"New Tay Bridge"???

[snowball]

From RAIL magazine, current issue (782), page 25, "Regional News" column:

"Dundee: Balfour Beatty's tender for the new Tay Bridge is likely to be accepted, even though its £28 million bid is £7m higher than anticipated. Work could start immediately, and be completed by late 2017."

What are they wittering about? A painting or maintenance contract on the existing bridge, perhaps?

 

[IanXC]

I would think it's the refurbishment contract - the current Tay Bridge is the "new" one, as compared to the one which was part of a major accident.

 

[HLE]

£28 million to refurbish a bridge?

Could build a new one!

No doubt £27 million in 'consultancy' fees, and a million actually spent on the works.

 

[edwin_m]

Is this what used to be known as Tay Bridge station, not the actual bridge? Read somewhere that the station is to be rebuilt.

 

[47271]

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/project/dundee-station-redevelopment

According to this found with a quick search, the new station is costing rather less than that sum, but this does look a bit out of date. The whole area is an enormous building site at the moment.

I'm sure someone will clarify shortly!

 

[Philip Phlopp]

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/project/dundee-station-redevelopment

According to this found with a quick search, the new station is costing rather less than that sum, but this does look a bit out of date. The whole area is an enormous building site at the moment.

I'm sure someone will clarify shortly!

It's the new railway station, not the bridge. It was, in the dim and distant past, correctly known as Dundee Tay Bridge station in the days when Dundee had two other main line stations.

£28m v a budget of £21m previously projected by Dundee City Council. It's not a project Network Rail are overly involved with, providing around £2m of the £28m budget.

The local authority have identified the site as being able to meet additional needs in the whole redevelopment of the area, and instead of a like for like replacement, which would have provided a ticket office and newsagent kiosk, the new building will have a hotel with bar and restaurant on five of the six floors, a totally new 'large' retail unit on the ground floor and a cafe on the ground and first floors, in addition to the new ticket office and newsagent kiosk also on the ground floor. New circulation space is provided in a central atrium.

 

[Haydn1971]

£28 million to refurbish a bridge?

Could build a new one!

When did you last build a complex steel and concrete structure across a sea estuary ? A typical simple rail bridge structure is in the £10-15m region.

 

[47802]

When did you last build a complex steel and concrete structure across a sea estuary ? A typical simple rail bridge structure is in the £10-15m region.

Quite what's the price of the new Forth road bridge about 1.45 billion is the latest estimate I belive

 

[Philip Phlopp]

Quite what's the price of the new Forth road bridge about 1.45 billion is the latest estimate I belive

The contingency fund is dropping as key outputs are achieved and the total cost is now £1.4bn. The contingency funds that are released are being spent on the A9 dualling, allowing survey work to proceed earlier than planned, this will in turn allow the main civils contracts to be put out to tender much earlier.

If a new Tay Bridge was needed, I'd be budgeting for £1bn at the very least, and quite possibly substantially more.

 

[jopsuk]

You're probably not far out with what it would cost- though at least a new Tay bridge (be it road or rail) can be of much simpler construction with no need for a high, wide span.

A new Tay Road Bridge would be more likely than a rail bridge- one to the west, with a long elevated causeway across the mudflats to link to a Dundee bypass would be favourite, getting through traffic out of Dundee.

 

[HLE]

When did you last build a complex steel and concrete structure across a sea estuary ? A typical simple rail bridge structure is in the £10-15m region.

It's not being built though is it? More refurbished.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It's the new railway station, not the bridge. It was, in the dim and distant past, correctly known as Dundee Tay Bridge station in the days when Dundee had two other main line stations.

The North British Railway station was known as Dundee Tay Bridge and the station kept that name until it was re-named as Dundee in 1965.

The other two stations to which you refer were:-
Dundee West.....The station of the Caledonian Railway
Dundee East......The station of the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway

 

[DarloRich]

It's not being built though is it? More refurbished.

in any event this is about a new station but how much do you think it costs to repair a 120 odd year old iron and steel bridge which is 2.75 miles long and 75 feet above a tidal estuary at track level.

While doing this you need to ensure that all workmen are safe, that the bridge doesn't fall down, that trains are kept safe while still running through the structure and that the weather doesn't intervene too much as the bridge is quite exposed and design your working envelope to not enter the track loading gauge.

In 2003 the the cost for a refurbishment of the bridge was c.£20m and involved the removal, by hand, of over 1000 tonnes of bird droppings!

I reckon the price quoted is a decent figure for refurbishing such an old structure, but what would i know