Engineering Focus

On the 14th of July (2017) work began to upgrade a short 2.4km section of railway which connects the Chester - Manchester railway line with the Weaver Junction to Liverpool branch of the WCML. The section of track which is formally known as Frodsham Branch last saw regular passenger services in the early 1970's, since then the only service that has operated has been a single Parliamentary service between Chester and Runcorn each Saturday during summer. Looking south-west, an Arriva Trains Wales class 175 on route to Chester passing the Frodsham signal box located at the junction for Halton Curve. In 1994 the double track branch was reduced to a single track, at the same time diamond crossings were removed from both Frodsham and Halton  junctions, this has meant that ever since only northbound trains have been able to operate over the line. All this will change in 2018 however when regular passenger trains will once again begin to operate over the line, thanks to £18m wor...

I don't normally like to write negative or political headlines, however reading the news about the announcement that  electrification schemes  are to be scrapped on Thursday (20th July) caused me to reflect on promises made by Government back in 2012 The CP5 HLOS ( Control Period 5, High Level Output Specification ) published in 2012 was full of promises and seemed a real boon for the rail industry. Electrification of the GWML between London to Cardiff, Oxford and Newbury was finally given the go ahead after being delayed in 2010. Midland Mainline, North West, Transpennine and other electrification schemes were also announced, all due to begin in or be completed during CP5 which covered the period from 2015 to 2019. A map produced by the Department for Transport which set out ambitious plans can still be found here . Now it seems that a number of these electrification projects will not go ahead, on Thursday (20th July) the Department for Transport announced that elect...

A494 - A55 Red option In the first part I described some of the background into the previous attempt to upgrade the A494/A55 corridor, in this second part I will explain in more detail the "Red option" which is currently preferred by the Welsh Government. The Red option involves construction of roughly 3.5km of new dual carriageway between the A548 and the A55. The proposal also involves grade separating a number of roundabouts along the A548 which provide access to the Deeside Industrial Park. A494 looking south toward the A550 interchange and  Deeside Industrial Park Although the Red option primarily involves the construction of a new road, there will be some major works involving interfaces with existing roads. A new junction will have to be constructed on top of the junction where the A550 meets the A494, a junction that itself was only completed in 2009.  Proposed A550/A494/A548 interchange (Click to enlarge) Image for demonstrative purpos...

[Update 26/09/17] " Economy Secretary Ken Skates has today announced the red route as the preferred option for the £250m Deeside corridor scheme. " View the full statement at  www.gov.wales Background  After a decade of delay the Welsh Government looks set to finally make a decision on how best to improve a vital link between England and Wales. The A494 - A55 link is one of the busiest border crossings between England and Wales, with the 2 lane A494 at the point where it crosses the River Dee alone carrying almost as many vehicles as the 3 lane M4 Second Severn Crossing [ 1 ][ 2 ] The first plans to improve the link were put forward in 2007 by which time houses had already been compulsorily purchased and to this day many remain empty. The original proposal was for a 7 lane highway consisting of 4 southbound lanes (heading toward Wales), 3 northbound lanes (heading towards England) with hard shoulders and connector distributor roads either side. It was also proposed th...