Im fairly sure that he would be spinning in his grave if he knew about the incompetence with which this Project appears to have been conceived and is being delivered, its impact on the AONB and the Goring Gap in particular but above all, NRs lack of social responsibility and Good Faith to the communities affected.
You keep saying things like lack of social responsibility and impact on the AONB, but when corrected, completely ignore what is said.
I think you and your friends should be enormously grateful at the social responsibility Network Rail has shown and continues to show as the program continues.
The Series 1 overhead line equipment is a very clean, low profile design, making no use of the enormous headspans we see on the East Coast Main Line, where the masts for those are getting on for 50ft in height.
The small part metalwork, the actual catenary components, are simple, unfussy and uncomplicated - four tracks on the GWML will feature four insulators, whilst four tracks on the ECML typically feature nine insulators, the auto tensioning arrangements will be tidier featuring spring tensioners rather than weighted tensioners as the ECML uses. There's no tail wires and additional steelwork associated with that, which also makes for a cleaner, less visually intrusive design.
It's never going to be invisible, but it's as visually unobtrusive as is possible.
The electrification projects have been conducted with great respect for local residents, bridge re-building projects have been staggered, at additional cost to Network Rail, to avoid the need for lengthy diversions and to prevent access difficulties for local residents, and when these new bridges are installed, they're frequently wider, remove weight restrictions, have better pavements, and better access for utilities for things like fibre broadband.
Network Rail have also removed a number of level crossings, they've installed new footbridges in their place, and existing footbridges have been upgraded or replaced with ones accessible for disabled people.
Network Rail really are being incredibly socially responsible, and they're taking great care of an area of natural beauty. You need to begin to accept this. What they're doing might not be to your total satisfaction, but they could be doing something that's much uglier and far more intrusive.
