Great Western Electrification Progress

Saturday, 3 August 2019 – Friday, 16 August 2019
Piling will be undertaken in the following locations:

• Cardiff Central, Riverside (Cardiff)

Erecting masts and overhead line equipment will be undertaken in the following locations:

• Rogiet, Magor (Monmouthshire)
• Baneswell, Somerton, Maindee, Newport Station (Newport)
• Rumney, Pengham, Wentloog, Adamsdown, (Cardiff)

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• All main line tracks wired as far as Wootton Bassett Jct, and are to be considered "live" as such. From Wootton Bassett Jct, the envelope of "live" wires continues along the South Wales Main Line to Filton Jct (inc. Bristol Parkway), and to the Limits of Wiring on the Berks & Hants line and Reading-Basingstoke Line; details are given below.
• TTCs have replaced/been replacing headspans at various locations within London - locations include Westway (beneath the A40), Acton Main Line, Ealing Broadway, and between Southall & H&H. These are part of the works for the Elizabeth Line.
• Everything wired at Reading (bar P4-6 which were never in the plan). Includes the TCD & the curves, down to Reading West (see B&H section).
• West of Didcot Parkway, all lines are wired & live heading towards Swindon.
• Everything wired at Swindon (bar the goods lines north of P1, where provision is provided).

• ATF wires in operation from Maidenhead to Wootton Bassett; Kensal Green to Maidenhead currently only using return conductors but will be AT-ready in the near future. Some AT wires up along this stretch now; whether they are live remains to be seen.
• Parapet Work extended upwards at Southbury Lane Bridge, Ruscombe; the wing walls remain unfinished. Original Coping stones have now been replaced.
• Platforms all extended at Tilehurst, Pangbourne, Goring & Streatley and Cholsey; PIS systems still advertise them as being 7 coaches long.
• Platform extension at Didcot Parkway (P2 & P3) is visually complete but barriered off.
• Few masts and cantilevers now up on the Didcot Avoiding Line, which finish at Appleford; Appleford LC being the limit of structures for the time being.
• Oxford Lines west of Didcot Pkwy wired as far as the loco fuelling sdg; Down Oxford as far as 53m 31ch, Up Oxford as far as 53m 42ch. Didcot avoiding lines have sprouted masts (4 portals, 2 TTCs), with a wire pair over the Down Didcot Avoider.
• A note on Steventon: Wires up under the High St Bridge (aka the "Brunel Bridge"); however, the bridge may well be demolished in CP6. "Temporary" parapet work to protect passers-by from stray currents now complete. Wires west of Causeway Crossing are only authorised for passenger service on 80x trains in both directions, however, 387s are allowed to run empty to/from Cocklebury sidings under AC. The appeal to demolish the bridge is due to occur in the autumn (of 2019). The discussion continues.
• Overruns through Swindon Jct (77m 36ch) onto the Golden Valley Line have also been wired.
• Swindon Cocklebury Sidings in operation for Class 387 stabling as of 2/1/19.

• Both lines are LIVE, signed off for passenger use, and in service from Wootton Bassett Jct to Christian Malford (93m 31ch) as of 0700 on 21/04/2019 (Easter Sunday).
• Catenary, contact & Earth wires are up over/adj. to both lines from Cocklebury Lane to Wootton Bassett Jct.
• Limit of AT Feeding: the Auto-Transformer at Christian Malford.

• No piles in Chippenham station, nor any masts affixed to the viaduct.
• All piles in and majority of masts (and cantilevers) up from the western end of the viaduct to Thingley Junction (where the feeder station will be). Most TTCs have booms from beyond the viaduct to Thingley East Junction. About 14 masts are up in the vicinity of Thingley Feeder Stn, 2 of which have TTC booms affixed. Another has an STC boom.
• Piles continue westwards to the next bridge.

• No wiring for the foreseeable future, but overbridges between Thingley Jct & Box Tunnel have all been rebuilt. Corsham Main Road Bridge needs its parapets raising. New aqueduct & footbridge at Corsham complete.
• Both Box & Middle Hill Tunnels have had track lowered.
• A new footbridge has been built at Ashley Box.
• Piles also in (and have been for over a year) at Ashley (beyond Box Tunnel) - these might well be trial piles.
• Bathampton Jct to beyond Sydney Gardens has had track lowered. A new signal gantry at Bathampton Jct was installed over Xmas 2017 and is now in use after the removal of the old gantry in May 2019.
• Bath Spa platforms realigned & raised, with track also slewed.
• Track through Oldfield Park & Keynsham now lowered.
• A lot of piles are in along the embankment around Saltford and Keynsham in readiness for future wiring.

• Wires from Wootton Bassett Jct to Bristol Parkway in passenger service since 30/12/18.
• All 6 through Lines at Bristol Parkway have been wired and are live.
• Live wires continue to Patchway Jct (112m 68ch) & Stoke Gifford IEP Depot; Chipping Sodbury Goods Loop and the Cheltenham Curve overrun (as far as the limit of wiring) are also fully wired and live.
  • Limit of Live Wires on the Filton Lines (+ Down Bristol Parkway Relief): 112m 23ch.
  • Limit of Live Wires on the Charfield Lines (from Westerleigh Jct): 120m 59ch.
• Filton Bank bridge works (mileages all from Temple Meads):
  • Easton Rd Overbridge (1m 18ch) completely rebuilt.
  • Narroways FB (2m 12ch) & Ashley Hill FB (3m 11ch) replaced.
  • Bonnington Walk Overbridge (3m 62ch) - parapets raised.
  • FB south of Filton Abbey Wood (4m 18ch) will need work if wiring is to occur.

• Stoke Gifford IET Depot all wired and energised.
• Patchway Tunnels conductor rail installed.
• Wires extend westwards from Filton Jct through Patchway and Pilning (across all lines) to the Severn Tunnel (on BOTH lines).
• Severn Tunnel Conductor rail in place.
• Wires are now up over all lines (both Tunnel Lines, both Main Lines & the Down Relief) at STJ Station; this also includes the overruns on the mains towards Chepstow. Wires continue westwards to Somerton Rd Bridge (East Usk Yard); all 4 lines have C&C. In the Magor/Undy area, the Down side and Up side are missing short lengths of Earth wire and ATF wire.
• The Up Tunnel Loop between STJ & the Tunnel is fully wired.
• Ground trunking installed at STJ in preparation for the electrical feed.
• Feeder cables now hang from both the eastern set and western set of Switchgear Masts at STJ Feeder.
• 6-track portals, probably 'Vierendeels', going up around East Usk Yard (approx. MP157 1/2).
• Switchgear installed on a TTC near Moorland Park, Newport.
• Between the Maindee Jcts (157m 74ch to 158m 16ch), a cluster of piles is in beside the Down Relief; these are complemented by masted piles on the Main side (adjacent to the Up Main).
• Both Up & Down Hereford Lines are wired between Maindee West Jct & Maindee North Jct (41m 03ch from the former Rotherwas Jct, just south of Hereford); the Limit of wires is just north of signal "NT 1559".
• The gap between the Maindee Triangle (Caerleon Rd Bridge) & East Usk Yard (Somerton Rd Bridge) is closing, with the erection of a number of back-to-back non-Series 1 TTCs in East Usk Yard. The Reliefs are now fully wired between Somerton Rd & East Usk Yard.
• At the AT Feeder Station at the Maindee Triangle, the tall masts have now gained their spanwires in readiness for the C&C below.
• Wires are up over the Usk Bridge; C&C is now up over BOTH Relief lines from the Tensorex portal immediately east of the bridge, through P1 & the Through Lines at Newport and up to Hillfield Tunnel.

• All canopies now cut back.
• All steelwork in Newport is complete.
• All wires are now up through the station; some wires on P3/4 may still only have temporary registration with pulleys & webbing straps.

• Plenty masts up around Gaer Jct (159m 32ch) north of Cardiff Rd Bridge (the B4237):
  • one by the Down Relief;
  • two by the Up Main (one of which is a boomed TTC with SPS);
  • three by the Gaer Jct - Park Jct Chord.
• Currently unknown if Alexandra Dock Jct Yard will be electrified. The Reliefs appear to be wired past ADJ Yard.[/COLOR]
• Lots of steelwork up immediately behind the signal gantry adjacent to the Up Main at Ebbw Jct; this includes a full portal boom and a TTC acting as an overrun mast on the Ebbw Vale branch.
• Almost all steelwork up from Ebbw Jct to Long Dyke Jct (169m 35ch) east of Cardiff Central; most SPS is now up too.
• ATF wire installed on the Up Main between Lighthouse Rd & New Dairy Farm bridges. In the Up direction, the Earth Wire is in place until just before the bridge over the Ebbw River.
• Wires up through Duffryn on both Main lines between the Ebbw River Bridge & New Dairy Farm Bridge, after which it switches to both Relief Lines. At the MPA Portal at Duffryn, the Reliefs are fully wired, the Down Main is unwired, and the Up Main is fully wired (bar the MPA Jumper & Z-dropper). The Up side ATF wire is also missing.
• Wires up across all 4 tracks between Pengam Jct (168m 40ch) & Marshfield.
• The western limit of live wires is due to be at St. Brides Feeder Station, just east of Green Lane (Heol Las) Overbridge, from 14th of September 2019.
• About 4 or 5 portals have been erected just west of Pengam Jct; 5 masts are up on the Up side east of Rover Lane bridge, complemented by 2 on the Down side.
• 1 run of C&C has gone up between Moorland Road Jct (168m 65ch) and Long Dyke Jct (169m 35ch) over the Reliefs; this is assumed to be a crossover as it crosses from one Relief line to the other.
• At Long Dyke Jct, all masts are up, and the ATF wire is now up over the Relief Lines.
• In the Pellet St area, a Mid Point Anchor Portal Boom has now gone up.
• Just east of St. Mary's St Bridge, 2 hexagonal Tensorex Portals have been erected over all tracks.
• Over the bridge over St. Mary's Street in Cardiff (just east of Central), and immediately to the west of the bridge, 5 portal booms spanning all tracks have gone up.
• Similar bespoke mast foundations are going in just east of Bute St Bridge, near the junction with the line from Queen Street.
• Splott Rd Bridge upgrade work now complete.

• Re-signalling completed. Platform 0 now open. 3 masts now up over P0/1 with TTC booms.
• An Anchor Portal (of the hexagonal "TGBU" variety) has gone up over P2/3, just east of the canopies.
• All large steelwork for P4 is now in position.
• Most (if not all) TTC masts for P2 & the Up Through Line, along with P3 & the Down Through Line have gone up at the station. Some already have SPS.
• Brackets appear to be in place on the coping stones on the Taff Viaduct (at the western end of the station).
• Plenty piles up adjacent to Cardiff Canton. Increasing numbers of these now appear to have masts on them, as seen from a westward-facing shot from Central. A portal boom has gone up over the P2, P3 & Through lines immediately west of the station, behind the signal gantry.
• Brickwork Sidings to be increased in length (and electrified) to accommodate GWR Class 387s; the first masts and cantilevers have now gone up, with around 2 boomed TTCs and 2 STCs in position.
• Proposed Limit of Wiring: Leckwith Loop North Jct (171m 55ch) at a guess.

• New IEP Depot at Maliphant Sidings, Swansea now complete; all steelwork up. SPS, such as Insulators, Switchgear and Cantilevers have all been taken down, leaving only bare masts/booms in situ.

• 6/7 to 3/12: Reduced capacity (2 lines only) for wiring work between Newport & Cardiff Ctl.
• 15/9 to 6/10, and 13/10 to 14/10: Bristol Parkway electrified.
• 27/10 to 18/11, 24-25/11, 1-2/12: Filton Bank 4-tracked.
• 11/11: Bristol TM to Bath Spa resignalled.
• December blockades at Bristol Parkway & Didcot Parkway done.
• Christmas-New Year Blockade at Severn Tunnel Jct done.

• 20/1/19, and 10/2/19: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work AT Cardiff Central; both done.
• 17/2/19: Bristol Parkway to Newport blockaded for electrification work over the Usk Bridge at Newport; done.
• 31/3/19: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work AT Cardiff Central; done.
• 19/4/19 to 22/4/19, and 27/4/19 to 28/4/19: Bristol Parkway to Newport blockaded for electrification work in the Severn Tunnel Junction area; done.
• 9/6/19, and 16/6/19: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work; done.
• 27/7/19 to 28/7/19: Bristol Parkway to Cardiff Central blockaded for electrification work; done.
• 25/8/19 until 14:00: Bristol Parkway to Cardiff Central blockaded for electrification work.
• 8/9/19 until 14:00: Bristol Parkway to Cardiff Central blockaded for electrification work.
• 14/9/19 to 15/9/19: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work.
• 22/9/19 until 14:00: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work.
• 29/9/19 until 14:00: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work.
• 13/10/19 until 14:00: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work.
• 20/10/19 until 14:00: Newport to Bridgend blockaded (inc. Cardiff Central) for electrification work.
• Details of any further OLE-related blockades will be added as they are made available.

• Wires from Oxford Rd Jct are LIVE to the limits of electrification (53m 42ch on the Newbury Lines, 38m 07ch on the Basingstoke Lines) since 0650 on 21/10/18.
• Class 387s are now in service on Reading-Newbury services as of 31/12/18.
• Within Reading West, piles for the new footbridge (under Murphy's remit) are in, but have been "decapitated" (i.e. shortened) and capped until a new footbridge solution is found.
• Immunised signalling continues to about MP55 1/2.

• Thames Valley Branches:
  • Windsor & Henley deferred to at least CP6. The first few yards of the Windsor branch (Not the Henley Branch) have been wired as an overrun.
  • Marlow removed from scope of current programme. The first few yards of the branch have been wired as an overrun.
  • Southcote Jct to Basingstoke deferred to at least CP6. The first few yards of the Basingstoke Lines have been wired as an overrun.
• Appleford LC to Oxford paused; if CP6 accounts allow for wiring to be extended to Oxford, it would be very likely to happen now that Oxford has been remodelled.
• Catenary & Contact wires between Chippenham (Cocklebury Lane Overbridge) & Thingley Jct have been deferred until at least some point in CP6. All Large steelwork to remain, unless required elsewhere.
  
• Bristol Temple Meads to Bath & Bristol Parkway paused, dependent on Bristol resignalling:
  • Taunton-Bristol Parkway completed over Easter 2018;
  • Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa completed in November 2018;
  • The WSM stretch from Flax Bourton Tunnel to Cogload Jct remains outstanding;
  • Track remodelling of Bristol East Jct remains outstanding;
  • Filton Bank 4-tracking completed Autumn 2018.
  • Further Signalling works due in 2019: Bath Spa due to be resignalled over the 11th/12th of May, and the 23rd of June (both done).
• Bristol Temple Meads' "Midland Shed" to be reopened in CP6 at the earliest, after Bristol resignalling is complete and the PSB is demolished.

cle said:

Given that all of the Bristol and Oxford works have been redone - when will we know about the wires being finished?

Second question - would there be any journey time improvements at all? Given that there aren't many stops/gains - especially on just to Parkway, but might the TM-Bath-Chippenham-Swindon route be cut down a little if wired?

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cle said:

Given that all of the Bristol and Oxford works have been redone - when will we know about the wires being finished?

Second question - would there be any journey time improvements at all? Given that there aren't many stops/gains - especially on just to Parkway, but might the TM-Bath-Chippenham-Swindon route be cut down a little if wired?

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JamesT said:

Once the new ministers get their feet under the table and decide how much money for investment they’re going to make available?

Oxford to Didcot feels like it should have some scope for improvement, replacing Turbos with Electrostars on the stoppers. I don’t know if there will be any scope for the 387s to use their higher top speed too? (110 vs 90)

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cle said:

Given that all of the Bristol and Oxford works have been redone - when will we know about the wires being finished?

Second question - would there be any journey time improvements at all? Given that there aren't many stops/gains - especially on just to Parkway, but might the TM-Bath-Chippenham-Swindon route be cut down a little if wired?

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The Ham said:

I do wonder, given the ability to remove diesel workings, if there's going to be electrification to Oxford whether the cost of going to Didcot would be worth doing. It would certainly make the case for XC getting bimodal trains better.

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JamesT said:

Do you mean going on to Banbury rather than Didcot?

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Mordac said:

So the terrorists win

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JN114 said:

Bit strong...

I’m all for non-disruptive improvements like this. And in time if it’s proven that 110 is possible; 125 may well be as well.

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JN114 said:

Bit strong...

I’m all for non-disruptive improvements like this. And in time if it’s proven that 110 is possible; 125 may well be as well.

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Mordac said:

It's not an improvement, though. It's worse than what was there before, which was 125mph line speed.

Worse, though, is that it'll just embolden the next group of NIMBYs who think keeping their listed building untouched (and the heritage lobby would list a ham sandwich) is more important than essential national infrastructure.

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takno said:

For safety reasons the bridge should be painted bright yellow and all passing trains should have to sound their horn for a minimum of 10 seconds. Purely for safety reasons, you understand.

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Grumbler said:

20 seconds at night.

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Mordac said:

It's not an improvement, though. It's worse than what was there before, which was 125mph line speed.

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JN114 said:

Meanwhile the local residents - who would have suffered significant disruption of the bridge were demolished - don’t have to bear any disruption at all. It is correct that their objection had no legal basis; but it made Network Rail think about non-disruptive methods of solving the problem.

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S-Bahn said:

I agree. Whilst I'm all for knocking down old infrastructure and building new, NR seem to be working on a sensible win-win for both parties. An IET slowing briefly to 110 to clear this bridge isn't going to cause the passengers any inconvenience.

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nickswift99 said:

But it is going to increase wear and tear on the rolling stock (which NR don't care about).

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stj said:

Any news on the Severn Tunnel Corrosion issue?

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Fougasse said:

No solution as yet. Some talk about permanently earthing the tunnel section and running on diesel through it.

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