Engineers At Network Rail Are Building A Tiny Railway Crossing For Wild Hazel Dormice To Help Protect The Endangered Species From Extinction
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Railway News.
This is the brief introductory paragraph.
This dormouse bridge will be the first of its kind. It will be built in summer 2022 on the Furness line in Lancashire.
Let’s hope after all this care and work, the dormice like it.
Crossing The Mersey
I took these pictures as the train to Liverpool crossed the Mersey yesterday.
Note.
- The green bridge is now called the Silver Jubilee Bridge, but when I lived in Liverpool and worked at ICI in Runcorn, everybody called it the Runcorn-Widnes Road Bridge.
- The train is on the Ethelfleda, Britannia or Runcorn Railway Bridge depending on your preference. I tend to use Britannia, as the guys I worked with used that name.
- The three towers of the cable stayed Mersey Gateway Bridge can be seen in several pictures.
- Fiddlers Ferry power station is now decommissioned, but was an almost 2GW coal-fired power station.
In January 2011, I took a video as I crossed the Mersey and it is shown in Train Across the Mersey.
The Future Of Fiddlers Ferry Power Station
The Wikipedia entry for the power station, says this about the future use of the site.
Demolition of the station was due to begin in 2020 and will take up to seven years. The land upon which it sits will be redeveloped, with Warrington Council stating it had designated the land as an employment site.
As it obviously has a high-capacity electricity connection and there is a lot of offshore wind power in Liverpool Bay, I would feel it could be an ideal location for a large battery of perhaps 2 GWh.
The Future Of The Britannia Railway Bridge
The bridge was opened in 1868 and is Grade II* Listed.
Did the designer of the bridge; William Baker ever envisage, that in the future his bridge would be carrying trains over 250 metres long, that were capable of 125 mph?
Probably not! But in a few years, the bridge will be carrying High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains between London and Liverpool.
No Trains Out Of Cornwall Until The Weekend After Lorry Hits Plymouth Bridge
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
A few points from the article.
- It was a Tesco truck.
- It took twenty-four hours to extract.
- The accident happened on Ashford Hill in Plymouth.
I found the bridge on Google Maps.
Note.
- The railway and the bridge are at the top of the map.
- My eyesight isn’t good, but I can see the warning signs on the bridge.
- There is a TescoExpress in the bottom right corner of the map.
It can’t be a lot more than a hundred metres between the bridge and the TescoExpress.
To make matters worse for the train operators, the accident site is to the East of Plymouth station, which means trains can’t run to Plymouth.
Will GWR Use Okehampton?
Network Rail have already re-laid the track to Okehampton, prior to opening an hourly service between Exeter and Okehampton later this year.
Okehampton station is close to the A30 and I suspect that GWR would have little difficulty running a five-car Hitachi train to Okehampton from London with a reverse at Exeter. At Okehampton, they could use coaches to serve Cornwall by running to Bodmin Parkway.
If I was the CEO of GWR, I’d see if it could be arranged, as what good publicity they’d get for the new Okehampton service.
Mott’s £6m Plan Approved For Hammersmith Bridge
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Construction Index.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has approved a new plan to stabilise Hammersmith Bridge at significantly below the original expected cost, with works completing in less than a year.
Consulting engineer, Mott MacDonald have developed a solution to the bridge that is simple in the extreme.
This sentence describes the principle at the heart of the solution.
The Mott MacDonald solution involves the use of elastomeric bearings, which allow any pressure to be applied equally to all four corners while protecting the vulnerable 134-year-old cast iron structure.
There would also appear, that some very serious computing has been applied to allow the new bearings to be inserted, by just jacking up the bridge.
In addition to the cost and the speed of installation, the Mott MacDonald plan has been welcomed by Heritage England, will require less closures and doesn’t involve diversion of the gas main.
Conclusion
This intervention will stabilise the bridge and give time for a long-term solution to be developed, that will allow the bridge to be opened to vehicles.
Can We Innovate Our Way Out Of Our Troubles?
One Of London’s biggest problems at the moment is the bridges across the Thames.
This article on the BBC is entitled London’s Bridges ‘Are The Capital’s Embarrassment’ and is typical of many.
Hammersmith Bridge is causing particular trouble and has been closed to all traffic for some time.
But then I saw this innovative solution to the Hammersmith Bridge problem.
Note.
- Hammersmith Bridge is still closed.
- A floating bridge has been added alongside for pedestrians and cyclists.
- The floating bridge uses parts of the old Blackfriars pier.
- There is an innovative floating pontoon, which is activated by the current, that is used in the middle of the river to transfer passengers across.
- New Civil Engineer thinks, the temporary bridge could become a tourist attraction.
The design made me smile.
The Footbridge At Feltham Station – 13th October 2020
Next to Feltham Station, Network Rail are building an unusual footbridge.
This visualisation from Network Rail shows the design.
These are the pictures I took today.
Some of the features of the bridge can be picked out on the visualisation.
Dutch Province To Introduce Regular Hydrogen Services
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the International Railway Journal.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The regional transport authority in the Dutch province of Groningen has announced plans to introduce hydrogen trains for its regional concession following a successful test earlier this year.
In March 2019, I went to Groningen and explored the railways in the area, where Stadler GTW trains are used for the train services.
These trains are a smaller version of Greater Anglia’s Class 755 trains.
In The Train Station At The Northern End Of The Netherlands, I describe a visit to Eemshaven station to the North of Groningen.
I said this.
At the turnround at Eemshaven with the driver, he indicated that there had been speculation about battery and hydrogen trains in the North of The Netherlands.
It appears the driver was right.
The Bridge Over The Ems
The article also indicates that the bridge over the River Ems, that I wrote about in From Groningen To Leer By Train, could be opening soon.
This video shows what the new bridge will look like.
And this Google Map shows the current state of the bridge.
I’m not sure of the date of the picture, but there still appears a lot of work to do.
A Fixed Link To Northern Ireland
The title of this post is the same as an article in Issue 898 of Rail Magazine, that has been written by Jim Steer, who is a well-known rail engineer.
It is very much a must-read and he is in favour of the link.
- It’s all about reducing carbon footprint of travel between the UK and Ireland.
- The bridge would be rail-only.
- Goods currently sent by truck, would go by rail.
- There would be a 125 mph rail link across Galloway between the bridge and HS2/West Coast Main Line.
- A London and Belfast time of three-and-a-half hours would be possible.
- A frequent Edinburgh and Belfast via Glasgow service would be provided.
- He believes the Northern Ireland rail network should be converted to standard gauge and expanded, so that large areas of Northern Ireland will benefit.
Increasingly, serious people are coming behind this project.
Election 2019: DUP Manifesto At A Glance
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is said under Infrastructure.
The infamous bridge from Northern Ireland to Scotland makes an appearance in the manifesto. It has been mooted on a number of occasions, despite a number of potential barriers to its construction.
Not everyone believes those barriers are insurmountable, though.
I don’t and feel strongly, that the bridge should be built and linked to High Speed Two
- London and Belfast in four hours
- London and Dublin in five hours.
- Belfast and Glasgow in under two hours.
Not forgetting, it would become an important freight route..
The Bridges At Mirfield
The tracks through Mirfield station are due to be upgraded as part of Network Rail’s £2.9billion project to upgrade the Huddersfield Linebetween Huddersfield and Dewsbury stations, that I wrote about in Network Rail Reveals Detailed £2.9bn Upgrade Plans For TransPennine Route.
This Google Map shows the railway bridges, a road bridge and the surrounding land.
These pictures show the bridges.
The bridge is in two parts and the original stone bridge is Grade II Listed. The entry on Historic England contains this description of the bridge.
Railway bridge. Circa 1840. Engineer George Stephenson, supervisor T. L. Gooch, for the Manchester and Leeds Railway. Rock-faced stone with rusticated dressings. Four segmental arches over river and a further five arches to west and two to east, all on bull-nosed abutments. String course at base of stone parapet. Later steel bridge on south side, not included in the item.
I suspect that it will be needed to be treated very sensitively, because of the age, the Listed status and the builder.
I also feel, that any work won’t be easy, due to the restricted site and the River Calder underneath.
I feel that the most likely track layout through Mirfield station will be the reduced four-track layout, that I found in this document on the Digital Railway web site is entitled Transpennine Route Upgrade SDO1 ETCS – Analysis.
Note.
- There are four tracks between Mirfield station and Heaton Junction, where trains go South-West towards Deighton and Huddersfield.
- The older stone bridge would appear to be carrying the slow trains and those going between Brighouse and Wakefielld.
- The steel bridge on the South side would appear to be carrying the fast trains.
It looks to me, that the track layout has been designed, so that the steel bridge can be replaced if required, without too much disruption.
The Weight Limit Of The Existing Bridges
TransPennine Express have bought a series of trains, that will be running over the existing bridges.
So they can’t be that weak!
Electrification
Electrification could be a problem on the older stone bridge, as it is the sort of project like the Steventon Bridge, that the Heritage Lobby like to attack!
The Anonymous Widower 