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Great Western Electrification Progress

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The Ham

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Pick a year, any year. The Oxford line is still in limbo but that didn't originally include Hanborough so it would have to be modified if it ever gets resurrected.

Any year you say? How about 2050? It's almost certain that both would have wires by then due to needing to be net zero by then
 
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swt_passenger

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I believe the reason why the Oxford electric got postponed was due to the redevelopment of Oxford station, which makes sense due to moving of track layouts etc. However, once the redevelopment is complete, I want electrification back on track.
It’s been done, the 2018 Oxford layout and signalling alterations already allowed for future electrification. It’s been noted a few times in this thread already.
 
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snowball

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This press release and video, about the famous intersection bridge at Cardiff with its high-voltage-proof paint, has appeared on Network Rail's website:

In this case however, Network Rail used electric-resistant paint - a unique coating applied to the underside of the bridge.

This is a new technology that has been developed with the University of Southampton.

It was used alongside specially developed lineside kit, including: surge arresters and insulated bridge arms, to insulate the bridge from electricity and make it safe for electric trains to pass under.

In a world first, the electric resistant paint was combined with voltage-controlled clearance (VCC) which allowed the electrical clearance gap to be reduced by 20mm from the overhead line equipment (OLE) to the bridge, and 70mm from the OLE to the trains roofs.


This meant around £40m of savings as the bridge did not need to be knocked down to start from scratch.
 
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gingertom

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This press release and video, about the famous intersection bridge at Cardiff with its high-voltage-proof paint, has appeared on Network Rail's website:

This will do the decarbonisation cause no end of good, I'm sure there are many places where this technique will prove its worth in the near future.
 

Roger B

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Yes the coating is based on Polyurea.

Full disclosure I contributed to the Wikipedia article Polyurea - Wikipedia and reference 1 even points to a paper of mine.
Great work Gralistair! This has the potential both to speed-up electrification projects, and significantly reduce costs, making more electrification projects economically feasible in the eyes of our curmudgeonly Treasury.
 

swt_passenger

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So will the wires continue beyond Newbury to Pewsey?
Not ever in the published plans. I’d recommend searching within this thread for the background, but there are numerous explanations of why the wires never went to Westbury, among them no suitable grid supply, and no suitable electric terminating services to use them.
 

RPI

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They could of course extend the Bedwyn terminators and give Pewsey and Westbury a decent frequency. They clearly don't want to
They could do that (well, IET cracks aside) now as the Bedwyns are nearly all IET, but Pewsey gets a two hourly service now along with Westbury, you've also got the option from Westbury to go Via Salisbury to Waterloo
 

59CosG95

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Not ever in the published plans. I’d recommend searching within this thread for the background, but there are numerous explanations of why the wires never went to Westbury, among them no suitable grid supply, and no suitable electric terminating services to use them.
I've just had a look on OpenStreetMap, and part of the 400kV transmission line from Bramley (Hants) to Melksham (Wilts) crosses the B&H at Beechingstoke (nr Patney & Chirton); there is also a 132kV(?) SSE transmission line from Andover to Melksham crossing the B&H just west of Urchfont.
A potential contender for SFC technology, perhaps?

Edit no. 1: it looks to me like the AT feeders west of West Ealing have gone live (i.e. Hayes SATS to West Ealing SATS). In this picture here (https://flic.kr/p/2kY4Ct7), the blue earths previously attached to the headspan on the left are gone, with an orange (maintenance) earth in its place; in this picture (https://flic.kr/p/2kYfuWT), taken 2 days afterwards, the orange earth has gone.

Edit no. 2: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/oxfordshire/ shows a video of the planned Oxford Corridor Phase 2 works. On the video, at 22:24 minutes in, a CIG rendering of Oxford's new platform is shown, along with OLE over P3, P4 & the through lines. It does however stipulate that "electrification shown in this image will not be delivered as part of this project", although at around 40 minutes in, there is another passage on electrification, stating "The Oxford Phase 2 Scheme is futureproofed for electrification of the railway, which will bring cleaner, quieter trains. Electrification remains a regional priority." (I put the important part in bold)
 
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geoffk

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They could of course extend the Bedwyn terminators and give Pewsey and Westbury a decent frequency. They clearly don't want to
The logical terminus for the Bedwyn terminators would have been Marlborough! There is, or was, a group campaigning for reopening Savernake - Marlborough but whether it will make any headway who knows.
 

Glenn1969

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I would say now it is probably Trowbridge which has ridership of nearly a million a year pre Covid despite an almost zero London service if the paths could be found to do it
 

cle

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Trowbridge is very well used, Bradford decent too. It would be probably best to serve Westbury and reverse. In that case, I'd think the connectivity of extending to Bath or Bristol might be useful for intermediate journeys (Newbury to Bath?), onward connections and a terminating place of note that can handle it.
 

59CosG95

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A source on Flickr has said that electrification of Didcot - Oxford "apparently resumes very shortly". The same source added that a few more piles have been sunk around Radley.
Can anyone in the Appleford/Culham/Radley areas confirm this?
 

themiller

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A source on Flickr has said that electrification of Didcot - Oxford "apparently resumes very shortly". The same source added that a few more piles have been sunk around Radley.
Can anyone in the Appleford/Culham/Radley areas confirm this?
Who’s the source - Grant Shapps? Good news, though!
 
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SouthEastBuses

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A source on Flickr has said that electrification of Didcot - Oxford "apparently resumes very shortly". The same source added that a few more piles have been sunk around Radley.
Can anyone in the Appleford/Culham/Radley areas confirm this?

If this is true, then fantastic news! Oxford really needs to be electrified, so I'm glad they have resumed!

When electrification is done, I believe they will extend the London-Didcot 387 service to Oxford?
 

zwk500

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Who’s the source - Grant Shapps? Good news, though!
This letter from Chris Heaton Harris in March is the latest Government word I can find:

I would have expected a very big trumpet to have been blown if work had restarted on an electrification project, given the Decarbonisation and investment priorities at the moment. Could well be happening though, stranger things than the government not blowing it's own trumpet have happened on the railway recently.
 

SouthEastBuses

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A source on Flickr has said that electrification of Didcot - Oxford "apparently resumes very shortly". The same source added that a few more piles have been sunk around Radley.
Can anyone in the Appleford/Culham/Radley areas confirm this?

Where can I see the photos?
 

Brissle Girl

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This letter from Chris Heaton Harris in March is the latest Government word I can find:

I would have expected a very big trumpet to have been blown if work had restarted on an electrification project, given the Decarbonisation and investment priorities at the moment. Could well be happening though, stranger things than the government not blowing it's own trumpet have happened on the railway recently.
Work on extensions to Stalybridge, Church Fenton and Market H have been announced in a very low key way. I suspect it’s hard to make a big fanfare about such small extensions as the messaging would be how good electrification is, which would then prompt the obvious retort as to what is happening with the bigger schemes.
 

zwk500

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Work on extensions to Stalybridge, Church Fenton and Market H have been announced in a very low key way. I suspect it’s hard to make a big fanfare about such small extensions as the messaging would be how good electrification is, which would then prompt the obvious retort as to what is happening with the bigger schemes.
Those bit-part schemes I wouldn't expect a fuss to be made, but Didcot-Oxford is quite a big scheme in it's own right. Although it's entirely possible the government are worried about criticism for having binned it off at the first attempt, or are more occupied with the big announcement later this week.
 

SouthEastBuses

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As I said before, this is great news.

Hopefully they will resume Bristol Temple Meads via Bath Spa (and the short link from Bristol Parkway), Cardiff-Swansea and the Thames Valley branches as wel.
 
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3973EXL

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Just a reminder of how work was left around Appleford Crossing.

Taken 04/05/21DSC01924.JPGDSC01926.JPGDSC01928.JPG
 

Mikey C

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To be fair Didcot to Oxford wasn't shelved due to the government thinking it wasn't necessary (which is what happened with Swansea), surely it was down to the rebuild of Oxford needed first?
 
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