East Kilbride/Barrhead electrification updates

[gingertom]

The big money will be the redoubling of EK and relocation of Hairmyres.

or the rebuilding of certain bridges to provide clearance, or track lowering where appropriate. With the long term ambitions to wire to Kilmarnock and beyond, the other big money items are the feeder stations. Can the existing power infrastructure cope with EK and Barrhead being added?

 

[Frankton Junct]

Travelling towards East Kilbride this afternoon, I noticed that masts have now been installed south of Busby Junction and heading towards Kennishead. Unfortunately, I am unable to say over what distance they have been installed but, perhaps, someone can provide more detailed information.

I don't know how far south the masts have been installed, but here is a photo showing the masts starting just south of the junction and into the distance towards Kennishead:


The piling team has been working overnight and the piles now extend to just north of the Herries Road pedestrian over bridge (which is attached to the Cathcart circle over bridge):


Network Rail has closed the Herries Road pedestrian overbridge:


The Wellmeadow Road compound adjacent to Busby Junction now appears to be active 24x7:


This project appears to be well underway on the ground.

 

[snowball]

With the long term ambitions to wire to Kilmarnock and beyond, the other big money items are the feeder stations. Can the existing power infrastructure cope with EK and Barrhead being added?

Post #157 links the Sep 2020 version of the CP6 Enhancements Delivery Plan for Scotland, which mentions feeder stations at Elderslie and Newton, but says they are not part of the Barrhead/EK project.

Has England and Wales had an Enhancements Delivery Plan that recently? I don't think so.

 

[Frankton Junct]

Further progress - over the past few nights the team erected some of the masts between the Haggs Road underbridge and the B762 Barrhead Road underbridge.

Masts behind the Arnold Clark VW dealership on Pollokshaws Road:


Masts beside the Pollokshaws Bowling Club:


Devices that appear to be wildlife traps have appeared above pile sites in the cutting for the Cathcart Circle overbridge:

 

[Southsider]

Many thanks for the photos. Do you know if the masts are continuous between the two sections or is there a gap?

 

[Frankton Junct]

Many thanks for the photos. Do you know if the masts are continuous between the two sections or is there a gap?

There is a gap at the Pollokshaws Viaduct (those will be portals) and Pollokshaws West station (those will be twin track cantilevers).
Busby Junction hasn't been piled as yet.

 

[nlogax]

Masts and piles slowly on the march outward beyond Busby Jct towards Kennishead. Great to see.

 

[davetheguard]

Considering that the Project has not been funded or approved yet. That's hardly a surprise. The piling work being currently done is in advance of project approval. It is merely a way of keeping electrification staff employed for now till approval is given.

Masts and piles slowly on the march outward beyond Busby Jct towards Kennishead. Great to see.

I'd like to see this sort of progress on other lines that are "no-brainer" candidates for electrification. It's wonderful to see, but I still don't really understand how we can have this amount of works on the ground when the project has not been funded or approved yet?

Normally the politicians want to announce (and then re-announce several times over) these things as soon as they can; why the sudden reticence here?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Normally the politicians want to announce (and then re-announce several times over) these things as soon as they can; why the sudden reticence here?

Agreed. And it is not just here. Sturgeon/SNP etc waiting for a grand announcement and big strategy document? Really weird. Something is not adding up imho

 

[waverley47]

Agreed. And it is not just here. Sturgeon/SNP etc waiting for a grand announcement and big strategy document? Really weird. Something is not adding up imho

I'd like to see this sort of progress on other lines that are "no-brainer" candidates for electrification. It's wonderful to see, but I still don't really understand how we can have this amount of works on the ground when the project has not been funded or approved yet?

Normally the politicians want to announce (and then re-announce several times over) these things as soon as they can; why the sudden reticence here?

There seems to be a bit of confusion as to how the Scottish government has decided to fund things going forwards.

In England, most projects go through either the Network Rail enhancements program, part of a five year funding settlement, or are individually approved when costed. A junction renewal or signalling replacement will come under the former, whereas something like wiring or remodelling is a separate scheme, to be signed off by the SoS separately.

In Scotland, the scotgov have decided to grant two annual sums of money. The first, under the category "rail infrastructure" will comprise the day to day running, maintenance and renewals needed to keep things running.

The second category is "major public transport projects" which also receives an annual settlement. This is basically a pot of money (£207m in the 20/21 budget) with which to work down a list of projects. East Kilbride wiring, remodelling of Perth, wiring the Fife circle ect will all come from this pot, which will be agreed in the budget.

What this means is that Scottish projects take as long as they take, with a budget ready to be spent on whatever NR deems appropriate for the delivery of those projects. NR have a list of both necessities and nice to haves, and spend that budget to work down that list a few at a time. No signing off by ministers, no chopping and changing of scope, no getting Graylinged. As long as that pot of money keeps coming, the projects get worked on.

So, infrastructure projects aren't run by ministers. They're funded by the budget, and the list to work down is agreed upon with ministers, but it's all internal to NR as to how and when the projects get delivered. Ministers will take credit, and there may be pressure to shuffle around the list as priorities change, but it also means there is never a formal announcement of starting a project, instead the to Joe public it will appear as if it just happened one day. Consultations and planning documents come out, and work starts happening, but as it's not a government led project, we'll see very little in the way of announcement going forward.

Obviously, the exception to all this is new builds. Levenmouth was a separate project, not funded through NR, and instead directed from up on high by the government itself.


So, to answer Dave's question. There isn't reticence on the part of ministers, neither will we see a planning document. NR will continue to come out with consultations and planning documents, and ministers will excitedly take credit for the end results, but NR gets to spend the money without ministers looking over their shoulders. It has been funded, but because that money is NR's to spend, it doesn't need approval, and we won't see an official announcement or a vote in parliament ect .

 

[snowball]

Thanks for that explanation.

 

[Watershed]

There seems to be a bit of confusion as to how the Scottish government has decided to fund things going forwards.

In England, most projects go through either the Network Rail enhancements program, part of a five year funding settlement, or are individually approved when costed. A junction renewal or signalling replacement will come under the former, whereas something like wiring or remodelling is a separate scheme, to be signed off by the SoS separately.

In Scotland, the scotgov have decided to grant two annual sums of money. The first, under the category "rail infrastructure" will comprise the day to day running, maintenance and renewals needed to keep things running.

The second category is "major public transport projects" which also receives an annual settlement. This is basically a pot of money (£207m in the 20/21 budget) with which to work down a list of projects. East Kilbride wiring, remodelling of Perth, wiring the Fife circle ect will all come from this pot, which will be agreed in the budget.

What this means is that Scottish projects take as long as they take, with a budget ready to be spent on whatever NR deems appropriate for the delivery of those projects. NR have a list of both necessities and nice to haves, and spend that budget to work down that list a few at a time. No signing off by ministers, no chopping and changing of scope, no getting Graylinged. As long as that pot of money keeps coming, the projects get worked on.

So, infrastructure projects aren't run by ministers. They're funded by the budget, and the list to work down is agreed upon with ministers, but it's all internal to NR as to how and when the projects get delivered. Ministers will take credit, and there may be pressure to shuffle around the list as priorities change, but it also means there is never a formal announcement of starting a project, instead the to Joe public it will appear as if it just happened one day. Consultations and planning documents come out, and work starts happening, but as it's not a government led project, we'll see very little in the way of announcement going forward.

Obviously, the exception to all this is new builds. Levenmouth was a separate project, not funded through NR, and instead directed from up on high by the government itself.


So, to answer Dave's question. There isn't reticence on the part of ministers, neither will we see a planning document. NR will continue to come out with consultations and planning documents, and ministers will excitedly take credit for the end results, but NR gets to spend the money without ministers looking over their shoulders. It has been funded, but because that money is NR's to spend, it doesn't need approval, and we won't see an official announcement or a vote in parliament ect .

Obviously far too sensible an approach to be adopted down south!

 

[clc]

The project has it’s own page on the TS website where there’s a video of the Transport Minister talking about plans to electrify and double track the line:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/publ...r-railway/east-kilbride-rail-electrification/

Options for the development cover the following infrastructure enhancements, delivery of which can be phased flexibly:

• Enhanced passenger facilities at East Kilbride station including a new building and improved circulation space
• Greater collaboration with local authorities on development of active travel and enhanced park and ride options at stations on the route
• More double tracking at the single-line section between East Kilbride and Busby station
• Progress plans to relocate Hairmyres station to a new location approximately 600m to the west to provide better access to the rail network
• Electrification between East Kilbride and Glasgow Central - including the Larkfield Curve - to reduce diesel emissions...

 

[snowball]

The project has it’s own page on the TS website where there’s a video of the Transport Minister talking about plans to electrify and double track the line:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/publ...r-railway/east-kilbride-rail-electrification/

I think that page is quite old. It doesn't specify double tracking throughout the branch. Is it the same as when it was linked in #113 on 31 Aug?

Another set of pages about the scheme, which also don't appear to have been updated recently, is here:

East Kilbride Enhancements

East Kilbride Enhancements

scotlandsrailway.com

• Home
• Project Hub

East Kilbride Enhancements​

South Lanarkshire​

The development of an electrified railway line between East Kilbride and Glasgow.

 

[clc]

I think that page is quite old. It doesn't specify double tracking throughout the branch. Is it the same as when it was linked in #113 on 31 Aug?

It was really the video I wanted to bring to people’s attention in the context of the preceding discussion about perceived reticence of Ministers.

 

[davetheguard]

The second category is "major public transport projects" which also receives an annual settlement. This is basically a pot of money (£207m in the 20/21 budget) with which to work down a list of projects. East Kilbride wiring, remodelling of Perth, wiring the Fife circle ect will all come from this pot, which will be agreed in the budget.

What this means is that Scottish projects take as long as they take, with a budget ready to be spent on whatever NR deems appropriate for the delivery of those projects. NR have a list of both necessities and nice to haves, and spend that budget to work down that list a few at a time. No signing off by ministers, no chopping and changing of scope, no getting Graylinged. As long as that pot of money keeps coming, the projects get worked on.

Thanks to waverley47 for this extremely helpful explanation of what is going on.

I must say I think taking the politicians (of any colour) out of the equation seems like an extremely good idea!

 

[Frankton Junct]

Network Rail ran a public consultation with residents within 500m of the Strathbungo Pedestrian bridge asking them to vote for one of three proposed designs for the replacement bridge. The consultation was scheduled to close on 28th May 2021 but Network Rail extended the closing date to 11th June 2021.

Here is a link to a pdf that shows images of the proposals: https://scotlandsrailway.com/images/site/Strathbungo-Community-Vote-May-2021.pdf

 

[td97]

Sturgeon/SNP etc waiting for a grand announcement and big strategy document?

COP26 in Glasgow in November

 

[snowball]

Scotland already has a policy to decarbonise its passenger railways by 2035, announced last year, which it will be able to mention at COPS26. Announcing a detailed programme there might seem a distraction from the larger issues at the conference.

 

[Southsider]

Network Rail ran a public consultation with residents within 500m of the Strathbungo Pedestrian bridge asking them to vote for one of three proposed designs for the replacement bridge. The consultation was scheduled to close on 28th May 2021 but Network Rail extended the closing date to 11th June 2021.

Here is a link to a pdf that shows images of the proposals: https://scotlandsrailway.com/images/site/Strathbungo-Community-Vote-May-2021.pdf

No sign of electrification in any of the renders!

 

[Frankton Junct]

Masts are now visible from Pollokshaws West station.

This is the view looking North from platform 2 (Up Barrhead), masts are visible beyond the Pollokshaws Viaduct:


This is the view looking South from platform 2, the closest mast is one of the double ones used for twin track cantilevers (the illuminated feather in the distance is for the diverging route at Busby Junction to East Kilbride):

The only activity south of Kennishead was a geotechnical team with their core drill - no construction as yet (beyond the scope of the current contract).

Even given the current pace of work, it is clear that many months of work remain just to complete electrification to Barrhead.

 

[route101]

I wonder if Barrhead will be masted up before anything appears on the East Kilbride branch.

 

[mcmad]

I think I read somewhere that the wires will be live to Barrhead first to keep the OLE teams busy as there are less other interventions required whereas the EK branch requires the redoubling and associated station works prior to the wires going up

 

[MadMac]

I think I read somewhere that the wires will be live to Barrhead first to keep the OLE teams busy as there are less other interventions required whereas the EK branch requires the redoubling and associated station works prior to the wires going up

I think I reported this a few months back. What I’ve been told is that Barrhead will be resignalled, controlled from WSSC from Easter 2022 and will be electric before East Kilbride.

 

[Meerkat]

Does this mean they have a fully signed off, costed, plan for the whole project? I assume they don’t just say “keep banging in piles til we say stop, we’ll need them sometime”!

 

[waverley47]

Well given the new structure, it was going to be built anyway. I can imagine the project was fully signed off first, and then fully costed later. My speculation on the matter is that it went something like this:

NR have the money lying around, under instruction to spend on big projects, and they have a list of big projects to work on. Someone in NR took a look at the rough cost, benefits, timescale, disruption and need and agreed with ministers that East Kilbride was a place to start.

After that, wiring is signed off and contracts are let. Here we do finally have a full costing, so they can work out how much money is left to spend on other things.

The project was already signed off before contracts were let, which unlike certain big English projects (NPR) means things get to run a lot more quickly without scope reduction and cost cutting measures as it sits on a ministers desk.

 

[snowball]

Does anyone know if any bridge raisings/reconstructions/track lowerings are required for Barrhead?

 

[Southsider]

Does anyone know if any bridge raisings/reconstructions/track lowerings are required for Barrhead?

All I can think of are a couple of footpaths in the Priesthill area.

 

[nlogax]

Does anyone know if any bridge raisings/reconstructions/track lowerings are required for Barrhead?

Distinct lack of NR construction applications in East Ren's planning database at the moment.

 

[AMD]

In the attached article is a plan showing Barrhead by May 23 and EK by May 24 - https://www.railengineer.co.uk/decarbonising-scotlands-railway/