East-West Rail (EWR): Oxford-Bletchley construction progress

[Mark24]

Does anyone have a photo of the infilled bridge at Quainton?

 

[swt_passenger]

Does anyone have a photo of the infilled bridge at Quainton?

The Facebook page linked in post #1795 includes a photo of the infilled bridge beyond the buffers.

 

[Mark24]

The Facebook page linked in post #1795 includes a photo of the infilled bridge beyond the buffers.

Brilliant. Thank you

 

[DavidGrain]

HS2 will also have to be bridged on that road. Currently, construction traffic is crossing the road on the level controlled by traffic lights.
My photo from August Bank Holiday. I was pleased to see that a mural has been painted on the concrete giving the appearence of the countryside through the bridge..

 

[swt_passenger]

HS2 will also have to be bridged on that road. Currently, construction traffic is crossing the road on the level controlled by traffic lights.
My photo from August Bank Holiday. I was pleased to see that a mural has been painted on the concrete giving the appearence of the countryside through the bridge..

We’re getting away from EWR construction now, but the road over that bridge will not go over HS2, their drawings show that it becomes a dead end with a turning hammerhead, beyond the down side railway centre buildings.

 

[Mark24]

HS2 will also have to be bridged on that road. Currently, construction traffic is crossing the road on the level controlled by traffic lights.
My photo from August Bank Holiday. I was pleased to see that a mural has been painted on the concrete giving the appearence of the countryside through the bridge.View attachment 164866.

That’s very cleverly done.

 

[WolvertonWorks]

Winslow Station earlier in the week,

I was in Winslow this afternoon for a very interesting Heritage Open Days guided walk which took us from the new station to the site of the original Winslow station, learning about the development of the town with the coming of the railway.

Lots of new housing off the road from Great Horwood as one comes to the T junction opposite the new station - presumably hoping to attract workers from Bicester/Oxford and Milton Keynes who will commute by train.

It did strike me that it was a shame they hadn't provided a pedestrian entrance to the station from the footpath that runs alongside the track on the other side of the line to the new station. It would have been much nicer than having to walk over the road bridge to get to the station entrance. Coming from the new housing further down the footpath there is the green footbridge over the line that follows the path of an ancient public right of way but not worth walking all the way down there from the Buckingham Road end.

 

[Freightmaster]

37418 and inspection saloon 'Caroline' have made several return trips between Bletchley High Level and Launton (just East of Bicester) over the last two days.

Looks like 950001 is going to do the same next Friday:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Bletchley Smt Of Flyover all day on 13/09/2024

Train information at Bletchley Smt Of Flyover all day on 13/09/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

MARK

 

[zwk500]

Looks like 950001 is going to do the same next Friday:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Bletchley Smt Of Flyover all day on 13/09/2024

Train information at Bletchley Smt Of Flyover all day on 13/09/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

MARK

Is there a publicly published programme for the handover of the line to the operational side of NR, and then the staff training before the first commercial services?

 

[Mark24]

Is the opening of the line for passenger trains still set for early 2025?

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

Is the opening of the line for passenger trains still set for early 2025?

Probably as staff training trains are in the December timetable

 

[12LDA28C]

Is there a publicly published programme for the handover of the line to the operational side of NR, and then the staff training before the first commercial services?

The handover of the line to NR was supposed to be two weeks ago but has been delayed. I believe it may now happen this week or next. As previously mentioned, ECS training paths are shown on RTT from December.

 

[zwk500]

The handover of the line to NR was supposed to be two weeks ago but has been delayed. I believe it may now happen this week or next. As previously mentioned, ECS training paths are shown on RTT from December.

Thanks for the info, will look out for the press release!

 

[The Planner]

Is the opening of the line for passenger trains still set for early 2025?

More like Summer

 

[CyrusWuff]

More like Summer

Hope it is Summer. Nobody's set any fares for Winslow yet.

 

[Fazaar1889]

Is the opening of the line for passenger trains still set for early 2025?

Wait it's already built? What about between Bedford and Cambridge?

 

[JamesT]

Wait it's already built? What about between Bedford and Cambridge?

Opening between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

 

[swt_passenger]

Wait it's already built? What about between Bedford and Cambridge?

The Bletchley to Bedford section, and the future Bedford to Cambridge section, are not parts of the current project that is the main subject of this thread (as per the title)...

 

[Fazaar1889]

The Bletchley to Bedford section, and the future Bedford to Cambridge section, are not parts of the current project that is the main subject of this thread (as per the title)...

Oh apologies, work has been stressful. My mistake.

Opening between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

Thanks

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Sep 2024 ==

Where is the relevant thread for that section?

 

[John R]

Where is the relevant thread for that section?

You're posting in it!

 

[DavidGrain]

Where is the relevant thread for that section?

If you do a search for East West on this forum you will find other threads relating to other parts of the full project including Bletchley to Bedford and Bedford to Cambridge.

 

[BlueLeanie]

Waiting for the first video from the front of Caroline, or a drone following her.

 

[12LDA28C]

Waiting for the first video from the front of Caroline, or a drone following her.

I think that would've already been posted by now if anyone had filmed it.

 

[DavidGrain]

The handover of the line to NR was supposed to be two weeks ago but has been delayed. I believe it may now happen this week or next. As previously mentioned, ECS training paths are shown on RTT from December.

I see RTT shows ECS trains running MKC to Oxford from 16/12/24 to 16/5/25 SSuX. Which implies no public service until the May Timetable but I suspect that public service will actually start once the drivers are all fully trained on traction and route knowledge.

 

[12LDA28C]

I see RTT shows ECS trains running MKC to Oxford from 16/12/24 to 16/5/25 SSuX. Which implies no public service until the May Timetable but I suspect that public service will actually start once the drivers are all fully trained on traction and route knowledge.

That would seem to make sense. However it should be noted that the final school of Bletchley trainee drivers start their training on September 30th, i.e. three weeks time.

 

[zwk500]

I see RTT shows ECS trains running MKC to Oxford from 16/12/24 to 16/5/25 SSuX. Which implies no public service until the May Timetable but I suspect that public service will actually start once the drivers are all fully trained on traction and route knowledge.

It's relatively simple to convert those ECS runs to Passenger services if the training is complete by then, although May seems a good time to aim for anyway as there'll need to be a decent pool of drivers.

 

[Nottingham59]

Are these new drivers being trained from scratch? Or just existing drivers adding a route that they sign?

And how many hours should it take to learn a new 35 mile route?

 

[BlueLeanie]

I see RTT shows ECS trains running MKC to Oxford from 16/12/24 to 16/5/25 SSuX. Which implies no public service until the May Timetable but I suspect that public service will actually start once the drivers are all fully trained on traction and route knowledge.

That would be nice.

But won't it also require to happen at the same time as a wholesale update of fare data too? This is probably the single biggest change to potential journey routings since the 1970s.

 

[DavidGrain]

Are these new drivers being trained from scratch? Or just existing drivers adding a route that they sign?

And how many hours should it take to learn a new 35 mile route?

These drivers are Chiltern employees operating out of Bletchley so they will not be existing drivers learning a new route as Chiltern has not previously had drivers based at Bletchley. Chiltern have not yet taken delivery of the trains as they are still with West Midlands Railway. They are drivers being trained from scratch which takes several months before hands-on learning to actually drive a train.

 

[Peter Sarf]

These drivers are Chiltern employees operating out of Bletchley so they will not be existing drivers learning a new route as Chiltern has not previously had drivers based at Bletchley. Chiltern have not yet taken delivery of the trains as they are still with West Midlands Railway. They are drivers being trained from scratch which takes several months before hands-on learning to actually drive a train.

I think two units are off lease from WMR (196009 & 196010 iirc) so they would presumably be available as soon as trainee drivers are ready to learn the traction and route.