I did a trip from London to Cardiff yesterday and I am pleased to report some really good progress in certain locations since I last did this journey four months ago, but there is still no wiring at Paddington on Platforms 1 & 2 I am sad to say, perhaps they will get done over the Christmas closure.
All the below is of the relief lines and up main only: -
There has been a big push between Airport Junction and to about half a mile west of Maidenhead with the overhead wiring, I would say that apart from a couple of places, it is all done, there is no sign of the A/T wiring though.
From west of Maidenhead to Reading apart from Twyford station itself and a few places in the Sonning cutting, all the steelwork is up with about 30-35% of the support arms fitted, these are not installed as yet towards the Reading end.
In the Reading Station area itself, about half the support arms are fitted.
Wiring starts again towards the west end of the Reading Train depot on all four lines.
From the end of the test section west of Didcot to where the four-track section ends which is about halfway between Didcot and Swindon, apart from the Steventon gap, all the steelwork is up, long lengths of the return wire and many support arms have also been installed.
About 10 or so masts have been installed in the approaches to Swindon but there is still quite a bit of piling to be done here.
Immediately west of Swindon station up to Wootton Bassett Junction I would say about 70% of the piling is done and about 15-20 masts have appeared.
From Wootton Bassett onto the South Wales main line, piling has started towards Bristol Parkway, presently they are installed for about 5-10 miles up to the first feeder station then there is nothing from here to Patchway
From Patchway to the Seven Tunnel nearly all the piles are in with about 20 odd masts installed as a bonus
Into South Wales, the piles appear again after the M4 bridge, which is the west side of Seven Tunnel Junction, and fizzle out towards Newport after Llanwern, again about 20 odd masts are up.
After Newport towards Cardiff again lots of piles installed but none/hardly any at the Newport or Cardiff ends and I would say 30 masts are up.
So in short, the current end of the electrified lines, which I believe is about 1 mile west of Airport Junction, to Maidenhead switch on early 2017?, yes.
Maidenhead to West of Reading wiring complete?, I would say summer 2017
Didcot to Swindon wiring complete?, I would say very late 2017
Swindon to Bristol Parkway/Newport and Cardiff wiring?, who knows but I feel they will not make the Dec 2018 target, I hope that I am wrong!
I am off to Bristol and back over Christmas so I will post an update for Wootton Bassett to Thingley Junction in about 10 days, Network Rail have posted that a lot of piling will be done in the Chippenham area over the festive break.
