Beaulieu Park Station Construction

[Dave1987]

You can't put a station building, access road and car park in the existing railway boundary anyway. Remember all the land to the north of the line is part of the overall development, for which this funding has been released. To put in a station regardless of whether it needs loops, requires additional land. I'm just suggesting a more cost effective and less disruptive construction approach.

Yes I can see that but you are going to be increasing the curvature of the line which is exactly what you do not want to do. It is currently a 100mph stretch of running line. Any decreases in line speed along with slower speed crossovers isn't going to help in improving capacity. We have repeatedly heard from politicians that they want long, high speed loops so services can leapfrog each other without effecting each others journey times. Low speed short loops just enable services to be started from the new station during the morning peak rather that Chelmsford itself. This whole project seems to have already been quite radically scaled back from the original master plan.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

Yes I can see that but you are going to be increasing the curvature of the line which is exactly what you do not want to do. It is currently a 100mph stretch of running line. Any decreases in line speed along with slower speed crossovers isn't going to help in improving capacity. We have repeatedly heard from politicians that they want long, high speed loops so services can leapfrog each other without effecting each others journey times. Low speed short loops just enable services to be started from the new station during the morning peak rather that Chelmsford itself. This whole project seems to have already been quite radically scaled back from the original master plan.

Well I did say 'value engineered'

 

[fat_boy_pete]

More doubts about whether loops will be delivered or not.

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/new-essex-station-s-impact-on-trains-1-6226345

Could proposals for a new railway station north of Chelmsford spell the end for hopes of major improvements to speed up the main line from London to East Anglia?

Or will Network Rail and the Department for Transport use proposals to build a new station there during the second half of the next decade as a springboard to create a new passing loop allowing fast trains to overtake slower services?

Building a long passing loop between Chelmsford and Hatfield Peverel has been one of the key requirements for the raising the speed of trains on the main line for many years.

However when the government announced plans for a new railway station at Beaulieu Park on the outskirts of Chelmsford, it made no mention of the long loop needed to improve rail services.

It is now understood that Network Rail is negotiating with the Department for Transport for permission to build the long loop through the station which will not be completed until 2025 at the earliest.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

But this report is confident.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/date-revealed-chelmsfords-new-beaulieu-3229264

Trains will be able to pass each other at the new station to make the whole line more reliable. It will also relieve crowding at Chelmsford other station and act as a transport interchange to encourage sustainable travel by bus, cycle, electric vehicles and on foot.

They have obviously quizzed the Councils re delivery timelines. Time will tell if they are optimistic or realistic!

As part of the conditions attached to the funding, the money must be spent by 2024/5. This means that the railway station, currently only in the planning phases, must be completed by that time.

When carrying out major works like building a new station, councils have to book ‘track time’ with railway operators two years in advance. Once these dates are booked, works must be completed within them, otherwise there will be disruption and penalties, according to Chelmsford City Council.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

Plans for the £250m Chelmsford North East Bypass and Beaulieu Station have been revealed

Bumping this thread because of this:

https://www.essexlive.news/special-features/plans-250m-chelmsford-north-east-4311625

".... the new three-platform station at Beaulieu will help ease pressure on Chelmsford Station - currently the busiest two-platform station outside London with 8.5m passenger trips per year."

Also see https://www.essexhighways.org/highw...ay-schemes//chelmsford-north-east-bypass.aspx

States there will be passing loops on the GEML at the station. Unclear if they mean one bi-directional loop or up and down loops.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

States there will be passing loops on the GEML at the station. Unclear if they mean one bi-directional loop or up and down loops.

aha, a quick search of the Chelmsford local plan finds

"GRIP stage 2 was concluded in April 2017 with a range of options identified. A key
objective for both Network Rail and the current train operating company, Greater Anglia is
to ensure that the new station does not cause capacity or performance issues on the
GEML, or prejudice faster journey times. The identified station options are thus configured
with a central passing loop or turnback requiring 3 platforms. These options that are now
being developed further through GRIP stage 3 which will result in a preferred option for
the station layout being selected."

 

[Tobbes]

If it isn't at GRIP3 yet, when is it expected to be opened?

 

[LAX54]

When the 360's were being tested on the GEML & Clacton Line, they sometimes used to run with Beaulieu Park on the desination blind, and side windows

 

[fat_boy_pete]

If it isn't at GRIP3 yet, when is it expected to be opened?

2025/26 apparently

 

[Gathursty]

Standing by for Beaulieu Park/Road confusion in 5 years then.

 

[pdeaves]

Standing by for Beaulieu Park/Road confusion in 5 years then.

Beaulieu Road and Beauly seem to survive together OK at present, together with the two Gillinghams and other similar stations so I don't see too much of a problem.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

Will Beaulieu Park be the next Greater Anglia new station to open?

Chelmsford's Beaulieu Park railway station plans move a step closer

The first new station on the Great Eastern mainline for more than 100 years is a step closer.

www.bbc.co.uk

Essex County Council agreed Beaulieu Park station in Chelmsford would now be fully designed and planned.
If it goes ahead, it will be the first new station on the Great Eastern mainline for more than 100 years.
It is hoped the station will open in 2026 and welcome more than two million passengers.

 

[willgreen]

£150 million for a station is quite something!

 

[dk1]

£150 million for a station is quite something!

Quite a lot of infrastructure work involved in this one.

 

[ABB125]

Quite a lot of infrastructure work involved in this one.

Is it going to be 4 platforms? (If so, presumably the 4 tracks will serve as another pair of loops?

 

[Shwam3]

Is it going to be 4 platforms? (If so, presumably the 4 tracks will serve as another pair of loops?

The current plan is for 3 platforms with a central bi-directional loop.

 

[TheEdge]

The current plan is for 3 platforms with a central bi-directional loop.

So basically Ipswich without a bay platform?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

We discussed this in a work context years ago - a very useful bit of infrastructure in taking pressure off Chelmsford - both road and rail , and a textbook example of good operational practices......(try reversing a train at Chelmsford anytime after 0700 for example)

East Anglians of a certain age may recall "Snoasis" - a theme park station in the Stowmarket area.......

 

[Cowley]

Thread now reopened.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

Quite a lot of infrastructure work involved in this one.

I wonder if the recent road construction/new bridge over the railway is included in that total.

 

[dk1]

I wonder if the recent road construction/new bridge over the railway is included in that total.

Is that what’s just started on the down side? Noticed some work going on clearing a site near the neutral section the other day.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

Is that what’s just started on the down side? Noticed some work going on clearing a site near the neutral section the other day.

The Generals Lane bridge is to be replaced by a wider one for the new A131, which will also facilitate access to the new station.

 

[dk1]

The Generals Lane bridge is to be replaced by a wider one for the new A131, which will also facilitate access to the new station.

Thanks.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

We discussed this in a work context years ago - a very useful bit of infrastructure in taking pressure off Chelmsford - both road and rail , and a textbook example of good operational practices......(try reversing a train at Chelmsford anytime after 0700 for example)

I presume that the existing AM peak Chelmsford starters would go from here instead, allowing some later down services to bounce back here to form later up services.

 

[306024]

I presume that the existing AM peak Chelmsford starters would go from here instead, allowing some later down services to bounce back here to form later up services.

That should be possible, assuming they are still needed in Dec 2024. With the big drop off in commuting and the seating capacity of the 720s there are no certainties anymore.

So basically Ipswich without a bay platform?

More like Laindon or Leigh-on-Sea, just three running lines all with platforms, plus an extra trailing crossover at the London end.

East Anglians of a certain age may recall "Snoasis" - a theme park station in the Stowmarket area.......

Yep, a white elephant that never got off the drawing board, or ski slope.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

That should be possible, assuming they are still needed in Dec 2024. With the big drop off in commuting and the seating capacity of the 720s there are no certainties anymore.

I think you mean Dec 2026, based on the estimated completion date in council information. Who knows what the am peak looks like then

The current plan is for 3 platforms with a central bi-directional loop.

I trust the central loop will be 775m in length. Bonkers if it wasn't given the need to loop longer freight trains than the Witham loops can currently handle.

 

[Shwam3]

I trust the central loop will be 775m in length. Bonkers if it wasn't given the need to loop longer freight trains than the Witham loops can currently handle.

No, 539m according to the plans I have.

 

[fat_boy_pete]

No, 539m according to the plans I have.

Hopefully the detailed design work will look at fixing that.

 

[Bald Rick]

I trust the central loop will be 775m in length. Bonkers if it wasn't given the need to loop longer freight trains than the Witham loops can currently handle.

It’s the passenger trains that slow the freights down. Far better to keep the liners rolling at 75.

 

[306024]

I think you mean Dec 2026, based on the estimated completion date in council information. Who knows what the am peak looks like then

I trust the central loop will be 775m in length. Bonkers if it wasn't given the need to loop longer freight trains than the Witham loops can currently handle.

Yes sorry, Essex live says 2026 too. The ideal operational configuration (sketched out some 20 years ago!) takes up too much land apparently. What is being built here is supposed to be the affordable option. Operational considerations take second place, a classic compromise.

It’s the passenger trains that slow the freights down. Far better to keep the liners rolling at 75.

Hmm….
Planning a timetable which loops passenger trains for long distance freight doesn’t sound the most robust idea. Freightliner timekeeping would need to improve to be at the same level as the GEML passenger service, which is usually good unless a late freight interferes.

Will you be the one to tell Pritti her constituents face some longer journey times?