MML Electrification: progress updates

[Flying Phil]

Here are some pictures taken today going South from Market Harborough. Braybrooke Supply Site


So all the piles are in place but no masts yet.

Then through Desborough, where all the masts are up and most of the cantilevers etc but no wiring - catenary or contact.

Finally, at Pipewell bridge, it looks as though one track has also been lowered.

 

[PJM]

Nice update thanks Phil. Could you see whether the piles meet up with the masts south of Harborough?

 

[Flying Phil]

Hi PJM - I think they do but it is difficult to see just on the curve on the first picture.
Meanwhile to the North of Hbro station...

 

[PJM]

From previous posts I seem to recall that they were working on the bridge as well as track lowering?

`Footbridge 28E
description
SPC3 83m 1137y

We will be lowering the track under this bridge, work will start in November 2023 (dates may change as the programme progresses).`

 

[NumberSix]

Agreed. It is progress.

[RS3 progress, Sutton Bonington Parish Council notice..]

Hi folks,

Spent a fair time lurking (having been following MML enhancements for ages) but first time posting. Received the attached notice in the post recently relating to 'Vegetation management and OLE works' between Wigston and Leicester (just north of the station), which was a bit of a surprise given that I'd understood that authorisation to date strictly stretched only as far as Wigston S. We're not too far from Knighton Jct (97m45ch). We have since received another letter relating to ground condition tests, but annoyingly I can't find it!

I did also spot a work entry for the same stretch on the Network Rail MML Enhancements map when checking recently, but this now seems to have been removed.

Anyway, assuming someone hasn't dropped a clanger, this really does look like progress!

 

[Flying Phil]

Thanks for posting Number Six, as you say, real progress!
Re the Great Bowden Footbridge - I think the plan is to put a "cage" around the existing bridge rather than replace it with a new higher bridge. At present it is a very open structure.

 

[snowball]

I would guess that any work north of Wigston is just surveying - clearing the veg to get a good look at the existing infrastructure.

 

[PJM]

Thanks Number Six. This is very interesting because everything up until now led us to believe that they would skip Leicester and start again at Syston.

Thanks for posting Number Six, as you say, real progress!
Re the Great Bowden Footbridge - I think the plan is to put a "cage" around the existing bridge rather than replace it with a new higher bridge. At present it is a very open structure.

Hi Flying Phil, yes that bridge is incredibly open and I`m sure would not get past any Heath and Safety regulations.

 

[hwl]

Thanks Number Six. This is very interesting because everything up until now led us to believe that they would skip Leicester and start again at Syston.

They have to start surveying soon even if they are going for spades in the ground later than elsewhere as it will take more design work and iterations than elsewhere due to the complexity.

 

[InOban]

Thanks for posting Number Six, as you say, real progress!
Re the Great Bowden Footbridge - I think the plan is to put a "cage" around the existing bridge rather than replace it with a new higher bridge. At present it is a very open structure.

The new bridge at Strathbungo (see Barrhead and East Kilbride thread, ) is an open lattice backed by clear shatterproof glass. Looks quite old school from a distance

 

[NumberSix]

Thanks Number Six. This is very interesting because everything up until now led us to believe that they would skip Leicester and start again at Syston.

No prob, and my thoughts exactly.

BTW I have now laid my hands on the 2nd letter we received this month. Dated 15th Aug and referring to exactly the same section of line as the first, I quote:

We're carrying out Ground Investigation works along the route overnight, from:

23:00 Friday 22 September – 08:00 Saturday 23 September 2023

Hopefully more info in the next NR email update. So far these have all come in at the end of the month; on that basis I'm expecting September's in the next few days.

 

[swt_passenger]

Thanks for posting Number Six, as you say, real progress!
Re the Great Bowden Footbridge - I think the plan is to put a "cage" around the existing bridge rather than replace it with a new higher bridge. At present it is a very open structure.

Not so much a cage round it, as an anticlimb barrier half way along it. There’s an also lot of GRP barriers and decking involved.

Post #5900 back in January has a link to the planning application.

 

[59CosG95]

Not so much a cage round it, as an anticlimb barrier half way along it. There’s an also lot of GRP barriers and decking involved.

Post #5900 back in January has a link to the planning application.

https://pa2.harborough.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=RQ62VXHW0MK00

This application (23/00249) has an updated proposal, superceding the original one (23/00084).

 

[londonmidland]

Will South Wigston Station itself see OLE going through it, as part of an over-run?

 

[swt_passenger]

https://pa2.harborough.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=RQ62VXHW0MK00

This application (23/00249) has an updated proposal, superceding the original one (23/00084).

Difficult to see any differences though, the covering letter includes the same drawing references, and both proposed plans are the same reference number and dates…

 

[59CosG95]

Will South Wigston Station itself see OLE going through it, as part of an over-run?

I wouldn't reckon on it, at least not with RS1. Potentially RS2, but again there's no cast-iron guarantee.

 

[PJM]

Delay to the reopening of the bridge on Station Street Great Glen/Newton Harcourt. I suspect that this will delay the closure of OB7 Wigston Road for the rebuild.

Shut busy road near A6 to stay closed until November

The road was supposed to reopen on Tuesday, August 1

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[59CosG95]

Delay to the reopening of the bridge on Station Street Great Glen/Newton Harcourt. I suspect that this will delay the closure of OB7 Wigston Road for the rebuild.

Shut busy road near A6 to stay closed until November

The road was supposed to reopen on Tuesday, August 1

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

Interesting that traffic lights are being installed...
When I paid a visit earlier this month, it looked as if lampposts (or "lighting columns" in engineering parlance) were being installed, or certainly the electrical ducting routes for them were.

Perhaps this is a safety measure...

 

[PJM]

Interesting that traffic lights are being installed...
When I paid a visit earlier this month, it looked as if lampposts (or "lighting columns" in engineering parlance) were being installed, or certainly the electrical ducting routes for them were.

Perhaps this is a safety measure...

From your your shots of the partially completed works it looks as though the bridge has been rebuilt as single file, hence the need for traffic lights. Previously it was single file but why it was not rebuilt with a double carriageway who knows?!!

 

[59CosG95]

From your your shots of the partially completed works it looks as though the bridge has been rebuilt as single file, hence the need for traffic lights. Previously it was single file but why it was not rebuilt with a double carriageway who knows?!!

That would have required a far more comprehensive rebuild IMHO, further extending the closure of the bridge.

 

[swt_passenger]

That would have required a far more comprehensive rebuild IMHO, further extending the closure of the bridge.

I wonder if the bridge is now a higher “hump”, or the parapets hinder visibility of oncoming traffic, so there’s more problems for drivers, hence adding traffic lights?

That’s just a thought obviously, if there was no need for traffic lights before it’s about all I can think of.

 

[edwin_m]

I wonder if the bridge is now a higher “hump”, or the parapets hinder visibility of oncoming traffic, so there’s more problems for drivers, hence adding traffic lights?

That’s just a thought obviously, if there was no need for traffic lights before it’s about all I can think of.

Not sure where there re photos of the works, but the road looks very narrow, two traffic lanes look to be something of a squeeze. Possibly it is reduced to one late to create some space for a footway and/or some parapet strengthening or because the lanes are considered to be sub-standard. It's a fairly minor road so they may also want to discourage rat-running.

 

[swt_passenger]

Not sure where there re photos of the works, but the road looks very narrow, two traffic lanes look to be something of a squeeze. Possibly it is reduced to one late to create some space for a footway and/or some parapet strengthening or because the lanes are considered to be sub-standard. It's a fairly minor road so they may also want to discourage rat-running.

I see there are a couple of photos in post #6436, from 23 July.

 

[zwk500]

Not sure where there re photos of the works, but the road looks very narrow, two traffic lanes look to be something of a squeeze. Possibly it is reduced to one late to create some space for a footway and/or some parapet strengthening or because the lanes are considered to be sub-standard. It's a fairly minor road so they may also want to discourage rat-running.

From the look of the photos in #6436 a 1m footway has been added on either side as well as the parapet being raised. Given the narrowness of the road in the first place, the removal of 2m width would certainly have brought it down to requiring single file traffic, and presumably the visibility was too poor or traffic too heavy to leave it as simple priority.

 

[edwin_m]

From the look of the photos in #6436 a 1m footway has been added on either side as well as the parapet being raised. Given the narrowness of the road in the first place, the removal of 2m width would certainly have brought it down to requiring single file traffic, and presumably the visibility was too poor or traffic too heavy to leave it as simple priority.

Agreed. Looking at views of it before modification, it looks absolutely lethal to walk across, with no clearance whatever between the traffic lane and the parapet.

 

[Flying Phil]

It always has been a potentially lethal bridge for motorists as well as the (very few) pedestrians. The sightlines for drivers in both directions were extremely poor so you had to hope that there was no oncoming traffic! In fact, the higher view point of pedestrians, meant that they could see oncoming traffic sooner.

 

[PJM]

It always has been a potentially lethal bridge for motorists as well as the (very few) pedestrians. The sightlines for drivers in both directions were extremely poor so you had to hope that there was no oncoming traffic! In fact, the higher view point of pedestrians, meant that they could see oncoming traffic sooner.

Exactly, that`s why I thought they might take the opportunity of widening it.

 

[InOban]

I'm sure they would have, if the Highways Authority were prepared to pay..

 

[AM9]

It always has been a potentially lethal bridge for motorists as well as the (very few) pedestrians. The sightlines for drivers in both directions were extremely poor so you had to hope that there was no oncoming traffic! In fact, the higher view point of pedestrians, meant that they could see oncoming traffic sooner.

So a thirty second wait is a reasonable price to pay for making it safer for all. Or there's a maximum of an extra 1.48km when taking the Wistow road bridge

 

[zwk500]

Exactly, that`s why I thought they might take the opportunity of widening it.

Widening it would presumably have involved demolishing the bridge down to the abutments in order to widen them, which then means rebuilding it to modern standards - pricey.