Black Bridge, Nuneham: southern abutment failure

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

omphaloskeptic.

*Flies to dictionary*

Ah. Really good point.

Also, there must be someone in Network Rail just itching to take the opportunity, while that span is lifted off its bearings and free of ballast, for a full grit blast and application of fetching (and black) epoxy surface coating to Nuneham Bridge's rusting steel.

Mark

[paul7575]

The uncaptioned chap from NR^» (Network Rail - home page) said:

"We'd normally spend 2 or 3 years in planning and designing and getting everything organised"

This situation is very abnormal for a number of reasons, but one can't help wondering if other projects could move forward quicker if there was a greater sense of urgency...

He’s called Stuart Calvert, (NR Western & Wales capital delivery director), he was name checked in the two earlier videos.

Paul

[Electric train]

Known as ‘JFDI^▸ (just flipping do it (polite version))’?…..

Well, yeah.

I have an engineering background (mechanical rather than civil) so I do understand that there is a lot more to these things than meets the eye of the lay observer. But even in the exciting new world of Project Speed, I can't help thinking that the general modus operandi is still far too omphaloskeptic.

The naval gazing is generated by a whole load of "governance" place on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) by the the Treasury and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) and some internal.  NR is a large "public" body that spends a lot of Tax payers money which means there will always be rules governing how it spends money; after all Contractors mainly have to look after their share holders interests.

Also, there must be someone in Network Rail just itching to take the opportunity, while that span is lifted off its bearings and free of ballast, for a full grit blast and application of fetching (and black) epoxy surface coating to Nuneham Bridge's rusting steel.

Mark

I suspect the option to treat the deck at the very least will be looked at, but they would not want that to impact on the reconstruction and opening of the line

[Red Squirrel]

[...]

The naval gazing is generated by a whole load of "governance" place on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) by the the Treasury and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) and some internal.  NR is a large "public" body that spends a lot of Tax payers money which means there will always be rules governing how it spends money; after all Contractors mainly have to look after their share holders interests.

[...]

Something has gone wrong somewhere though, hasn't it? Bond Street (Elizabeth line) and Portway Park & Ride stations have little in common on the face of it, but both seem to have faced months of delay due to certification issues. I'm told that a couple of local reopenings have been delayed by a lack of awarenesss of certification requirements.

[Bob_Blakey]

...naval gazing...

I see no ships.

[Electric train]

[...]

The naval gazing is generated by a whole load of "governance" place on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) by the the Treasury and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) and some internal.  NR is a large "public" body that spends a lot of Tax payers money which means there will always be rules governing how it spends money; after all Contractors mainly have to look after their share holders interests.

[...]

Something has gone wrong somewhere though, hasn't it? Bond Street (Elizabeth line) and Portway Park & Ride stations have little in common on the face of it, but both seem to have faced months of delay due to certification issues. I'm told that a couple of local reopenings have been delayed by a lack of awarenesss of certification requirements.

The certification process is onerous, but not impossible.  The certification process starts at the design stage a good programme director / project project manager and the lead Engineer in my experience build up the file at that the design stage and keep it under constant review through the construction and commissioning stage.   

Bond St (Elizabeth Line) most of the delays were attributed to the constraints of the construction site. 

...naval gazing...

I see no ships.

I knew something was missing on the horizon 

[IndustryInsider]

Looks like from next Tuesday shuttle turbos will run between Didcot and Culham (only stopping at Appleford in the up direction) and also between Oxford and Radley.

[ChrisB]

Another update on twitter from NR^» (Network Rail - home page), posted yesterday

https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1651886169997692929?s=46&t=cyVBe5e5i0wsMv6U8nZRng

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

From what Stuart Calvert says at 1:18 I wonder if they are going to make openings in the bridge deck so they can insert the piles and drill down through the deck from above.

If this is so the deck will be jacked up slightly so the new abutment can then be constructed underneath it before the deck is lowered down on to its new bearings.

[stuving]

From what Stuart Calvert says at 1:18 I wonder if they are going to make openings in the bridge deck so they can insert the piles and drill down through the deck from above.

If this is so the deck will be jacked up slightly so the new abutment can then be constructed underneath it before the deck is lowered down on to its new bearings.

That would answer the question I raised earlier about getting piles all round, and close to, all three bearings:

For the abutment, I can see that removing the embankment will allow them to put piles in just beyond the end of the bridge, and they can also put them beside the bearings. That could give enough support and keep the load through the piles vertical (which I think helps). The bearing for the middle girder is the difficult one to get under or all around. 

[ray951]

I see that the Oxford - Radley shuttle service ran today. The schedule is for 3 services in the morning peak and 3 in the evening peak.

The Didcot - Culham service didnt run this morning, although this afternoon's services have not yet been cancelled.

Services do not appear to be scheduled to stop at Appleford, and the timings are very slack 19 minutes to get to Culham and 14 on the return, I would assume if they do eventually run there would be a lot of early arrivals.

[paul7575]

I’ve seen in other forums that the bridge span was jacked level by yesterday. There’s a Twitter picture here that’s a good view of the present situation:

https://twitter.com/507stre/status/1655619283479560196

[ellendune]

 Here's the picture from Twitter:



Well I tried.  Why can I only get that to work 50% of the time?

I was going to add that that is just as I imagined it would be done. 

Now the real work can start on the new abutment. 

[Red Squirrel]

600mm. Blimey. Impressive.

[grahame]

Here's the picture from Twitter:



Well I tried.  Why can I only get that to work 50% of the time?

I was going to add that that is just as I imagined it would be done. 

Now the real work can start on the new abutment. 

Is this the problem I describe at http://www.passenger.chat/27456 ?