So who is going to run the service if Drivers and Stock are discarded to prevent a waste of money
The railway should have enough drivers and stock to run normal services, not tons of extra ones for exceptional circumstances.
Currently expected till the 21st, the birdge was repaired quickly, but the labs around it is very unstable and risks more falling on the line.
If it was just "a few bricks falling from a bridge" the line would be unblocked as soon as they were removed and it was verified that no more will fall, likely a few hours at most. That this has not happened means that things are not that simple. Indeed if you read the latest update from Network Rail you'll see that this has the potential to be a landslip as serious as Hook (albeit less extensive) and making sure that this doesn't happen has required specialist civil engineers to design a long-term solution. Network Rail say that the design has been completed and the materials to construct it are on order. While they are waiting for the materials they will be planning the construction so that it can be done safely without injuring (or worse) the workforce, disrupting the railway further or damaging the gas main. They will also be arranging for the engineers required to construct it to be available, which will almost certainly involve other jobs being postponed, which will need to be rearranged - hopefully without any of the delayed works meaning landslips or other problems occur elsewhere before preventative measures could be implemented.
ROAD CLOSURE There remains a road closure between #BurleighRoad / #YarntonRoad #Cassington and #RuttenLane / #CassingtonRoad #Yarnton in both directions due to Emergency Rail Bridge Works. #OxonTravel
Where's the like button?
I used live near the area, and about 5 years ago a road had a similar issue. I can confirm it was not open in hours, in fact it took about 2 months for it to fully reopen.
I would expect that will depend on who owns the bridge, the land that has slipped and whether something like road maintenance caused or contributed to the slip. If there has been a bridge at this location since the railway was built then it is most likely Network Rail who own it, if it post-dates the railway then it could be either. I don't know the answers to the other two points.
That could well be part of the initial arguments, who owns what and who is going to fix it.
An indication of it having been repaired / bodged up, over the years?
I think it’s been noted before that there are many railway embankments around the country of very dubious quality, still standing more by luck than sound design.
I think there are a good number of Crossrail engineers, as just one example, who would disagree with that.
Most of which were built in the Victorian era, of course (understandably since analytical methods for calculation of slope stability hadn't been developed at that time).
I had to smile at this comment. Less than 15 miles from the home town of the poster is a road in Finchampstead called Wellingtonia Avenue It suffered subsidence over a short distance in April 2021. It remained closed until autumn 2022 (November, I think) while a solution was designed and implemented. I think what Network Rail has achieved at Hook is quite remarkable, especially considering the works that were designed and implemented to allow trains to run over two lines. I am sure that the bridge at Yarnton will be dealt with just as efficiently.
It’s sometimes surprising who owns a bridge. I know of a (public) road over railway bridge that is owned by the ministry of defence…
This and other projects.
It's clear is it? I'd suggest not, as it looks pretty much like all of the bridges along the Cotswold Line constructed to Brunel's designs in the late 1840s and early 1850s, whether built from brick or stone.
As I understand it, mortar should be softer than the brick or stone that it is being used with. And hence will need to be replaced over time. There are various grades and types of brick. Certainly some ‘modern’ (1960s) bricks as used for part of the walls and the boundary walls in my parents former house were suffering from spalling.
www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk
That is an interesting link. I wonder if the bridge itself is stable but just the abutment walls (and the approach banks) are weak?
Haven't a number of interlocking sheet piles just been put in, in line with the roadway?
Not saying it’s wrong, just surprised it took so long to do this, if this was the best option.
Compare the earlier photos with this recent one. Wing/retaining walls are erected/constructed for a reason. The interlocking sheet piles are not in the same place/same alignment as the brick wing/retaining wall was.
Looks to me like the (newly inserted?) interlocking sheet piles are primarily to prevent the roadway (that leads over the bridge) from collapsing now that the previously adjacent embankment/brickwork has been removed.
Thank you <jimm> for posting this helpful photo and associated words. It seems it took a week (Friday evening 10 Feb to Friday evening) to assess and plan the work together with Balfour Beatty and til now (Tuesday 21st) to carry it out.Network Rail has just posted an update to sat that the temporary repairs have been completed as planned and that trains will be able to operate between Hanborough and Oxford tomorrow morning. There will be a 20mph speed limit in place past the bridge. Photo is by Network Rail.
View attachment 129494Railway line between Oxford and Worcester to reopen following repairs to wall collapse and landslip at Yarnton
Tomorrow morning (Wednesday 22 February) services between Oxford and Worcester will resume following the reopening of the line between Oxford and Kingham, after Network Rail successfully repaired a wall collapse and landslip that occurred on Friday 10 February at Yarnton near Oxford.
The root of the entire problem was what was going on within the embankment that supports the road. A photo published by Network Rail last week showed they were also taking away lots of soil at the other side. Earth movement in the embankment was what pushed out the bridge wing wall on to the track. The overbridge structure itself is sound and it is expected to reopen to road traffic later next week.
