Island Line Upgrade updates

[Gloster]

Is ferry capacity an issue during August in trying to get more units across there?

Probably not if they are prepared to move them in the evening or middle of the night. It might slow things down a bit, but the whole project seems to moving at a snail’s pace.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Sorry if this is a super annoying question, but does post #860 above give reason to hope that the passenger service will resume in August?

National Rail Journey Planner now shows buses until 29th August, trains from 30th.

 

[Gloster]

National Rail Journey Planner now shows buses until 29th August, trains from 30th.

I wouldn’t make any definite or expensive plans based on this. It appears to be the aspiration, but there are an awful lot of potential pitfalls remaining and it only needs a few problems to appear for the date to be unachievable.

 

[norbitonflyer]

I wouldn’t make any definite or expensive plans based on this. It appears to be the aspiration, but there are an awful lot of potential pitfalls remaining and it only needs a few problems to appear for the date to be unachievable.

Indeed - I was observing that until yesterday the Journey Planner was showing trains would be running from Sunday August 1st. I assume August 30th (a Monday this time) is just another placemarker.

 

[Chris125]

Not the neatest way of doing things but at least the platforms are looking complete now:


'D' end of 483 006 stabled at Ryde St Johns Road by Mike G. McDermott, on Flickr

 

[Gloster]

A look at the rails at Esplanade today suggests that nothing has run over them since the road/rail vehicle hauled 001 through the tunnel nearly two months ago. The rail is once more so rusty that the thin line on top produced by the last movement has disappeared.

 

[Chris125]

Confirmation that the 4-car stop mark is beyond the footbridge, where clearances between the bridge/platform edge/train are 'suboptimal' to say the least!


South Western Railway - Island Line - 483006 by Daniel Mullins, on Flickr

 

[Gloster]

The line is apparently flooded to the south of St Johns Road and, by the sound of it, in the station area as well: the flood warning is expected to last for another two days. We shall see if this will further delay the reopening. 2022, anyone?

 

[Chris125]

The line is apparently flooded to the south of St Johns Road and, by the sound of it, in the station area as well: the flood warning is expected to last for another two days. We shall see if this will further delay the reopening. 2022, anyone?

Doesn't look too bad thankfully, no reports of the depot being flooded or damage to the railway so far - we've had three biblical rain events in recent weeks and the brook seems to have topped out at similar levels each time so [touch wood] the improvements appear to be working.

River level heading back to normal:

Monktonmead Brook level at St Johns - GOV.UK

Check the latest recorded river level and recent 5-day trend at St Johns

flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk

 

[43096]

Doesn't look too bad thankfully, no reports of the depot being flooded or damage to the railway so far - we've had three biblical rain events in recent weeks and the brook seems to have topped out at similar levels each time so [touch wood] the improvements appear to be working.

River level heading back to normal:

Monktonmead Brook level at St Johns - GOV.UK

Check the latest recorded river level and recent 5-day trend at St Johns

flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk

The depot has been flooded.

 

[yorkie]

Just a gentle reminder this is an infrastructure thread to discuss the progress of the Island Line upgrade.

The forum has plenty of capacity for alternative threads to discuss anything else

 

[Chris125]

The depot has been flooded.

That's not ideal! Fingers crossed none of the trains have been affected, 007 spent a long time OOU after the depot was flooded some years back.

 

[tnxrail]

That's not ideal! Fingers crossed none of the trains have been affected, 007 spent a long time OOU after the depot was flooded some years back.

I was in the area Monday went to see if there was any activity and saw this.

 

[pompeyfan]

16 washouts reported between Smallbrook and Brading, some up to 3ft deep and 3 sleepers wide.

 

[cav1975]

16 washouts reported between Smallbrook and Brading, some up to 3ft deep and 3 sleepers wide.

Oh for a ballast train!!

 

[Chris125]

16 washouts reported between Smallbrook and Brading, some up to 3ft deep and 3 sleepers wide.

Wow, the Brading side of Smallbrook? That's much more unusual, can't recall that before. Normally it's the Ryde side where the brook alongside can overflow.

 

[Gloster]

The flood warning appeared to be mainly north of Smallbrook (possibly an inappropriate name recently). One wonders how much worse it could be between Smallbrook and St. John’s Road or Esplanade.

 

[hermit]

Areas south of Smallbrook did have a lot of rain - the Brading to Ryde road was flooded at Beaper Shute, which I don’t remember happening before.

 

[Gloster]

It may have been a lot of rain falling in the catchment area of the streams that feed into Monktonmead Brook, which runs alongside the railway to north of St John’s Road. Rain was very localised: in Wootton there was virtually nothing.

 

[Chris125]

BBC: Isle of Wight rail work falls further behind after flooding

South Western Railway (SWR) said it could not give a specific re-opening date but expected the railway line to remain closed into the autumn.

It said newly laid ballast had been washed away from underneath sleepers and electrical, signalling and points equipment had also been damaged by the water.

In a statement, the operator said: "We had been aiming to reopen the Island Line in the first half of next month, but flash flooding has added uncertainty to our programme.

 

[DavidGrain]

According to this report severe flooding up to 18 inches deep at most stations between the platforms has washed away ballast putting the projected reopening back to autumn.

Isle of Wight rail work falls further behind after flooding

The railway that should have reopened in March will remain closed into the autumn.

www.bbc.co.uk

SWR said during the recent flash floods - when more than a month's worth of rain fell in two hours - water was 18 inches (46cm) above the track at Ryde St John's Road, Sandown and Shanklin railway stations.

 

[Meerkat]

This is pretty damaging for the railway project reputation - can’t even get a simple line upgraded on time.
Do they need to put in some better drainage whilst they are at it - this will happen again….

 

[Gloster]

The County Press and Island Echo mention that the previous date they had been hoping to open by was the first half of next month (September). This is not even meteorological summer, which ends on 31 August.

 

[Gloster]

SWR have released some photos, including one of dirty water swilling around 484 001. The water seems to be up to about the level of the bottom of the obstruction deflector.

 

[snowball]

The County Press and Island Echo mention that the previous date they had been hoping to open by was the first half of next month (September). This is not even meteorological summer, which ends on 31 August.

The other main definition of summer (sometimes called astronomical summer) is from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox, and so begins and ends about three weeks later than meteorological summer.

 

[Chris125]

According to this report severe flooding up to 18 inches deep at most stations between the platforms has washed away ballast putting the projected reopening back to autumn.

While I'd be surprised if it was that high at St Johns going by the river levels reported by the EA, I don't see how that's even possible at Sandown and Shanklin - different articles seem to be reporting it slightly differently so perhaps some miscommunication.

 

[KendalKing]

This is pretty damaging for the railway project reputation - can’t even get a simple line upgraded on time.

I think you are being a bit unfair to Network Rail and South Western Railway, as they are not responsible for the rain, nor were they responsible for the Covid pandemic.

Do they need to put in some better drainage whilst they are at it - this will happen again….

After nearly 200-years of running trains, you would honestly expected the railway engineers, to have come-up with a solution to the age old problem of flooding on railway lines, by now.

Maybe we need a modern day, super engineer like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, to sort out the ongoing problems.

 

[Meerkat]

think you are being a bit unfair to Network Rail and South Western Railway, as they are not responsible for the rain, nor were they responsible for the Covid pandemic.

I was saying what the Treasury/politicians will say when told about a possible project “oh yes, this is a realistic budget/schedule”

 

[snowball]

Maybe we need a modern day, super engineer like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, to sort out the ongoing problems.

I seem to remember reading an article some years ago which suggested that George Stephenson, form his mining experience, understood drainage issues better than Brunel. It may have been the same Modern Railways article that I and others have mentioned in other threads, about the difficulties of achieving clearance for overhead electrification at bridges.

 

[Bigfoot]

we need a modern day, super engineer like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, to sort out the ongoing problems.

And the money to fund it.