Caterham line engineering works burst a water main

[island]

Works on the Purley to Caterham line today have gone rather awry after a water main became damaged at Whyteleafe. It is unclear whether the line will return to service tomorrow (though I suppose many in the area could pile onto the Oxted lines instead).

Photos at https://twitter.com/yatinvadhiapr/status/977845257202225157?s=21

 

[londonboi]

Doesn’t look that bad tbh and as the poster of the photos states they saw a video from an engineer that showed it worse than what it is now. Don’t see why the line wouldn’t open to traffic as normal tomorrow not any water in the pictures from what I can see tbh nothing more than what it’s normally like after rainfall

 

[tsr]

The track, signalling equipment and drainage systems all seem to have come off very lightly, but the main problem under consideration has been how to fix the pipe and get the line handed back in time.

Unfortunately the pipe is quite big and requires about 16 ish hours from the incident to get it fully drained, examined, fixed and tested. It needs to be done straight away - and the fix couldn't be done that close to the track if trains were running on it - even with the track safety trained contractors which the local water company do actually have.

It is fortunate there is an engineering possession of suitable length already ongoing (well, the one which caused this problem) which will mean the line will be closed long enough for the repairs to be done. Hopefully testing should be complete just in time; it's tight, though, so watch this space!

 

[Joe Paxton]

Unfortunately the pipe is quite big and requires about 16 ish hours from the incident to get it fully drained, examined, fixed and tested. It needs to be done straight away - and the fix couldn't be done that close to the track if trains were running on it - even with the track safety trained contractors which the local water company do actually have.

How many water companies have this?

I'm guessing SES Water (who I think supply the Whyteleafe area) have a number of water supply assets on railway land.

 

[tsr]

How many water companies have this?

No idea. All I know is that SESW are one of the better ones for responding to incidents involving the railway.

I'm guessing SES Water (who I think supply the Whyteleafe area) have a number of water supply assets on railway land.

That's the company. They do seem to. In fact, the Whyteleafe area does seem to be one of the more frequent railway-related locations they get called to!

 

[Taunton]

Water companies do not normally employ their own labour, they have contracts with civil engineering companies to provide this as required. As these same companies likely provide railway civil engineering subcontractors as well, they should be able to provide a common pool of labour.

 

[infobleep]

I'm guessing water pipes wouldn't be built so close to the railways now.