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Sough Tunnel Closed

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M60lad

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Not to sure which tunnel but apparently debris have been found in a tunnel between Bolton-Blackburn by Network Rail Staff and as a result all lines through the tunnel have been closed until at least 13:00 today with Rail Replacements operating between Bolton-Blackburn and some trains diverted from Blackburn to operate via Todmorden to Manchester Victoria.
 
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Trackman

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Apparently something to do with soot removal work that has been going on.
The debris itself is not the major issue but the structural integrity of the tunnel which they are checking to make sure it’s safe.
Edit:
Its not looking good for the rest of the day via the internal coms
Northern now saying it will not re-open today and closed 'until further notice'.
 
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M60lad

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Considering National Rail are saying some trains are being diverted via Todmorden is it actually possible to run extra services from Victoria-Blackburn via Todmorden Curve?
 

sportzbar

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Considering National Rail are saying some trains are being diverted via Todmorden is it actually possible to run extra services from Victoria-Blackburn via Todmorden Curve?
As long as train crew sign the route then as long as paths are available then there is no reason why not.
 

Geeves

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The real Vic to Blackburn via Todmorden is only running every three hours so lots of capacity. A shuttle ran to Rochdale as 2Txx and the Clitheroe trains all ran none stop to Blackburn, on the inbound the late running train became the hour later XX41 departure back, actually worked pretty well! Thankfully everyone at Blackburn and the majority at Victoria sign both ways to Blackburn
 

HSTEd

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Is this a normal number of structural failures?
There seem to be a lot of substantial failures recently.
 

Geeves

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They were already working in the tunnel when the tunnel lining failure occurred so this one at least wasnt just a random collapse, still you are right, its landslides and collapses galore!
 

scrapy

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Works finished and line now handed back. Services to run as normal from start of service tomorrow.

Tunnel declared structurally sound. Bricks fell following jet washing to remove soot.
 

davetheguard

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They were already working in the tunnel when the tunnel lining failure occurred so this one at least wasnt just a random collapse, still you are right, its landslides and collapses galore!

Welcome to a world of global warming & climate change. Network Rail are getting pretty good at dealing with these sort of incidents; I guess practice makes perfect.
 

Class 170101

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Welcome to a world of global warming & climate change. Network Rail are getting pretty good at dealing with these sort of incidents; I guess practice makes perfect.

NR might be good at remedial works and repairing things after the event see not just this tunnel, but other structures and landscapes like Hilmorton, Ingatestone, Kilsby Tunnel, Linlithgow and Montrose amongst others but what is happening to prevent this in the first place? It must be cheaper to prevent these incidents rather than repair them afterwards?
 

HSTEd

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NR might be good at remedial works and repairing things after the event see not just this tunnel, but other structures and landscapes like Hilmorton, Ingatestone, Kilsby Tunnel, Linlithgow and Montrose amongst others but what is happening to prevent this in the first place? It must be cheaper to prevent these incidents rather than repair them afterwards?

It might be, but it might also not be.
Unfortunately NR don't have a crystal ball that can tell them precisely which structures will suffer failures.

I'm afraid the only real way to stop this is replace railways with ones built to higher standards, designed to be less susceptible to this.
 

The Planner

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NR might be good at remedial works and repairing things after the event see not just this tunnel, but other structures and landscapes like Hilmorton, Ingatestone, Kilsby Tunnel, Linlithgow and Montrose amongst others but what is happening to prevent this in the first place? It must be cheaper to prevent these incidents rather than repair them afterwards?
Depends how much the cost of installing infrastructure monitoring over vast swathes of the network is vs the perceived probabilty of these events happening.
 

BigB

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NR might be good at remedial works and repairing things after the event see not just this tunnel, but other structures and landscapes like Hilmorton, Ingatestone, Kilsby Tunnel, Linlithgow and Montrose amongst others but what is happening to prevent this in the first place? It must be cheaper to prevent these incidents rather than repair them afterwards?
By Linlithgow do you mean the railway washed out by a canal breech?
I'm nor really sure how anything Network Rail could have done would have stopped that being a major issue.... short of not having canal of course...
 

Class 170101

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By Linlithgow do you mean the railway washed out by a canal breech?
I'm nor really sure how anything Network Rail could have done would have stopped that being a major issue.... short of not having canal of course...

Yes I am thinking of the canal.
 

snowball

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NR might be good at remedial works and repairing things after the event see not just this tunnel, but other structures and landscapes like Hilmorton, Ingatestone, Kilsby Tunnel, Linlithgow and Montrose amongst others but what is happening to prevent this in the first place? It must be cheaper to prevent these incidents rather than repair them afterwards?
Well, if you mean we should have been doing more around the world for the past 50 years to slow global warming, I agree, but that isn't cheaper, it's trillions.
 

52290

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IMG_20210222_143456.jpgHere's the culprit! Olly heading for Sough tunnel on 11 August 1968 with the 15 guinea special and depositing the very last of BR soot in the tunnel.
 

Western 52

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In October 1967 there was a major incident in this tunnel after a DMU caught fire. I believe the unit was totally gutted. Maybe that affected some of the tunnel lining?
 

The Planner

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In October 1967 there was a major incident in this tunnel after a DMU caught fire. I believe the unit was totally gutted. Maybe that affected some of the tunnel lining?
Id hope that was spotted in the intervening 55 years to be fair if it was the case!
 
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