Manchester - Stalybridge Electrification

[GRALISTAIR]

I am sure the mods will merge if they do not feel there is a need for a separate thread, but it strongly appears that Man Vic to Stalybridge is a separate project from the rest of the transpennine route so I thought it deserved its own thread.

There is a blockade shortly and the rest of the route Stalybridge to York they will not finalize proposals to at least the end of the year.

Anyway - here is the new thread for progress on this route.

 

[Starmill]

Quite a lot of work has taken place already, changes to structures have been going on for years, as far back as 2014.

https://www.networkrailmediacentre....n-of-the-railway-in-the-north-west-progresses

Friday 17 Jan 2014

Rebuilt bridge reopens as electrification of the railway in the north west progresses

The first bridge rebuilt between Manchester and Stalybridge as part of an upgrade which will provide a faster and more reliable railway in the north west has been officially opened.

The bridge on Henrietta Street in Ashton-under-Lyne was closed for four and a half months while Network Rail rebuilt it to make it high enough to accommodate overhead power lines underneath.

The work is part of the North West Electrification Programme which, in conjunction with TransPennine electrification, will see the railway between Manchester and York electrified by 2018, providing an improved service to millions of passengers every year.

Pupils from St. Christopher’s R.C Primary School have been learning about the project since last year and officially opened the bridge today (Friday) with the help of Network Rail and the contractor for the work, J Murphy & Sons. The school also designed safety posters to be used on site during the rebuild.

As part of the opening, a time capsule was built into the bridge including items such as biographies and pictures of the children’s lives in 2014, school newsletters and a school prospectus.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Blockade this August too I think. The grid feeder going in will of course be huge too. But that is next year?

 

[Starmill]

Manchester Vic - Stalybridge is closed 8 - 30 July 2017.

Here's the timetable https://be803fe5c416e39d38ae-aa2108...k-14/GNRP-Huddersfield-Man-Vic-TT---FINAL.pdf

 

[Merseysider]

Manchester Vic - Stalybridge is closed 8 - 30 July 2017.

Here's the timetable https://be803fe5c416e39d38ae-aa2108...k-14/GNRP-Huddersfield-Man-Vic-TT---FINAL.pdf

Yup.

Journey times between Liverpool and Newcastle also extended by around 30 minutes with the direct service suspended.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Well hopefully other work will take place during a blockade and not just the bridge replacement.

 

[Starmill]

I think the bridge replacements and other structural changes are all complete now? As I say they have been underway for near on 4 years.

 

[coxxy]

Bridge replacements are all complete. Lots of new track and concrete sleepers scattered along the route now. Can't imagine the semaphores controlled by Ashton Moss will have much longer left so wonder if it will be resignalled.

Does anyone know where Ashton Moss and Baguley Fold Signal boxes fit in with the replacement programme? Just trying to work out exactly what they are doing during the blockade(s)

 

[snowball]

The bridge to be replaced during next month's closure is an underline bridge adjacent to Ashton station. I think all the overbridge clearance works were completed a year or two ago.

The Enhancements Delivery Plan Update still claims electrification will be completed by this December. As far as I know the only official admission that this will not happen was by Francis Paonessa, Network Rail's MD for infrastructure projects, in a letter to Modern Railways earlier this year. He attributed the delay to an increase in scope but I have not seen any details of what this is.

What appear to be bases for electrification masts have been reported on the approach to Victoria station and alongside one of the bay platforms.

 

[coxxy]

The bridge to be replaced during next month's closure is an underline bridge adjacent to Ashton station.

Ahhh thought they'd done all the bridge work etc.. is that the underbridge on the Ashton Moss side of Ashton station?

 

[snowball]

Ahhh thought they'd done all the bridge work etc.. is that the underbridge on the Ashton Moss side of Ashton station?

Yes, it's Turner Lane. Being an underbridge, perhaps it's officially separate from the electrification programme.

This press release was linked and quoted in April in the TP electrification thread:

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds/turner-lane-to-close-for-bridge-work/

but I suppose I'll still be told off by the mods if I don't quote it again:

Tuner Lane in Ashton-under-Lyne, Tameside, will close for 16 weeks from 13 May while Network Rail rebuilds the railway bridge.

Work on the bridge, next to Ashton-under-Lyne station, will mean a road and footpath closure of Turner Lane, adjacent to the railway bridge, will be in place from 13 May 2017 until September 2017.

Network Rail has liaised with Tameside Council and put in place a clearly-signed diversion for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.

In advance of the main work, a temporary work site will be set up in a section of the Union Street car park from 2 May 2017.

For further information contact Network Rail’s 24 hour national helpline on 03457 11 41 41.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

The Enhancements Delivery Plan Update still claims electrification will be completed by this December. As far as I know the only official admission that this will not happen was by Francis Paonessa, Network Rail's MD for infrastructure projects, in a letter to Modern Railways earlier this year. He attributed the delay to an increase in scope but I have not seen any details of what this is..

I am sorry to keep referring to this absolutely brilliant youtube presentation - it really is worth 45 minutes of your time. It alludes to (in my opinion more than alludes to) increase in scope and focus on reducing the very slow sections - Miles Platting etc are mentioned. There has been an increase in scope - not just for this but the whole Trans Pennine. This really is worth a full 45 minute or so watch. I have watched it 3 times now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTGnTgdWfh4

 

[snowball]

I am sorry to keep referring to this absolutely brilliant youtube presentation - it really is worth 45 minutes of your time. It alludes to (in my opinion more than alludes to) increase in scope and focus on reducing the very slow sections - Miles Platting etc are mentioned. There has been an increase in scope - not just for this but the whole Trans Pennine. This really is worth a full 45 minute or so watch. I have watched it 3 times now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTGnTgdWfh4

I'd already watched it but it's still not clear exactly what its implications are, if any, for works to be carried out as part of the Stalybridge electrification. Any curve easing at Miles Platting would probably need new bridges or viaducts.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I'd already watched it but it's still not clear exactly what its implications are, if any, for works to be carried out as part of the Stalybridge electrification. Any curve easing at Miles Platting would probably need new bridges or viaducts.

Try at 22.28 - 22.50 and then a really good listen at 38.30 - it really is a very strong hint.

 

[Class 170101]

Don't forget to put this one in the Electrification Sticky list.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Don't forget to put this one in the Electrification Sticky list.

I will but I was waiting to make sure the mods were OK with this as a separate thread - but I promise by Sunday evening if all is OK I will indeed update the sticky.

 

[snowball]

Try at 22.28 - 22.50 and then a really good listen at 38.30 - it really is a very strong hint.

I'd forgotten the two lines on the graph!

 

[Hophead]

Quite a lot of work has taken place already, changes to structures have been going on for years, as far back as 2014.

https://www.networkrailmediacentre....n-of-the-railway-in-the-north-west-progresses

As part of the opening, a time capsule was built into the bridge including items such as biographies and pictures of the children’s lives in 2014, school newsletters and a school prospectus.​

Is this to be unsealed upon completion of the electrification, so that future generations can get an insight into life in 2014?

 

[Geeves]

In addition to the road bridge at Turner Lane the station subway just next to it is also being replaced at the same time, similar in fashion to what was done at Chorley with new concrete walls and a concrete watertight lid. This is why the station lost its canopy some time ago at the front, mystery now solved!

A planning app was also there for the demolition of Ashton Moss box if I remember it was for May so it is more certainly living on borrowed time. Capture if while you can folks.

 

[Senex]

The speeds diagram in the PWI presentation that Gralistair draws our attention to (for which, many thanks from one who had missed it!) appear to shew that 60 is proposed up the bank and round the curve at Miles Platting (after 40 at Victoria), with 80 then as far as Ashton, where there is a drop to 75, presumably because of the curvature past the island platform. After Ashton speed drops to 70 to and through Stalybridge.
This seems to indicate that two major interventions are planned, with a new curve at Miles Platting which will surely require new bridges and a complete re-alignment of the curve from the L&Y line into Stalybridge station.
Given that the speaker started by telling the audience how many slides he was not allowed to use and how much he could not say, presumably these two projects are pretty firm. So is there any point in wiring to Stalybridge before such major works are undertaken?

 

[trickyvegas]

A planning app was also there for the demolition of Ashton Moss box if I remember it was for May so it is more certainly living on borrowed time. Capture if while you can folks.

It may mysteriously catch fire, shortly after closure if Stalybridge box was anything to go by.

 

[snowball]

So is there any point in wiring to Stalybridge before such major works are undertaken?

Since there seem to be bases at Victoria, maybe they'll extend the wiring there a short way towards Miles Platting without waiting for the rest. Presumably a T&W order would be required for a new curve at Miles Platting, which would push it back several years.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Careful, that presentation is about TRU (transpennine route upgrade), not TRE (transpennine route electrification (west) aka NWEP phase 5). The wires to Stalybridge are in the latter, speed improvements etc. as outlined in ... er ... outline by Mr Hodge are in the former.

They are two projects, one of which should commission before the other starts. The wires to Stalybridge are need to make the Northern Hub timetable work (so by 2019 at the latest) whereas TRU has different objectives and isn't due to finish until a few years later.

After all that comes NPR ...

 

[snowball]

So the question becomes again, what is the scope extension of the initial phase 5 electrification that Paonessa was referring to?

 

[Greybeard33]

So the question becomes again, what is the scope extension of the initial phase 5 electrification that Paonessa was referring to?

Network Rail appears to have culled the March 2017 EDP update from its website. However, IIRC the Phase 5 details were unchanged from the Dec 2016 version, which is still available. That stated that the scope of Phase 5 included "infrastructure improvements to give journey time savings" as well as electrification.

 

[snowball]

Network Rail appears to have culled the March 2017 EDP update from its website.

It's still there at the address that I posted in post #18 of the pinned thread:

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Enhancements-Delivery-Plan.pdf

Not long now before the next one's due!

 

[Greybeard33]

It's still there at the address that I posted in post #18 of the pinned thread:

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Enhancements-Delivery-Plan.pdf

Not long now before the next one's due!

Hmm, strange. I can access it in Firefox, but Chromium says it is a broken link. It does not show up in a Google search, and the link on the ORR website gives a Page Not Found error!

 

[snowball]

Hmm, strange. I can access it in Firefox, but Chromium says it is a broken link. It does not show up in a Google search, and the link on the ORR website gives a Page Not Found error!

Works for me in Microsoft IE as well as in my usual browser, Firefox.

 

[WatcherZero]

Hmm, strange. I can access it in Firefox, but Chromium says it is a broken link. It does not show up in a Google search, and the link on the ORR website gives a Page Not Found error!

You wernt doing the dumb mistake of highlight copy instead of right click copy and ending up with an abbreviated link were you

 

[Joseph_Locke]

So the question becomes again, what is the scope extension of the initial phase 5 electrification that Paonessa was referring to?

That would *probably* be the former Manchester - Stalybridge JTI scheme from the Northern Hub suite, but the time savings weren't massive.