Evergreen 3 and Hitchin Flyover

[moley242]

Does anyone know when the Evergreen 3 Project will start and how they will proceed?

I have a friend who informs me that the Oxford-Bicester line will close for 9 months with Bus replacements over the line and I assume on part of Chiltern Railways Mainline.

Will the Hitchin Flyover also involve bus Replacement perhaps Hitchin-Stevenage/Letchworth ?

Any Details/links etc gratefully Received

 

[Eagle]

Will the Hitchin Flyover also involve bus Replacement perhaps Hitchin-Stevenage/Letchworth ?

Hitchin flyover is basically complete by now. When they were putting the bridge deck in several months ago FCC Peterborough services were bustituted and EC ran a limited HST service via Ely.

As for the Bicester chord (which is technically Evergreen 3 phase 2, phase 1 was the mainline upgrades that were completed in September 2011), the approval was only officially secured in July 2012; current estimation is that works will be complete by 2015. If there is a long possession of the line, which is likely, it probably won't be until 2014.

 

[cm39275]

from what i have herd from staff on the bicester branch is that they believe the line will be shut between 12-18 months as apparentley they are looking at doing most of the work in conjuction with the east to west link at the same time between oxford and bcester.

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

As far as hitchin grade separation

www.hitchingradeseparation.blogspot.com

is a fantastic blog detailing the progress. As far as I know there's a closure planned over Christmas to finish the connection of the loop to the Down Cambridge near Letchworth.

I'm assuming that the Christmas period will also be used to do any work necessary on crossovers from the Down Fast to Down Slow to access the flyover at the Hitchin end.

 

[jopsuk]

So June for the Hitchin opening, and 50mph isn't too bad a speed restriction round the loop

 

[philjo]

Will the Hitchin Flyover also involve bus Replacement perhaps Hitchin-Stevenage/Letchworth ?

Any Details/links etc gratefully Received

There were bus replacements on all services between Hitchin & Letchworth Garden City on 3 Sundays during November. during this time the trackwork was done for the installation of the points at the new Hitchin East Junction (where the flyover line joins the down Cambridge line near the Stotfold Road bridge).

 

[route:oxford]

from what i have herd from staff on the bicester branch is that they believe the line will be shut between 12-18 months as apparentley they are looking at doing most of the work in conjuction with the east to west link at the same time between oxford and bcester.

That's a long time for the Bicester Military Railway to be disconnected from the main network...

Will the new chord be in place prior to the closure of Bicester-Oxford?

 

[The Planner]

I'm pretty sure that there has to be provision for access to the MOD left in during the work, either via Claydon or Oxford and blocks arranged around the train schedules.