Borders Railway - Now Open

[deltic08]

All the Borders ballast and sub-base stone is indeed Lanark red from Cloburn quarry. Just outside Carstairs.

Sadly it is delivered by road. Despite a redundant Coal loading plant at Ravenstruther or Renstrie as locals of the area would call it.

Progress?

Thank you

 

[L&Y Robert]

Ho hum! Houses, yep! Understood. Ballast, OK, got the gist of it. But is there any NEWS? Where is End of Track? Have they finished those stations? Is the job running late - or early? Where are our on-the-spot reporters with their reveal-all cameras? I'm pining for news!

 

[92002]

Ho hum! Houses, yep! Understood. Ballast, OK, got the gist of it. But is there any NEWS? Where is End of Track? Have they finished those stations? Is the job running late - or early? Where are our on-the-spot reporters with their reveal-all cameras? I'm pining for news!

Tracklaying still going ahead with a view to being completed by the end of the year. Although a recent accident will have brought in the Health and Safety police. So may slip by a week or so.

Work ongoing at stations, with signalling to follow tracklaying. Expected to be handed over for driver training in April 2015.

 

[Zoidberg]

Tracklaying still going ahead with a view to being completed by the end of the year. Although a recent accident will have brought in the Health and Safety police. So may slip by a week or so.

...

According to the Edinburgh Evening News of 3rd December, the accident to which I believe you refer halted work for five and a half days.

From http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...ork-halts-as-man-injured-by-sleeper-1-3623240

Construction of the 
£350 million Borders Railway was halted for five and a half days following a serious injury to a worker, it has emerged.

The Health and Safety Executive issued two prohibition notices after a railway sleeper being carried by a piece of equipment broke free and hit a 49-year-old worker on the leg. The notices prevent contractors BAM Nuttall from using the equipment until the safety issues identified are fixed.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: “At 12:30 on Tuesday [25th November] afternoon, a contractor suffered a serious leg injury while working on the Borders Railway project near Galashiels. We are working closely with our main contractor BAM to support our colleague and his family.

“The incident is currently under investigation and it would be inappropriate for Network Rail to comment further at this time. The project team took the voluntary decision to stand the site down for the remainder of the week to allow a full investigation to take place.”

Work resumed on Monday [1st December].

 

[clc]

It is certainly possible. However, it is felt than a combined Tweedbank/Fife Circular service would not be suitably robust in case of significant delay enroute. The risk is that due to the predominately single track nature of the Borders section any delay on the Fife Circle would necessitate a cancellation or part cancellation of a train to Tweedbank due to the necessity of having trains passing at the correct times at the loops. Therefore the services have been separated.

I see. Makes sense I suppose.

 

[fegguk]

Track laying now won't be finished until early January following the serious accident above. They had a prohibition notice on the sleeper laying kit so they had to carryout a review and make changes. Track laying could not go beyond the sleepers that were already in place just North of the Bowshank tunnel. It starts again next week but won't quite get to Gala before the Christmas break.

Work on other aspects is continuing as before. They are still on schedule to complete in time for a September start date for the trains.

 

[matacaster]

Friends of Settle Carlisle are now supporting reopening of borders line through to Carlisle (from website).

 

[clc]

Anyone know the design speed of the new line?

 

[Railsigns]

Anyone know the design speed of the new line?

The fastest section will be signed for 90 m.p.h. but there's massive variation in the permissible speeds along the route.

 

[muddythefish]

Looking at some of the photos on the WHRA site, it would appear on most single track sections the line has been laid down the middle of the formation, therefore making possible future reinstatement of double track more difficult and expensive.

Why ?

 

[clc]

The fastest section will be signed for 90 m.p.h. but there's massive variation in the permissible speeds along the route.

Thanks. I was curious as to whether Hawick could become part of Edinburgh's TTWA if the line was ever extended.

Am thinking about the fastest possible journey time to Hawick based on a skip stop service which missed out 4 of the 5 stations between Waverley and Gorebridge (assume Waverley-Gorebridge frequency increased to 4tph).

Fag packet calculation:
Waverley-Tweedbank - 45 mins
Tweedbank-Hawick - 25 mins.
Total = 70 mins.

Does that sound realistic?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Friends of Settle Carlisle are now supporting reopening of borders line through to Carlisle (from website).

I was unaware that their financial wherewithal ran so far...:roll:

 

[snowball]

Looking at some of the photos on the WHRA site, it would appear on most single track sections the line has been laid down the middle of the formation, therefore making possible future reinstatement of double track more difficult and expensive.

Why ?

In some places it may be to give headroom for possible future electrification under the middle of arched bridges.

 

[21C101]

In some places it may be to give headroom for possible future electrification under the middle of arched bridges.

It also allows faster speeds round curves.

 

[snowball]

It also allows faster speeds round curves.

I would have thought a varying position on the formation, tailored to each curve, would be best for that.

 

[cjt0131]

as a border's resident I look forward to the new rail link to Edinburgh

however I am not as convinced that it will bring the economic boost that many seem to think it will

I believe there is far too much emphasis on tweedbank and not enough on galashiels

in my view it is good that the service will not be operated by the same company operating the buses as this would have adversely affected travellers in the likes of Selkirk and hawick

 

[fegguk]

Track laying is still stopped at Ferniehirst just North of the Bowshank Tunnel which has sleepers either side as well as the slab track already laid through it. The is still a gap waiting for sleeper between here and the rails a few hundred yard further north. So i am still waiting to get that shot of the train emerging for the tunnel.


http://youtu.be/9HQzo0nhRU8

 

[HowardGWR]

Track laying is still stopped at Ferniehirst just North of the Bowshank Tunnel which has sleepers either side as well as the slab track already laid through it. The is still a gap waiting for sleeper between here and the rails a few hundred yard further north. So i am still waiting to get that shot of the train emerging for the tunnel.


http://youtu.be/9HQzo0nhRU8

Great historical record you are creating. I keep expecting Gromit to coming racing along any moment!

The last tantalising snippet at Galashiels made it look as though there was room for double track. What is that bank of earth that looks as though it has recently been put across the solum in front of the bridge.

I still can't believe why the track has to be single here. It seems barmy to me. (At least, there appears to be just one platform on the plan). This is the reference I am looking at

http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk/media/13672/129713-bam-drg-md-000172.pdf

 

[Fozzie49]

Track laying is still stopped at Ferniehirst just North of the Bowshank Tunnel which has sleepers either side as well as the slab track already laid through it. The is still a gap waiting for sleeper between here and the rails a few hundred yard further north. So i am still waiting to get that shot of the train emerging for the tunnel.


http://youtu.be/9HQzo0nhRU8

Rail train cancelled again today along with the empty and full runs to Tyne yard. You will just have to keep a eye on Realtraintimes to get that elusive shot of the train emerging the tunnel. I hope to be there also!

 

[fegguk]

Great historical record you are creating. I keep expecting Gromit to coming racing along any moment!

The last tantalising snippet at Galashiels made it look as though there was room for double track. What is that bank of earth that looks as though it has recently been put across the solum in front of the bridge.

I still can't believe why the track has to be single here. It seems barmy to me. (At least, there appears to be just one platform on the plan). This is the reference I am looking at

http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk/media/13672/129713-bam-drg-md-000172.pdf

The new foot bridge may accommodate two tracks however either side there are new structures that won't. The earth bank is just a temporary mound for the excavator to sit on.

There is only room for one platform and one track between the A7 and the retaining wall. This was just a back street in 1969, its become the main road since then and stolen some of the space the railway used to occupy.

 

[HowardGWR]

The new foot bridge may accommodate two tracks however either side there are new structures that won't. The earth bank is just a temporary mound for the excavator to sit on.

There is only room for one platform and one track between the A7 and the retaining wall. This was just a back street in 1969, its become the main road since then and stolen some of the space the railway used to occupy.

Thanks @FeggUK. I cannot imagine that it will be more than two decades before the whole lot is doubled through Galashiels.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

While I'm sure pinching back a bit of the Asda carpark wouldn't have been to hard, the Asda store building itself is one of the constraints. The Ladhope Tunnel is one of the others.

 

[fgwrich]

While I'm sure pinching back a bit of the Asda carpark wouldn't have been to hard, the Asda store building itself is one of the constraints. The Ladhope Tunnel is one of the others.

As will be the 'Currie Road'? bridge south of the Asda store as well looking at images of it's construction.

I know it would have been a little out of the Town Centre, but I do wonder why they allowed so much space for the Asda to go there, when they could have had a decent Station + Car Park there?

 

[cjt0131]

As will be the 'Currie Road'? bridge south of the Asda store as well looking at images of it's construction.

I know it would have been a little out of the Town Centre, but I do wonder why they allowed so much space for the Asda to go there, when they could have had a decent Station + Car Park there?

ASDA - all to do with how much money they came up with for the council to build their "wonderful" new road system

as far as the currie road bridge is concerned I feel so sorry for the elderly residents of the sheltered housing complex who did have a quite open outlook from the corner windows until that monstrosity of a bridge was built-----surely something more pleasing could have been designed

I am no train expert but if they decide to operate steam trains will they be able to get up enough steam to climb the gradient after halting in gala

 

[Chris125]

I would have thought a varying position on the formation, tailored to each curve, would be best for that.

Presumably keeping the track away from the slopes of old cuttings and embankments reduces the need for, or cost of, modifying their angle.

Chris

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Thanks @FeggUK. I cannot imagine that it will be more than two decades before the whole lot is doubled through Galashiels.

I often wonder if those calling for the full line reinstatement to Carlisle take heed of currently discussed matters of contention in the current reinstatement as far as Tweedbank.

 

[Altnabreac]

Thanks @FeggUK. I cannot imagine that it will be more than two decades before the whole lot is doubled through Galashiels.

To be honest, even if extended southwards to Hawick, the line south of Gorebridge will never justify a service greater than 2tph so the current infrastructure will serve that quite adequately.

The main enhancement that might happen in future is to run a 2tph Borders semi fast service (Waverley, Eskbank, Stow, Galashiels) and a 2tph Midlothian stopping service. It's not entirely clear whether a service pattern like this would need additional double track sections (I suspect it would).

However this would almost certainly involve extending the current double track section southwards from Shawfair to Eskbank/Newtongrange/Gorebridge with extra platforms at some/all of those 3 stations.

No additional infrastructure would be needed south of Gorebridge to run this 4tph timetable.

 

[Tobbes]

To be honest, even if extended southwards to Hawick, the line south of Gorebridge will never justify a service greater than 2tph so the current infrastructure will serve that quite adequately.

This sounds sensible, though it would presumably depend on whether if it were extended to Carlisle whether the whole route became an alternative freight route to the central belt (ie, you could envisage Felixstowe - March - Spalding - Sleaford - Lincoln - Doncaster - Leeds - Settle - Carlisle - Hawick - Edinburgh) if there was demand to keep freight off the ECML and WCML. Can't see it though, as the WCML will become the "Old Road" when HS2 gets to the Central Belt.

 

[NotATrainspott]

What major barriers, if any, exist between Hawick and Carlisle? Whether the route can be feasibly reopened with a ropey business case could hinge solely upon whether a single major infrastructure work would be needed, e.g. a reconstruction of a tunnel or a bridge. If reopening would be not much more than a matter of clearing the alignment, laying the ballast and running the rail-laying train down it then I can't see it being impossible.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

I doubt if it would be that simple. When one sees the amount of work that has gone into reinforcing/rebuilding what looked (to my layman's eye at least) like reasonably stable earthworks in the sections which are being reopened, and then adding the drainage work, signalling, fencing and so on the cost would still be considerable. The trackwork is only part of the story.