Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

[59CosG95]

There’s two in the Colton Jn area; One off of Colton Lane next to the Down Leeds and one on the unnamed lane that diverges from Colton Lane at the car park for spotting.

The first has steelwork for the OLE structures and machinery (mainly rail borne Cherrypickers) and the latter compound is used to store the Siemens SICAT cantilevers.

The one off Colton Ln next to the Dn Leeds is Braegate Lane; the one on the unnamed lane diverging from the spotter's car park is listed as Colton Jn, but an on-foot inspection shows it as "Brumber Hill Compound".

 

[td97]

E1 = North of Church Fenton to York

Diagrammatically displayed here

 

[Meerkat]

Diagrammatically displayed here

Have they started anything on W4 - Ravensthorpe to Leeds? That seems the logical priority as it isnt waiting for anything other than Morley station and White Rose and they are nailed down plans they can design around aren't they?

 

[59CosG95]

Diagrammatically displayed here

So, based on this -
"Central" (i.e. Leeds P4-6) is now done AIUI;
W1 is in full swing;
W2A seems to have started;
W2B has no visible signs of work;
W3 has a few bases marked out here & there;
W4 has nothing;
E2 has nothing;
E3 has nothing visible yet but consultation to close Peckfield & Barrowby LCs is ongoing;
E4 has nothing visible yet but consulation to close the LCs nr Church F is ongoing

Am I close to or far from the mark?

 

[snowball]

W4 has nothing;

Am I dreaming, or was it mentioned on here a couple of months ago that some foundations were about to be done in the White Rose area? Possibly by the Manchester team on a short excursion?

 

[Meerkat]

Am I dreaming, or was it mentioned on here a couple of months ago that some foundations were about to be done in the White Rose area? Possibly by the Manchester team on a short excursion?

What, they took the other halves shopping and thought "whilst we are here...."?
Seriously though I do remember something similar.

 

[59CosG95]

Am I dreaming, or was it mentioned on here a couple of months ago that some foundations were about to be done in the White Rose area? Possibly by the Manchester team on a short excursion?

I think they were test piles to inform the design for the White Rose platforms (or something like that). Nothing OLE related AFAIK.

(I know the piling team for the West of Leeds works have been down in London for the Victoria Stage 3 Resignalling works to deliver gantry foundations - when they'll be back up in the North is anyone's guess)

Also, I've passed through Huddersfield this weekend (last w/e in September), and I noticed that the eastern and western approaches to the station have gained a number of square timber frames, and a couple of sprayed squares on the ground too.

(Perhaps the non-TWAO elements of the piling work is imminent around Hudds?)

Just bumping post #4675 again - have there been any more appearances of square frames near the track from Huddersfield eastwards? I did see one in a photo nr Heaton Lodge. (https://flic.kr/p/2mVFiHD)
Haven't seen any recent pictures of the route in section W4, so might need to pay a visit at some point...

In other news, the transfer of registrations from the failing headspan to the new TTCs at Askham Bar has been completed. Both the out-of-running wire runs are now on anti-fall balance weight assemblies, and all 4 in-running ones have been taken off the headspan and put on the TTCs.

 

[td97]

Am I dreaming, or was it mentioned on here a couple of months ago that some foundations were about to be done in the White Rose area? Possibly by the Manchester team on a short excursion?

Yes was posted in August

David Mcguffie IOSH on LinkedIn: #teamlundy #amey

Last night we achieved some difficult locations at whiterose shopping centre on top of a very steep embankment with a Doosan long reach. Life’s good when you…

www.linkedin.com

 

[Halish Railway]

Here’s the video that I recorded showing the progress on E1 as seen from the Down Leeds and Up Normanton.

A couple of quick notes:
1. More cantilevers have appeared on the Leeds lines north of the river Wharfe since I recorded this video (I traveled on the route again yesterday).
2. The useful website linked up thread showing the bridge numbers is incomplete so not all of the numbers are shown.
3. Unfortunately due to the dirty windows and the lighting conditions the picture quality won’t be as good as some of the other pictures I’ve posted on here.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Here’s the video that I recorded showing the progress on E1 as seen from the Down Leeds and Up Normanton.

Fantastic - I can visualise a lot better now. Great video. Look forward to seeing more in the future.

 

[td97]

2. The useful website linked up thread showing the bridge numbers is incomplete so not all of the numbers are shown

For some railway bridges you may be able to view the bridge ID plate on Google Streetview which could include the bridge number.

Edit:
e.g. HUL4/21 at https://www.google.com/maps/@53.805...4!1sBPhF0UFYfKROmaYNQhUXQg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Or HUL4/20BB at

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[D6130]

Excellent video @Halish Railway. Thanks for taking the trouble to make, edit and post it. I should think that the 331 would have been on a driver training trip from Doncaster.

 

[59CosG95]

Jake Berry on LinkedIn: #ole #ocs #electrification #electrify #tru | 10 comments

It’s been a long time coming however today Keltbray helped TRU west reach a key milestone with the start of main part steel for the electrification of W1.… | 10 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com

First steel up on TRU W1...

 

[Revaulx]

Jake Berry on LinkedIn: #ole #ocs #electrification #electrify #tru | 10 comments

It’s been a long time coming however today Keltbray helped TRU west reach a key milestone with the start of main part steel for the electrification of W1.… | 10 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com

First steel up on TRU W1...

Any idea where exactly this is?

 

[59CosG95]

Any idea where exactly this is?

This is around the Miles Platting area; all the masts installed so far look like 4-track (or more) portals - you can tell by the hinge joints at the top. The mast nearest the camera in the 1st shot is "MVL/02/08"; in the 2nd shot it's "MVL/02/01".
Looks like they're taking a leaf out of TRU E1's book with the nomenclature, going for "Engineers' Line Ref/Kilometrage from datum/structure no. in that kilometre range". By that logic, there are at least 8 (almost certainly more) structures in that km range, and the code will persist along the route until Heaton Lodge, where it becomes MVN (with km's via the Calder Valley, presumably) until Thornhill LNW it where it changes again to MDL.

 

[snowball]

Assuming the kilometres are measured from the existing mileage zero at Victoria, from where everywhere is down, 2km is 1 mile 19.4 chains. 1 mile 20 chains appears to be at the connection to the former Oldham Road goods branch junction, at 28:21 in this cab video and immediately before the right-to-left ladder junction.

 

[Ken H]

Any news when church Fenton - Colton Jct goes live?

 

[59CosG95]

Any news when church Fenton - Colton Jct goes live?

I'd estimate before the year's end. The TSCs at both Church Fenton and Colton Jn (the latter as part of ECML PSU 2) need to be finished first.

 

[edwin_m]

This is around the Miles Platting area; all the masts installed so far look like 4-track (or more) portals - you can tell by the hinge joints at the top. The mast nearest the camera in the 1st shot is "MVL/02/08"; in the 2nd shot it's "MVL/02/01".
Looks like they're taking a leaf out of TRU E1's book with the nomenclature, going for "Engineers' Line Ref/Kilometrage from datum/structure no. in that kilometre range". By that logic, there are at least 8 (almost certainly more) structures in that km range, and the code will persist along the route until Heaton Lodge, where it becomes MVN (with km's via the Calder Valley, presumably) until Thornhill LNW it where it changes again to MDL.

There isn't a single ELR MVL. MVL1 to MVL3 are a continuous mileage, changing ELR around Stalybridge. But MVL4 duplicates part of the mileage of MVL3 as the two alternative routes through Heaton Lodge. Maybe TRU will effectively abolish one of these curves and create a new ELR for the new fast lines, but if it doesn't then they will get into a bit of a mess with OLE numbering!

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

National Audit Office going to investigate TPE upgrade

https://www.nao.org.uk/work-in-progress/the-transpennine-route-upgrade/

The Department and its delivery body, Network Rail, have planned improvement works on this route since at least 2011, with the scope of the work changing over time to meet different priorities. Most recently in November 2021, as part of its Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands, the Department established the Transpennine Route Upgrade as Phase 1 of its wider Northern Powerhouse Rail programme, along with a revised scope and timetable.

This study will assess whether the Department and Network Rail’s arrangements are set up to successfully deliver the Transpennine Route Upgrade. It will examine:

• delivery of the Transpennine Route Upgrade programme to date;
• how the programme is now set up; and
• the objectives of the programme and their alignment with wider Departmental priorities.

Report due Summer 2022 so lets see how much DofT and NR reveal about what the goals and timings are to deliver improvements

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Well it has been one party in government since this was first announced so I wonder how much honesty there will be - or will people try and blame the DfT?

 

[Bald Rick]

National Audit Office going to investigate TPE upgrade

https://www.nao.org.uk/work-in-progress/the-transpennine-route-upgrade/


Report due Summer 2022 so lets see how much DofT and NR reveal about what the goals and timings are to deliver improvements

Well it has been one party in government since this was first announced so I wonder how much honesty there will be - or will people try and blame the DfT?

AIUI this has been planned for some time and is part of the usual cycle of visits from the NAO for Government funded multi billion pound capital projects.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

AIUI this has been planned for some time and is part of the usual cycle of visits from the NAO for Government funded multi billion pound capital projects.

Ok so nothing sinister then.

 

[Grumpy]

Ok so nothing sinister then.

Given that they are planning to take half a year to produce a report that an experienced Project Manager could probably knock out in a month, they are hardly likely to criticise the snail-like progress

 

[Bald Rick]

Given that they are planning to take half a year to produce a report that an experienced Project Manager could probably knock out in a month, they are hardly likely to criticise the snail-like progress

Similar levels of probity are provided by NR ‘peer reviews’, and they are done in a week. But then the peer reviewers are very experienced in rail projects the, whereas the NAO auditors are very experienced at auditing a much broader range of projects, and thus perhaps don’t know the rail side so much.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I'd expect some criticism of the effect of "stop-go politics" on the costs and timescales of the project.
The NAO and Select Committee reports can make a difference if they are published at the right time in a project's life-cycle.
Patrick McLoughlin, who as Transport Secretary for much of the CP5 era, makes it rather interesting as the new chair of TfN.
He also paused and unpaused the project in 2015.

 

[59CosG95]

From LinkedIn - this is just SW of Colton Jn, and is one of 4 'vierendeel' booms being installed around the interface between the existing ECML OLE & the new equipment.

 

[Halish Railway]

From LinkedIn - this is just SW of Colton Jn, and is one of 4 'vierendeel' booms being installed around the interface between the existing ECML OLE & the new equipment.

That looks like the area shown at 03:51 on this video.

 

[59CosG95]

That looks like the area shown at 03:51 on this video.

Precisely!

 

[billio]

This view shows almost a year's work on the electrification at Ulleskelf.
Compare with this view in February 2021

I don't know whether this is good progress or not.