The Anonymous Widower

Design Error Delays Gospel Oak to Barking Line Electrification

The title of this post is taken from this article in Global Rail News.

This is said.

In an announcement earlier today, Network Rail said it had been unable to install some of the OLE structures because they had been “incorrectly designed”. It also blamed the late delivery of materials.

But the line will reopen with the Class 172 trains on the 27th February.

In June 2016, I wrote The Signs Of Bad Planning On The Gospel Oak To Barking Line Were There.

In the post, I talk about the rebuilding of three bridges on the line at Wightman Road, Palmerston Road and Holloway Road, which although Palmerston Road was done early and successfully, Holloway Road was going well at the time of writing, but Wightman Road had almost been forgotten.

The closure of Wightman Road for rebuilding certainly caught a lot of people by surprise.

There was also the late rebuilding of Holloway Road bridge, which certainly caught Islington Council on the hop.

If you read a News Release from the Barking – Gospel Oak Rail User Group dated the 6th February 2017, this is said.

Other problems have been accidental breaches of sewers in Walthamstow by pile drivers and the discovery that there will be insufficient clearance for the overhead wires under the road bridge at Crouch Hill station.

It is believed that Network Rail has received a temporary dispensation to run electric trains under the bridge pending a later closure to raise the height of the bridge.

As the guy said, when he breached the sewer – “Shit Happens!”

February 7, 2017 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Electrification, Gospel Oak And Barking Line