Liverpool Disruption 28 Feb 2017 - RAIB report released 30/11/17

[LNW-GW Joint]

...meaning that (if RTT is to be believed) Euxton Balshaw Lane is effectively closed, as all of it's services were the LIV/LPY-PRE 319s. Leyland has also lost a few services to Preston and all services to Wigan.
I have no idea if it would be possible but surely running an all stations Huyton-Preston service every hour isn't entirely out of reach?

The problem is that 319s can't easily reach Allerton depot at the moment, with the OHLE at Edge Hill not working.
They could run via Crewe (as some Pendolino ECS do for Edge Hill-Preston), but I don't think Northern crew know that route.
There must be considerable Northern resource standing idle just now, even discounting the trains stuck at Lime St.

 

[northwichcat]

They could run via Crewe (as some Pendolino ECS do for Edge Hill-Preston), but I don't think Northern crew know that route.

Northern did crew training on 319s on the Liverpool to Crewe route, as they got the first 319s before the Chat Moss wires had got to Liverpool. They obviously know Warrington Bank Quay to Liverpool, so if driver knowledge was an issue it would literally be an extremely short distance between Warrington and Weaver Junction that they wouldn't know.

 

[The Planner]

9th March is now reopening day.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

9th March is now reopening day.

NRE has taken off any mention of a specific reopening date now.
It's just closed for "several days".

 

[WatcherZero]

Network Rail press release saying morning of the 9th, so that would be about 8 days, a little over their initial estimate of 5. Possibly as they are now factoring in having to demolish the 10 inch concrete slab that makes up the yard.

 

[a_c_skinner]

North West tonight saying March 9th from Network Rail and advising 1 hour early reporting for to Lime Street to allow time to get to Runcorn.

No one seems (I may have missed it) to have replied to my question about if Edge Hill could be brought into use with the damaged OHLE isolated, or indeed what is going on about Edge Hill depot.

 

[Bevan Price]

The signalling at the station isn't bidirectional.:cry:

Perhaps this will be rectified in the coming resignalling?

South Parkway Platform 4 is bidirectional -- unless they have removed signal AN5 since I photographed it last year. The signal permits departures towards Speke Jn. Of course, the crossover to the up slow line may not be cleared for passenger services.

 

[mikemcniven]

Line to open Thursday 9th March, new press release from Twitter feed

 

[mikemcniven]

New image also from the Twitter feed

 

[AndyW33]

No one seems (I may have missed it) to have replied to my question about if Edge Hill could be brought into use with the damaged OHLE isolated, or indeed what is going on about Edge Hill depot.

Edge Hill station is in use today. A rather erratic Manchester Oxford Road - Warrington Central - Edge Hill stopping service has been operating. It was meant to be every 30 minutes but cumulative lateness seems to have mostly reduced it to hourly. Obviously as a CLC line service it is diesel worked.
Freight services have been working in and around the Edge Hill area, again diesel powered.
My understanding is that once the 25kv power is isolated at the point where the wall collapsed, it is also off in Edge Hill station, it isn't a great distance away.
Can't help with the depot, I'm afraid. At the time of the collapse, there wouldn't have been much in it, it is mostly used overnight.

 

[adam9413]

South Parkway Platform 4 is bidirectional -- unless they have removed signal AN5 since I photographed it last year. The signal permits departures towards Speke Jn. Of course, the crossover to the up slow line may not be cleared for passenger services.

I was thinking that. It's still there but maybe it is only there to allow turnbacks from the city direction (such as the Preston service).

 

[notlob.divad]

I was thinking that. It's still there but maybe it is only there to allow turnbacks from the city direction (such as the Preston service).

Someone told me that signal only permits moves into the Freightliner terminal. Not sure if that is true or I misunderstood.

Platform 4 is used for the termination of Preston services. But they simply depart in the normal direction . I believe departure towards Ditton can only be from platform 1 or 3

 

[notlob.divad]

Edge Hill station is in use today. A rather erratic Manchester Oxford Road - Warrington Central - Edge Hill stopping service has been operating. It was meant to be every 30 minutes but cumulative lateness seems to have mostly reduced it to hourly. Obviously as a CLC line service it is diesel worked.
Freight services have been working in and around the Edge Hill area, again diesel powered.
My understanding is that once the 25kv power is isolated at the point where the wall collapsed, it is also off in Edge Hill station, it isn't a great distance away.
Can't help with the depot, I'm afraid. At the time of the collapse, there wouldn't have been much in it, it is mostly used overnight.

The other issue with Edge Hill is onward connectivity for a train load of people. It is not the easiest place to park up a fleet of coaches. South Parkway on the other hand is perfect for it. It would be good if they could extend the Wigan and Earlestown services to Broad Green. I think olive mount junction cross over was wired which would allow a shunt reversal. But as someone mentioned the diagraming might not be possible

 

[a_c_skinner]

Knowing Liverpool reasonably I'd assumed most passengers would get to Edge Hill under their own, ahem, steam.

Purely out of interest how long is each section of OHLE? Not between neutral sections but between the tensioning weights? I'd imagined it would be easy to disconnect the next section at the tensioning weights.

I suppose the local bus changes and fiddling with the OHLE even if possible isn't worth it for a few days. Remember I am thinking trainspotter with pliers I'm not au fait with the OHLE.

 

[DJH1971]

At the moment, all this is making me think about cashing in my season ticket, if that is possible.

Wonder if we would get days added on to the expiry date for all the inconvenience?

I've a feeling someone is going to get sued big style for this.

 

[Elecman]

A tension wire length is approximately 1500 metres

 

[exile]

I've travelled on this section of line thousands of times over the years and every time I do so the thought crosses my mind that part of the walls may collapse at any moment.

I suspect when the immediate problem is fixed the engineers will have to do a full inspection of the entire length of the cutting. It's in an appalling state from the look of it.

 

[AndyPJG]

Purely out of interest how long is each section of OHLE? Not between neutral sections but between the tensioning weights? I'd imagined it would be easy to disconnect the next section at the tensioning weights.

Might be tricky to ensure the required isolation where the contact wires crossover.

 

[a_c_skinner]

If only you'd mentioned it earlier! Yes, I imagine they will be looking hard at the whole length. Looking at the drone shots the other side looks the same. I'd not be surprised to find out there is a lot more to be done.

 

[DJH1971]

Wonder if this will have any impact on the upcoming remodelling works due to take place later this year?

 

[a_c_skinner]

Might be tricky to ensure the required isolation where the contact wires crossover.

I'd imagined taking down the damaged section would leave the wires up and live at Edge Hill, but I know if it were possible the railway would have suggested it.

Hopefully the date is correct and looking to a different solution won't be needed. Getting a fleet of busses over the Runcorn bridge isn't going to be a relaxing job for anyone.

 

[Camden]

"Making the location safe" surely must have two components. 1 - the immediate threat removed in order to get in closer and deal with some specifics. But then 2 - more fundamentally fixing the wall, and assessing whether there is any further risk now or likely to be in the future.

I notice the press release is quoting the COO of Network Rail. It seems a very bold assertion that the station will be open on the 9th all things considered. I hope that it isn't the case that the date has been mentioned as a "maybe" by engineers, only to be picked up by the suits and spouted off to the media as an "aim to", with everyone else then pressured to get it fixed by that date.

It must not be rushed.

 

[AndyW33]

In answer to the question about Edge Hill Depot, if RTT is correct a Pendolino has just arrived on depot having run ECS from Runcorn, and a second one is about to arrive, with a third scheduled later. Basically it seems that the depot is electrically separate from the main line (which is what you'd expect) and the main line is still energised up to the east end access connection. Electric trains can't use the Edge Hill end access as there is nowhere energised for them to go at present, but diesels could.

 

[185143]

This press release from the RMT http://www.rmt.org.uk/news/lime-street-collapse-underlines-crucial-role-of-guards/ says that the line could be closed for up to a month...

I'll pass NO comment on the rest of the article on this forum.

 

[Bevan Price]

Knowing Liverpool reasonably I'd assumed most passengers would get to Edge Hill under their own, ahem, steam.

.

Edge Hill isn't the most pleasant part of Liverpool - safe during daylight, but I would hesitate to go outside the station alone at night. One bus route (26/27 circular) stops near the station. For other buses, it is about 5 minutes walk to stops in Picton Road or Smithdown Road.

 

[TimboM]

I recall in the days immediately following the Lamington Viaduct closure the estimated time to re-open per NR was a week or two - but then they discovered the full extent of damage. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself.

 

[Camden]

In December there were 2 crimes reported in Edge Hill area, one for shoplifting and one for ASB. Three streets away someone reported criminal damage. Two more streets away someone reported a bike theft.

It might look a bit of a dump, but unsafe??

 

[fowler9]

Apart from them and a Pendolino mentioned earlier, any other trains trapped? Are all the trapped 319s Northen units?

I would be amazed if there were any trapped 319's that weren't Northern.

 

[fowler9]

The signalling at the station isn't bidirectional.:cry:

Perhaps this will be rectified in the coming resignalling?

It is on Platform 4 because the Preston services go in and out of the same end of it. I was also there when a Preston service accidentally got sent to platform 1 and managed to go back out the same way to get back to Platform 4.

 

[Jonfun]

Edge Hill isn't the most pleasant part of Liverpool - safe during daylight, but I would hesitate to go outside the station alone at night. One bus route (26/27 circular) stops near the station. For other buses, it is about 5 minutes walk to stops in Picton Road or Smithdown Road.

If the area around Edge Hill station is considered a bad part of Liverpool I dread to think of what you'd think of the rest of the city! There are some very dodgy parts of Liverpool but that isn't one of them.

Edge Hill station is convenient for a lot of the suburban residential areas on this side of the city and indeed for the Universities, especially while nothing is calling at Wavertree Tech Park. I'm surprised more trains aren't continuing on there from South Parkway, to be honest.