East-West Rail (EWR): Consultation updates [not speculation]

[si404]

I agree about Germany this would have been an important project would have been up and running long ago.

Well construction would have been up-and-running.

It would have been something like construction started 2005, opening scheduled 2020...

 

[work-traveller]

Grayling seems to be in favour of it.

I suppose it depends on whether there are a lot of objetions. If there are, there will probably have to be a public inquiry.

Public Inquiry is being planned for anyway - before springtime.

 

[DarloRich]

Well construction would have been up-and-running.

It would have been something like construction started 2005, opening scheduled 2020...

like the Berlin Brandenburg Airport you mean...............................

 

[HowardGWR]

Public Enquiry is being planned for anyway - before springtime.

Just for the record, it's a Public Inquiry.

 

[gordonthemoron]

like the Berlin Brandenburg Airport you mean...............................

or Halle-Nuremburg high speed line which took way longer than planned

 

[jyte]

or Halle-Nuremburg high speed line which took way longer than planned

Jesus you're not kidding...

 

[si404]

like the Berlin Brandenburg Airport you mean...............................

or Halle-Nuremburg high speed line which took way longer than planned

While very true, I'm not even talking about those overruns - I'm talking about the way that Germans are rather good at getting stuff started, then take years to actually build it.

Have a look at this summary of German road construction projects. Some schemes have a normal window of a couple of years of actual construction (the start dates are groundbreaking ceremonies), but the norm is more like 6+ years for just a couple of kilometres of flat road from sod turning to opening!

And here's roadworks starting yesterday, ending in 2035 (just under a post where a 9.5 years build a bypass - OK, with two short tunnels in the just-over-a-mile length - wasn't long enough and the opening date pushed back).

But grass-is-greener, especially Deutsch Übergras....

 

[InTheEastMids]

While very true, I'm not even talking about those overruns - I'm talking about the way that Germans are rather good at getting stuff started, then take years to actually build it.

Have a look at this summary of German road construction projects. Some schemes have a normal window of a couple of years of actual construction (the start dates are groundbreaking ceremonies), but the norm is more like 6+ years for just a couple of kilometres of flat road from sod turning to opening!

And here's roadworks starting yesterday, ending in 2035 (just under a post where a 9.5 years build a bypass - OK, with two short tunnels in the just-over-a-mile length - wasn't long enough and the opening date pushed back).

But grass-is-greener, especially Deutsch Übergras....

Not just transport either, the Datteln 4 power plant is another tour-de-force of this type of German project. Construction started in 2007 when coal fired power was still a thing, due online 2011, now expected sometime in 2020

 

[JamesT]

Not just transport either, the Datteln 4 power plant is another tour-de-force of this type of German project. Construction started in 2007 when coal fired power was still a thing, due online 2011, now expected sometime in 2020

I think coal power is still very much a thing in Germany. They’ve promised to shut down all their nuclear plants so they’re going to need something else to replace that base load.

 

[CdBrux]

I think coal power is still very much a thing in Germany. They’ve promised to shut down all their nuclear plants so they’re going to need something else to replace that base load.

French nuclear for example!
Living in Germany I can concur that roadworks seem to go on for ever, but so they do in UK. Here in Munich work is just starting on a 2nd cross city rail tunnel and due for completion in 2026.
All very much OT. However it does seem compared to the original timetable Bicester to Bletchley is taking rather too long

 

[CyrusWuff]

French nuclear for example!
Living in Germany I can concur that roadworks seem to go on for ever, but so they do in UK.

One key difference between Germany and the UK is that they tend to strip right down to the base layer and rebuild the entire carriageway rather than just a basic resurfacing like we generally do in the UK.

 

[snowball]

Decisions concerning the road route may also be of interest to readers of this thread. Corridor B has been chosen for the Oxford-Cambridge expressway but the options of going either east or west of Oxford are still open. Rail co-location is mentioned. I haven't read much of it yet. Clearly the road is still years away from a start of construction. The third link below is the one with the detail.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...full-potential-of-englands-economic-heartland

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/oxford-to-cambridge-expressway-road-scheme-update

https://assets.publishing.service.g...le/739893/strategic-outline-business-case.pdf

Outside the scope of this decision, plans for the expressway are also subject to uncertainty in the St Neots area, partly because of interactions with decisions yet to be made about the A1.

 

[aylesbury]

Reading the plans for the expressway, comments abound about cutting edge technoloigies and other comments ,but what is happening with rail?

No electrification so it will be at a disadvantage.Great ideas were put forward for rail but it was cut back at every opportunity whereas the road will have billions spent, not a level playing field.

 

[Lurpi]

Central section = “Bedford to Cambridge” according to all the sources I just checked.

Oops... my bad. There is a video in the link I posted of Rob Brighouse, chairman of East West Railway Company, calling it Bletchley to Cambridge. That's what planted it in my head. I knew the Marston Vale line was still open, but somehow I managed to practice cognitive dissonance.

 

[Lurpi]

In other news, I hear that East West Railway Company, the govt delivery body, has recently appointed PwC as financial adviser to develop the financial aspects of the public private partnership project that will be eventually awarded to a bidder to design, build, finance, maintain and quite possibly run trains on.

 

[Stuart-h]

Any one know the rough start date when the Milton Keynes phase is due to start?

 

[richieb1971]

That's phase 2. Although I don't see anything happening near mk. November 2019 work starts on phase 2.

 

[Stuart-h]

Cheers Richie.

Im assuming that Volka rail and Atkins are still going to be involved with the works?

 

[richieb1971]

Don't know if contracts were confirmed. Assume only the companies that won actually know.

 

[work-traveller]

Cheers Richie.

Im assuming that Volka rail and Atkins are still going to be involved with the works?

This statement is still valid. Of course, in practice more companies are involved than those who comprise the formal alliance.

 

[Mark24]

I think there might be progress on work today.
This morning a freight train rolled though Bicester village station, over the level crossing, heading down towards Claydon. The track had been blocked off with sleepers but these were removed.
Also noticed on Sunday the road between Steeple Claydon and Calvert have cones along it near the bridge over the loop. Not sure if this is connected?

 

[richieb1971]

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U21303/2018/09/18/advanced

Gavray junction.

 

[The Planner]

Proposal is to take the line out of use from end of October from just north of Gavray Jn to Claydon.

 

[Andyjs247]

I think there might be progress on work today.
This morning a freight train rolled though Bicester village station, over the level crossing, heading down towards Claydon. The track had been blocked off with sleepers but these were removed.
Also noticed on Sunday the road between Steeple Claydon and Calvert have cones along it near the bridge over the loop. Not sure if this is connected?

Yes and no. I too travelled the road between Steeple Claydon and Calvert and noticed lots of cones. The works here are where EWR and HS2 meet and are authorised under the HS2 Hybrid Bill. EWR is being realingned and will pass over HS2. Further east on the mothballed section I also noticed a new access road parallel to the railway at Queen Catherine Road. The crossing here remains fenced off.

There will be a Public Inquiry for the EWR2 TWAO; statutory notices have gone out. This will enable works where for example the railway needs to acquire land to close or divert a public right of way say at a level crossing. However there are some works happening already where new powers are not needed. I use Charbridge Lane Crossing on the Bicester perimeter road regularly and there is often activity here. Only last week I was held up there by two road rail JCB type vehicles which headed off towards Launton. On Sunday the track both at this crossing and at Launton was blocked off with sleepers and red flashing lights.

 

[MarkRedon]

The organisation called CBRR CamBedRailRoad has had significant press coverage in recent weeks, mainly in local newspapers in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. As readers of this thread will be aware, they are proposing a northerly route for the missing central section between Bedford and Cambridge. The principal advantages they claim for this approach are:

1. that the railway will (in part) follow an existing road transport corridor, the A248 / A421;
2. and will connect more communities – existing and future – than the more southerly C2-2 route favoured by Network Rail.

It has been difficult fully to understand their proposition because they had no website of their own. They are now gradually filling this gap. The current, developing, website can be found at: http://www.cambedrailroad.org/

 

[Mark24]

I noticed today the track has been lifted between claydon and Just short or Launton Station crossing.
Presumably the freight train that's been going down there has been taking away the old track and sleepers

 

[Railwaysceptic]

The organisation called CBRR CamBedRailRoad has had significant press coverage in recent weeks, mainly in local newspapers in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. As readers of this thread will be aware, they are proposing a northerly route for the missing central section between Bedford and Cambridge. The principal advantages they claim for this approach are:

1. that the railway will (in part) follow an existing road transport corridor, the A248 / A421;
2. and will connect more communities – existing and future – than the more southerly C2-2 route favoured by Network Rail.

It has been difficult fully to understand their proposition because they had no website of their own. They are now gradually filling this gap. The current, developing, website can be found at: http://www.cambedrailroad.org/

Thank you for that link. The main element of their proposal is that the route should leave Bedford towards the north. I didn't notice their pointing it out, but presumably this entails using the existing Bedford Station and not building a new station somewhere. As one of the central objectives of East/West Rail is greater connectivity, it has always struck me as perverse to plan not to go to Bedford Station.

 

[MarkRedon]

Thank you for that link. The main element of their proposal is that the route should leave Bedford towards the north. I didn't notice their pointing it out, but presumably this entails using the existing Bedford Station and not building a new station somewhere. As one of the central objectives of East/West Rail is greater connectivity, it has always struck me as perverse to plan not to go to Bedford Station.

Unfortunately, the new route would not serve Bedford Midland station. The CBRR proposal is to build a new station at Bedford South / Wixams - see the PDF report linked to at http://www.cambedrailroad.org/fluidcms/files/files/CamBedRailRoad-Proposal.pdf. To run via Bedford Midland would still involve a reversal with this proposed route. Even this would only be possible with north to east and north to west chords which would in all probability not be constructible without unacceptable disruption.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Unfortunately, the new route would not serve Bedford Midland station. The CBRR proposal is to build a new station at Bedford South / Wixams - see the PDF report linked to at http://www.cambedrailroad.org/fluidcms/files/files/CamBedRailRoad-Proposal.pdf. To run via Bedford Midland would still involve a reversal with this proposed route. Even this would only be possible with north to east and north to west chords which would in all probability not be constructible without unacceptable disruption.

OK, thank you. I've suddenly lost my enthusiasm for their scheme!

 

[HowardGWR]

Not much cop is it?