It was meant to be a £2m symbol of a booming economy - but it would prove to have a fatally flawed design that would cause devastation.



On a hot 2 June, 1970, a 150-tonne section of the part-built Cleddau Bridge crashed onto the village below.

Amid the rubble, four workers had been killed and five injured in a disaster that was to change bridge building.

Now there are calls for a stolen memorial plaque to be replaced as part of the 50th anniversary.

PC Phil Lloyd had just begun his shift at Pembroke Dock police station in Pembrokeshire when the fire siren sounded at 14:16 BST. "I presumed it was just another chimney fire as usual," he said. "But when I went into the switchboard the operator told me my mother-in-law was on the phone. She shouted, 'The bridge has come down!'. "I told her to stop being so dull but she said there was hell to pay down there."  His mother-in-law, Ivy Lewis, lived in Pembroke Ferry, on the south side of the river, directly under the bridge which had begun being built across the estuary the previous year.

The 70m section was being cantilevered out to the next pillar when it collapsed.

With the development of local oil refineries, industries and the nearby Milford Haven port, a bridge was needed to cut out a 20-mile round-trip for vehicles.

PC Lloyd and his sergeant were the first to arrive at the village, where they were met with a scene of "utter pandemonium". "The whole section of the bridge had come down and was resting at a 45-degree angle in her garden," said Mr Lloyd. "Luckily there was a gap between her house and her sister's house which is where the bridge came down. "It had completely demolished my auntie's coal shed and outside toilet but thankfully she had gone to town to have her hair done. "People were just walking around in a daze while lots more started arriving - it was mayhem. "One man had been killed at the scene and two others were taken to hospital but died later. Then when the bridge was lifted, we found another man underneath."

The memories of 2 June 1970 remain vivid for Phil Lloyd.  PC Lloyd would spend the next two weeks keeping the site secure as shocked onlookers flocked to view the aftermath.

It was later discovered the diaphragm above the pier of the bridge had not been thick enough and buckled as a 230-foot (70m) box-section was cantilevered out.

Construction was immediately halted, though within 18 months, other box-section bridges collapsed in Australia and Germany with deadly consequences.

An inquiry made a number of safety recommendations, including 500ft (152m) of extra steel to strengthen the Cleddau Bridge, but confidence among the villagers had been crushed.

A report found that poor site organisation also contributed to the collapse "Emotions were high and the residents were furious," said Mr Lloyd.

"They formed an action group, chaired by my father-in-law, and they wanted the bridge moved but you can't suddenly change the direction of a construction that big. "My mother-in-law was very shaken up and for some time afterwards she wanted to move house. But eventually things settled down and she lived there until she died."

A memorial plaque to William Baxendale, George Hamilton, James Thompson and local man Evan Phillips was unveiled on the 25th anniversary of the disaster. However the steel plaque was reported stolen in August 2017 and has never been recovered.

"I'm disgusted that it was taken and that it has never been replaced. It's a very simple thing that should be done for the 50th anniversary," said Mr Lloyd.

Pembroke Dock town council said it was in the process of commissioning a new plaque, having been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

When the Cleddau Bridge eventually opened in 1975 it was the largest unsupported span in Europe, though the escalating costs of £12m were even discussed in the House of Commons.

Rules implemented in the wake of the disaster laid the foundations for a new standard in box girder bridge design and the Cleddau collapse was regarded as the last major bridge disaster in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Now 74, the memory of that day remains vivid for Mr Lloyd. His son Steve now lives in his mother-in-law's house, while he built a new property next door - in the shadow of the bridge.

Problems have persisted with objects either thrown or falling off the bridge, including a sandbag that crashed through a roof, and a splattering of colour when the bridge is painted.

But each year, on 2 June, Mr Lloyd offers a moment's thought to those who died.

He said: "I always look up at the bridge and think, 'There it is in all its glory - though there wasn't much glory 50 years ago'."

Marshals

We’re managing the transport network to make it as safe as possible.

This week saw the deployment of nearly 3,500 British Transport Police, Network Rail and Transport for London employees.

These marshals worked with the public to prevent services from becoming overcrowded.

From 1 June at the earliest – as we move to Phase 2 of the unlock – we will start to deploy twice as many marshals with the assistance of groups like the charity – Volunteering Matters.

These Journey Makers will help provide reassurance, advice and friendly assistance to commuters.

The last time we did this, at the 2012 Olympics, it was a great success.

While these are altogether more serious times – if we show the same public-spirited concern for one another, it will go a long way towards helping transport and passengers cope.

RMT warns of strike action following Government plans to introduce voluntary unpaid workers on the railway network

RAIL UNION RMT today responded with fury after being made aware of Government plans to introduce a workforce of unpaid and unskilled ‘Transport Guardian Angels’ on our railway network.

The contract between the Department for Transport and volunteering charity ‘Volunteering Matters’ to recruit an unspecified number of volunteers to perform safety critical roles at railway stations had not even been discussed with the union before recruitment adverts were published.

There is no agreement between rail unions and any train operating companies for volunteers to be used in safety critical roles, which will include tasks like supporting passenger flow in and out of stations and guiding passengers through new designated social distancing safe pathways.

In an urgent letter to Grant Shapps MP^▸ (Member of Parliament), Secretary of State for Transport, RMT has called on the Government to immediately withdraw from this scheme or face the possibility of industrial action.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said:

“RMT is furious that the Department for Transport has done a backroom deal to recruit unpaid and unskilled workers on our railway without even so much as conversation with rail unions.

“These volunteer roles include safety critical functions that only highly skilled and highly trained workers should be undertaking. The safety of passengers and workers must come first and make no mistake RMT will vehemently oppose this action.

“I have today written to the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, demanding that his department immediately withdraws from this ill-advised collaboration.

“RMT regards this as a deliberate provocation and we will fight this with everything at our disposal including balloting our members for strike action.”

Ofcom shine a light on interference issue:

Ofcom (the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) telecoms regulator) spectrum assurance team were contacted by National Air Traffic Services to inform them that aircraft flying in and out of Glasgow airport were being affected by interference when they were between 6000 and 10 000 feet (1800m to 3000m) in the air. The interference was affecting voice communications between the controllers on the ground and the aircraft. The interference was traced to a house directly underneath the flightpath of the aircraft with the cause being four ‘vintage’ lightbulbs that the homeowner had recently bought online. Due to the construction of the bulbs, they were found to be radiating a ‘noise’ when they were switched on that affected a wide range of licensed spectrum. The bulbs were removed from the sockets and checks with NATS and aircraft operators confirm that the area is now free of interference. The lightbulb suppliers were contacted to make sure the bulbs are not sold to any more unwitting customers. In the case of any interference to operational train radio equipment the radio spectrum manager should always be informed to carry out an investigation.

1L68 1422 Swansea to Paddington today (31/05/2020) was the first passenger service to run through the Severn Tunnel on electric.

They must mean 3rd and 1st respectively.

Former British Rail manager John Edmonds passed away earlier this week. The Telegraph have published this obituary:

John Edmonds, who forced through radical changes at British Rail - tough-minded and far-sighted, he brought in TransPennine Express and a new diesel fleet before becoming the first head of Railtrack

John Edmonds, who has died aged 84, was a hard-nosed, visionary manager who pushed through radical changes at British Rail before becoming, at privatisation, chief executive of the ill-fated Railtrack. His legacies include the successful TransPennine Express network; a still-modern fleet of 90mph air-conditioned inter-urban diesel trains; and Birmingham’s Cross-City electric services.

One interviewer found Edmonds “a quiet-spoken man with the demeanour of a kindly country vet”. His managers viewed him differently, approaching their quarterly reviews with sheer terror. But his achievements in cutting costs and boosting revenue earned their lasting respect.

John Christopher Paul Edmonds was born at Lowestoft on April 22 1936, the son of Frank Edmonds, manager of a timber importing company, and his wife Phyllis. From Lowestoft Grammar School he was commissioned into the RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) for National Service before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, with a scholarship, reading Natural Sciences and Economics.

Graduating in 1960, he joined the British Transport Commission, and from it British Railways. “I never went to the stage of the enthusiast, collecting train numbers or anything absurd like that,” he recalled.

He rose steadily, becoming chief freight manager for the London Midland Region in 1981 and the next year national business manager for coal, pushing through major changes against a background of the industry’s decline.

At the start of 1984 he took on BR^▸ (British Rail(ways))’s Provincial sector, then just two years old, which comprised all the passenger businesses apart from InterCity and London & South East. His objectives were to cut its mountainous losses and give it a vision for the future.
Edmonds needed to curb costs passed on by BR’s regions, who were still operating the trains and maintaining the track. He locked horns with the “barons” running the regions over investments he reckoned unnecessary, and with Cyril Bleasdale, his counterpart at InterCity, over decisions on electrification and signalling that would have hampered Provincial’s operations.

Despite the Thatcher government’s rejection of the Serpell Report, which advocated a drastic slimming of the network, Whitehall still had closures in mind, and in 1985 Edmonds proposed to the BR Board a review of all Provincial services.

He warned that financial pressures might make the issue not one of whether lines should close but whether substitute buses could be provided, and raised the possibility of some routes being privately operated. A review of 33 lines identified 1,200 route miles losing £17 million a year between them, but closer study showed that savings from closure would be negligible.

John Welsby, Edmonds’s predecessor at Provincial, had identified ageing rolling stock as its greatest problem, securing the now derided “Pacer” diesel trains as a first step to replacing 1950s diesel units and unreliable loco-hauled trains.

Edmonds accelerated the replacement programme, and despite being forced by Whitehall to order more Pacers he also introduced increasingly sophisticated versions of the more appealing and reliable Sprinter. Maintenance costs fell sharply, and new longer-distance services were launched.

In 1986 Edmonds called managers to Huddersfield to discuss how trans-Pennine services, then slow and infrequent, could be improved. “We’ve got the Sprinters coming along,” he said. “Let’s see what we can do with them.”

Mark Causebrook, later managing director of Central Trains and Thameslink, worked up plans for a network covering England’s 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 15th and 23rd largest urban areas, with its core the route between Newcastle, York, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. Frequencies were increased and new trains deployed, and traffic rose sharply.

Ultimately, Edmonds specified the Class 158 train, which operates inter-urban services across Britain to this day. Crucially, its 23m-long carriages – against the customary 20 – created 15 per cent more passenger space.

He also oversaw the reopening of several lines closed in the 1960s and a surge of new stations around major cities and in Scotland and Wales, and laid the groundwork for more electrification, notably in the Birmingham area.

When BR created an extra region, Anglia, at the start of 1988, Edmonds became its general manager. He said: “We plan greater reliability, but I am not making rash promises – it will be a gradual process.”

In August 1989 he returned to BR Headquarters as managing director, group services. His challenge was to implement Organising for Quality, BR’s transformation into devolved and vertically integrated businesses – InterCity, NSE^▸ (Network South East), Regional, Freight, Parcels – with the regions abolished.

Most of this massive reorganisation was achieved by the spring of 1991. But BR’s new business-focused components had just a year to flex their muscles before the 1992 general election returned a government under John Major committed to privatisation. BR reckoned that if the railways had to be privatised, these new units were well-suited for it, but ministers had other ideas.

Railtrack, responsible for all BR’s infrastructure, was hived off in 1994, and Edmonds implemented the change. “It was an enormous task to pull something of this magnitude out of BR,” he said. With Railtrack separate, he said, train operators could “focus much more sharply on their own activities”.

Edmonds – never a fan of railway engineers – moulded Railtrack as “engineering-free”, with work outsourced. Its chairman, the oilman Sir Bob Horton, concentrated on pressing ministers to float the company on the stock market, leaving Edmonds to run the business.

Having seen off a long-running dispute with Railtrack’s signallers, Edmonds concentrated on plans to modernise the West Coast Main Line, for which Virgin would be awarded the franchise. He envisaged a new system of train control, and when this could not be introduced the cost of the upgrade soared.

Edmonds came under fire for receiving a £33,000 bonus – modest by later Network Rail standards – on top of £173,000 in pay and benefits. Asked how he felt at being excluded from share options when Railtrack was floated in 1996, he replied: “To say I was negative about money could seem precious. But if I had been the other way, I would have left the railways long ago.”

He insisted that “if we can get out [of the public sector] totally, we can run Railtrack much more effectively.” And when a union-sponsored poll raised fears over safety post-privatisation, Edmonds responded: “The omens are all good. I wouldn’t have spent this amount of time if I didn’t think it would be a success.”

Reporting pre-tax profits of £173 million that November, he said Railtrack had been “the principal achiever in reducing delays to both passenger and freight trains”.

Edmonds retired in 1997, with Railtrack still apparently viable. Ahead lay the Hatfield and Potters’ Bar disasters caused by poor track maintenance; Railtrack’s government-forced administration; its replacement by Network Rail; and that company’s reversal of Edmonds’s policy, rebuilding its engineering capabilities.

Away from the railway, Edmonds grew vegetables on a two-acre plot in Bedfordshire. He was appointed CBE in 1993.

John Edmonds married Christine Seago in 1962; they had a son and a daughter.

John Edmonds, born April 22 1936, died May 25 2020

Fares from Marlow to Paddington were increased from 3/5d and 6/9d to 3/11d and 8/- for 1st and 3rd class respectively.  The reporter also pointed out that 'Marlow', one might almost say of course, has been dealt with more drastically than other stations.  The first class return Marlow to Paddington is now 3d more than the combined total of Marlow-Bourne End and Bourne End-Paddington returns.  In other words money can be saved by booking twice.