Engineering Focus

In my last blog regarding the subject of Crossrail North I identified potential difficulties in funding and building a new east-west railway and explained how it is very different from Crossrail 2. Another issue which I did not mention however is that London has one combined transport authority known as TfL ( Transport for London ). The size of TfL and nature of its centralised organisation means that it has the resources available to develop detailed proposals which it is then able to put forward to the government. The initial route for Crossrail 2 (CR2) was safeguarded in 2008, proposals have since been refined and improved. Whilst here in the North we are still waiting for Transport for the North (which has yet to receive statutory status ) to publish its "Strategic transport plan". TfN states " Transport for the North is developing an integrated, multi-modal Strategic Transport Plan to make it easier for passengers and freight to move throughout the region acr

On the early hours of the 5th of August 2017 a 1000 strong workforce began work to lengthen platforms 1 to 4 at London Waterloo. This work is part of a £800m upgrade of the station which will increase capacity at the UK's busiest railway station. Platforms 1 to 4 are being lengthened to accommodate 10 car suburban trains which will begin operating from December 2017. In order to undertake the work Netowork Rail has closed platforms 1 - 10 for 24 days. This is to allow engineers to modify platforms 5 - 8 in order to accommodate the new longer trains, track approaching platforms 1 - 8 is also being modified. The "orange army" hard at work modifying tracks and platforms  On the day of my visit there happened to be a partial derailment of a South West train which had run into stationary freight wagons. The wagons were being used as a "barrier train" to separate the engineering works from the operational railway. Fortunately none of the 23 passengers or 2

It is hard to believe that I have been following the Mersey Gateway project for over 2 years, it does not feel like that long ago since I took the first pictures of the cofferdams that would eventually contain the foundations for the bridge pylons.  Two and a half years later and the project has celebrated a historic moment as the final section of the bridge deck was complete. The image below shows the last remaining form-traveller in place just after the completion of the final section.  The completed main bridge deck now spans 1km over the River Mersey supported by 146 stay cables connected to 3 giant pylons, the tallest of which reaches 125m high. 1 of the 3 tower cranes which were being used to construct the pylons has already been dismantled with the other 2 soon to follow, once scaffolding around the north and south pylons has been removed. Once cranes and scaffolding are gone people will be able to see the final graceful form of the bridge. [click to enlarg

I feel that I should begin this post with a disclaimer as I know investment in the North is a contentious issue, however I do believe there needs to be some balance brought to the debate. So to begin, I am based in the North and I wholeheartedly agree that at the very least the Trans-Pennine rail route between Manchester, Leeds, York and Selby should be electrified, in addition the government should be investigating options for a new Trans-Pennine rail route. However, with no decision yet made regarding electrification other than to say it has not been cancelled  (to date Aug 2017) , I feel I should point out that electrification is just one part of the project to upgrade east-west rail links otherwise known ( currently ) as the Great Northern Rail Project. The only 2 statements from the government which provides any indication of their position on electrification are the following: " Major upgrades to the Manchester – Leeds – York route are currently being designed and dev