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Ordsall Chord

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50032

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driver9000 said:
Sleepers being laid this afternoon at the Water Street Junction end.
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It looked like the pointwork being assembled close to the Water Street end. There are blockades over 8/9 & 15/16 July so one would assume the pointwork at both ends is being installed then.
 
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mikemcniven

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Update from me today (Taken using two types of lens 18 - 55mm and 75 - 300mm)

Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
Ordsall Curve works | Mancheste/Salford border by Mike McNiven, on Flickr
 
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snowball

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Press release

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds...s-the-ordsall-chord-reaches-its-final-stages/

Work on the Ordsall Chord, which will improve passenger journeys and rail travel across the north, is entering its final phase as it moves towards completion in December 2017.

Since the start of the New Year, Network Rail has been working round-the-clock to complete a number of key pieces of work.

So far engineers have:

Removed a section of Chapel Street bridge, sandwiched between two adjacent bridges
Replaced the bridge with a new steel structure weighing 260 tonnes which required 3500 bolts to put together
Laid over 1000 metres of new track and 3500 tonnes of ballast between Ordsall Lane and Deal Street
Installed new signals and 25kv overhead line equipment
Poured 600 cubic metres of concrete
Installed girders and cross beams on the new Trinity Way bridge
Fixed ‘hangers’ which connect the arch section to the bottom deck of the network arch bridge

The final phase of the project will see further track realignment and new junctions at Water Street and Irwell Street as well as completing major signalling work, laying ballast and completing the installation of overhead line equipment for electric trains.

The Ordsall Chord is part of Network Rail’s £1bn+ Great North Rail Project and will provide new links to Manchester Airport from the north, provide more frequent trains and better connections, and connect Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria stations for the first time. It will be completed by December 2017.

Project director for Network Rail, Mike Heywood, said: “The Ordsall Chord will transform journeys for passengers in the north and help boost local and regional economies by providing better connections between towns, cities and Manchester Airport.

“I am delighted with the progress we have made so far but there is a lot more work we need to complete. The remaining programme will mean some train services coming into Manchester Victoria will be affected at weekends and bank holidays up until the beginning of October.

“I would like to thank residents and passengers for the patience they have shown during these essential works as we work towards providing a better railway for this and many generations to come.”

Kathryn O’Brien, customer experience director for TransPennine Express, said: “It’s great news for customers that this important project is nearing completion and I want to thank all those affected for bearing with us during over the past year.

“Going forward, the Ordsall Chord will allow us to introduce additional journey opportunities and more frequent services.”

Liam Sumpter, regional director at Northern, said: “Ordsall Chord being so near completion is really exciting for our customers in Manchester and across the north of England.

“It is a remarkable feat of engineering and a vital part of the modernisation of the railway in the region. It will also play a critical role in enabling us to run more than 2,000 extra services per week by 2020.”

For more information on the Ordsall Chord visit: www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/lnw/ordsall-chord/
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Sox

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In the scheme of things, from a train movement/engineering point of view, is the chord considered to be a tight one?

Thinking of the many local (apartment) residents, will there be lots of grinding noises as trains negotiate the curve (like the curve at Broadheath on the Stockport-Altrincham line, except with a quid-zillion trains per hour)?

Or have mitigation measures been planned in?
 
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Geeves

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There wont be any Pacers (after 2019) going over the bridge so there is half of your noise issues removed already. Also the curve is just that, one long curve, even the lines on the actual bridge will be curved removing the model railway style 'little corners' at each end.
 
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snowball

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Geeves said:
There wont be any Pacers (after 2019) going over the bridge so there is half of your noise issues removed already. Also the curve is just that, one long curve, even the lines on the actual bridge will be curved removing the model railway style 'little corners' at each end.
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Actually the northern half of the Chord, where it passes over Trinity Way, is pretty much straight, with the curvature concentrated on the southern half where it deviates from the Castlefield line and goes over the river. This seems to be a result of them trying not to encroach on Stephenson's Bridge. If I get time I'll try to see if I can find anything that says what the minimum radius is.
 
Joseph_Locke

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Within earshot of trains passing the one and half
snowball said:
Actually the northern half of the Chord, where it passes over Trinity Way, is pretty much straight, with the curvature concentrated on the southern half where it deviates from the Castlefield line and goes over the river. This seems to be a result of them trying not to encroach on Stephenson's Bridge. If I get time I'll try to see if I can find anything that says what the minimum radius is.
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226m at Water Street, 260m to the network arch and then flattens to over 800m.
 
familyguy99

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Took some few photo's of work going on at Ordsall Junction, nice to see them started putting tracks in place at Deansgate junction. (Didn't reliase snowball/wrinkly put Skyscrapercity site link on here showing my photo's that I posted other there) :)











 
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Foggycorner

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While traveling from Bolton to Piccadilly and back today I noticed that all the point work and diamond crossing for the junction had been installed and connected up to the track onto the new chord line at Piccadilly line end and new bridge over river being ballasted ready for the new track to be laid across unable to see Victoria line end so unable to see progress that end
 
rebmcr

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Foggycorner said:
While traveling from Bolton to Piccadilly and back today I noticed that all the point work and diamond crossing for the junction had been installed and connected up to the track onto the new chord line at Piccadilly line end and new bridge over river being ballasted ready for the new track to be laid across unable to see Victoria line end so unable to see progress that end
Click to expand...

Very interesting, I would have thought that would be the very last thing to be installed.
 
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snowball

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rebmcr said:
Very interesting, I would have thought that would be the very last thing to be installed.
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I would have thought that, with possessions on the existing lines being a scarce resource, they would try to schedule it before the last possible opportunity, so that they've got another chance if they need to leave it unfinished on the first occasion.
 
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PR1Berske

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Took this from the window of a TPE out of Manchester Victorua
 

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a_c_skinner

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I'm never sure what on these fora is levity and what is serious, but in case anyone doesn't know this is the stuff. I'd not heard of it and assumed the rust was merely the 21st C being slovenly, the engineering equivalent of blokes not getting a decent haircut, but it is deliberate and trendy.

To prove I am always serious is it gauged for 442s?

Andrew
 
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snowball

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Further to the weathering steel discussion, the wiggly bits (or "cascades") were not yet looking rusty when placed:

https://twitter.com/networkrailnp

You could say that weathering steel is an attempt to make steel act like aluminium, which quickly acquires a coat of oxide when exposed to the air, and that coat then protects it from further corrosion.
 
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