Nottingham59
Established Member
I'd expect to see lots of separate sections of shiny new track laid in photogenic locations about six months before the next election....
I really enjoyed that. I love all of the before and now images and the view of what has been done so far. I wonder if he can be persuaded to do more of this as stuff gets built and we see the engineering as it develops? I realise he's not a fan but he's clearly got the time to put the effort in. I can lend him a drone if he promises not to get it shot down.I came across this video from the Chiltern Society showing construction progress in the Chilterns. The images can also be seen on the Chiltern Society website.
The construction of the HS2 high speed railway line will have a major impact on the Central Chilterns and the Colne Valley Park. Some of these locations will never be the same again and we will keep a record of the changes as construction progresses.
The locations are in geographical order northwards from the Colne Valley Regional Park to Wendover. Where given, directions are in relation to the route. North is towards Birmingham and south towards London.
Over the last six years, HS2 has worked closely with Affinity Water and the Environment Agency to monitor water quality and agree working methods. These will be monitored by a team of specialist engineers during construction in order to protect the natural environment.
An extensive programme of test piling has already been completed with engineers sinking 12piles at two locations with geological and structural data from these tests fed back into the design of the viaduct. This has resulted in a 10-15% reduction in the depth of the piles and associated time and cost savings.
HS2 are now starting (proper) construction of the Colne Valley Viaduct. According to this, it looks like just piling for the next year or so. https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/hs2-begins-work-on-uks-longest-rail-viaduct
Very attractive viaduct! Personally I think it enhances the landscape (well, it does in the artist's impressions!). I can't wait to see it finished in however many years' time.HS2 are now starting (proper) construction of the Colne Valley Viaduct. According to this, it looks like just piling for the next year or so. https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/hs2-begins-work-on-uks-longest-rail-viaduct
Buckinghamshire Council has refused to approve lorry route applications serving HS2 sites in the county
The council said it had “concerns about the impact of increased large construction vehicle movements on the A413/A355 corridor from north of Wendover to the M40 at Beaconsfield.”
HS2 have appealed against the council’s refusal to allow the applications and it will now be up to the Secretary of State for Transport to make the decision.
Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council said: “Buckinghamshire Council has consistently opposed the building of HS2.
“Not only do we doubt the strategic case for it,
6,000 tonnes per group of piles is what the press release says.That looks fantastic.
Slight quibble with the press release though - there’s no way a Viaduct that long only weighs 6,000 tonnes! Presumably that’s the weight that each if the larger piers will support.
Incidentally, I've driven the roads in question - they are good quality "A" roads carrying thousands of vehicles per day,(~8600 according to HS2 pre COVID,) not little backwater cart tracks with passing places. A few hundred "extra" vehicles for HS2 will barely be noticed.
The lack of business case bit is questionable, others with far more experience with railways have looked at it and obviously decided it is worth it. HS2 is known to have an excellent business case...I can't help but think that the council significantly undermine all of their arguments with:
Makes it much harder to see any merit in the validity of any concerns about construction traffic when they're quite clearly holding a grudge about it all
The lack of business case bit is questionable, others with far more experience with railways have looked at it and obviously decided it is worth it. HS2 is known to have an excellent business case...
Or, "They don't borrow £37bn on your behalf easily, as they will have to pay it back" is more accurate....Not to mention that it has been through the wringer with the Treasury several times. They don’t part with £37bn easily.
The key achievements of the HS2 programme in this reporting period include:
- progressing the remaining enabling works and mobilising main civil construction for Phase One while employing COVID-safe working practices
- achieving Royal assent of the Phase 2a High Speed Rail (West Midlands to Crewe) Bill, cementing in law the government’s commitment to bring the new high-speed railway to the north of England
- evolving our approach to community engagement, including an enhanced complaints procedure to address concerns about how HS2’s impact on communities along the line of route are managed
- speedy implementation of over a quarter of the proposed reforms recommended by the Land and Property Review of November 2020, improving the experience of property owners most immediately and directly affected by HS2
- supporting over 15,000 skilled jobs and creating more than 500 apprenticeships: over 2,100 companies now have contracts with HS2 Ltd, with 97% of these being UK-based businesses – at its peak, the programme will support over 30,000 jobs and create at least 2,000 apprenticeships
- establishing HS2 Ltd’s Environmental Sustainability Committee to strengthen oversight and reporting of efforts to limit and mitigate the environmental impacts from the construction of the railway
- planting over 430,000 trees so far, with the number expected to rise to over 730,000 trees by spring 2021
Good questions, I've wondered the same in the past; hopefully someone knows the answer!Not really an update, but I could not find a more appropriate thread:
I've been wondering how the TBM's 'umbilical' connections are maintained as the machine moves forward. The difficulty I have is not with advancing the machine by 50m or 500m, but with the smaller increments of one or two metres. The electrical connection can presumably be laid as a loop or unspool from a large reel. Is the water connection sufficiently flexible that it can be dealt with in a similar way (I am no engineer)?
If the spoil was removed by a conveyor I would expect one conveyor to drop the spoil onto a lower parallel conveyor, but I gather it is to be removed as slurry in a pipe. Would a pipe be both flexible enough and abrasion-resistant enough to be coiled up? The only method I can think of would be for the slurry to be delivered to a long tank that periodically moves forwards another step as a fresh length of pipe is inserted behind it.
This is a video of one type of slurry TBM, water pipes rolled to coils, harder pipes added while the machines moves forward
I was going to suggest the earlier Crossrail series made for the BBC. The video above is better as deals with the slurry. The Crossrail videos were quite a revelation to me and showed how the machine works with the insertion of the concrete tunnel lining pieces too. There is a lot going on there.The video shows it clearly, and also gives some explanation of why the train behind the cutter head needs to be so long.
Have you tried searching “Crossrail documentary” or ”Fifteen Billion Pound Railway” on YouTube? Don’t know which episode you’d need unfortunately...Kevin Roche: thanks for the suggestion about the Crossrail documentary. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to access BBC programs this side of the Atlantic. I should have another attempt.
What surprised me was the flexibility of the pipe carrying the slurry, which reminded me of artists' impressions of Titanoboa (I am a biologist!)