Flimsy It’s Not!
Some of the overhead electrification installed in recent decades has been rather less than robust. These pictures show some of the structures on the Great Western Main Line and Crossrail.
If you compare these pictures with those that I took at Eccles in October 2013, they do seem to be of a similar standard.
Hopefully, this current electrification won’t have some of the problems of projects that were done earlier.
The Reading To Basingstoke Line
The Reading to Basingstoke Line, which also leads to the Reading to Taunton Line, goes off in a southerly direction from the Great Western Main Line, to the west of Reading station.
The pictures show the junction. I was surprised to see that electrification has already started on this line. According to this announcement in 2009, electriofication will go as far as Newbury and Basingstoke.
This Google Earth image shows the junction and the Reading to Basomgstoke line as it goes south and passes within a good walking distance of the Madejsk Stadium. There are plans for a new station here called Reading Green Park. Wikipedia says that if approved by the council this year, it could be opened by 2017.
Oxford Station And Chiltern Trains
In a couple of years Chiltern Trains will go between London Marylebone and Oxford stations around the Bicester Chord. Wikipedia says this about how Oxford station will be expanded to accept the extra services.
The scheme also includes two new platforms at Oxford station, to be built on the site of the disused parcels depot. The new platforms would initially be five carriages in length, but provision will be made for them to be extended southwards to eight carriages.
These pictures show the Parcels Office.
I would suspect that any southward extension would use the car park.The Parcels Office is clearly shown in this Google Earth image of the station.
Oxford Station
Note the two coach train in Platform 3, by the Parcels Office, with the white flat roof on the northern end of the station.
Oxford Station
Oxford station shares a lot of similarities and problems with the station at Cambridge.
Both were badly designed when they were built and although Cambridge now has new platforms and a lot of rebuilding, Oxford is still in need of expansion.
These pictures show the current station at Oxford.
Oxford though has one problem that is nowhere near as bad at Cambridge; freight trains.
All of the issues at Oxford are set out in this document on the City of Oxford web site. It pays particular attention to the following.
1. East West Rail Link
2. Noise and Vibration in the area.
3. Freight Lengthening Project that will allow longer freight trains to go through the station, which has been completed.
4. Electrification
It doesn’t deal with new platforms at Oxford station for both Chiltern Railways and First Great Western.
The work for Chiltern Railways is shown in this post, whereas that for FGW is probabably more extensive and is described in this section in Wikipedia.
Oxford station will be a very different and busier station in the next few years.
3.
A Walk From Oxford Station
At Oxford station, I took a walk in a loop by the water and then along the railway, before crossing it on a bridge and returning along the Oxford Canal to the station.
It is a good walk, but it does need a few maps and fingerposts. This Google Earth image shows where I walked.
North Of Oxford Station
Note the bridge at the top and the station at the bottom.
I only took about an hour to do the walk and my main aim was to investigate the railway north of Oxford station, but Oxford station would certainly be a good place to start a walk either into the city or along the Thames or the Oxford Canal.
One thing that the walk showed me, was how much railway land there is in the area and with all the developments in services to the station, I’m sure it will be put to good use.
In some of the pictures you can see the Castle Mill development, which was nominated for the 2013 Carbuncle Cup.
From the railway side it looks fine, but I suspect from the river it grates in some peoples’ minds.
There is a noise debate rumbling on about the railway, which hopefully electrification will kill. But there will still be quite a few Class 66 hauled freight trains going through.
Works Around Reading
There is still a lot of work going on at Reading.
The main work, which is the viaduct is now substantially complete except possibly fdor electrification. But this is going on all round the area, between Slough and Didcot.
A Welcome For First Great Western’s Franchise Extension
First Great Western’s franchise extension with all its new trains has been welcomed in the heart of Wiltshire according to this report in the Wiltshire Times, which is entitled TransWilts rail campaigners welcome First Great Western franchise extension.
The TransWilts is a community rail line, that I rode last year in a very clean Class 153 single-carriage train. This is a key paragraph in the Wiltshire Times report.
Following the franchise extension announcement, First Great Western confirmed that the TransWilts service will continue to run beyond the end of the three-year trial in 2016, with single carriage trains expected to be doubled to two carriages from May 2017.
In a few years time, it looks like this vital rail link will be getting near to a adequate service acoss Wiltshire.
From Coventry To Nuneaton
The Coventry To Nuneaton Line is in the process of being upgraded, as this paragraph from Wikipedia details.
The line runs near to the Ricoh Arena football stadium on the northern edge of Coventry. Funding for two new stations, Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park, was approved in December 2011. New plans will also see the number of carriages increased from 1 to 3 and the service upgraded to half hourly, a new platform built at Coventry station and also future extensions of the line to Kenilworth and Leamington Spa.
After coffee with an old friend in Coventry, I decided to hop to Nuneaton using this line , from where I could get a train back to London.
The pictures show the character of the route and some of the building work at the new Coventry Arena station. I caught a glimpse of work at Bermuda Park station, but was unable to get a picture.
There is a third station being built in the area and that is Kenilworth station on the related Coventry to Leamington Line.
I think that the ambitious team that run Chiltern Railways will be looking to at least get a feeder service running from Nuneaton to Leamington, via Coventry and Kenilworth.
If HS2 goes ahead and Euston station is rebuilt, this could be an invaluable route to take pressure off the West Coast Main Line
Good Progress At The Bicester Chord
I went past the Bicester Chord today on my way to Birmingham and Coventry and some progress has seemed to have been made since I last did this in November last year.
The start of services is supposed to be in September 2015, when Chiltern Trains will reach Oxford Parkway station.
For more about this chord and the stations being built in the area; Bicester Town, Islip and Oxford Parkway, there is a lot of information at the Oxford to Bicester Collaboration web site.
Every project and especially major ones, should have a web site as good as this one.
The Japanese Are Going To Invade Devon And Cornwall
This is not a troubling story, but First Great Western have been given an extension to their franchise between London and the West Country that now runs until 2019.
As part of the franchise agreement they are going to purchase 29 new bi-mode AT300 trains from Hitachi. These will be similar to the Class 800 trains, that will be introduced from 2017 on the Great Western Main Line, but with bigger fuel tanks and engines to better cope with the demands of the route. This article in the West Briton explains it all in detail. This is said about the overall service to Devon and Cornwall in a similar article in Modern Railways.
The agreement promises more direct trains into Devon and Cornwall, including two trains per hour to the south west, a doubling of the number of services into and out of Cornwall, an earlier arrival into Plymouth and journey time reductions between Paddington and Penzance of up to 14 minutes.
My only worry about the express service, is will First Great Western still be offering Pullman Dining? I certainly hope so.
The At-300 will have that advantage that as electrification creeps further towards the West, they will be able to run more and more from an electric supply, which should speed up the service.
In tandem with the improvements on the express services, Class 365 and Class 387 electric multiple units will take-over the services between Paddington and the Thames Valley, which will mean that some Class 165, Class 166 and Class 168 diesel multiple units will be available to run local services in the Far West.
Things are looking up for trains in Devon and Cornwall.
But as there are respectively 36, 21 and 15 in each of the Classes 165, 166 and 168, I suspect that there will be a at least a few of these 1990s-built Networker trains to consign a several Pacers to the scrapyard.
So in my view although this is a deal for the West, it will have positive effects all over the UK.
The Anonymous Widower 