Ordsall Chord

[edwin_m]

I made it clear (I thought) that if a contract containing exclusion clauses would prove too expensive, then don't finalise on tender decisions until one has certainty about the project. Getting planning permission (or TWA) plus possible LBC, is essential before spending sums on development. NR has taken a risk with this project, after Whitby went to JR, and it could have all gone horribly t*ts up.

It pretty much comes to the same thing. Contractors will plan ahead and expect to re-deploy staff from project X to project Y or indeed recruit if Y begins before X ends. They need a certain time to mobilise for a contract and if called upon to do so more quickly it will cost more and possibly also go wrong due to lack of planning. The alternative is not to start tendering until the TWA is in the bag, which is actually the usual approach but the tender period then goes into the critical path and delays everything else.

This legal delay has been pretty much unprecedented and I hope it doesn't mean that all future projects have to have an inbuilt pause of a couple of years just in case it happens again. Fortunately the designers have been continuing regardless and some work has been done on site in areas that don't directly impact on the sensitive parts, so it's not all been wasted.

 

[furnessvale]

This legal delay has been pretty much unprecedented and I hope it doesn't mean that all future projects have to have an inbuilt pause of a couple of years just in case it happens again. Fortunately the designers have been continuing regardless and some work has been done on site in areas that don't directly impact on the sensitive parts, so it's not all been wasted.

More importantly, I hope the legal people have learnt that Protective Costs Orders are dangerous things that should be very sparingly applied.

Even as I typed that I was thinking "What am I saying, the legal people are the main beneficiaries of such things!"

 

[snowball]

This legal delay has been pretty much unprecedented and I hope it doesn't mean that all future projects have to have an inbuilt pause of a couple of years just in case it happens again.

A few road projects have have had similar or longer sagas.

 

[pro4600]

A few road projects have have had similar or longer sagas.

Such as the A57/A628 Mottram-in-Longdendale, Hollingworth & Tintwistle Bypass, which hasn't been able to get past planning for decades.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

I made it clear (I thought) that if a contract containing exclusion clauses would prove too expensive, then don't finalise on tender decisions until one has certainty about the project.

And that's what happened. NR didn't formally commit to a contract for the main works with the JV until they knew which way the wind would take them, but that doesn't mean the project has been sat dormant - the JV has been surveying and designing (and undertaking limited enabling works) but to what is (effectively) an ad-hoc and inefficient programme, probably (I'm guessing) on a cost-plus basis plus establishment basis of payment.

Swapping to my slightly cement-stained hard-hat (I'll get a new one out of stores later), if NR had forced J_L Construction Inc. to sign up to a contract with no certainty on the outcome of the Whitbyisms then I would have been making it clear to NR that they'd be paying for my additional costs is the project was further delayed - that puts NR in the position of signing endless cheques to me for any sum I can reasonably justify; that's worse for NR so it didn't happen.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ah well, the hope is for sun burn then. I'm surprised he's still getting work, or that such a character has decided Dubai is the place for his sort of dissension.

In the areas of the North where the Ordsall Chord will benefit, Whitby is said now to be viewed as a second reincarnation of Beeching in his now-failed attempts to put his own mark and mindset of railway operations in the Ordsall Chord areas.

 

[snowball]

A few road projects have have had similar or longer sagas.

Such as the A57/A628 Mottram-in-Longdendale, Hollingworth & Tintwistle Bypass, which hasn't been able to get past planning for decades.

There are probably dozens of road projects that have had on-off sagas over decades. When I said "a few" I was referring specifically to ones that have had a series of legal appeals like the Ordsall Chord. Examples that spring to mind are the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road and the Heysham-M6 link.

 

[anorack 1]

The Middlewood Locks development has started. Making Whitby's Option 15 dead and buried. Its a pity the project didn't begin two years ago. It might have stopped Whitby's pointless appeals.

 

[kevconnor]

Would there be any support for crowdfunding a blue plaque in Mr Whitby's honour to be placed on the Ordsall Chord when it opens.

 

[Darren R]

Would there be any support for crowdfunding a blue plaque in Mr Whitby's honour to be placed on the Ordsall Chord when it opens.

Don't need crowdfunding for that - just organise a Forum whip-round!

 

[SodTheDrummer]

Don't need crowdfunding for that - just organise a Forum whip-round!

I'll chip in to that! Joking aside, I think that could actually get some mileage..we are noted in the north west for our sarcastic nature, but would NR sanction/allow a privately comissioned plaque I wonder?

 

[PDG1949]

I'll chip in to that! Joking aside, I think that could actually get some mileage..we are noted in the north west for our sarcastic nature, but would NR sanction/allow a privately comissioned plaque I wonder?

How far on site below the surface of the Irwell/Bridgewater Canal do you reckon this momentous plaque should be placed ?

 

[furnessvale]

Don't need crowdfunding for that - just organise a Forum whip-round!

As I said years ago when a much disliked boss was retiring, "Whip round! I'll contribute 9 lashes!".

 

[Geeves]

I gotta say that despite the potential derailment of works by Whitby I went and had a gander today and they are throwing men at this job

I only had my crappy phone camera but I will go back soon with my real camera. The little tug was pootling around in the river and the Trinity way side of the old Princes Bridge has seen some serious works by excavators the last few days.

The most interesting thing peering trough the gates at on the Water St side was the delivery of some curved steel work, surely it is too early for them to be delivering bridge components I thought, but they certainly did look like they should be and they were being attended by workers fro Severfield who are steel contractors, so there ya go! The foundations on the opposite side of where the junction for the Birdge will be from Castlefield side are also coming and were being filled with concrete today.

 

[Sox]

As I said years ago when a much disliked boss was retiring, "Whip round! I'll contribute 9 lashes!".

Similar here, with a universally disliked boss, talk was of hiring a phone box for his leaving do!

 

[snowball]

LDECRexile has added some recent pictures of the Chord works, taken by himself and his collaborators, to his Combined Album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/sets/72157661069863633

He also has individual albums for each photographer - for details see his posts in the Blackpool-Manchester
Electrification thread.


-------------

Cofferdam pictures posted by jrb on skyscrapercity:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=132721548&postcount=1599


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The most interesting thing peering trough the gates at on the Water St side was the delivery of some curved steel work, surely it is too early for them to be delivering bridge components I thought, but they certainly did look like they should be and they were being attended by workers fro Severfield who are steel contractors, so there ya go!

For the footbridge that will replace Princes Bridge.

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A favourable video clip on the Chord from the Railway Heritage Trust:

https://twitter.com/NetworkRailNP/status/732838919906177024

(from NR's Northern Programme Twitter feed)

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According to this press release, there will be more demolition at Middlewood Viaduct over the bank holiday weekend.

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.c...y-travel-as-rail-improvements-continue-in-may

removing redundant arches on the Middlewood Viaduct so we can connect the new line with the existing railway.

I imagine this means demolishing the eastern part of the width of a few arches, immediately south of the tie-in point where an arch has been replaced.

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I drove along Trinity Way this evening (Sunday 29th) but couldn't see any evidence of further demolition. Maybe it will happen tomorrow, or maybe I've misunderstood what they're doing.

 

[PDG1949]

I drove along Trinity Way this evening (Sunday 29th) but couldn't see any evidence of further demolition. Maybe it will happen tomorrow, or maybe I've misunderstood what they're doing.

I've been watching the general progress via means of the New Bailey time lapse web cameras - particularly the one covering 'Plot 5'. Until recently the coverage of this camera enabled one to see progress further afield with Princes' Bridge and a general sweep of most of the Middlewood viaduct.

http://www.new-bailey.com/live.php#timeLapsePlotA5_

Unfortunately (but obviously the opposite for the developer !!) this view has been blocked by recent building on their immediate site, so until/if the camera is re-positioned, we've lost that valuable contribution to the thread. Let's hope some crucial developments were made and that the general visual overview is soon restored.

 

[Whistler40145]

Is there some engineering works relating to the Ordsall Chord on next Sunday as Blackpool North to Manchester Airport services are diverted to Manchester Victoria?

 

[WatcherZero]

This bank Holiday weekend and next two Sundays.

 

[Philip Phlopp]

I sit down to watch a BBC 4 documentary on Stonehenge, and who should appear, jumping about like a lunatic - our Mark Whitby.

 

[CdBrux]

I sit down to watch a BBC 4 documentary on Stonehenge, and who should appear, jumping about like a lunatic - our Mark Whitby.

was he complaining the stones were all in the wrong place?

 

[PR1Berske]

was he complaining the stones were all in the wrong place?

*Usual forum quote about like button*

 

[Altfish]

I sit down to watch a BBC 4 documentary on Stonehenge, and who should appear, jumping about like a lunatic - our Mark Whitby.

Yes, I noticed that, but I put up with it because Alice was on

 

[Joseph_Locke]

was he complaining the stones were all in the wrong place?

If he's started up then they'll never finish it now ...

 

[edwin_m]

Ruddy Bronze Agers, no respect for history. And as for the Iron Age...

 

[Iceflame30]

Does anyone have a link to something current that officially confirms new platforms and/or services for Salford Central? More than "planned", at any rate. It's my local station and I'd like it to be more useful.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Does anyone have a link to something current that officially confirms new platforms and/or services for Salford Central? More than "planned", at any rate. It's my local station and I'd like it to be more useful.

It is not funded for construction, so there will be no official confirmation. There are detailed plans, but with funding they are just plans.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It is not funded for construction, so there will be no official confirmation. There are detailed plans, but with funding they are just plans.

May I ask if it is not funded for construction, why has there been so much discussion on that matter.

 

[Chrisyd]

May I ask if it is not funded for construction, why has there been so much discussion on that matter.

I think it is because there is a lot of noise locally, One New Bailey (the new office block next to the station) when doing a presentation about the area, apparently made it sound like it was happening: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=133180882&postcount=273

I think there is a GMPTE commitment to, as a minimum, rebuild the existing platforms to remove the "Step", so this might be adding to the confusion.

Also that the track is going to be routed through the unused platforms as part of the Chord plans, the question is about whether trains can stop there.

Speaking of which they have strimmed/cut back all the foliage on the disused platforms and trackbed. Unsure if this is an indication of something imminent or regular maintenance.

Salford Central by Chris Davis, on Flickr

 

[Joseph_Locke]

I think it is because there is a lot of noise locally, One New Bailey (the new office block next to the station) when doing a presentation about the area, apparently made it sound like it was happening: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=133180882&postcount=273

I think there is a GMPTE commitment to, as a minimum, rebuild the existing platforms to remove the "Step", so this might be adding to the confusion.

Also that the track is going to be routed through the unused platforms as part of the Chord plans, the question is about whether trains can stop there.

Speaking of which they have strimmed/cut back all the foliage on the disused platforms and trackbed. Unsure if this is an indication of something imminent or regular maintenance.

In scheme development terms it is happening (the scheme development) but it is a TfGM project and they have their own priorities. That isn't to say that it won't happen (and, completely personally, I think it only a matter of time before NR get an improvement notice for the platforms anyway).