Mortimer station works

[whole diary]

[Jason]

Would anyone know what is being done at Mortimer station ?
There is a large amount of equipment, double decker portacabins and other stuff deposited in and around the station.
Ostensibly only new drainage channels are being put in so far, not that I've ever associated the station with having a flooding problem.

[ellendune]

Track drainage is not just to prevent floods.  If the subgrade (the natural soil under the track) is not kept dry it can weaken and form a slurry which pumps (squirts) out through the ballast as strains pass. The track then subsides and you end up with high maintenance costs and/or speed restrictions.

[Jason]

This is all new platform drainage. It looks like the whole platform surface is going to be replaced judging by the large quantity of materials now clogging up the station car park.
The new drainage modules are sat ~6" below the current platform level. I'm not sure what to infer from that.

[Jason]

I asked one of the workmen yesterday. The entire platform is being dropped because of the electrification works.

[ellendune]

I assume that means the track is being dropped to avoid replacing the bridge.

[Thatcham Crossing]

because of the electrification works

I thought that Reading-Basingstoke wiring had been thrown into the long grass?

[stuving]

because of the electrification works

I thought that Reading-Basingstoke wiring had been thrown into the long grass?

It's never been anywhere else. This work item was not due to complete GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects - Network Rail's process for project management of schemes through development and implementation) 4 (Single option scope defined) before 2016, but the Hendy review pushed that back to some time in CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024). So in principle the design, whether lowering the track or whatever, hasn't started. Of course that doesn't entirely rule out bits of the work being done early, but I can't see why unless there is an urgent need to do something else (like drainage) and to avoid having to redo it not long (?) after.

[Jason]

So there is now a nice new lowered platform at Mortimer and you have to step down off the trains onto it.
Will this be the status quo now until the tracks are also lowered ?

Most of the platform fixtures were not lowered and the concrete footings sit proud of the platform level and have yellow hazard paint around them.
The door from the station building onto the platform remains locked out of use and the side gate open 24x7.
I heard (unsubstantiated) that the stepdown onto the platform was deemed unsafe (the platform is only about a yard wide there). Perhaps some kind of railing is pending.

[Jason]

The door from the station building onto the platform remains locked out of use and the side gate open 24x7.

And this still remains the case.

[Jason]

And it continues to this day. The door from the station to the platform is locked out of use, the side gate is open 24x7 and there is no step free access.
It appears there is also no joined up thinking.

[Jason]

Following a recent refit of the station floor with some nasty looking lino the through door onto the platform is now boarded over and painted to match the walls. So much for that then.