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Author Topic: Great Western Main Line electrification - ongoing discussion  (Read 1054538 times)
Billhere
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« Reply #1665 on: March 29, 2016, 16:31:27 »

ECML (East Coast Main Line) was known in the trade as being built on the cheap and they have suffered the consequences ever since.

As this is the first major electrification scheme for years perhaps they aren't taking any chances with this one and making it really substantial to avoid any problems when the wind blows.
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Noggin
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« Reply #1666 on: March 29, 2016, 22:13:37 »

ECML (East Coast Main Line) was known in the trade as being built on the cheap and they have suffered the consequences ever since.

As this is the first major electrification scheme for years perhaps they aren't taking any chances with this one and making it really substantial to avoid any problems when the wind blows.

Whisper it quietly, but it's partially about meeting new European technical standards for interoperability (TSI's) which require heavier gauge wires under greater tension so you get less lateral and horizontal movement. That way you can run trains with multiple pantographs at speeds of up to 140mph.

Part of the design also facilitates quick assembly, so the cross-spans pretty much clip onto the uprights rather than having to be drilled in-situ.

Not just the GWML (Great Western Main Line), I think I saw Noel Dolphin of Furrer+Frey quote that there was something like ^1.5bn being spent on replacing electrification kit elsewhere on the network. 
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John R
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« Reply #1667 on: March 29, 2016, 22:30:48 »

I don't think all ECML (East Coast Main Line) OHLE is the same. I'm 99% sure that the picture I posted does NOT show the type you are talking about, I think the OHLE which comes down on all tracks has a horrizonal wire going across all the tracks, from which the contact wires are hung, apparently. The picture I showed does not have this horrizontal contact wire, the tracks have their own independent supports.

No, because that picture is only 2 track. Headspan is (was) typically used on the four track sections where there is rarely room in the middle for separate structures.
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Bmblbzzz
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« Reply #1668 on: March 30, 2016, 11:31:30 »

There's been some talk about painting portals and uprights green in order for them to blend in better with the landscape, but that photo shows that weathered, dirty, maybe slightly corroded unpainted metal actually matches agricultural land very well.
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Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
JayMac
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« Reply #1669 on: March 30, 2016, 12:29:39 »

I say chrome plate them and adorn with fairy lights.  Tongue Wink Grin
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- Sir Terry Pratchett.
ellendune
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« Reply #1670 on: April 20, 2016, 07:59:04 »

I have not travelled this way for  wile and have now bee a couple of times in the last week.

Between Didcot and Reading almost all the columns are up and progress is being made on the knitting. Is there a current date for this section to be finished?

West of Didcot The bridges at Wantage Road and Shrivenham seem to be nearly complete and the bridge at Hanney seems well under way. Virtually all the piling seems to have been done and the metalwork is going up east of Wantage Road.  The only remaining big barrier is the silence over when work will take place, to close Stocks Lane crossing and lower the track under High Street Bridge at Steventon
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ChrisB
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« Reply #1671 on: April 20, 2016, 08:53:56 »

September is when the testing is due to start Reading-Didcot, and NR» (Network Rail - home page) insist they're still on schedule with this
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eightf48544
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« Reply #1672 on: April 20, 2016, 08:56:22 »

Most posts complete with dangly bits ready for wiring are installed from Taplow towards Maidenhead.

But this is crossrail not GWML (Great Western Main Line).
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Rhydgaled
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« Reply #1673 on: April 20, 2016, 11:05:30 »

Most posts complete with dangly bits ready for wiring are installed from Taplow towards Maidenhead.

But this is crossrail not GWML (Great Western Main Line).
Relief lines only then? Crossrail aren't going to be using the main lines are they.

Press release from NR» (Network Rail - home page) regarding the electrification programme for the Severn Tunnel, which includes a short video:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/130-year-old-severn-tunnel-to-get-railway-upgrade
Is absolutely everything required to electrify the line through the tunnel being done in this long closure in September and October? Will the Severn Tunnel be a fully electrified line (perhaps just waiting for the power to be switched on to energise the conductor rail) on 22nd October or is there another long closrue planned nearer the new target date of complete electrification between Cardiff and Paddington in 2018?
« Last Edit: April 22, 2016, 08:22:05 by Rhydgaled » Logged

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Don't DOO (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) it, keep the guard (but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea if the driver unlocked the doors on arrival at calling points).
paul7575
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« Reply #1674 on: April 20, 2016, 11:32:47 »

Relief lines only then? Crossrail aren't going to be using the main lines are they.

The Crossrail part of the project, (although being undertaken by NR» (Network Rail - home page)'s contractors), already included the full four track railway as far as Maidenhead.   This is also why certain main line side platforms are being extended, because Crossrail would still have had to be able to run on the mains during routine maintenance work on the reliefs resulting in a two track timetable.

Paul
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Noggin
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« Reply #1675 on: April 20, 2016, 16:02:02 »

September is when the testing is due to start Reading-Didcot, and NR» (Network Rail - home page) insist they're still on schedule with this

I'm being pedantic, but I think it's technically Tilehurst to Didcot that has to be available for testing, would have thought that could be comfortably achieved looking at current progress, though I'm sure they will want to do a *lot* of testing before the IEPs (Intercity Express Program / Project.) get anywhere near it, last thing they will want is a dewirement or other failure being caught on camera.

Incidentally, the technical term for the "dangly bits" is "small part steelwork".

 
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ChrisB
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« Reply #1676 on: April 20, 2016, 16:09:53 »

I'm sure the trains will be running into/out of Reading?

They won't want to (can they even?) turn back at Tilehurst? And they surely win't want to be testing raising pantographs on the miove each time?
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Oxman
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« Reply #1677 on: April 20, 2016, 16:22:49 »

I have been told that wiring of Reading station is excluded from the September deadline.

Two points:

- Bi modes simplify the problem - could stop and change mode at Tilehurst if they did not want to do this on the move, but I would have thought this will be a key part of the testing anyway.
- it may be the intention to wire the western entrance into the depot or, alternatively, the passenger loop, which would allow reversal.
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #1678 on: April 20, 2016, 16:24:41 »

They could, and my guess is probably will, exit from the western end exit of the depot initially.  That would mean the station area would not need to be ready.
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To view my GWML (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #1679 on: April 20, 2016, 19:36:53 »

Incidentally, the technical term for the "dangly bits" is "small part steelwork".

Thank you for that clarification, Noggin: I've taken the opportunity to add that to the Coffee Shop forum's 'acronyms / abbreviations' page.  Wink Cheesy Grin
« Last Edit: April 20, 2016, 19:48:18 by Chris from Nailsea » Logged

William Huskisson MP (Member of Parliament) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
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