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3rd Rail corrosion - Durrington on Sea

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furnessvale

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Ha! Bitter? No, unhappy? When I was there, yes! I just have the emotional disconnection from the job to now not care!
Surely NR not doing their job properly kept you in paid employment.

As a retired police officer I can confirm the people doing wrong things can keep you in a job for life! :)
 
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aleggatta

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Surely NR not doing their job properly kept you in paid employment.

As a retired police officer I can confirm the people doing wrong things can keep you in a job for life! :)

in that sense, I suppose thats a bit like saying [joke]car accidents are keeping A&E staff in employment [/joke]

There is always plenty of work for an engineer, without that caused by drivers, NR, fatalities or track calls
 

Deepgreen

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The reason for me not taking it to NR is off topic, however, it was having spent three night shifts changing frangible joints and fitting new shoegear on a virtually continuous basis being wholly down to a bit of third rail 'walk' from the fishplate bolts find themselves being 'not fitted' at fishbourne (I say 'not fitted' as it was never clear if they broke or just worked loose). The issue took a week to locate, and the regular inspection of the network should not have taken that long to locate. I don't do that job any more, but I still have spite towards NR from it!
Not off-topic, as you mentioned the NR element quite pointedly in post 51, and it's very relevant given the state of the infrastructure.
 

furnessvale

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in that sense, I suppose thats a bit like saying [joke]car accidents are keeping A&E staff in employment [/joke]

There is always plenty of work for an engineer, without that caused by drivers, NR, fatalities or track calls
On the contrary, any organisation including NR would take every opportunity to reduce staffing levels if they didn't have to allow for such incidents.
 

deltic08

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To me that looks like an off-white corrosion product formed on the rail rather than a hole as you can't see through the rail to what is behind
Yes you can see through the rail and the ballast behind.
 

Darandio

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Yes you can see through the rail and the ballast behind.

On the latest pictures you can, it wasn't that clear on the ones that were posted originally. Strange that you would pick out a post to quote from before the newer images were posted.
 

deltic08

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On the latest pictures you can, it wasn't that clear on the ones that were posted originally. Strange that you would pick out a post to quote from before the newer images were posted.
Not strange. I have twice posted, the first being #24, before the enhanced photos appeared if you look back and twice have been able to see through the rail to the ballast behind in support of Why, the original poster. The arrogance of some posters on here denying it is a hole when he has seen it in the flesh as a hole is breathtaking.
 
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LAX54

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To save any further arguments, have faulted it with our IFC who I hope will contact Sussex :)
 

Peter Mugridge

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Just as an update - the corroded conductor rail has been reported and is being looked into by Network Rail as a matter of urgency. I have had a direct communication from Sir Peter Hendy this morning confirming that.

As an update to this, I have now been told by a more local senior person within NR that the rail is being monitored and is planned for replacement in the current control period; some of the worse sections are being replaced individually during other routine maintenance - that will continue until the full replacement takes place. I would expect, from the wording I was given, that the full replacement will cover quite a considerable distance along this route.
 

big all

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can you do us a favour please:D:D
can you ask if this is connected to age and possible location ??
and perhaps any special circumstances they think might exacerbate the situation like bridging 2 sections between different sub stations for example
 

Greg Read

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As an update to this, I have now been told by a more local senior person within NR that the rail is being monitored and is planned for replacement in the current control period; some of the worse sections are being replaced individually during other routine maintenance - that will continue until the full replacement takes place. I would expect, from the wording I was given, that the full replacement will cover quite a considerable distance along this route.

CP6: in the next 5 years then :)
 

aleggatta

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CP6: in the next 5 years then :)

From memory, I think they have already done a considerable section of the west coastway in the up direction. This piece of holed rail is on the down and I don't think they have got to Durrington with the new con rail in the up yet, let alone done anything with the down west coastway
 

HSTEd

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How old is this rail likely to be?

That's a pre war electrification scheme isn't it?
 

big all

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brighton line was 32/33 so possibly an extension within say 5 years so perhaps 1937-8 ??
 

Peter Mugridge

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can you do us a favour please:D:D
can you ask if this is connected to age and possible location ??
and perhaps any special circumstances they think might exacerbate the situation like bridging 2 sections between different sub stations for example

Yes, I can ask - though I don't think the salt air location has anything to do with it given that there was a similar rail in Epsom until a few years ago. Very likely just age - but a good point about the presence of sub-stations in the vicinity although my gut feeling is the answer will come back it's just the age.
 

big all

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Yes, I can ask - though I don't think the salt air location has anything to do with it given that there was a similar rail in Epsom until a few years ago. Very likely just age - but a good point about the presence of sub-stations in the vicinity although my gut feeling is the answer will come back it's just the age.
yes i fully understand but so far epsom mersyrail and southcoast are all areas where trains dwell rather than "flash past at speed " so some sort off "location actions" are happening rather than areas where running at speed happen ????????
 

Why

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Blimey... cant believe so many replies on this subject! ... and some to the posts basically saying i am seeing things and still seem to question it despite photos being taken on a very good camera opposed to a IPhone 6!!

With NR now looking into the holes (Two Ronnies late news type gag?!!) I fail to see why they have not noticed it before and if so just said thanks we are aware etc?
As original post was about 2 years ago, track condition checked regularly 20 odd meters and slap in the middle of a busy station so why on earth has it not been picked up sooner even if not safety critical? .. or maybe with zero engineering knowledge etc I am missing something.
 

Bald Rick

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Blimey... cant believe so many replies on this subject! ... and some to the posts basically saying i am seeing things and still seem to question it despite photos being taken on a very good camera opposed to a IPhone 6!!

With NR now looking into the holes (Two Ronnies late news type gag?!!) I fail to see why they have not noticed it before and if so just said thanks we are aware etc?
As original post was about 2 years ago, track condition checked regularly 20 odd meters and slap in the middle of a busy station so why on earth has it not been picked up sooner even if not safety critical? .. or maybe with zero engineering knowledge etc I am missing something.

It’s not safety critical. It has been picked up before, I’m sure. It will be being monitored.
 

edwin_m

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Coming back to the thickness of the rail head, the wear in this area is mainly related to the number of shoes passing over it. The wear on the web is mainly time-related, although there could be some kind of electrolysis effect especially if near to a substation (although I think that would need the ballast to be in contact). As the Coastway is used by fewer and shorter trains than most of the third rail network it's likely to be one of the places where web corrosion makes the rail unusable before head wear does.
 

edwin_m

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True, but it could be quite alarming for uninformed passengers and give a poor impression of safety on the railway. It's a good thing if the railway is not only safe, but perceived to be safe.
Although it would be a bad thing if staff had to repair/replace things that didn't actually need doing, just because they looked bad. As well as increasing costs it would expose them to the hazards of working on the track.
 
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