East-West Rail (EWR): Oxford-Bletchley construction progress

[Boodiggy]

I know. The correct statement should therefore have been 427 x 216m rails totalling about 92 km or 57 miles. Their wording is equivalent to someone saying they’ve just replaced 20 fence panels with a total length of 6 feet.

But even then if you divide by 2 for single track length, or divide by 4 for double track length, you end up with a completely different total length to what they listed earlier…

Yes - I agree! Poor work.

 

[The Planner]

Is there a public statement confirming a service between Oxford and Milton Keynes Central anywhere, please? Or is it still a possibility that the initial service would be 1tph Oxford - Bletchley? As it's likely over a year to go I guess there is still scope for things to shift.

Its Oxford to MK.

 

[swt_passenger]

Is there a public statement confirming a service between Oxford and Milton Keynes Central anywhere, please? Or is it still a possibility that the initial service would be 1tph Oxford - Bletchley? As it's likely over a year to go I guess there is still scope for things to shift.

I just checked and this is what their website still states about what they’re calling “connection stage 1”. Not read anything different since this:

Following confirmation of funding in the 2020 Spending Review, construction is underway of the section between Bicester and Bletchley, delivered through the East West Rail Alliance. This will allow us to run trains from Oxford to Milton Keynes by 2025 (Connection Stage 1).

Delivering a reliable service for passengers is our top priority, and we are working with government to deliver the full Oxford-Milton Keynes connection from day one. We may though need to introduce the service to Bletchley first, and then extend to Milton Keynes as soon as we are satisfied it will be reliable for our customers.

East West Rail | Bicester to Bletchley

East West Rail is a major infrastructure project which will connect communities between Oxford and Cambridge. Construction from Bicester to Bletchley is underway.

eastwestrail.co.uk

But it’s unusually reassuring for @The Planner to be so positive, isn’t it…

 

[Starmill]

I just checked and this is what their website still states about what they’re calling “connection stage 1”. Not read anything different since this:


But it’s unusually reassuring for @The Planner to be so positive, isn’t it…

That was the statement which I had in the back of my mind, aye. However as you say...

Its Oxford to MK.

Most reassuring. Thanks!

 

[12LDA28C]

Also I thought the last stock movement or charter from Oxford to Bletchley was around 1997, which isn't 50 years ago.

I believe the line was closed to traffic in 1993, so it should say 30 years.

 

[Ploughman]

And how many 60ft's came by road or other rail wagons? Not including pointwork.

 

[masekwm]

Hi,

I've been filming some of the construction of EWR if you are interested:

 

[swt_passenger]

I see in the comments about the first video, someone thinks that EWR needed 4 platforms at Bletchley or else it will become a ‘white elephant’. The concrete plant should go somewhere else - except it needs its rail connection?

 

[work-traveller]

For those interested in such technical details, one of the new FRP footbridges was load tested recently, beyond it's working load and up to it's ultimate design load. The bridge was loaded with tanks of water for a period of time, with laser measurements of deflects being compared to the design predictions - all went well and the bridge passed.

 

[12LDA28C]

For those interested in such technical details, one of the new FRP footbridges was load tested recently, beyond it's working load and up to it's ultimate design load. The bridge was loaded with tanks of water for a period of time, with laser measurements of deflects being compared to the design predictions - all went well and the bridge passed.

View attachment 154756

It's interesting that many of the former foot crossings along the route which are for very scarcely used public footpaths (including at the Western end from Bicester to Oxford) have been replaced with this style of footbridge, at huge expense.

 

[richieb1971]

It's interesting that many of the former foot crossings along the route which are for very scarcely used public footpaths (including at the Western end from Bicester to Oxford) have been replaced with this style of footbridge, at huge expense.

When the MML was electrified a similar bridge was put up. About 3 people a day crossed it from my time there. Yet on the Marston Vale from Kempston to the retail park, folk have to go a mile around the block when their home is literally a stones throw away from the retail park with the railway inbetween. They have never had a bridge there so there is no mandate to put one there, but it seems if a bridge was already there they have to replace it at great expense, even if nobody hardly uses it.

 

[12LDA28C]

When the MML was electrified a similar bridge was put up. About 3 people a day crossed it from my time there. Yet on the Marston Vale from Kempston to the retail park, folk have to go a mile around the block when their home is literally a stones throw away from the retail park with the railway inbetween. They have never had a bridge there so there is no mandate to put one there, but it seems if a bridge was already there they have to replace it at great expense, even if nobody hardly uses it.

I'm talking about foot crossings being replaced by bridges, not bridges being replaced by bridges.

 

[Sun Chariot]

It's interesting that many of the former foot crossings along the route which are for very scarcely used public footpaths (including at the Western end from Bicester to Oxford) have been replaced with this style of footbridge, at huge expense.

Purely out of interest (I lived in Bicester 1991-1993) - which examples do you know of?
I have a fond memory of yomping through a rain sodden field adjacent to the sidings with the Central Ordnance Depot and the Bicester Military Railway.

 

[JamesT]

I'm talking about foot crossings being replaced by bridges, not bridges being replaced by bridges.

If I remember correctly, the foot crossings replaced would have been part of rights of way. If it was decided the risks were too high with increased levels of faster trains to keep the foot crossings open, then they were pretty much obliged to replace them with bridges.

 

[12LDA28C]

Purely out of interest (I lived in Bicester 1991-1993) - which examples do you know of?
I have a fond memory of yomping through a rain sodden field adjacent to the sidings with the Central Ordnance Depot and the Bicester Military Railway.

A few between Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway, also one that seems to go from a field to a no-man's land in the triangle of wasteland formed by EWR, the Chiltern Main Line and Bicester South-West Chord. Very strange.

 

[67018]

A few between Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway, also one that seems to go from a field to a no-man's land in the triangle of wasteland formed by EWR, the Chiltern Main Line and Bicester South-West Chord. Very strange.

Sevral of the footpaths between Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway were closed as part of the upgrade works a few years ago, and most of the bridges on that section carry farm access tracks as well as rights of way; some properties would be completely cut off without them. There are also two Long Distance Paths, the Oxford Greenbelt Way and Oxfordshire Way. Is there any evidence that they are scarcely used? - I for one have crossed pretty much all of them within the last year.

The Oxfordshire Way one definitely needed a bridge as the footpath used to run along the railway for a short section. Doubtless why the speed limit used to be so low along there (30 I think).

The one in Bicester continues under the Chiltern Main Line and gives access to the industrial estate at Charbridge Way.

 

[swt_passenger]

It wasnt as straightforward as replacing all crossings with footbridges. There were also diversions and ‘combinations’, so the small numbers at a few crossings would be consolidated onto one bridge. A few road crossings became bridges, and a new road bridge would allow a nearby footcrossing to close.

But it all went through the proper planning process and all the diversions or closures were covered at length in the TWA drawings. It’s about 5 years too late to come up with alternative suggestions.

 

[12LDA28C]

Sevral of the footpaths between Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway were closed as part of the upgrade works a few years ago, and most of the bridges on that section carry farm access tracks as well as rights of way; some properties would be completely cut off without them. There are also two Long Distance Paths, the Oxford Greenbelt Way and Oxfordshire Way. Is there any evidence that they are scarcely used? - I for one have crossed pretty much all of them within the last year.

The Oxfordshire Way one definitely needed a bridge as the footpath used to run along the railway for a short section. Doubtless why the speed limit used to be so low along there (30 I think).

The one in Bicester continues under the Chiltern Main Line and gives access to the industrial estate at Charbridge Way.

I've never seen anyone using them in the hundreds of times I've travelled by train along the route but I'll take your word for it. I'm not sure why you'd need pedestrian access via a footpath to an industrial estate though? Although I'm aware it's not an easy thing to close a public right of way.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Hi,

I've been filming some of the construction of EWR if you are interested:

Thanks and welcome to the forum. Your first post I see.

 

[takno]

I've never seen anyone using them in the hundreds of times I've travelled by train along the route but I'll take your word for it. I'm not sure why you'd need pedestrian access via a footpath to an industrial estate though? Although I'm aware it's not an easy thing to close a public right of way.

People work on industrial estates. There are sites like this where you wouldn't see anybody on the path all day and then there's 50 or more people who use it in the space of half an hour.

 

[67018]

I've never seen anyone using them in the hundreds of times I've travelled by train along the route but I'll take your word for it. I'm not sure why you'd need pedestrian access via a footpath to an industrial estate though? Although I'm aware it's not an easy thing to close a public right of way.

I've frequently crossed the line without seeing any trains. Maybe we should close the railway

More seriously, a lot of new bridges have very high parapets so you wouldn't necessarily see someone if they did happen to cross it. Getting a bit back on topic, the same thing has happened on the Bicester-Bletchley section with a lot of footpaths amalgamated/diverted particularly round the HS2 crossing. I assume the modern standards for these bridges is one of the reasons that bullding or reinstating rail lines is so expensive.

 

[Fermiboson]

Do these new footbridges have appropriate clearance for potential future electrification?

 

[richieb1971]

They conform to bridges that already have electrification so yes.

 

[Mark24]

Hi,

I've been filming some of the construction of EWR if you are interested:

Hi,

I've been filming some of the construction of EWR if you are interested:

Great videos. Thanks for posting.

 

[swt_passenger]

Do these new footbridges have appropriate clearance for potential future electrification?

All the brand new or completely rebuilt bridges do allow for electrification. However there are also a number of existing bridges that were already clear for the intended freight gauge, and they still do not have clearance for wires.

 

[stuu]

Do these new footbridges have appropriate clearance for potential future electrification?

All new bridges over the railway wherever they are have clearance for electrification, even ones in Kent over third rail lines

 

[al green]

All the brand new or completely rebuilt bridges do allow for electrification. However there are also a number of existing bridges that were already clear for the intended freight gauge, and they still do not have clearance for wires.

I flushed the following info out from NR during the TWAO inquiry in 2019.

Q3. What is the cost of replacing those existing bridges between Bicester and Bletchley
that would need to be replaced/subject to some works to enable electrification
but which are not currently proposed to be replaced.

"There are 5 structures along this route which would require partial or complete
demolition followed by replacement with new structures to provide for future
electrification. The total cost to the project of these works would be
approximately £34.5m."


Q4. What is the cost difference between works to those bridges before EWR2 becomes
operational as compared to after it has become operational.

"The total cost of the above works once EWR2 has become operational would be
approximately £41.8m. This means that the difference in cost between doing the
works before EWR2 becomes operational and afterwards is approximately £7.3m."

 

[edwin_m]

I flushed the following info out from NR during the TWAO inquiry in 2019.

Q3. What is the cost of replacing those existing bridges between Bicester and Bletchley
that would need to be replaced/subject to some works to enable electrification
but which are not currently proposed to be replaced.

"There are 5 structures along this route which would require partial or complete
demolition followed by replacement with new structures to provide for future
electrification. The total cost to the project of these works would be
approximately £34.5m."


Q4. What is the cost difference between works to those bridges before EWR2 becomes
operational as compared to after it has become operational.

"The total cost of the above works once EWR2 has become operational would be
approximately £41.8m. This means that the difference in cost between doing the
works before EWR2 becomes operational and afterwards is approximately £7.3m."

Some of those works might be avoided for any future EWR electrification, if techniques used to avoid similar work on the Midland Main Line were also applied here.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Some of those works might be avoided for any future EWR electrification, if techniques used to avoid similar work on the Midland Main Line were also applied here.

What techniques are those?

 

[Geeves]

I believe some of the new techniques include special paint on the bridges themselves and also alterations to the wires to reduce arcing, better insulations or dead sections maybe?