Severn beach line works?

[Henbury Loop]

Hi

I was driving on the A403 earlier parallel to the SVB line, near to the Seabank Power Station when I noticed lots of workmen on/in the vicinity of the line.

There appears to have been lots of clearance where the second track once run, it is also very near a small branch which led to siding once upon a time.

There were lots of signs up "Balfour Beatty Rail" at the entrance to the works area.

Anybody know what is going on?

Screenshots attached.

 

[The Planner]

Is that near the old ICI works? Supposed to be a rail connected waste power station going in, probably that?

 

[Radedamer]

I think the power station is going up at Chittening, so sounds right.

 

[Henbury Loop]

I wonder where the rail will join the SVB line? Presumably this will now see freight on the line once more? - currently very rare.

Will trains come/go via the Henbury Loop / Hallen Marsh junction then reversing up to this new siding?

Or will they indeed travel the length of the line from Dr Days junction?

There doesn't seem to be much information online about the construction of this at all.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Okay I have found a reference to it:

http://www.cardiffandavonside.org.uk/Magazines/2010/1003mag.htm

"Freight traffic could return to the Hallen Marsh - Severn Beach line if recycling company Sita obtains approval for a new waste-fired energy plant on the former ICI Seabank site. The plant, which could dispose of up to 400,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste, would be connected to the Severn Beach line as part of the plan and use sidings already in place. As well as laying new track, a run-round loop would be required in the Severn Beach station area to gain access onto the branch and main rail network. Electricity for up to 50,000 homes would be also generated from the site."

 

[Radedamer]

There seems to be conflicting information as to whether this power plant will run on incineration of household waste or, as I've read elsewhere, methane from wood pellets. Unless there are actually both projects in the same area.

 

[ian959]

If the power station is of a similar design to that my mate has been involved with, it can burn just about anything: household waste, rubber tyres, methane gas, you name it just about. So it is entirely possible both fuels you mention are to be used at the same site.

 

[Henbury Loop]

Works site



Remains of old rail, path the siding will take into the grounds of SITA. Viewed from A403 road bridge above.



Looking on the other side of the A403 road bridge towards where the siding will run parallel with the SVB line later joining it.



I am curious to know how far up the branch the siding will join it, and this so called passing loop. As the site is actually very close indeed to SVB station. I wonder if it will utilise the land where the rail once formed platform 2 and continued further up to the Pilning loop.

 

[w1bbl3]

Well the planning application states..

3.3 Railhead process
3.3.1 The railhead will be developed from existing redundant sidings. These provide access to the Severn Beach branch line and then on to the national rail network.
3.3.2 It is expected that the railhead will receive one train per day carrying waste material. To avoid peak demand on the rail network, the trains are likely to arrive overnight, probably between 1900 and 0700. Two sidings will be used enabling the train to be halved in length
for more efficient unloading.
3.3.3 The deliveries will be containerised with each train of 26 wagons being capable of carrying 78 containers. The containers will be lifted from the train using two gantry cranes and transferred to designated storage areas. It is expected that the containers will be stacked in two rows of two containers high.

In terms of what will actually happen the planning drawings show the existing sidings being removed completely and replaced with new sidings served by overhead cranes and new loop being constructed to side of the offloading roads on the former Terra site. The new railhead is interestingly not within the SITA site.

Nothing has been submitted planning wise to suggest that a new south facing cord will be constructed under the A403 to allow access onto the Severn beach line without a reversal. I'd expect the works to the branch line will be reinstatement of the previous alignment that provided access to the works. This alignment IIRC allowed for freight trains to continue into Severn beach station or reverse onto the branch line hence it being now described as a loop, old OS MasterMaps show the alignment if you can find them.

 

[TheNewNo2]

Providing only north-facing access does seem a bit odd.

As for Severn Beach sidings, last I heard they wanted to turn it into a car park.

 

[The Planner]

Providing north facing access is cheap, south facing access would have meant it wouldnt have been connected at all.

 

[furnessvale]

The problem with these rail served waste power stations seems to be finding suppliers willing to send the waste by rail rather than road.

Witness Runcorn where planning permission to use rail has been eased to allow road deliveries because potential customers wanted road.

How much of this was known in advance, and rail used as a sop to get the thing built, is open to debate.

I believe Strathclyde have a lot of pelleted waste to get rid of and intend sending it south. The nearest power stations capable of using it are in Cheshire but Strathclyde have no plans to use rail.

 

[Henbury Loop]

Work to clear the area adjacent to Severn Beach station was carried out in 2008/9, for what purpose i have no idea as it has been left for the last 6 years to return to an overgrown mess!

I will get some pictures in the coming days, it is several feet high in vegetation coving the whole site.

Pictures can be viewed here (scroll down):
http://www.bristol-rail.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8043

If as above the trains will indeed consist of 26 wagons then i would say the access to the sidings will have to lead right upto the station area.

I found reference to the agreement online between Sita and NR, they are supposed to have paid £32,000 for the rail connection, which seems very little considering the work involved IMO. You would like to think they wouldn't be carrying out all this work for nothing.

 

[w1bbl3]

32k for 1700m of new track seems quite cheap really but NR must be covering the costs somehow.

SITA have a contract with 6 London borough councils under the West London Waste Authority framework to burn waste that currently goes the landfill at the Avonmouth facility.

All three waste transfer stations are rail connected and currently export waste by rail to a railhead next to TATA Scunthorpe where it is then moved landfill.

 

[The Planner]

Depends how much the yearly connection agreement is, we will be making some money out of that.

 

[DesignerMatt]

The link to the mainline is just beyond the river bridge via a ground frame. The 2 road sidings go to 12 1/4 MP.

 

[Henbury Loop]

Sorry I'm not sure which river bridge you are talking about?

Thanks for your input.

 

[DesignerMatt]

Sorry I'm not sure which river bridge you are talking about?

Thanks for your input.

In the picture on the OP you can see the bridge

For further reference, the bridge is roughly 1000m from the buffer stop on the sidings.

 

[Henbury Loop]

Looking at the birds eye view in my original post the siding will join quite a long way up from that bridge. The embankment has been cleared well beyond that and it is too steep to join the mainline at that point.
The clearance work appears to be in very close proximity to SVB platforms.

 

[Henbury Loop]

More info here, could be quite a few trains transferring the stockpile at the beginning!

http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/London-s-rubbish-dumped-town/story-20570209-detail/story.html

Scunthorpe becomes dumping ground for London's rubbish

By*Scunthorpe Telegraph**|**Posted: February 10, 2014

Containers filled with rubbish brought from London by train are off-loaded in Scunthorpe

SCUNTHORPE has become a dumping ground for London's rubbish.

A rail-to-road operation to dump 250,000 tonnes a year of London household rubbish in the town has got under way.

Trains pulling 78 sealed containers are arriving on the Sita UK site on Scunthorpe's Tata Steel works five or six days a week.

The 30-month operation comes after Sita signed a £760 million contract with the West London WasteAuthority*to dispose of unrecycled rubbish created by 1.6 million residents in the capital.

Scunthorpe will be the dumping ground until 2016 when the rubbish will be processed at the Severnside Energy Recovery Centre being built in South Gloucestershire.

 

[Henbury Loop]

It is now showing up on RTT Tues-Sat from 15/12/15 onwards.

Does anyone know when completion is supposed to be?

Will they have to run a test train/ballast train etc when it is nearing completion?

I would like to be there for the first train.

 

[trainlogger]

The SB line is closed on most weekends in January/February for renewals. Wonder if that includes linking up the sidings?

 

[Henbury Loop]

The entire line?

 

[trainlogger]

The entire line?

Sorry, original post wasn't quite accurate. On 3 & 10 January bus replacements are being used between Avonmouth & Severn Beach.
There are more closures in Feburary, but don't have exact details yet.

 

[deltic08]

32k for 1700m of new track seems quite cheap really but NR must be covering the costs somehow.

SITA have a contract with 6 London borough councils under the West London Waste Authority framework to burn waste that currently goes the landfill at the Avonmouth facility.

All three waste transfer stations are rail connected and currently export waste by rail to a railhead next to TATA Scunthorpe where it is then moved landfill.

Surely a plant built nearer to London would be better, say on the banks of the Thames in Surrey or Middlesex. This is just exporting London's pollution onto others.

 

[CarltonA]

Surely a plant built nearer to London would be better, say on the banks of the Thames in Surrey or Middlesex. This is just exporting London's pollution onto others.

It has been known to operate the other way round, the Bristol and Bath waste flows to leafy Bucks for example.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/498485

 

[Henbury Loop]

I have heard through the grapevine that the service from London is starting this month but running to Royal Portbury Docks for offloading and reloading until July by which time Network Rail will have done the required work for the connection back on to the Severn Beach Line.

Looking through RTT i cannot seem to find this path, does anyone know more?

 

[Henbury Loop]

It's been a long time coming but the first waste train is on the way to Severnside Sita as I type this.

This is quite exciting, the first time a train has been on the former ICI branch, or indeed a freighter on this section of the Severn Beach line since 1992.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/O11433/2016/07/13/advanced