all the above work is done, Bristol PSB (signalbox) will be a shadow of its former self and will only control as far as the Bridgwater area (somewhere between Bridgwater station and the M5 bridge just north of Junction 24, which is Bridgwater south). Any passenger in a car who looks off the southbound side of that bridge as they pass over it will notice that there is a pub there called the Boat and Anchor. That pub marks the rough location where the next signalbox to the south (Exeter PSB) takes over from Bristol for trains heading southbound.

For anyone interested, the article which is my source for most of the above information can be found at https://www.railengineer.uk/2016/10/26/bristol-area-signalling-renewals/

HTIOI,
Dave

Reassuring to see that typos etc are not confined to forums such as this.  The article referred to in the august journal Rail Engineer starts off:

“In service for nearly forty decades, the iconic InterCity 125 High Speed Trains (HST) are soon to step back from front line service ……


I know they’re old but ….

Just an update that BARSE Stage 1 (actually the second stage to be commissioned) was commisioned over the last weekend (18/19 February 2017).  Didcot TVSC now controls from London Paddington to just short of the East End of Patchway and to the fringe with Gloucester Panel at Berkley Road.

Is that really the acronym? Any other Viz readers out there? When is the resignalling due to reach Biffin's Bridge?

Oh B***s.  I meant to type BASRE ::) :P
B=Bristol
A=Area
S=Signalling
R=Renewal and
E=Enhancement

With thanks for your timely correction, SandTEngineer, I've now added BASRE to the Coffee Shop forum's list of abbreviations and acronyms (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html).  ;)

Today I have seen a document that states that the Bristol Station area will be resignalled and controlled from TVSC in April 2018 and the Corsham to Bristol area will be resignalled and controlled from TVSC in April 2019.  Watch this space...... ::) :P

Interesting, thank you, they must be getting on OK with it all then.

Am I right in thinking that the PSB will still remain for a while longer until Bristol South is done?

Correct, but I'm not sure how long 'a while longer' actually will be........ ::) ;)

I have, more than once, heard it suggested that TVSC Didcot may not have the capacity to take over all of the areas controlled from Exeter and Plymouth along with the main line all the way to Penzance. To that end one idea being suggested is that all of Devon and Cornwall along with, possibly, the main line up as far as Nailsea / Bedminster could pass to an ROC that could be opened at Exeter. The fact that no decision has yet been taken might explain why no date has yet been suggested as to when Bristol South might be done.

Dave

I have read somewhere (sorry cannot remember where) that TVSC is not big enough and that they were planning to expand it.  Another ROC elsewhere is obviously an alternative. 

However if I was going to split it anywhere I would not choose Bristol with all its complexity.  I would choose somewhere between Weston and Taunton. 

In the view of at least one of our Coffee Shop members, Bridgwater would be a suitable place to split.  ::) :o ;D

You would then need a split at somewhere like Langport too.   Why not split at Wellington - reduces the number of interfaces and would allow Taunton to Bristol services to be under a single control (Minehead ones too if they were to start back there!)

The present boundary for Bristol and Exeter Panels, at Fordgate between Bridgwater and Cogload Junction (154M 12Ch), would be the most obvious choice.

As for the line between Cogload Junction and Castle Cary, the present boundary between Exeter and Westbury Panels is at Somerton Tunnel (126M 59Ch).

I believe the boundary point is where the M5 crosses over the line just north of Junction 24 (Bridgwater South)?

Meanwhile I have heard somewhere that Stage 1 of the resignalling of Devon & Cornwaill will see a new panel installed at Roskear Junction to control Truro to St. Erth but the semaphore signals and boxes at both ends will remain.

Back to Bristol however: I see that a new signal, which remains bagged over for the moment, has been installed just prior to the entrance to Clifton Down tunnel on the Sea Mills side. I guess that signal marks the point where the control of trains on that line will pass between St. Andrews PSB and TVSC: a simulation I have of the Bristol PSB area has the boundary between Bristol PSB and St. Andrews PSB to be between Avonmouth and Shirehampton.

Dave

Apologies for bumping this topic.

As part of the resignalling works through Bristol Temple Meads the St. Andrews Crosses which have hung from the platform canopies for as long as I can remember will be replaced with conventional signals. The good thing is that most of these signals have, as shown in the first picture, been hung from the canopies in question but I was not too happy recently to note the new bracket supporting the new signals erected on Platform 5. I have heard suggestions that the support will be painted green at some point but it rather stands out, in a negative way, in the meantime against the architecture of the station. Sooner the bracket gets painted the better IMO but why the signals shown in the top attachment couldn't simply have been hung from the canopy where Platform 5 and Platform 6 join is beyond me: would look less unsightly.

Dave

Totally happy to have the topic bumped.   Saves our admin team combining threads to keep a good archive later on.   Please ignore the bright "Are you sure - not been posted in for 120 days" warning.


Too heavy??

I will be (very) supprised if those signal structures get painted green.  They are usually silver or grey so that they stand out.  They do, however, look as though no design thought has gone into them (first cost and all that ::) ).

The main shed canopy is listed. Perhaps that's another reason why the new signals were not hung from it. The canopies on higher numbered platforms are not listed.

Are you sure? I'm struggling to find a definitive map, but I'm pretty confident that the whole shebang is Grade I...

Hmm.  I'm inclined to agree with bignosemac - my rather vague memory suggests that the outer / newer platform canopies are not so listed, as they're not part of the iconic I K Brunel / Francis Fox design.

But it is certain that the platform 14 canopy is not listed.  Anywhere.  ;D

Indeed. And it is those canopies I refer to. Thinking about it I guess that the location of this signalling mount is due to the fact that some CrossCountry workings terminate in Platform 6 but I would have thought that you could hang the signal from the canopy at the very north end of Platform 6 in the same way as shown in the second photo.

Dave

Just as platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross takes you to Hogwarts, so platform 14 at Temple Meads is reserved for special trains to Clifton College.  ;D

I'm a huge fan of the motto written above the door of the former Kirkaldy Testing Works (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkaldy_Testing_Museum#/media/File:Facts_not_Opinions_cropped.jpg)...

So here are the listing details for Bristol Temple Meads:


So yes, Platform 14 is not Grade I listed. But the rest is.

Thank you for correcting my rather hazy memory with some fascinating facts there, Red Squirrel.  :-[

There is an even worst bit of construction a bit further down platform 5 that has also recently appeared

As an aside, I recently read a statement of the demolition method for the old Post Office building which went into some detail when describing how some steel joists bedded into the retaining wall of Temple Meads Station would be removed without spoiling the listed building. The plan is to chop them out and then brick up the hole using matching materials, leaving the padstones in place so that the feature remains 'readable'...

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the (I hope we can all agree now) Grade I listed station, NR gaily erect lighting, signalling and signage systems that would give even the most brutal Brutalist the willies.

I thought it was the recent refurbishment of the Gentleman's facilities at Bristol Temple Meads that gave everyone the willies...... ::)

Do you mean Bristol Temple Meads-over-Avon-New-Cut ;D

First and foremost it is an operational station, not a museum piece.

Don't forget, leccyfication is coming too...*





*Well, the wires may come down Filton Bank into Temple Meads sometime this century.

Is that a fact, or an opinion? ;)

Well, the first part of my sentence is fact.  ;)

I have heard tha that teh non standards St. Andrews Cross permissive stop signals at the mid point (change to odd and even) of several platforms will be replaced with proper colour lights so will presumably require massive poles to tie up  the Great Britain.

You obviously haven't read the previous posts in this topic...... ::)

Just to let everybody know that Stage 4 of the re-control (Nailsea - Bristol Temple Meads station area - Stapleton Road) was commissioned on time at 0340 this morning (Tuesday 04 April 2018), and the possession given up at 0359 as planned.

....but, NR still trying to claim its the largest ever 're-signalling' done in the UK.... I'm sure a few old S&T hands would be rolling their eyes at that statement, and you can include me in that....  ::) :P

Some early pictures of the new platform signalling at Bristol Temple Meads

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/brissig1.jpg)

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/brissig2.jpg)

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/brissig3.jpg)

Thanks for posting those BobM.  Shame they are going to have to be moved......

Well done to everyone involved. Pleased for them.

Just noticed the blue line on the platform in one of BobMs photographs.  Whats that for?

So what area does Bristol Panel Box now control?

Bridgwater to Nailsea (excl) including Weston-Super-Mare loop; St.Annes Tunnel to Box Tunnel and Avoncliff.  The next stage is Filton Bank 4 Tracking in November/December 2018 (but thats now already on TVSC at Didcot) followed by Bristol to Box Tunnel/Avoncliff in April 2019.  That will leave Bristol panel just controlling Bridgwater to Nailsea (excl) but the long term plan (if there is such a thing still) was that area would be re-controlled from Exeter panel and Bristol panel would then close.  Don't put any money on that happening in the immediate future.... :P

Whilst dashing out of the station this morning I noticed at the foot of the stairs up to a number of platforms there are signs pointing out that now the new signalling was installed trains would be stopping at different locations on some platforms - I wonder if it is something to do with this?

As in the photo above the train is not as far down the platform as in the past?
If I get time I will have a closer look on the way home this evening, but usually go out from Pt15 so may not seen anything that far over

So it will be the turn of Bath Spa for the total shut down next Easter then?

Correct.

This morning 04 April 2018 is Wednesday.

..alright.  It was my excitement at a signalling scheme being commissioned and the possession being handed back on time.... ::) ;)

Just for the record it WAS Wednesday 04 April 2018.

Good to see the signals are now showing their aspects on the Railcam diagram following the possession- hopefully we’ll see a Bristol area map on opentraintimes with aspects and routes sometime soon?

The magic blue lines.....

I asked the question on the WNXX Forum and an insider there posted this response which he has agreed, I can post here.


So back to the drawing board then......

Interesting about the HST's. Does this mean they will no longer be able to use other platforms? (GWR didn't used to use other platforms that often for HST's but it did happen, and XC still have theirs too).

It means that if an HST enters any other platform it will have to be signalled past the mid-platform signal, and thus end up occupying both platform parts.

I suspect they'll still use 8 and 12 headed out for Taunton, but they'll block 7 and 11 in doing so?

Thank goodness blue lines weren't on back order.   Missing out Dilton Marsh and arranging a taxis from Westbury is one thing, but can you imagine missing out Temple Meads and using taxis from Parson Street  ;)

Correct.

Never thought permisive passenger working was ever a good idea, remember the Stafford crash, and more recently at Plymouth. A busy railway needs to be even safer, and have all the checks and balances we should have learned over the last hundred years plus. We have been lucky so far...

If you abolish Permissive Working you can potentially forget running the service we see today.  There just isn't the capacity available at major stations to allow the timetables to work without it.  Also, how would you operate 'Portion Working' without it.  All methods of train operation involve some form of risk (any form of human movement does), but the risks need to be controlled as best they can, not prevented entirely, otherwise we wouldn't turn a wheel (or leave our beds in the morning).

I usually get the 16:15 from Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway, and oddly since the signalling upgrade last week, this train has had to wait by the old for 5-10 minutes outside Bristol Parkway for a clear platform.

Whilst I don't usually mind the delay, if I have a good book, but I finished my book Friday morning so I chose to investigate a bit more.

Despite being told again that our 7 minute delay was waiting a platform, it was confirmed to me that that we where waiting for the London bound train that had priority for the junction outside Bristol Parkway, and it was nothing to do with platforms.

This makes more sense, but why since last week has this happened? Is it design, bad luck or systemic?

If it is by design, then no matter how many tracks they run from Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads then without major changes to junctions no extra trains can be run. Give up any idea of 6 London bound trains from Bristol, 2 Cross Country Trains and extra local traffic.

If it is bad luck, are any other areas experiencing lots of regular delays, or is this just due to irregular and poor time keeping of trains.

If it is systemic, why should local trains have to wait 7 minutes outside a station and not be waved through onto another track and platform, rather than waiting for a London bound train to cross a junction?

Beds are dangerous...most people die in one.

The local 2Dxx trains have pathing allowance in their timetable just before Bristol Parkway, so that the Cardiff to London train can get into Parkway platform 3 first.

The ARS software mis-handled this allowance, expecting it to apply at the signal before the station.  But that signal is AFTER the converging junction with the line from South Wales, so ARS used to route the local train into platform 4 first, causing the London train (if on time) to be delayed.

The ARS system has now been updated, to recognise that the local has to be held on the curve from Filton Abbey Wood.

So that now raises the question; how late does the Cardiff to London train have to be, before it's "right" to route the Temple Meads to Parkway train first?

Answers on a postcard...

Thank you for your very good answer

Why do those terminators not use P1 - isn't that one of the things it was built for? As it is, the other users of P1 and P4 are a few "trains in excess of platform capacity", mainly XC and GWR north-south, and P1 is unused at the relevant times. Plus that means they leave southward from a nominally south/west platform.

The move from the UP FILTON line to Bristol Parkway P1 has not been commissioned yet.  The facing crossover and signal to allow this is at the old Filton platform site and that will be commissioned when the Filton 4 Tracking is commissioned at Christmas/New Year 2018/2019.  Well, thats what the Signalling Scheme Plan shows anyway.

Edit to Add: Same for Platform 2.

At last - a man after my own heart! And a potential member of a new scam organisation I am starting, to help combat that most frequent killer of those who die in beds.

I give you the Society for the Prevention of Natural Causes. Send money now.


I've got one if you want to borrow it. I haven't coloured all of the pictures in, because my felt-tip dried up.


Presumably, if it were done now, it would have to be rejigged when the four-tracking is finished, and the new platform at Filton Abbey Wood opened?

Not totally sure but that is probably the reason FTN.

It looks like a signal has been provided on the London end of Bristol Parkway platform 1. Presumably this means it will be possible to route trains from Filton/Cardiff through Platform 1 and out the other side towards London. I originally thought it would be a fixed red signal just for reversing moves back to Filton/Cardiff but it appears this isn’t the case.

All the lines through Bristol Parkway will become fully reversible (including the Up Passenger Loop and Down Goods Loop).  This will happen during the F4T commissioning later this year (2018).  All these lines will be accessible from the London, Filton Abbey Wood, Patchway and Avonmouth directions.

P1 certainly came into it's own the Saturday before last due to the cabling theft between Newport & Cardiff.  There was an 800 to Cardiff stuck in P2 for ages with indefinite delays, The WSM service waiting to depart from P4, so they were running XC into P1 and my GWR N/S service to BRI into P3.  Would have been a nightmare with trains stacked without it then

It’s quite often the case with infrastructure enhancements that you don’t necessarily notice the positive impact they are having, but you sure would if they weren’t there.

Thank you for the information! Of course, the Up passenger loop is already fully reversible ;)

There you go.  I try to explain it in simple terms for non-technical people and then somebody shoots you down because one part of it wasn't totally accurate

........only joking..... ;)

Your'e right about the Up Passenger Loop.

The one thing thats always concerned me though II, is that sometimes all the 'extra' facilities are provided but then never used, even during degraded running.  The layout at Paddington is a classic example of that.  If you watch the rush hour on one of the signalling map applications, you wil see quite a few delay conflicts that could have been avoided if full use was made of the track and signalling layout.  I know that ARS is to blame for a lot of that (its only as good as what the people that programme it, put into it).  But, in the olden days of signallers, decisions would have been made that mitigated such delays, as a human can be more flexible in its thought processes and can think through complex interactions and take alternative decisions, utilising the flexibility they have to its fullest extent.

Ooops, this is supposed to be the Bristol Resignalling topic.  Back off my high horse...... ::)

That may well be true, but speaking as an IT professional I would guess that programming a computer (even if you break with tradition and do it properly, and test it, and do all those other things you're supposed to do) is one hell of a lot cheaper than installing track and signalling.

ARS is of benefit sometimes, but equally as S&TEngineer says, it’s far from optimal especially at dealing with delays.  I suggested developing a 1-10 importance level for trains based not just on whether it’s a class 1 or class 2 train but also other factors such as that train and its crews next workings.  That sort of thing could ‘easily’ be programmed into the ARS software and might help further optimise whatever algorithms it currently uses.

ARS did it's usual in helping to create delays today.  Waiting for a BPW to BRI service on platform 2 which was on time, that then got stuck behind a late running Swansea service.  Looked at the signalling screen on the platform as i'd been following the progress of both trains (i'm that sad!)  ;) and ours ended up sat at a red signal for 5 minutes behind the Swansea train (which was further delayed in the platform) even tho the brand spanking new platform 1 was empty and had nothing scheduled for it

The Swansea service finally departed and ours came slowly trundling after 5 minutes late, and then of course we had to wait at a red signal for another 3 minutes just before FIT to wait for a CDF service to got thru FIT.  We eventually arrived 8 minutes late

All avoidable, as our train could have been diverted - on time - into the new platform 1, which would then have avoided the further delay before FIT as our service would have run at it's scheduled time, and wouldn't have then had to wait for the CDF service.  Just so annoying that the infrastructure is now in place and not used as ARS is just left to get on with it how it's programmed, actually causing delays rather than alleviating them! 

Obviously one of those pinch points will be alleviated once the new platforms 3 and 4 are in place at FIT, meaning there won't be the wait between BPW and FIT for CDF services to go thru as they'll already be on the new relief lines, rather than all southbound services having to share the current down main as they do now

A quick heads-up. Anyone who did not see this week's edition of "Paddington 24/7" on Monday 14th may be interested to know that next week's edition - to be aired 21st May - will give time to the recent signalling and recontrol works Bristol Temple Meads which took place over Easter. Programme starts 9pm on Channel 5.

Dave

Just watched it again on catch up...  really good insight into the works, especially in Bristol PSB

Couple of things confusing me tho - don't take much!  ;)

As I understand it the South Bristol area is staying under Bristol PSB control for now, and moving to TVSC at a later date yeah?  Which is why I understood the PSB can't be decommissioned just yet

Also, when they showed the relay room downstairs, they showed all of the old now redundant relays, but also seemed to be installing new cabling in the same relay room to link all the new switch boxes over to TVSC...  was that right or have I missed summat?

Hoping I have, as if that relay room will still house cabling for the new signalling then how can they demolish it to re-open the Midland shed for the 2 new express platforms planned for the IET's once South Bristol is transferred over?

Bristol PSB still controls Bathampton junction to Keynsham, and Cogload jn to Parson Street (exclusive).  The first of these will transfer to TVSC in April 2019 when BASRE stage 3 goes ahead.  (Temple Meads was stage 4 - don't ask!). Bristol South resignalling has been postponed - no idea when the PSB will actually shut.

Yeah knew it had all gone a bit out of order, and Cogload to Parson St was staying for now, but didn't realise we still had Bathampton to Keynsham too...

Good job Stoke panel had already been switched out a while ago or Bristol PSB would now still be controlling almost everything around Bristol except Temple Meads itself!

When Bristol Panel box opened on 23/24 August 1969 it initially controlled Bathampton to Limpey Stoke only so a mirror of the de-commissioning ;)

Isn't Cogload controlled by Exeter PSB?  I thought the border was around Fordgate for Bristol Panel and around Athelney with Westbury Panel on the Berks & Hants route.

Correct ;)

At about 4pm and again just after 6pm last night there were major signalling problems around BTM, was this related to these "improvements"?

Just a heads up.  The final stage of the Bristol area resignalling/recontrol between Bristol(excl) - Chippenham (excl) and Westbury (excl) is taking place over the weekend 11/12 May 2019.

To answer a question which this may raise in the minds of some Temple Meads watchers:

Do they not know that I've moved to Devon?  ;D

 ;D But what actually is an FTN node? Fibre telecommunications network?

Fixed Telecomms Network - according to the Rail Engineer article.   (So is a node an exchange in other words?)

A FTN Node is a concentrator for the local hard wired network which then transmits/receives over a fibre optic link to/from a central point (aka an exchange).

Is this the work that was originally going to close Bath Spa for a few days over the Easter period?

I had a couple taken out a few years ago, when I was a bit poorly. There may be another use for the abbreviation, though.

Try here http://irse.org.hk/newsletter/Issue%2026%20January%202007.pdf (http://irse.org.hk/newsletter/Issue%2026%20January%202007.pdf)

(My bold)
Patchway/Parkway Phase 2, the introduction of Bi-Di through Filton Abbey Wood platform 2, Patchway, and Up Moves being allowed on the Down Tunnel (Patchway to Parkway) and Down Filton Main (Filton Abbey Wood to Parkway) and through Parkway platform 2, due for installation in November 2019.

Railway projects rule #4; there's never enough money to do it properly; there's always enough money to do it twice.

I seem to remember that when the full Plymouth/Cornwall scheme got postponed to CP6, there was a plan that when it did go ahead, control would move to Exeter rather than Didcot and that Exeter would also take over Bristol south.  Now that the full Cornish scheme has been delayed at least until CP7 and possibly CP8 (along with Glocuester and Worcester), I wonder what the latest plan for the remaining panel on Bristol PSB is, the article above was written in 2016.

Yes, but thats not really a 'Stage' just tidying up and commissioning parts of a previous one that would have made ready at the original stage. ;)

Does this herald the fairly imminent closure of the signal control building at Temple Meads next to platform one or is this unrelated?

Depends on what you call imminent...

Meaning by the end of 2024, unless further delayed. Hopefully, it will be a lot earlier than that.

There must be a billion pound project in the offing at Temple Meads...

Presumably opening up Platforms 0 and 1 has implications for the Bristol East Junction project, but the old signal box has to go first. It's hard to imagine the new platforms being reopened in isolation from a general redevelopment of the station, which should include opening up the east end of the subway to the new University campus. Then there's Plot 6 - the area to the north-west of the Old Station, which is to form a new main entrance for people coming from central Bristol, the redevelopment of the station incline and, last but not least, the restoration of the spire. You can see why it takes a while to pull these packages together! Let's just hope they manage to sort it all out before the roof collapses.

They will need to do at least the work on the roof as well as East Junction before electrification.  I am told that doing the roof after electrification will add 10's of millions to the cost of the roof. 

Very much chicken and egg. I don't think platforms 0 and 1 will really depend on East Bristol being remodelled. The trains from there will primarily be London bound, via Parkway, so under diesel power, I can't see how they couldn't cope with the present layout. But the junction certainly needs to be altered to get the best from the four-tracking, and surely Filton Bank must be electrified at the same time. All of the preparation has been done.

Platform 0 will need at least some new track to be laid. It is very hard to imagine that track being just kludged into the existing layout; isn't it much more likely that it will either be installed and signalled, or passively provided for, as part of the Bristol East project?

 

Further to that:

Track will be required to serve both platforms 0 and 1 in the old train shed, platform 1 by extending the existing platform 1 track and platform 0 bt extending the existing 'Bristol High Level Siding', the siding alongside the platform 1 line which is used regularly to stable units.

What on earth is
?

I'm guessing it's W008, on p96 of the same document...

Does anyone have an update on Bristol PSB? Last I heard it still controlled Nailsea to Bridgwater. For how much longer?