GWML Electrification - Construction Start Date?

[bf2142]

As a fairly regular user of the FGW service between London and Swindon, I was very pleased to hear that the government has approved electrification. When the project is completed, it will be a major boost for the west of England and south Wales and, fingers crossed, will lead to further electrification between Plymouth and Birmingham.

But my question is: when will we see construction work start?

 

[anthony263]

I would have thought they would be starting soon. I know the electrification in the north west of england is supposed to be up and running by 2013

 

[LexyBoy]

But my question is: when will we see construction work start?

Not until I've got my hovercar!

More seriously, even if it does go ahead I wouldn't expect to see any obvious electrification work for a few years - all the preliminary planning will take a while, then there's making enough clearance around bridges, tunnels etc...

 

[Daimler]

I've noticed various bridges between Reading & Oxford being replaced (to the aesthetic detriment of the line, I'm afraid) recently - I'm don't know, however, if this has anything to do with electrification or not.

I do seem to recall reading something about gauge enhancement for larger containers on intermodal trains, but I'm not sure if it referred to this route.

 

[WatcherZero]

Probably the best paty of a year off, they first have to do the detailed surveys and create proper blueprints for instance which structures to replace, which to move, where to lower the existing track, where the transformers should be located, etc....

Lancs electrification was first announced Dec 2009 and reconfirmed in Nov 2010 and they finished the planning ready to break ground for the first stage (Manchester-WCML) last week.

 

[LexyBoy]

I've noticed various bridges between Reading & Oxford being replaced (to the aesthetic detriment of the line, I'm afraid) recently - I'm don't know, however, if this has anything to do with electrification or not.

I do seem to recall reading something about gauge enhancement for larger containers on intermodal trains, but I'm not sure if it referred to this route.

Indeed it was to upgrade the line for freight - a lot of intermodal goes via Reading and Oxford on its way to if Midlands - though I imagine the bridges which have been replaced will not need further work if the line is electrified.

 

[swt_passenger]

Probably the best paty of a year off, they first have to do the detailed surveys and create proper blueprints for instance which structures to replace, which to move, where to lower the existing track, where the transformers should be located, etc....

When the GWML was originally announced under Labour, they started the sites surveys on the GW soon after.

They have been actively working on it in the drawing office for just as long as the NW, according to a chap who was part of it over 12 months ago. The main early effort was to ensure the Reading rebuild allows for electrification - a lot of the drawings for that job had to be reworked as a high priority.

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Indeed it was to upgrade the line for freight - a lot of intermodal goes via Reading and Oxford on its way to if Midlands - though I imagine the bridges which have been replaced will not need further work if the line is electrified.

Unless it is physically impossible, the gauge clearance for W10 will also include clearance for OHLE as you suggest.

That has been the policy for bridge replacements for a fairly long time, certainly since BR days.

You often see the clearance increase significantly when footbridges are replaced as well - even in the heart of the third rail area...

 

[bf2142]

It's good news to hear that the survey and planning work has already started!

I'm not sure if this is true but I'd read that electrification may have stopped at Bristol as the water ingress into the Severn Tunnel presented a severe risk. Presumably the engineers found a solution to this problem.

On an historical note, when I worked in the engineering dept of the Victoria Line, I got talking to a rail consultant who told me that the reason the GWML had not been electrified already was that there was “resistance to change” from the region. I grew up in the SW so I know the reputation but I was wondering if electrification of the GWML had been proposed before and why it had never come to fruition?

 

[Zoe]

On an historical note, when I worked in the engineering dept of the Victoria Line, I got talking to a rail consultant who told me that the reason the GWML had not been electrified already was that there was “resistance to change” from the region. I grew up in the SW so I know the reputation but I was wondering if electrification of the GWML had been proposed before and why it had never come to fruition?

The WR was abolished in 1992. From this time Intercity owned the infrastructure from Paddington to Plymouth until 1994 when Railtrack took over. Railtrack owned the infrastructure until 2002 and then Network Rail form 2002 onwards so that's almost twenty years electtrification could have been done in.

 

[starrymarkb]

I'm not sure if this is true but I'd read that electrification may have stopped at Bristol as the water ingress into the Severn Tunnel presented a severe risk. Presumably the engineers found a solution to this problem.

The Alstom engineers who did the survey say the tunnel isn't a problem and is easier then the Bakerloo line between Waterloo and Embankment.

 

[bf2142]

The Alstom engineers who did the survey say the tunnel isn't a problem and is easier then the Bakerloo line between Waterloo and Embankment.

That's reassuring to hear.

 

[londonmidland]

I thought they were doing the Midland Mainline first

 

[WatcherZero]

Labour cancelled Midland and decided to do GWML instead, Conservatives reviewed it and decided not to do it either with the next assessment in 5 years time.

 

[pablo]

The GWR proposed to electrify from Bristol to Penzance before WWII because they thought it would work out cheaper than carting coal down that way.

 

[starrymarkb]

I thought they were doing the Midland Mainline first

They are going to look at it depending on what happens with HS2 - it maybe that HS2 will replace the MML to Derby/Nottingham and Sheffield on the way to Leeds and Newcastle

 

[WatcherZero]

Tbh that wouldnt really change anything, it would still be a commuter line in need of electrification with possibly a worse business case than before.

 

[Zoe]

Tbh that wouldnt really change anything, it would still be a commuter line in need of electrification with possibly a worse business case than before.

The London commuter part of the line is electrified though.

 

[WatcherZero]

Exactly, so why electrify the rest if long distance traffic has moved onto HS2?

 

[Grumpy]

Re the comment above "The main early effort was to ensure the Reading rebuild allows for electrification - a lot of the drawings for that job had to be reworked as a high priority."
If that's true it's scandalous. Surely as a matter of course any work on the major trunk routes should have to be designed to facilitate longer term electrification?

 

[tbtc]

They are going to look at it depending on what happens with HS2 - it maybe that HS2 will replace the MML to Derby/Nottingham and Sheffield on the way to Leeds and Newcastle

As things stand I don't think HS2 will have stations in Derby, Nottingham or Sheffield. There will probably be an "East Midlands" station and a "South Yorkshire" station, but both outside the relative city centres. No HS2 station at places like Chesterfield either.