Let's start of with my old favourite, the Settle - Carlisle line.
In April we are going to start what should be the last bit of major track renewal needed on the line to replace most of the old jointed track with continuously welded rail (CWR). We are replacing 23 miles of track at 22 different locations. Much of the work will be on the northbound line, north of Appleby but there are also seven sites south of the town and all that work will be on the southbound line.
All the work is being done overnight during the week, so minimising disruption to passenger trains and doing away with the need for a complete line closure as has been the case in the last two or three years - so no more Ribblehead Viaduct public walks!
The work will finish in September.
We are using the New Track Construction train, which virtually lays the track in front of itself as it goes along. Take a look at the photos below. Not sure that I would want to be the 'operative' that you can just make out in his hi-vis gear inside the machinery in the photo on the right.
On a much smaller scale we move to Earlestown, a station on the fringes of what is called Merseyside. It's an unusual station in that it has a triangular island platform. Platforms 1 and 2 are on the Manchester - Liverpool line, platforms 4 and 5 are electrified as they privide a link to the west coast main line. They are also used by the Arriva Trains Wales diesel service between Wales, Chester and Manchester. Platform 3 is largely unused (I think, but I am open to correction).
We are part way through a project to completely rebuild platforms 4 and 5. Our contractor J Murphy & Sons is working on one end of each platform while the trains use the opposite end. Fortunately the platforms are long enough to be able to do that otherwise it would have meant closing the platforms completely. Platforms are being surfaced in tarmac and the photo on the left shows the steam rising while Murphy's people work on it. The photo on the right is the 'southbound' platform under construction.
From Earlestown, we stay on Merseyside but move north to Southport where we are strengthening one of the main road-over-rail bridges to the east of the town.
The road is the A5267 which carries St Lukes Road over the Southport to Wigan line. Nearly 19,000 vehicles use it each day, of which just over 450 are HGVs - and that is the problem. The bridge has failed its structural assessment based on modern criteria. That doesn't mean it is about to fall down, it just doesn't meet the latest standards required to allow 40 tonnes lorries to use it. If the work isn't done, the highway authority (Sefton Council) would have to impose weight restrictions which would mean HGVs would be banned as would larger emergency vehicles sich as ambulances and fire appliances.
The bridge has three spans. The deck of one span is to be replaced, an additional supporting pier will be built in between the train tracks effectively dividing the main span in two and the footpaths over the third span are to be strengthened to withstand an HGV mounting the pavement.
The photo on the left shows the road with bollards to keep vehicles off the pavements. The other photo show us doing our bit for butterfly conservation by providing buddleia for them to feed on.
The final bit of this post brings us right up to date with the publication last Tuesday of the Northern Hub study by Network Rail. This is our part of what started out as the Manchester Hub study by The Northern Way, which is an amalgamation of three separate regional development agencies covering most of the north of England. They put together their thoughts on what transport developments would be needed to sustain and build the economy and we have turned their aspirations into reality.
In simple language, we can do it all for £530m, primarily by building two additional platforms at Manchester Piccadilly station; building an additional curve line in Ordsall, Salford which will provide a direct link between Victoria and Piccadilly stations; building some additional passing loops at various places; reopening two of the closed bores of Standedge Tunnel.
If you want to find out more, take a look at my news release where you will find the 8-page summary brochure that you can download. There is also some fancy CGI that you might want to look at. The full 85-page brochure is also on the Network Rail website.
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