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Line reopened weekdays between Dover and Folkestone following sea damage

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Cletus

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Some new pictures.
http://www.dover-express.co.uk/pict...y-line/pictures-28475375-detail/pictures.html



Plus a very unreliable re-opening date.
daniel crosby ‏@dannibeii14
@Se_Railway then line will be closed for nine months ?

Southeastern ‏@Se_Railway 5m5 minutes ago
@dannibeii14 Where did you get that info from? we have no update yet for time scale. ^CH

daniel crosby ‏@dannibeii14 5m5 minutes ago
@Se_Railway one of the engerners on beach today

Southeastern ‏@Se_Railway 2m2 minutes ago
. @dannibeii14 That would be their own opinion, we definitely have not had any info saying that. ^CH
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Cletus

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A piece of local history demolished :( Hopefully a new one will be installed.

http://www.dover-express.co.uk/PICT...DEMOLISHED/story-28510920-detail/story.html#1

footbridge%20-%20Gary%20Barnes.jpg
 
BestWestern

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More fascinating still is the, ahem, "hilarious" comedy map showing 'passengers are expected to swim' linked further down the page, which has its very own "Is this funny?" survey to accompany it. Oh the sheer delights of local media...
 
Philip Phlopp

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hwl said:
I suspect the engineer does know rather better than the Southeastern twitter team...
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They do, but as it's a tweet from someone other than the engineer, we don't know if the engineer has said 'we're going to be here for 9 months' or 'it'll be 9 months before the railway will re-open'.

They could have the railway fixed very quickly - end of the month, say, and then be remaining on site undertaking further repairs and strengthening work through to September. That's how Dawlish was done, there was a lot of engineering work going on after the route re-opened.
 
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Chrisgr31

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Cletus said:
A piece of local history demolished :( Hopefully a new one will be installed.
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There are more pictures on the Dover Marina Facebook page linked a couple of posts further up, along with the statement that the footbridge will be replaced.
 
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Cletus

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Latest news. A task force.
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/taskforce-to-spearhead-rebuild-of-59483/

A taskforce has been set up to spearhead the rebuild of the railway between Dover and Folkestone.

The line has been closed since Christmas Eve last year, after storms damaged the sea wall at Shakespeare Beach in Dover.

Network Rail and its partner Costain have been working to protect the railway and sea wall since those storms, with more than 9,000 tonnes of rock armour already placed on the beach and another 9,000 tonnes expected to arrive in the next week.

Teams have also been working on a long-term solution to the damage.

It comes after the full impact of the high seas on the ageing structure was revealed.

The railway at Shakespeare Beach dates from the 1840s, and was originally built on a wooden viaduct.

This viaduct was encased in a concrete wall in 1927, and left in place surrounded by chalk recovered from the demolition of a former tunnel at Archcliffe.

Storms lowered the beach level at Shakespeare by almost two metres in the lead up to Christmas.

It led to the exposure of the foot of the wall to the full force of the sea.

This then led to sink holes appearing in the railway above, which have continued to develop as the chalk infill has become destabilised.

Network Rail’s route managing director, Alasdair Coates, said: “This task force is a positive step forward for our project and will make a big difference to what will be a major civil engineering challenge for us.

“We realise that passengers in Dover, Deal, Folkestone and Sandwich are keen to know when we will be able to reopen the line and I can reassure them we are working very hard to get them an answer.

“This is a vulnerable stretch of railway and we have to find the right design to last many more years into the future.

"As soon as we have a design and a timescale we are confident in, we will let everyone know.”

Charlie Elphicke MP, who will lead the taskforce, said: “I know how tough things are for commuters and rail users.

"I am doing everything I can to ensure Network Rail gets our railway back open as soon as possible.

"The high speed rail link is crucial to the developments we have planned in Dover and Deal.

"It's important the line is repaired as soon as possible - yet we must also make sure the repaired line is safe, secure and built to last.”

David Statham, managing director at Southeastern, said: “The loss of a large part of our railway has meant we’ve had to make changes to our services.

"These have been made so that everyone in the area has access to travel, but are temporary and are by no means perfect.

"We are adaptable to the changing nature of this work and will run our normal services as soon as we can.

"In the meantime, we are working with Network Rail and other stakeholders to provide the best possible service.

"This task force will also allow us to work closely together to get the job done well and the line between Dover and Folkestone reopened as soon as possible.”
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Peter Mugridge

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The railway at Shakespeare Beach dates from the 1840s, and was originally built on a wooden viaduct.

This viaduct was encased in a concrete wall in 1927, and left in place surrounded by chalk
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I am getting a nasty feeling here that this is going to turn into a complete and prolonged rebuild. If this article is correct, we basically have a wooden viaduct surrounded by loose filled chalk behind a concrete wall in a wet environment?
 
najaB

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Peter Mugridge said:
I am getting a nasty feeling here that this is going to turn into a complete and prolonged rebuild. If this article is correct, we basically have a wooden viaduct surrounded by loose filled chalk behind a concrete wall in a wet environment?
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Reads that way to me.
 
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hwl

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Peter Mugridge said:
I am getting a nasty feeling here that this is going to turn into a complete and prolonged rebuild. If this article is correct, we basically have a wooden viaduct surrounded by loose filled chalk behind a concrete wall in a wet environment?
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I'd put money on an August reopening see the above comments about engineer vs SE Twitter team for how long it is going to take. ;)
 
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Cletus

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Just in case you'd all forgotten about this thread...

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.c...ives-piece-together-history-of-dover-sea-wall


Engineers from Network Rail and its contractors Costain have turned detective to tackle the challenge of fixing the damaged sea wall at Dover.

Investigations into the wall and the structure supporting the railway have ranged from hi-tech – including laser surveys from an unmanned aerial vehicle – to low tech.

While Network Rail has excellent records of many of its Victorian structures, the Southern Railway – which existed from 1923 to 1947 - did not keep many documents on the work it undertook at the site on Shakespeare Beach in 1927. So engineers have been not only investigating the structure itself, with bore holes and trenches, but engineers have also been combing local newspaper archives and even online videos for information.

Steve Kilby, senior programme manager for Network Rail, said: “We are the sixth company to own this stretch of railway since it was built in the 1840s, and the record-keeping of some of our predecessors means we are still finding out how this stretch of railway was built.

“So along with traditional engineering, one of the first things we did with this project was to research the history of the site to build up a picture of what happened here.

“What is rapidly emerging is that, while the original viaduct was well built, the work that was done in the 1920s was not what we would have hoped.”

The railway on Shakespeare Beach was originally raised on wooden trestles, with the waves breaking on the beach below. In 1927, the Southern Railway constructed the sea wall alongside it, leaving room for a new set of tracks. They then dumped many thousands of tonnes of chalk around the viaduct, encasing it and building the railway on top.

This was how it stayed until Christmas Eve 2015, when two major storms lowered the beach level by two metres, and caused sink holes to appear alongside the wall. Since that day, trains have been unable to run between Dover and Folkestone.

The tracks have since been dug up, to allow engineers to examine the nature of the soil under the railway.

Mr Kilby added: “We are working on designs all the time and the investigations we are undertaking will help us make the right decision for Dover. We need to be absolutely sure we have the right solution and a timescale we are confident in.”
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Cletus

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The most recent pictures seem to suggest (to me anyway) that they working on reinstating one track and then presumably repair the sea wall after that?

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106504-folkestone-dover-sea-wall-wash-out/page-21

Perhaps those with more expert knowledge would like to comment?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bad news, if our MP isn't talking out of his backside.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/sea-wall-will-need-full-90999/

The sea wall between Dover and Folkestone will need a full rebuild which could take much longer than repairs, says Dover MP.

Charlie Elphicke visited the site again and held a task force meeting to discuss the full extent of the works needed.

From the tests carried out by Network Rail, he said it has become clear that the wooden viaduct supporting the tracks has rotted away.

The task force meeting heard that a repair would not be possible due to the seriousness of the damage and the rotten state of the old wooden viaduct.
It is now clear a full rebuild will be necessary.

Mr Elphicke said: "It is disappointing that the Dover sea wall cannot be given a running repair. It's going to need a full rebuild. This is going to take much longer to do than a running repair.

“The task force will do all possible to make sure these repairs are carried out as swiftly as possible.

"We need the high speed connection for Dover, Deal and the villages as soon as possible.

"We all understand how disruptive this has been for everyone and that's why we are doing everything to get the railway fixed as soon as possible."

A new viaduct on substantial piles sunk deep into the chalk, will need to be built.

Network Rail are now assessing how long this project will take.
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hwl

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Cletus said:
The most recent pictures seem to suggest (to me anyway) that they working on reinstating one track and then presumably repair the sea wall after that?

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106504-folkestone-dover-sea-wall-wash-out/page-21

Perhaps those with more expert knowledge would like to comment?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bad news, if our MP isn't talking out of his backside.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/sea-wall-will-need-full-90999/
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The raised "one track" trackbed they have been constructing could also easily be a piling mat needed as a base for the piling rig...
 
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thebigcheese

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So since the original wooden viaduct has rotted away does this mean that the line was previously unsafe?
 
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Cletus

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I appreciate that the whole retaining wall will need rebuilding, but I would assume the section closest to Shakespeare Tunnel will be repaired 1st?

There are regular freight trains on site.

24956016552_44a0874f27_b.jpg


Photo by P1290186 by ferriesdover, on Flickr

(sorry about the size of the picture)
 
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An unofficial update:

10 weeks after the disastrous collapse of the rail embankment between Folkestone and Dover and Rail Track still has not come up with firm repair proposals for the collapsed section of the line

Dover District Council is understood to be obstructing the work by insisting on tick-box planning compliance.

The task force established by local MP Charlie Elphicke to speed up the repairs process has gone ominously quiet and failed to issue a single report.

There is no word on progressing the alternative Kent County Council proposal of running HS1 trains along the Dover/Canterbury East line, although it is becoming clear that this is a cheaper, more reliable and quicker option.

Network Rail has yet to decide on which recommendation to make for the repair of the track, said Alvin Wedderburn, area managing director of Southeastern Trains, he was speaking at the meet the passengers session held at Deal Station on Thursday evening. The estimated time remains at between six and 12 months before trains will run again on the stretch of line.

There are four possible options on the table, he said. In the first a new sea wall will be constructed in front of the existing breakwater; the second option would see a new sea wall on the inside of the breakwater, the third is to replace the entire viaduct with a new bridge and the fourth to make the bridge capable of accommodating a double line.

The delay was quite unacceptable, agreed Simon Miles, senior scheduler for Southeastern Trains. The rail operating company was as frustrated as passengers with the lack of progress, added Caroline Wilson, the area rail manager.

All of the Southeastern representatives at the meeting agreed that even when the repairs were completed there was no guarantee that the section of line would not face further closures in the future. The chalk cliff is inherently unstable making the line vulnerable to rock falls and further problems with Shakespeare's Tunnel which runs through the crumbly chalk cliff.

Southeastern has no word on progress of the KCC alternative which by building one short stretch of track would join the Canterbury East line to the fast line into St Pancras, adding just four minutes to journey times from Deal while allowing the HS loop via Ramsgate, Deal and Dover to be reinstated.
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http://www.trains4deal.com/
 
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LewFinnis

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Quite a bit of hype there from that pressure group which seems to think that trains grow on trees and that new lines can be built overnight! South Eastern have already said that they don't have the trains or crews to put on extra services. As for the chalk being crumbly - well, only where the sea gets to it, and Shakespeare Tunnel for the most part is some way from the cliff face. Quite where this link line that will only add 4 minutes to the journey from Deal will be I can't work out, as the Canterbury East line is longer and would require reversal at Dover anyway.
 
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Cletus

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I think their plan is Deal - Sandwich - Minster - Canterbury East - new chord - onto Canterbury West/Ashford line.
 
yorksrob

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Cletus said:
I think their plan is Deal - Sandwich - Minster - Canterbury East - new chord - onto Canterbury West/Ashford line.
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There was once a chord between those two routes, but it went from Canterbury West towards Faversham.
 
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Cletus

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Latest unofficial information from http://www.dover-marina.com/

Bachy Soletanche is a leader in piling solutions, using a vast range of specialist rigs for the majority of sectors in the industry. As part of their impressive portfolio of completed projects, they will soon be adding the Shakespeare Rail works to the list, following the safe delivery to site of their piling rig by Chris Bennett Heavy Haulage on Easter Monday.
So, what's the plan then?
Well, to cut a long story short and mainly because I couldn't keep up with the conversation, Bachy Soletanche, using their Kelly Bar excavator and working with Costain and Network Rail, will be installing over 100 piles, 30 metres deep into the substrata which will then be filled with concrete (an awful lot of concrete in fact). Once that is completed, a concrete raft will be laid on the top of them, the track reinstated and normal rail services will resume.
If you are local and have seen the large blue and white crane which has been on site for a while, this has now constructed the piling rig and will also be used to drop the casings into the piles. Approximately 25 cubic metres of arisings from each pile will be mucked away from site using engineering trains.
It's a large project and one which will provide an enduring solution to the problems faced by commuters and other passengers since Christmas Eve. Apparently, Network Rail's Mark Carne has insisted on a long term solution rather than adopting a sticking plaster approach, fair play to him, I say.
Once the works are completed a new footbridge will be installed, for access to the beach. This too, will be a lasting erection as it is to be constructed from Glass Reinforced Plastic.
Please feel free to share the information, remembering where you read it first.....!
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Nothing further heard about a re-opening as being the end of 2016 as previously suggested.
 
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