Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 16:35 28 Mar 2024
* Passengers pleaded with knifeman during attack
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Jet2 launches first flight from Liverpool airport
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Formal end to carrying coffins by BR (link)

Train RunningCancelled
15:16 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
15:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
16:51 Filton Abbey Wood to Bristol Temple Meads
16:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:04 Bristol Temple Meads to Filton Abbey Wood
17:51 Filton Abbey Wood to Bristol Temple Meads
17:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
Short Run
12:03 London Paddington to Penzance
13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
13:28 Weymouth to Gloucester
15:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
15:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
15:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
16:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
Delayed
13:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
13:55 Paignton to London Paddington
13:59 Cardiff Central to Penzance
14:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
14:36 London Paddington to Paignton
17:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 16:36:59 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[142] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[80] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[56] Return of the BRUTE?
[46] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[43] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[34] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: 1 ... 68 69 [70] 71 72 ... 114
  Print  
Author Topic: HS2 - Government proposals, alternative routes and general discussion  (Read 393862 times)
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #1035 on: July 16, 2020, 13:47:06 »


The IPA is an odd thing. Despite the name, it doesn't really have any authority over projects, or over the funders and customers in government. It's a kind of in-house project management consultancy, advising them on how to do projects well - or, in practice, how not to screw up too badly.

Until very recently, IPA meant nothing to me but my summer choice of tipple. Is this an offshoot of that Commons committee, where we got the change to give margaret Hodge a good listening to frequently?
Logged

Now, please!
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #1036 on: July 16, 2020, 15:37:16 »

To me it means International Phonetic Alphabet. Given sufficient amounts of TonyK's IPA, this can become the Idiomatic Phonetic Ale.
https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/ipa-chart
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #1037 on: July 16, 2020, 15:56:55 »


The IPA is an odd thing. Despite the name, it doesn't really have any authority over projects, or over the funders and customers in government. It's a kind of in-house project management consultancy, advising them on how to do projects well - or, in practice, how not to screw up too badly.

Until very recently, IPA meant nothing to me but my summer choice of tipple. Is this an offshoot of that Commons committee, where we got the change to give margaret Hodge a good listening to frequently?

This is from the Designing Buildings Wiki:
Quote
On 12 November 2015, the Treasury announced plans to merge two separate bodies to create a new Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) was created on 1 January 2016, by combining the operations of Infrastructure UK (United Kingdom) (IUK) and the Major Projects Authority (MPA) to share their in-house knowledge of managing major infrastructure projects. (Ref. Gov.uk 1 January 2015.)

Established in 2010, IUK supported major projects involving public capital as well as leading on PFI policy across government. Established in 2011, the MPA was given a mandate to oversee and assure 200 of the largest government projects totaling nearly £500bn in public spending. Their function was to develop programme management expertise within the civil service and intervene if projects went wrong.

The new Infrastructure and Projects Authority provides expertise, knowledge and skills in managing and delivering major economic projects for the government. It brings together financing, delivery and assurance of projects ranging from large-scale infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and the Thames Tideway Tunnel to major transformation programmes such as Universal Credit. 'Major projects' are those which require HM Treasury funding approval during their life cycle.

It reports jointly to the Chancellor and to the minister for the Cabinet Office. The chief executive Tony Meggs transferred from his role as interim chief executive for the MPA. Geoffrey Spence, chief executive of IUK, left government service for the private sector.

So it's a bit of very central government - the Cabinet Office and the Treasury being about as central as government gets. It's supposed to give backup to Whitehall departments that have to fund and oversee, and to that extent manage, big projects. Whether it has anything useful to say to project managers in the industrial or engineering layers of such projects is something I've never manged to work out. I rather suspect that if they claimed expertise in that area they'd be told, with a suitable level of politeness, where to deploy themselves.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2020, 11:28:06 by stuving » Logged
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #1038 on: July 25, 2020, 09:59:45 »

From Dezeen:
Quote
Grimshaw unveils design for HS2 (The next High Speed line(s)) ventilation shaft disguised as barn
India Block | 20 hours ago 5 comments

A ventilation shaft for the UK (United Kingdom)'s new HS2 high-speed railway has been designed by British architecture practice Grimshaw to resemble a barn clad in zinc and bronze.

The Chalfont St Peter Ventilation Shaft, or headhouse, will provide ventilation and emergency access to a 10-mile-long train tunnel through the Chilterns – a set of hills to the northwest of London.
Chalfont St Peter Ventilation Shaft for HS2 by Grimshaw

As the Chilterns are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB (Areas Of Natural Beauty)), Grimshaw has proposed a design that will disguise the piece of infrastructure as a simple agricultural building.

Set back from the main road, the Chalfont St Peter Ventilation Shaft will look like a smart barn, clad in industrial grey zinc with deep bronze accents on the doors and vent openings. The zinc will be pre-weathered and will darken over time, complimenting its plinth of blue-toned bricks.

Underneath, a 60-metre shaft will reach down to the HS2 railway tunnel below...

I really don't think that needs a comment.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2020, 18:59:02 by stuving » Logged
TonyN
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 471



View Profile
« Reply #1039 on: July 31, 2020, 21:48:37 »

Chris Packam has lost the right to Appeal.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/31/chris-packham-loses-appeal-against-hs2-rail-project
Logged
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5190


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #1040 on: July 31, 2020, 22:12:35 »

Perhaps he can redirect his energies to opposing the Lower Thames Crossing now?
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #1041 on: July 31, 2020, 22:41:15 »


Chris Packham was refused permission to apply for a judicial review, and has now been refused permission to appeal against that decision and to apply for judicial review (again). That's the result of a hearing that looks awfully like a mini-appeal - there's 30 pages of their lordships' highest quality legal prose resulting from it, if you fancy that. However, these days the Court of Appeal provides press summaries of its judgements - and that's just a couple of pages. This also covers the London Borough of Hillingdon's successful appeal against the governemnt, confirming their right to refuse an approval to HS2 if the application is not accompanied by all the supporting information required.
Logged
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #1042 on: July 31, 2020, 23:56:29 »


Chris Packham was refused permission to apply for a judicial review, and has now been refused permission to appeal against that decision and to apply for judicial review (again). That's the result of a hearing that looks awfully like a mini-appeal - there's 30 pages of their lordships' highest quality legal prose resulting from it, if you fancy that. However, these days the Court of Appeal provides press summaries of its judgements - and that's just a couple of pages. This also covers the London Borough of Hillingdon's successful appeal against the governemnt, confirming their right to refuse an approval to HS2 if the application is not accompanied by all the supporting information required.

It does indeed look like a mini-appeal, possibly even a mid-range one. I suppose it would look churlish were they to just say no, we're not hearing it. Two of the four grounds argued in the first case were dropped, and I think the logic is that by debunking the remaining two in their entirety, they can save the bother of sending the case back to the lower court just to have it come back again. Whatever the logic, the court did a pretty thorough job of it, seemingly accepting that an electric railway is likely to be less polluting than the cars and aircraft it will replace. That, I think, will be that. Heading to the Supreme Court would be a matter of throwing even more good money after bad.
Logged

Now, please!
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #1043 on: August 07, 2020, 10:17:00 »

In further news, reports that work at OOC (Old Oak Common (depot)) has reached a new phase.

Quote
HS2 (The next High Speed line(s)) station contractors take over Old Oak Common site
04 AUG, 2020 BY ROB HORGAN

High Speed 2’s (HS2’s) station construction partner, a JV between Balfour Beatty and Vinci Systra (BBVS), has taken possession of the whole Old Oak Common station site in West London.

The handover marks the start of the next phase of work at Old Oak Common, where a 14 platform high-speed station will be built.

This follows more than two years of work at the site led by HS2’s enabling works contractor, Costain Skanska JV, who have cleared the site for the new station to be built, including demolishing the Great Western Railway train stabling sheds and the largest rail maintenance facility in Europe.

BBVS were appointed as HS2’s construction partner for Old Oak Common in September 2019 and since then have been working closely with HS2 Ltd to design the programme of works to construct the new station.

When operational, the station will be used by up to an estimated 250,000 passengers each day and is set to become one of the busiest in the country connecting HS2 to the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) and provide links to Heathrow Airport, Wales and the West of England.
...(continues at source}.

It looks like they are going ahead with it.
Logged

Now, please!
TonyN
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 471



View Profile
« Reply #1044 on: August 07, 2020, 11:31:06 »

I hope they don't mean possession in the railway sense. All passenger trains needing to terminate at Ealing Broadway for the next N years. Roll Eyes
Logged
TaplowGreen
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7743



View Profile
« Reply #1045 on: September 05, 2020, 08:04:49 »

.....before anyone starts frothing at the mouth, please remember this is satire, which Newsthump does rather well...........albeit with rather more than a grain of truth!  Smiley


https://newsthump.com/2020/09/04/work-on-100-billion-hs2-rail-link-begins-just-as-everyone-decides-to-permanently-work-from-home/?fbclid=IwAR1jg_DGD_1GysTBvcd7TWB7AyHyNFl12o0TI4RenNwlLKggfrjQAZqgMV8
Logged
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10095


View Profile
« Reply #1046 on: September 06, 2020, 00:51:12 »

An amusing article.  Though to be honest, on this issue at least, most of the frothing seems to come from your good self.
Logged

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/
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10095


View Profile
« Reply #1047 on: September 18, 2020, 17:54:56 »

A good example of how the HS2 (The next High Speed line(s)) project is helping people find employment and providing them with training for the future:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54146833

Quote
Orrean Jacob recently lost the job he had done for nine years, working at the Mini car factory in Oxford as an agency worker.

"They decided to let people go, and I was one of them," he says. Hundreds of workers at the plant were affected.

"It really hurt. When you go to work, it's not just about the money or pay. It's about making something of yourself, making friends and making connections."

Although he found himself in a similar position to many others during the pandemic, a phone call with a friend presented him with an opportunity. They recommended he get in touch with the HS2 rail project about their one-week training programmes.

By the end of the following week, he was fully licensed to be on-site and drive a forklift, having completed a course worth about ?1,000 with one of HS2's sub-contractors.

"This was just the push I needed in the right direction - to find something new, to find a new path to pursue because the other one clearly wasn't working."
Logged

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/
Electric train
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4355


The future is 25000 Volts AC 750V DC has its place


View Profile
« Reply #1048 on: September 19, 2020, 09:13:02 »

I hope they don't mean possession in the railway sense. All passenger trains needing to terminate at Ealing Broadway for the next N years. Roll Eyes

There will be some occasions when this will happen, a new bridge GWML (Great Western Main Line) over Old Oak Common Lane has to be constructed; the GWML requires re-alinement for the new station platforms.

I suspect most of this will be Christmas and or Easter blockades; how far in the future ................ several years i am guessing
Logged

Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent,”
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #1049 on: September 21, 2020, 23:05:17 »

I hope they don't mean possession in the railway sense. All passenger trains needing to terminate at Ealing Broadway for the next N years. Roll Eyes

There will be some occasions when this will happen, a new bridge GWML (Great Western Main Line) over Old Oak Common Lane has to be constructed; the GWML requires re-alinement for the new station platforms.

I suspect most of this will be Christmas and or Easter blockades; how far in the future ................ several years i am guessing

I saw the plan of action for how the Portishead railway is actually going to be built, covering access, egress, movement of materials in and out, cleaning of trees, location of portable multi-faith chapel etc. It runs to about 2 pages per sleeper, so HS2 (The next High Speed line(s)) must have its own library by now. Presumably, somewhere in all that paperwork, there is a timetable for all of the bits and pieces that have to be done to achieve a new railway and Old Oak Common station? I would imagine that the bridge over OOC (Old Oak Common (depot)) Lane will be assembled somewhere convenient, then craned \ rolled into position over a quiet few days, and the track slued to fit the new pattern when it becomes unavoidable, but as we know, the preparatory works don't always follow what would seem a logical sequence to the outsider.
Logged

Now, please!
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 ... 68 69 [70] 71 72 ... 114
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page