Cambridge Busway

[jopsuk]

Progress! BAM Nuttall have finally handed the infrastructure over to the council officially! From the council website:

Busway update - Thursday 21 April



BUSWAY HANDED OVER TO COUNTY COUNCIL


Contractors BAM Nuttall have completed the Busway project today and handed over the route to Cambridgeshire County Council.



Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council, met with BAM Nuttall’s top boss – Steve Fox – today to finalise the completion of the contract and the handover of the project.



Mark Lloyd said: “Both Steve and I are delighted all the mandatory checks have now been carried out and the route has been handed over to the Council. The Council’s objective has always been to deliver a high quality route that will provide a fantastic service for our communities for many years to come. The handover of the route is the first big step towards the route opening.”



Steve Fox, BAM Nuttall’s Chief Executive, said: “BAM Nuttall is very proud to have built the longest Guided Busway in the world, which once open, will provide a world beating service. I am glad both the Council and BAM Nuttall have taken a positive step forward today. I, like everyone at BAM Nuttall, look forward to seeing buses running along this high quality scheme as soon as possible.”



Roy Pegram, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Growth, Infrastructure and Strategic Planning, said: “The handover of The Busway is the news residents have been looking forward to. This is the first big step towards the route opening, but I would like to remind residents that the announcement of the opening date is still some way off.



“We expect around 3.5 million trips per year will be made on the route once it opens and it will certainly be the best way to travel to avoid the frequent queues and congestion on the A14.”



At the beginning of May the Council will begin adding a blacktop surface to the cycleway between Swavesey and Milton Road, as well as surfacing the southern section. An additional junction to help access to the Clay Farm development – funded by developers – will also be carried out.



Notes:

The handover of the route means the 28 day period for BAM Nuttall to fix defects has begun.

The last bit is bit cheeky- there's a low likelihood of Nuttall actually fixing defects; I think the council already have a contractor lined up to fix most of the worst ones- though not the access track/cycle path between Swavesy and St Ives, which is a thorny, wet, issue.

 

[Aictos]

Still think it's a waste of time and money no matter how much spin is used to convince me otherwise.

 

[Mojo]

The Cambridgeshire Guided Cycleway lives on

 

[bb21]

I don't understand why it cannot be written into the initial award conditions that penalties apply if the project is not completed on time.

 

[WatcherZero]

It was, the Council were recieving £14,000 per day that it was overdue, and thats fine has been in place for two years and two months and adds up to over £14m. It was also a fixed price contract, the company had to deliver for the agreed price with a maximum permitted overspend of £5m.

Basically the construction company BAM Nuttal have lost over £100m on this contract.

 

[starrymarkb]

Am I right in thinking that the council did the design and BAM had to build to their spec, then when design flaws were found the council refused liability for things like the flooded carpark

 

[WatcherZero]

Actually they were meant to be built on a slight incline for drainage but BAM cocked it up and built it flat. This is the relevant section from the list of defect:

Maintenance track – some areas of the track have been built at too low level which means rain water has collected and the maintenance track is flooded. These areas of the track need to be raised without affecting the flood balance in the area.

Beam expansion gaps – The County Council requires the contractor to show that the gaps between the beams will allow for expansion of the beams during periods of hot weather while giving a smooth ride for passengers.

Foundations – The County Council requires the contractor to show that the use of shallow pad foundations on some short sections of track where deeper piled foundations were originally planned is appropriate. The County Council need calculations to show the track will not move over time reducing the ride quality.

St Ives Park & Ride car park – the car park has been built with less than the specified gradient and water is ponding on the surface of the car park.

River Great Ouse Viaduct – rain water is leaking through an unsealed expansion joint onto the steel below. If this was not fixed now council taxpayers would pick up future bills for additional maintenance costs.

 

[Liam]

I don't understand this. Why is a guided busway any better than just building a road?? Even if you restrict users of the road in favour of public transport.

Or they could have reopened the railway..................

 

[WatcherZero]

It takes up less space than a normal road and vehicles are physically segregated allowing high head on speeds that wouldnt be possible in a conventional road of the same width where the driver would have to maneouver to avoid collisions. Its like fitting a A road into a former rail allignment the width of a country lane.

 

[Liam]

It takes up less space than a normal road and vehicles are physically segregated allowing high head on speeds that wouldnt be possible in a conventional road of the same width where the driver would have to maneouver to avoid collisions. Its like fitting a A road into a former rail allignment the width of a country lane.

Would widening and building of a road have cost £180m?

 

[WatcherZero]

Probably not, but remember its £100m over budget thats been fully absorbed by the contractor. I believe the rail option considered for price comparison was £175-£179m before inflation/overruns compared to original £80m estimate for bus.

Also you want the worst most expensive road project ever? The M74 Northern extension in Scotland, 8km 6 lanes, £692m! £15m per single lane km! By comparison this cost £180m for 25km of dual lane or £3.6m per lane km, half that without the contractor screwups.

 

[Liam]

Probably not, but remember its £100m over budget thats been fully absorbed by the contractor. I believe the rail option considered for price comparison was £175-£179m before inflation/overruns compared to original £80m estimate for bus.

Also you want the worst most expensive road project ever? The M74 Northern extension in Scotland, 8km 6 lanes, £692m! £15m per single lane km! By comparison this cost £180m for 25km of dual lane or £3.6m per lane km, half that without the contractor screwups.

The M74 is badly needed though to take the pressure off the M8 through the North side of Glasgow City Centre. In 8 miles the M8 picks up traffic from the M74 (via the M73), M80 and local traffic, and funnels down to 2 lanes at Charing Cross.

 

[WatcherZero]

You mean 5 miles (8 km) at £140m per mile!

 

[lancastrian]

The Cambridge Busway, has been the biggest waste of money, since we started paying MP's for their job. What was needed simple, was the Cambridge - St. Ives line to be refurbished and extended to Huntingdon. Simple, effective, workable, needed, cheap and practical.

So what do the idiot politicans do, rip up the old railway and have an unproved, unwanted, costly and impractical busway built. All at a rediculus cost, way over budget, with a number of unfixed faults (to date). All those responsable for this complete fiasco, should be fined for as much as we can get out of them and banned from ever holding political office for the rest of their lives.

 

[tbtc]

The Cambridge Busway, has been the biggest waste of money, since we started paying MP's for their job. What was needed simple, was the Cambridge - St. Ives line to be refurbished and extended to Huntingdon. Simple, effective, workable, needed, cheap and practical.

So what do the idiot politicans do, rip up the old railway and have an unproved, unwanted, costly and impractical busway built. All at a rediculus cost, way over budget, with a number of unfixed faults (to date). All those responsable for this complete fiasco, should be fined for as much as we can get out of them and banned from ever holding political office for the rest of their lives.

Are you saying that opening a railway on this line would have been

Cheap?
On time?
On budget?
Have no "project management" problems?

I'm not saying that a Guided Busway is ideal, but given recent rail projects (WCML upgrade, Bathgate electrification, the £5,000 cost of each parking space in Penrith train station...) I don't think a railway line would have avoided the kind of problems you refer to.

 

[mumrar]

I'm not saying that a Guided Busway is ideal, but given recent rail projects (WCML upgrade, Bathgate electrification, the £5,000 cost of each parking space in Penrith train station...) I don't think a railway line would have avoided the kind of problems you refer to.

The difference is all of those are work carried out on existing operating railway infrastructure. And because it gas to be done around a running railway then money and delays can occur. With the exception of Cambridge station, none of the replacement St Ives route would have been worked around a functioning railway.

Look at HS1, phase one was completed ahead of schedule and on budget and of course the media largely said nothing because of this.

 

[tbtc]

The difference is all of those are work carried out on existing operating railway infrastructure. And because it gas to be done around a running railway then money and delays can occur. With the exception of Cambridge station, none of the replacement St Ives route would have been worked around a functioning railway.

Look at HS1, phase one was completed ahead of schedule and on budget and of course the media largely said nothing because of this.

...but similarly the infrastructure on the "new" section of railway between Airdrie and Bathgate wasn't all ready in December.

To me, most of the Cambridgeshire problems (constructors trying to get away with doing the bare minimum, government representatives uncertain of how to manage a project...) are the same as many poor railway projects, the METRONET mess on the London Underground, the Edinburgh trams, the Scottish Parliament... none of which are particular to buses/ busways, just badly run projects.

 

[jon0844]

Did all the work on the North and East London Lines (now LO), around Highbury and Islington and eastwards, get done on time and to budget?

The new stations that have been built may not look fantastic, but they're big and functional - and do the exact job they're supposed to.

 

[317 forever]

Did all the work on the North and East London Lines (now LO), around Highbury and Islington and eastwards, get done on time and to budget?

The new stations that have been built may not look fantastic, but they're big and functional - and do the exact job they're supposed to.

Yes these LO extensions did open on time. In fact, interim services started a few weeks early on both lines.

 

[jon0844]

So there is hope that other rail and light-rail/tram schemes could be done without the disaster of the guided busway.

 

[starrymarkb]

The timetable has now been published, and is rather less frequent then the council claimed!

 

[Deerfold]

The timetable has now been published, and is rather less frequent then the council claimed!

At: http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/around/thebusway/

 

[WatcherZero]

7 per hour between A, B and C routes on the busway? Thats more than the initial claim!

Original leaflet said it would START with 6 and work upto 20 by 2016

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR...C-B0EB-D26D71BBB1BF/0/TWAexhibitionpanels.pdf