New flyovers west of Reading station.

[Ironside]

As I understand once Reading station remodelling has finished in about six weeks time, the focus will move onto building flyovers for the fast lines to the west of the station. Does anybody know what the disruption will be like, ie will there be a reduction in service, or will the extra five platforms allow trains to sit at the station rather queuing outside as they do currently, or will there be Christmas and Easter time installations of massive precast structures that shut down traffic on those lines for a period of time?

 

[swt_passenger]

The building of the flyovers shouldn't in itself cause any extra disruption, because once the lines are reconnected during the forthcoming blockade there will still be four lines west of the station. The mains will be diverted onto the current reliefs, aimed through P9 and 10 as now, and the reliefs will be switched onto a parallel pair of lines north of the existing lines, which align with P12 and P15. The four running lines realign with the existing four at Scours Lane Junction, up past the new depot.

So basically they are shifting the entire railway north by two tracks, and temporarily removing the current up and down main, to make space to build the flyover in a 'green zone'.

It's not quite true to say that the station remodelling is finished at Easter, P11 doesn't come into use until August, and then P10 and P7 still need to be completely rebuilt. After that P8 and P9 are to be fully resurfaced. However it is fair to say that P12-15 should be complete.

 

[yorkie]

For details of timetable alterations this Spring, see: First Great Western Diversions spring 2013.

There is some information about the works going on at Reading in the Electrification of GWML around Reading and New diveunder line to the east of Reading station threads.

An interesting article linked to in one of these threads contains some information about the flyover:

http://www.therailengineer.com/2013/01/08/reading-remodelling-takes-shape/

Reading remodelling takes shape
...

With the station remodelling essentially complete, work can start in earnest to construct the flyover viaduct to the west of the station, which is scheduled for commissioning at Christmas 2014. Some preliminary work has already commenced with the closure earlier in 2012 of Cow Lane bridge, a narrow road under the main lines on the north side of the western triangle, which the Local Authority was anxious to see widened so as to route more traffic away from Caversham Road. The replacement bridge will open in 2014.

The existing down fast platform (was 5 now 7) will be widened to about where the existing through line is located and this will be used for trains going towards the west of England. The current eastern concourse and ticket barrier will remain but will only give access to platform 7 and the Southern route platforms.

... a complete re-alignment of the lines from Reading West so that London-bound trains can be routed to the north side of the station without interfering with the main Bristol route. It is planned to have the Oxford Road junction (south side of triangle) remodelled during Christmas 2013 and the relief line approaches brought into use during Easter 2015 with final functionality achieved in August 2015.

...

 

[swt_passenger]

For details of timetable alterations this Spring, see: First Great Western Diversions spring 2013.

I think the OP was asking about the situation during the two years allocated to the west end alterations, not the forthcoming blockade period?

 

[Ironside]

Yes, it was the west end that I was interested in, thanks for the responses. I am impressed that there won't be that much disruption, the project seems to be very well planned.

On a related point will all the extra freight traffic on the Reading to Basingstoke line use up all the capacity on that line? I know there are only 4 to 5 passenger trains per hour but given the mix of stopper, non stop and freight will it be necessary to put in an extra line in the near future. I know that the line is to be electrified and I suppose that the extra acceleration the stopper trains will have will reduce the amount of time they will take to get along the line.

 

[The Ham]

Yes, it was the west end that I was interested in, thanks for the responses. I am impressed that there won't be that much disruption, the project seems to be very well planned.

On a related point will all the extra freight traffic on the Reading to Basingstoke line use up all the capacity on that line? I know there are only 4 to 5 passenger trains per hour but given the mix of stopper, non stop and freight will it be necessary to put in an extra line in the near future. I know that the line is to be electrified and I suppose that the extra acceleration the stopper trains will have will reduce the amount of time they will take to get along the line.

The stoppers may be able to get from one end to the other faster, but there are two new stations for it to call at being proposed, one by Hampshire at Chineham (Basingstoke) and one at Green Park (Reading) which will eat up a lot of the benefits of the electric trains.

I would have thought that capacity is mostly a problem between Oxford Road Junction and Southcot Junction where the services on the line to Westbury also share the line, so if there were to be any "new line" it would only need to be over this short length. However it is also the most built up section of line, so is likely to be the most expensive to upgrade, unless it is possible to squeeze a third line into the existing railway land.

 

[Ironside]

The stoppers may be able to get from one end to the other faster, but there are two new stations for it to call at being proposed, one by Hampshire at Chineham (Basingstoke) and one at Green Park (Reading) which will eat up a lot of the benefits of the electric trains.

I would have thought that capacity is mostly a problem between Oxford Road Junction and Southcot Junction where the services on the line to Westbury also share the line, so if there were to be any "new line" it would only need to be over this short length. However it is also the most built up section of line, so is likely to be the most expensive to upgrade, unless it is possible to squeeze a third line into the existing railway land.

Good point. To my eye, from being a passenger is that there is room for three or four lines from south cote until Readng west station, apart from the end of one block of flats and several gardens. North from there I am not sure how much room is needed as Oxford road junction starts.