Nuneham Viaduct shut - Didcot- Oxford

[4COR]

They’ll be lucky if it’s reopened on Wednesday!

It might well reopen on Wednesday. Just exactly which Wednesday is not clear...!

Looks like some fairly severe movement from @ModernRailways post...

 

[Class15]

It might well reopen on Wednesday. Just exactly which Wednesday is not clear...!

Looks like some fairly severe movement from @ModernRailways post...

Yep, I’d say the chances of it reopening this week are around 5% at most!!!

Will be a few weeks I expect!

 

[A0wen]

I wonder why XC are turning back at Banbury rather than at Oxford.

There's not much space for parking coaches at Oxford compared to Banbury, so from a logistical point of view Banbury's probably better.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Here's an interesting article on this bridge..
https://culhamticketoffice.co.uk/bits/hidden-pages/nuneham-bridge.html

Surely that's an interesting article on the former (pre-1929) version of the bridge at this location?

 

[nw1]

There's not much space for parking coaches at Oxford compared to Banbury, so from a logistical point of view Banbury's probably better.

OK for a temporary measure given the problem's only just been discovered, but if it's going to take weeks to fix, I'd hope they move to terminating at Oxford to maintain the (important) Oxford-Midlands-North flow.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Friend at NR sent me this from last week

That is just a bit of a crack / displacement/ Bit more than a few bags of quick setting cement.

Interesting challenge for a bridge engineer. ........

 

[zwk500]

That is just a bit of a crack / displacement/ Bit more than a few bags of quick setting cement.

Interesting challenge for a bridge engineer. ........

Has it been especially wet in Oxfordshire this winter? The BBC report mentioned the ground is saturated, but even so there seems to be an alarming rate of bridge failures due to ground movement in that part of the world.

 

[stuving]

Surely that's an interesting article on the former (pre-1929) version of the bridge at this location?

I think the statement that the bridge was replaced in 1929 by a single span must the wrong. If you look at the pictures in that article, they clearly show the bridge that's there now - with two bowstring girder spans.

They also show the viaduct bit, the three spans over land on the north bank, as still being the older plate girders. Now, it's got brick arches, so clearly something happened in between. And (from a very short comment in a newspaper) "the north end of the viaduct was reconstructed" in 1930.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

OK for a temporary measure given the problem's only just been discovered, but if it's going to take weeks to fix, I'd hope they move to terminating at Oxford to maintain the (important) Oxford-Midlands-North flow.

That is a very good point - but I am told that the reversing facility at Oxford from south to north is a lot better now - plus you could do a shunt via Hinksey and hold the stock over. Good people I m sure are looking at this.

 

[Oxfordblues]

Closure of the A420 Botley Road at the station bridge from next Tuesday 11 April could lead to a "perfect storm" as a large proportion of the existing traffic will transfer to Abingdon Road which is already at-capacity, in the peaks at least. Any RRBs between Didcot and Oxford will be caught-up in lengthy slow-moving queues and might take over an hour (optimistically!)

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Has it been especially wet in Oxfordshire this winter? The BBC report mentioned the ground is saturated, but even so there seems to be an alarming rate of bridge failures due to ground movement in that part of the world.

Exceptionally wet for the last month at least (as was December) - today has been virtually the first dry and sunny day here in West Herts for a while. (not that far from Oxford) - comments made the other day about lots of standing water right down the Cherwell Valley.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Friend at NR sent me this from last week

I am a chemist/material scientist/engineer not a structural or civil engineer so I am no expert but that does NOT look good.

 

[swt_passenger]

Am I correct in thinking it is the multi-span metal bridge across the Thames near Abingdon, which is classed as a viaduct.

Not a brick or stone arched viaduct

There are also three brick built arches, (fairly well disguised in the satellite view), on the north bank of the Thames. That’s maybe part of the reasoning behind it being described as a viaduct.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Has it been especially wet in Oxfordshire this winter? The BBC report mentioned the ground is saturated, but even so there seems to be an alarming rate of bridge failures due to ground movement in that part of the world.

It's certainly been a wet winter in Oxfordshire going by my arbitrary measure of "how many times do I have to wear waterproof trousers on the school run". But not ridiculously so.

The Environment Agency has very accurate data of river levels up and down the Thames. It would be interesting to look at that and see for how long the surrounding land has been waterlogged.

Closure of the A420 Botley Road at the station bridge from next Tuesday 11 April could lead to a "perfect storm" as a large proportion of the existing traffic will transfer to Abingdon Road which is already at-capacity, in the peaks at least. Any RRBs between Didcot and Oxford will be caught-up in lengthy slow-moving queues and might take over an hour (optimistically!)

I wonder if it might actually be better. There'll be very little traffic on the Botley Road as a result of the closure, so if GWR can arrange for the RRBs to leave from the west side of the station - using the new turning circle where the greasy spoon used to be - then they should have a faster transit to the A34 than usual.

 

[Gagravarr]

Closure of the A420 Botley Road at the station bridge from next Tuesday 11 April could lead to a "perfect storm" as a large proportion of the existing traffic will transfer to Abingdon Road which is already at-capacity, in the peaks at least. Any RRBs between Didcot and Oxford will be caught-up in lengthy slow-moving queues and might take over an hour (optimistically!)

Surely the "fix" is to run trains from Oxford as far as Radley, then transfer to buses for Didcot there?

What Radley Station lacks in infrastructure it more than makes up for in lack of road traffic to affect the RRBs!

 

[Class15]

What is everyone’s prediction on the reopening date? My guess is mid-to-late April.

 

[Mikey C]

Exceptionally wet for the last month at least (as was December) - today has been virtually the first dry and sunny day here in West Herts for a while. (not that far from Oxford) - comments made the other day about lots of standing water right down the Cherwell Valley.

A very wet March, but February was very dry and January average, so the winter rainfall was pretty average really.

 

[The Planner]

Bourne End to High Wycombe is probably the most obvious one methinks.

No good from the Reading direction.

 

[zwk500]

What is everyone’s prediction on the reopening date? My guess is mid-to-late April.

We have no idea until the engineers have actually assessed the damage. It's clearly severe so I'd not be surprised if it bled into May.

 

[The Planner]

Surely the "fix" is to run trains from Oxford as far as Radley, then transfer to buses for Didcot there?

What Radley Station lacks in infrastructure it more than makes up for in lack of road traffic to affect the RRBs!

Single line working with no room for RRBs through a village

What is everyone’s prediction on the reopening date? My guess is mid-to-late April.

Line has been closed via a restriction of use until the 23rd so far.

 

[Class158North]

What is everyone’s prediction on the reopening date? My guess is mid-to-late April.

Yeah, I’d say about the same with the possibility of this going into early May.

 

[Rutabag]

Has it been especially wet in Oxfordshire this winter? The BBC report mentioned the ground is saturated, but even so there seems to be an alarming rate of bridge failures due to ground movement in that part of the world.

It was pretty dry in February, but there has been a lot of rain throughout March.

 

[Jimini]

I'm a regular user of this line (or was, for now!) -- the amount of standing water between Banbury and Didcot around the railway has been quite noticeable on a few occasions this year so far. Last journey through was Thursday last week and it was quite noticeable that the land was saturated yet again. Kings Sutton and Tackley stand out in my memory for being areas particularly affected.

I'm surprised that viaduct has lasted this long before being closed TBH -- as said above the ESR went from 50 down to 20 (back before Christmas I think), then 5 last week when I passed through. There was quite the army of people and vehicles on the west side of the viaduct the last couple of times I went by.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Yeah, I’d say about the same with the possibility of this going into early May.

Welcome to the forum - your first post I see. Yes after May Day bank holiday- but yikes there is the Coronation coming up so I assume they want it doing before then for the extra potential traffic perhaps.

 

[Reliablebeam]

I'm also a regular on this route, noticeable how the speed restriction has gone down and down.. There has been some prep work, clearing vegetation and preparing a work area on the upstream side for a while now. There were vans of some specialist 'sinking building' contractor there on Saturday. I walked the Thames along here in September and there was no sign of anything untoward - that said the paths around here are noticeably wet and the Thames was flowing very fast indeed on Saturday around Oxford.

 

[InOban]

Looking at the picture I'm frankly flabbergasted that it wasn't closed as soon as that picture was taken.

 

[zwk500]

I'm also a regular on this route, noticeable how the speed restriction has gone down and down.. There has been some prep work, clearing vegetation and preparing a work area on the upstream side for a while now. There were vans of some specialist 'sinking building' contractor there on Saturday. I walked the Thames along here in September and there was no sign of anything untoward - that said the paths around here are noticeably wet and the Thames was flowing very fast indeed on Saturday around Oxford.

Interestingly, immediately upstream of the bridge the water level is normal but downstream it is high and there are flood alerts for the river valley: https://check-for-flooding.service....5&ext=-1.389532,51.620188,-1.112642,51.719943
Although the two sites nearby for Soil Moisture content suggest a 40-60% range. https://cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/data

 

[fodphil]

In the days of loco-hauled on XC, I never saw any trains diverted that way with the usual diversionary route being Reading - Acton - Canal Wharf - Willesden - WCML. I guess some drivers might still sign that way or at least just need a refresher.

I once travelled on 1M79 the 1653 Reading - Liverpool which only got to Oxford due to flooding at Fenny Compton. The loco ran round at Oxford, then returned to Reading and then via the route as above, only to encounter flooding again at Bletchley! Eventual arrival at Birmingham was over 3 hours late.

Bristol XC drivers signed NewSt - Cheltenham - Swindon - Didcot, until last week as Swindon - Didcot was removed from their route cards as a cost saving exercise.

 

[Towers]

Looking at the picture I'm frankly flabbergasted that it wasn't closed as soon as that picture was taken.

You do have to wonder what exactly the plan was when the speed restrictions first appeared, if indeed there was one. Just leave it and hope it goes away? Surely as soon as it was apparent that the structure was quite obviously shot to bits, the time to begin remedial works was ASAP?

 

[zwk500]

Good luck finding a path on HS1 during the day.

Agree the path will be a tad tricky.

Also what do you do with the train once it reaches Barking?

Put a 66 or 90 on it and sent it on to Crewe or wherever.

You do have to wonder what exactly the plan was when the speed restrictions first appeared, if indeed there was one. Just leave it and hope it goes away? Surely as soon as it was apparent that the structure was quite obviously shot to bits, the time to begin remedial works was ASAP?

I imagine that several emails were very quickly sent to various bridge engineers asking for them to come up with immediate solutions, but they were trying to keep the bridge open for as long as possible because closure was the absolute last resort.