MML Electrification: progress updates

[Edvid]

If this is for the section between Bedford & West Hampstead, could this be for a potential (ha-ha) power supply upgrade to auto-transformer feeding between Bedford & Borehamwood? (Or am I speculating wildly?)

With my speculating hat on, probably just Borehamwood - East Hyde given that's as far as AT-switching masts currently appear; would also dovetail with the second phase of OLE125 works.

That said, I think @londonmidland is actually referring to the Wigston Triangle, having replied to the letter NR wrote in post #6564. Signalling immunisation at (non-)electrified boundaries makes more sense there in the context of RS1.

(And those puns just happened before I realised. Honest, guv.)

 

[Sonik]

I think @londonmidland is actually referring to the Wigston Triangle, having replied to the letter NR wrote in post #6564. Signalling immunisation at (non-)electrified boundaries makes more sense there in the context of RS1.

So does that mean no wires north of Wigston, for now? Or is it just immunization for the junction to Nuneaton?

 

[snowball]

So does that mean no wires north of Wigston, for now? Or is it just immunization for the junction to Nuneaton?

I think it means back to the position before the letter was seen - no wires north of Wigston South Junction.

 

[Edvid]

More ground investigations to come in Sutton Bonington...

Network Rail investigations​

Network Rail will be carrying out further ground investigations in the village in preparation for the electrification of the Midland Mainline as outlined below.
When the Parish Council get further information on the whole project we will let all residents know.
Overnight works from 2200 Saturday 30th September until 0800 Sunday 8th October
Overnight works from 2200 Monday 16th October until 0800 Saturday 21st October.

 

[Phillipimo]

This drivers eye view video gives a good update of progress. I'm not sure exactly the filming date but it was uploaded 2 weeks ago. I haven't watched it entirely but piles and masts stretch almost all the way to Wigston.

 

[snowball]

This drivers eye view video gives a good update of progress. I'm not sure exactly the filming date but it was uploaded 2 weeks ago. I haven't watched it entirely but piles and masts stretch almost all the way to Wigston.

Thanks, very interesting. I've watched it to Kettering. But it seems a slow journey! I should have watched it at double speed.

 

[PJM]

This drivers eye view video gives a good update of progress. I'm not sure exactly the filming date but it was uploaded 2 weeks ago. I haven't watched it entirely but piles and masts stretch almost all the way to Wigston.

Thanks very much for posting. A great view of the parts you can`t see from the lineside, bridge or even from a carriage window.

 

[WesternBiker]

Thanks very much for posting. A great view of the parts you can`t see from the lineside, bridge or even from a carriage window.

I'll second that - and good to see progress on the Market Harborough to Wigston section has made progress in what feels like an encouraging pace.

 

[Nottingham59]

I'll second that - and good to see progress on the Market Harborough to Wigston section has made progress in what feels like an encouraging pace.

Without announcements about the next phase, they'll soon have to stand down the current installation workforce, unless there projects elsewhere they can switch to. (e.g. TRU, Bristol)

 

[59CosG95]

Without announcements about the next phase, they'll soon have to stand down the current installation workforce, unless there projects elsewhere they can switch to. (e.g. TRU, Bristol)

SPL do have a bit in the pipeline outside of Scotland; structure renewals on the Hertford Loop, Lostock - Wigan, and IIRC completing the mothballed Bushey ATFS (see the WCML PSU thread for more details). They're bound to be tendering for other work as well.

 

[PJM]

A trip to the big smoke today revealed that we have the long awaited masts up between the Braybrooke supply and the south of Market Harborough. Cantilevers at the ready at the Braybrooke compound. Most of the piles and masts are on the down main side. So there is now a mostly uninterupted mast run to somewhere near Kilby Bridge/South Wigston

 

[GRALISTAIR]

A trip to the big smoke today revealed that we have the long awaited masts up between the Braybrooke supply and the south of Market Harborough. Cantilevers at the ready at the Braybrooke compound. Most of the piles and masts are on the down main side. So there is now a mostly uninterupted mast run to somewhere near Kilby Bridge/South Wigston

Now that really is great news.

 

[Flying Phil]

I think the current MML Electrification team have done a very good job on the section from Kettering to Wigston. They have kept us involved, updated regularly, kept to timetable for work and, I believe, worked to the budget set.
I hope they can be kept together for the work to continue North of Leicester to Loughborough and beyond.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I think the current MML Electrification team have done a very good job on the section from Kettering to Wigston. They have kept us involved, updated regularly, kept to timetable for work and, I believe, worked to the budget set.
I hope they can be kept together for the work to continue North of Leicester to Loughborough and beyond.

I second that!

 

[snowball]

Press release

Major engineering work to cause disruption on Midland Main Line over two weekends

Network Rail is advising passengers to check before they travel as major engineering work will impact on services between Bedford and London St Pancras over the next two weekends.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Network Rail is advising passengers to check before they travel as major engineering work will impact on services between Bedford and London St Pancras over the next two weekends.

Work is being carried out as part of the Midland Main Line Upgrade project and will see sections of track renewed and new overhead line equipment installed.

The Midland Main Line Upgrade will eventually see the introduction of bi-mode trains and will mean more reliable and greener journeys for passengers, alongside an increase in capacity between London and the East Midlands.

This work is the beginning of a project which will see overhead line equipment updated on the Midland Main Line, south of Bedford, which will allow for the new trains to run at 125mph.

Owing to industrial action by ASLEF, no trains or replacement buses will run on the Midland Main Line on Saturday 30 September.

On Sunday 1 October and through until 05.30 on Monday 2 October, and between 23.00 on Friday 6 October and 05.45 on Monday 9 October, no East Midlands Railway (EMR) trains will run between Bedford and London St Pancras stations, and no Thameslink services will run between Bedford and West Hampstead Thameslink.

Replacement bus services will operate on Sunday 1 October, and the weekend of 6 and 7 October, and will run between Bedford and West Hampstead Thameslink. For connecting rail services to and from London King’s Cross, buses will also run between Bedford and Hitchin, Luton Airport Parkway and Hitchin, and St Albans and Potters Bar. [See Notes to Editors for details.]

 

[Flying Phil]

As PJM has said, there are now masts up either side of the Braybrooke Supply Site, as photographed today, view to the North


and view to the South


Further North, the footbridge at Great Bowden is still having work done but there are now some masts up either side of it.


There was an unusual short train going by....

 

[Edvid]

Finally! The ATFS building was delivered 17 months ago, though project delivery of recent particulars was no doubt changed by combining KO1a and RS1 into one workstream. With the appearance of cross-track feeder masts to the north I can see more or less where the associated neutral section will go.

I take it the second 400kV circuit remains unconnected; in that case, we might be waiting until next year for a suitable outage window.

Funnily enough those Class 73s in your last picture are bi-mode (750V DC + diesel) locos built long before "bi-mode" entered the British railway lexicon, or so I believe. Rumour has it in the run-up to the HSTs being withdrawn from service the government also considered replacing the Class 222 runs with 73+222 drags (the latter serving as coaching stock) and classing those formations as new bi-modes for the line...

 

[Flying Phil]

Hi Edvid
You are correct there is only one side of the pylon (three cables) connected to the Supply Site. The other side does also have the V insulator arrangement though.

 

[GardenRail]

Really not confident that this will get any further than Leicester. Let alone Sheffield. Seems to be so slow, and nothing planned going forward with regards Leicester.

 

[Bald Rick]

Really not confident that this will get any further than Leicester. Let alone Sheffield. Seems to be so slow, and nothing planned going forward with regards Leicester.

Don’t confuse ‘nothing being announced’ with ‘nothing planned’

 

[Elecman]

Don’t confuse ‘nothing being announced’ with ‘nothing planned’

Quite

 

[Killingworth]

Don’t confuse ‘nothing being announced’ with ‘nothing planned’

However many things are planned and not announced to allow for a pause, amendment or indefinite postponement - requiring further expensive planning!

Sheffield is supposed to be electrified by 2030. As far as I can discover there's still considerable detailed planning needed for that.

 

[londonmidland]

They should really crack on and electrify beyond South Wigston asap. Pausing indefinitely is just going to cost more time and money in the long run, should they restart at some point in the future.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Is it not the case that, at the end of the wires there's infrastructure to check or actively change over bi-modes from diesel to electric and vice versa? That means that, if the route is electrified in stages Northwards after the bi-modes are running, there will be a series of locations with that equipment made redundant as the wires are extended.

 

[PJM]

As PJM has said, there are now masts up either side of the Braybrooke Supply Site, as photographed today, view to the North
View attachment 143675

and view to the South
View attachment 143676

Further North, the footbridge at Great Bowden is still having work done but there are now some masts up either side of it.
View attachment 143677

There was an unusual short train going by....
View attachment 143678

Thanks for the picture update Phil. I was on the route again today and spotted just one pile without its mast.

 

[snowball]

Sheffield is supposed to be electrified by 2030. As far as I can discover there's still considerable detailed planning needed for that.

When was that announced and does the government still regard itself as bound by it or have there been changes of policy since then?

Is it not the case that, at the end of the wires there's infrastructure to check or actively change over bi-modes from diesel to electric and vice versa? That means that, if the route is electrified in stages Northwards after the bi-modes are running, there will be a series of locations with that equipment made redundant as the wires are extended.

There's probably nothing on the MML yet as there are no bi-modes operating on the route yet, but there are balises at a few locations on the GWML and ECML, and for example approaching Dunblane. Presumably they can easily be moved or removed if necessary.

 

[GraphitProjekt]

Don’t confuse ‘nothing being announced’ with ‘nothing planned’

there probably exists an electrification plan in some capacity for almost all the railways in GB! There is a twitter account called the South & East Rail Group who regularly relay the feeling on the ground from their contacts in DfT and Treasury. Their chronicles do not paint a rosy picture unsurprisingly. There is mostly no interest in providing for or committing anything railway related and at other times outright hostility to the notion of railways at all (HS2, ticket offices) - but mostly it's a refusal to do any governing and actually say that there will or will not be any investment.

 

[GardenRail]

Sadly, bi-mode trains took out any seriousness with regards to electrification. After signalling trains through Sheffield for the last 20 years, I'm quite confident I'll finish my career signalling Sheffield 2053, the wires never making it. It's been depressingly slow, and there is no political will, from this, or any prospective government.

 

[59CosG95]

Press release

Major engineering work to cause disruption on Midland Main Line over two weekends

Network Rail is advising passengers to check before they travel as major engineering work will impact on services between Bedford and London St Pancras over the next two weekends.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Good to see clarity being added about the 125mph speed increase in the OLE.
(Using that One Big Circle/AIVR software, I've noticed that some of the Fast Lines' Balance Weight assemblies have been upgraded to be Anti-Fall BWAs, similar to parts of the WCML. This stretches from the Flitwick area up towards Bedford)

 

[Hairy Bear]

Is it not the case that, at the end of the wires there's infrastructure to check or actively change over bi-modes from diesel to electric and vice versa? That means that, if the route is electrified in stages Northwards after the bi-modes are running, there will be a series of locations with that equipment made redundant as the wires are extended.

We were told balaises were not going to be used due to the changing swap over locations. There will just be reminder boards for us drivers to adhere to.