Fascinating, thank you. There's now plenty of evidence on the ground all the way.
I'm guessing this was from 'a light' aircraft, not an aircraft that was set alight!
I'm guessing this was from 'a light' aircraft, not an aircraft that was set alight!
A section of the EWR route, of the order of a mile or so each side of the HS2 crossing, is in the hands of HS2. They have to complete the bridge (13:30 in the video) and the EWR approach embankments and new road bridge(s), and then hand it back to EWR for tracklaying. It will be the last section of EWR (between Bicester and Bletchley) to receive track. I've asked previously if there's a published date for the handback.
Somewhere it says that the diameter of the cutting heads for the Northolt TBMs is less than that for the Chiltern ones, as the tunnel diameter is smaller for the lower running speed in the London tunnels.
I suppose that makes some sense because I seriously doubt northbound trains would be able to accelerate quickly enough to reach 200 mph in the Northolt tunnels anyway with all services stopping at OOC and the design.
They need that bridge in by early 2024 for E-W testing.
Judging by the fact that the entire bridge deck is sitting there ready to be lifted on (and indeed may have been installed by now), I’d expect it to be considerably early than 2024.
www.hs2.org.uk
Seems that the tunnelling is going better and faster than planned in the chilterns which can only be a good thing. Didn't they project 15m a day?HS2 Ltd has updated the TBM positions in the Chiltern and Northolt tunnels, for November 29.
The Chiltern pair are at 7630m/7419m, and are moving at a good rate of over 25m/day, approaching the Amersham vent shaft.
The Northolt TBMs are at 264m and 57m, both moving slowly after their recent launch.
After a month, the backup train of the second Northolt TBM Caroline has not yet cleared into the tunnel section, but at least its position is now visible on the map.
The logistics support for these TBMs at West Ruislip will not be fully installed until the new year (railway siding, conveyor system etc).
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HS2 have posted more than once that they expect an average of 15m a day from the TBMs.
There are definitely no changes planned for Aylesbury to Princes Risborough, the proposed EWR work to enable through services was pulled by DfT before the TWA application process started, the removal of all work was mentioned in the inspectors report, and has been reported in the various EWR threads elsewhere in this forum.
The track laying contract is also due to be awarded in Q1 2023.
www.hs2.org.uk
The very shallow launch (unlike the other tunnels so far and the OOC launched ones in the future) will slows thing down until they get to a reasonable depth and the pace can step up.
They still make it lop sided on the down, not sure what its going to unlock as you are still planning as if its AB. You will have the Risborough to Kimble section which is nigh on 3 miles, then a new 1½ mile section then 2½ miles to Aylesbury. Its a bit better on the up, but the signals are there to protect the crossing, any capacity is a bonus. The barriers will be down longer as well as the strike in points are moved by a mile in each direction.
But even then, surely this is not related to either HS2, or even to EWR?
Do we know how construction supply trains will reach the HS2 base at Calvert (track, rail, OHLE etc)?
I don’t know any details, but that seems a foregone conclusion. My earlier reply was really just in response to post #1636, which was asking about improving the Risborough to Aylesbury passenger services by adding a loop on the back of the track diversion.
Ah right. But still not really about improving the overall passenger service? I knew about the track lift, we discussed it early last month when I posted an extract from the drawing.
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