MML Electrification: progress updates

[Meerkat]

Does this work progressing northward need a project budget, or could it be done by in house teams in marginal time/budget?

 

[Topological]

Clearly a long time. The A453 has been dual carriageway from the M1 to the A52 for about a decade now.

It is, even the last time I used East Midlands Parkway to change onto the Ivanhoe Line was 2019 (though obviously the A453 had been dualled by then)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Dec 2024 ==

From Google Streetview, there seems to be plenty of space to work on the parapet without impinging too much on the carriageway.
View attachment 171349

I assume in this case that the speed of the road, and nature of the crash barrier in the picture, mean that a larger safe area is needed. Possibly also needs a new crash barrier as well.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Does this work progressing northward need a project budget, or could it be done by in house teams in marginal time/budget?

It will be a proper investment budget with DfT/Treasury sign-off - hopefully all the way to Sheffield .
In-house resources will do maintenance once the wires are up, but not new construction.
HS2 will be a competing project for skills in the same timescale, Colas having been announced as the prime contractor.

 

[Nottingham59]

I assume in this case that the speed of the road, and nature of the crash barrier in the picture, mean that a larger safe area is needed. Possibly also needs a new crash barrier as well.

Or they still need a Traffic Management Order to safely close the footway, and make arrangements for pedestrians to safely cross to the other side of the road to avoid the works.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

MMLE was among the topics covered in a recent Transport Committee session. I've included a few paragraphs from the transcript.

11 December 2024 - Rail services and infrastructure - Oral evidence​

Confirmation, if it were needed, that funding for electrification beyond Wigston (other than the limited tasks already done) is still not committed at present. Where the A6006 bridge works are concerned May 2025 isn't written in stone.

Hendy saying

Network Rail is talking to the supply chain, particularly around prices and tendering strategy, for further phases of electrification if we have the money to do so.

Isn't the most encouraging of comments he also said this about the wider position on capital projects

Therefore, there will be some acute choices to be made. The capital review, which is going on in the Department, is attempting at least to find the best ways of allocating that money. More than that, I really cannot say for the moment.

He was clear TRU is the main priority currently and is absorbing a lot of the available spend. So it seems likely that until the spending review is completed towards middle of next year DfT wont be making any commitment to multi year projects. They also seem to be falling back that HS2 will use up all the OLE resources anyhow over next few years which I guess has some relevance.

 

[Nottingham59]

HS2 will be a competing project for skills in the same timescale

One would hope that somebody, somewhere is doing the supply chain planning to

• bring forward electrification spend on TRU and MML to build national capacity in anticipation of the HS2 work;
• and then pausing the same to smooth out the combined peak in workload;
• then ramping up TRU and MML again to absorb the increased capacity after HS2 ramps down.

They would have to do that wouldn't they? Or all this talk about DfT aspiring to be an intelligent client would be all bollocks, wouldn't it?

 

[themiller]

One would hope that somebody, somewhere is doing the supply chain planning to

• bring forward electrification spend on TRU and MML to build national capacity in anticipation of the HS2 work;
• and then pausing the same to smooth out the combined peak in workload;
• then ramping up TRU and MML again to absorb the increased capacity after HS2 ramps down.

They would have to do that wouldn't they? Or all this talk about DfT aspiring to be an intelligent client would be all bollocks, wouldn't it?

Not forgetting that there’s a difference between wiring existing lines and working on a new route. Planting masts will not have the same hazards in that there’ll be no existing cabling buried along the line of the masts so they can be planted by conventional construction teams. It’s only dressing the masts and wiring that’ll need experienced people from the pool of electrification workers.

 

[edwin_m]

Availability of designers may also be a constraint.

 

[Meerkat]

It will be a proper investment budget with DfT/Treasury sign-off - hopefully all the way to Sheffield .
In-house resources will do maintenance once the wires are up, but not new construction.
HS2 will be a competing project for skills in the same timescale, Colas having been announced as the prime contractor.

For the full rewiring, but are the unannounced bits and pieces that are being reported on this thread being done with existing budgets and resources?

 

[themiller]

Availability of designers may also be a constraint.

Won’t the designers for HS2 be differently skilled when compared with those for the existing UK electrification projects? Eg. different standards etc.

 

[Geogregor]

Installation of new viaduct between Radlett and St Alabans

 

[edwin_m]

Won’t the designers for HS2 be differently skilled when compared with those for the existing UK electrification projects? Eg. different standards etc.

Some differences but the same basic skillset. Design resource constraints also depend to some degree on which companies win the contracts (though designers will probably be laid off and hired by more successful companies) and whether some work is outsourced to (for example) India.

 

[PJM]

More yellow stick mast markers spotted. This time next to the up slow, just south of East Midlands Parkway station.

 

[TheHSRailFan]

More yellow stick mast markers spotted. This time next to the up slow, just south of East Midlands Parkway station.

Am i right in thinking with all these markers and bits popping up, they want to get things done in one quick swoop when the government funds this next section?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Am i right in thinking with all these markers and bits popping up, they want to get things done in one quick swoop when the government funds this next section?

That would seem to be the logical explanation as we have already mentioned a number of times uothread that there are a lot of marginal and key constituencies along the route and the current government will be keen to show some progress before 2029.

 

[DDB]

Has the Christmass works finished off everything needed south of Bedford for full speed electric running or is there still more to do?
In other words do we have a winner in the race between new train commissioning and overhead wire upgrades?

 

[sharpley]

Am i right in thinking with all these markers and bits popping up, they want to get things done in one quick swoop when the government funds this next section?

There must be some sort of budget already assigned to this electrification work. I guess design and survey works are already done or in progress, plus we have teams going around knocking these pegs into the ground.

 

[tram21]

Has the Christmass works finished off everything needed south of Bedford for full speed electric running or is there still more to do?
In other words do we have a winner in the race between new train commissioning and overhead wire upgrades?

There's quite a few upcoming weekend closures past Luton. I don't know what they'll be doing but it would appear its not quite done yet.

 

[Bald Rick]

Has the Christmass works finished off everything needed south of Bedford for full speed electric running or is there still more to do?
In other words do we have a winner in the race between new train commissioning and overhead wire upgrades?

The block was only St Albans to St Pancras; a fairly significant chunk of the OLE work was completed in that section, but not all of it.

 

[Ploughman]

Am i right in thinking with all these markers and bits popping up, they want to get things done in one quick swoop when the government funds this next section?

Wooden pegs are likely to indicate proposed OHL Mast locations.
Once planted there may be a site walkout with reps from OHL, S+T, PW and Train Operators.
To discuss permanent location of each mast.
Items to discuss would be Signal siting, Drainage, buried services and distance from track.
I have been on a number of these walkouts and we usually covered up to 5 miles a day.

One incident that occurred while we were stood around a peg.
A neighbour asked from her back garden what the peg was for.
She was told it was to be the location of a mast.
She replied any chance of moving it 5m along the track so it would not be visible from her garden.
The OHL team duly moved the peg 5m and planted it outside her neighbours garden were it was eventually replaced by an OHL mast.
I wonder if they ever found out.

 

[Winthorpe]

One incident that occurred while we were stood around a peg.
A neighbour asked from her back garden what the peg was for.
She was told it was to be the location of a mast.
She replied any chance of moving it 5m along the track so it would not be visible from her garden.
The OHL team duly moved the peg 5m and planted it outside her neighbours garden were it was eventually replaced by an OHL mast..

People have said to me over the years: “if you don’t ask you don’t get”.

I’m afraid I’ve taken on board that advice, but it’s obviously right

 

[Snow1964]

It will be a proper investment budget with DfT/Treasury sign-off - hopefully all the way to Sheffield .
In-house resources will do maintenance once the wires are up, but not new construction.
HS2 will be a competing project for skills in the same timescale, Colas having been announced as the prime contractor.

Extensions would have to be in very tiny parts.

There is a lower financial limit where upgrades can be made without DfT authorisation, allows minor improvement works alongside maintenance, but forgotten what the amount is (might be 25k, although possibly thinking of something else)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Dec 2024 ==

The block was only St Albans to St Pancras; a fairly significant chunk of the OLE work was completed in that section, but not all of it.

South of Cricklewood area the line speeds are lower do not require OHLE upgrades.

The new station at Brent Cross West required some new OHLE so work was done in the area as part of the station project.

I am not sure how much there is still to do, but possibly a bit of slower running on electric is less time consuming than coasting doing pantograph up and downs, and switching to diesel for few remaining miles

 

[londonmidland]

Yesterday I saw some Network Rail workers walking along the edge of platforms 2 and 3 at Leicester, observing something on the tracks. Not sure what exactly though. The wooden pegs are placed in between both platforms, from around the south end footbridge to the north end footbridge.

Haven’t checked platforms 1 and 4 but both have obstructions either side of it. P1 has vegetation growing through a section of disconnected track and P4 has the carriage sidings next to it.

 

[PJM]

Well, even more marker pegs spotted today on a north bound EMR 222. Pegs south of South Wigston feeder station, Leicester station, probably 2 to 3 miles of pegs south and north of Loughborough. This in addition to previously noted markers.

Happy New Year everyone.

 

[GraphitProjekt]

Is there a feeder station at South Wigston? I thought it was Braybrooke.

 

[Edvid]

Is there a feeder station at South Wigston? I thought it was Braybrooke.

The Wigston substation is a mid-point autotransformer site. And yes, the K2W feed is supplied at Braybrooke.

South of Cricklewood area the line speeds are lower do not require OHLE upgrades.

True, though SoBEER is an enhanced renewals programme. Hence the recent headspan renewals between Cricklewood and Kentish Town (delivered in part by Pod-Trak in-between the Agar Grove OLE works).

The new station at Brent Cross West required some new OHLE so work was done in the area as part of the station project.

I am not sure how much there is still to do [...]

At least 6 weekend closures are booked for further work, mostly south of Luton.

The contact wire runs through Brent Cross West still had to be retensioned, or so recent SPL LinkedIn posts implied. Speaking of...

Phenomenal work carried out this Christmas holidays on the 9 day blockade from the SPL POWERLINES UK & Power and Infrastructure Resourcing Ltd & supporting partners for delivery to Network Rail… | SPL POWERLINES UK&I

Phenomenal work carried out this Christmas holidays on the 9 day blockade from the SPL POWERLINES UK & Power and Infrastructure Resourcing Ltd & supporting partners for delivery to Network Rail Eastern Region See Helen Butcher outline below well done to all who delivered on time & safely.

www.linkedin.com

Helen Butcher • BA (Hons) | MAPM | Senior Project Manager at SPL Powerlines
2d • 2 days ago

And just like that the 9 day Christmas 2024 blockade is done. Outstanding team effort to deliver the Cricklewood to Borehamwood OLE 125 scope and complete & commission the new triple pole disconnector at Borehamwood ATFS.

The teams on the ground have worked tirelessly for the whole 9 days to deliver the works successfully and it's such an achievement for all involved. This is something that takes all year to plan and 9 days to deliver, everyone should feel really proud of what has been achieved.

So many people to shout out to for this, you know who you are and thank you. Well done team SPL POWERLINES UK.

OLE 125 quants delivered:
53x Headspan replacements
1x Portal transfer
20x wire runs retensioned
2500x droppers installed
100x C jumpers installed
20x fast line wire runs re-registered
125x slow line cantilever adjustments
43x cantilevers installed
2x contact wires replaced
5x insulation replaced
4x insulation removed
3x Balance wheels replace
3x sleeper edge installed
12x bridge arms installed
2x tail wire insulation replace
3x damaged bonds found whilst working replaced
2x Catenary wires repaired

 

[59CosG95]

The pegs progress over the Trent!
At least 3 (likely more) are now in on the Down side around Trent Sheet Stores Jn (snapped by yours truly on a Derby-bound service from Notts).

 

[Nottingham59]

The pegs progress over the Trent!
At least 3 (likely more) are now in on the Down side around Trent Sheet Stores Jn (snapped by yours truly on a Derby-bound service from Notts).

Even more encouraging if that means they're working on the line to Derby, and not going to just Nottingham at this stage.

(Though I suppose Sheet Stores junction is still within the range of an overrun towards Derby)

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Absolutely fantastic news

 

[59CosG95]

Even more encouraging if that means they're working on the line to Derby, and not going to just Nottingham at this stage.

(Though I suppose Sheet Stores junction is still within the range of an overrun towards Derby)

Hopefully - the northern fringe of RS3 is Trent Junction so I may well have stumbled across the northern limit of at least 1 package of works.