The Railway Magazine – August 2019

FiddlersFerryto

close in March

ENERGYprovider SSEhas

announcedFiddlersFerry

powerstation, nearWarrington,

will closein March2020.

Thedecision is another blow

to rail-b orne coal traffic,which

has beeninsteep declineover

thelastfew years as the UK

movestoc leanerfuels and

renewableenergysources.

The50-year-old facilityis

currently servedbyFreightliner

and DB Cargo.

NRbidsforBritish

Steelrail assets

NETWORK Rail (NR )has moved

to protec tits supplychain by

making anoffer forrailw ay-

critical assets from BritishSteel.

TheBritishSteel Scunthorpe

plantsupplies 95%of NR’s rails,

comprising around3% of the

troubledsteelmaker’s business.

NR’s preferenceist hata

buyerisf oundforthe complete

business,and it cont inuesto

work withtheliquidatorand

anypotentialnewownersof

the British Steel plant.

However, NR iskeen to

avoid the closure of the

specialistrail pl ant, which

would forc eittoimport

supplies fromoverseasifno

other buyer isfound.

AppealforPaddle

SteamerWaverley

OWNERSof the paddle

steamerWaverleyhave

embarkedona£2.3million

appealtoreplacethe ship’s

boilers andre-commission

forthe 2020 season.Funding

has allowed the new boilers

forthe former LNER-owned

vessel to be ordered,but more

is needed.

Donations can be madeat:

https://tinyurl.com/y3gcec8o

SixthTripAdvisor

awardfor Ecclesbourne

DERBYSHIRE'S Ecclesbourne

Valley Railway(EVR), based

at Wirksworth,haspickedup

its sixthconsecutive annual

Certificate of Excellenceaward

from the travel-relatedwebsite

TripAdvisor.

Deputy managingdirector

TomTait said:“Itisapositive

indication thatwe’re doing

thingsright.”

ANEW bookazinethatlooks at

Darlington and its200 years of

railway history, from George

Stephensonto the new

Hitachitrains,has gone on sale,

priced £6.99.

It is writtenby Jonathan

Webb and publishedby

Mortons (publishers

ofTheRM).

Thebookazine

is available from

newsagents or

online with free

P&P at:https://

tinyurl.com/

y3dbvr9r

Newbookazine

focuseson

Darlington

8•TheRailway Magazine•August

SIDELINES

ByBenJones

DEMOLITIONof former Great

WesternRailway shedsat Old Oak

Common, inwest London,was

completed in July.

Originally built in 1906, the

280-metrelongshedswereonce

partoft he vast Old Oak depot

site. Much ofthe sitewas cleared

in 2011to makeway fo rthe

neighbouring Crossrail depot,but

some partswerein useforHST

maintenanceuntil June.

Theformer heavy maintenance

and wheel lathe sheds have also

been demolished,and 40,

tonnes ofconcret eslab,which

covered aquarteroft he sit e, has

been crushed andrecycled.

Theformer trainwashing plant

wascarefully dismantled and

movedtoLong Rock depot in

Penzancefor further use.

Theadjacent1970s diesel

shed is dueto be demolished in

the autumn, with the Heathrow

Express buildingsexpectedto

remain into 2020, beforethey are

also removedtomakeway for

construction of the new station.

Clearanceoft he sitepaves

the wayfor constructionto start

on the £1billion HS2/Crossrail

interchange,although thatwill

not begin untilSeptemberat the

earliest afteralegal challenge

by HS2 Ltd failedto liftacourt

suspension on thecontra ct.

Global engineering and

constructiongiants Bechtel

claimed inFebruarythatHS2 Ltd

had accepted an‘abnormally low’

bid from the successful Balfour

Beatty,Vinci andSystra (BBVS)

jointventure. Thesuspension

remained in placeafter the

courtruled Bechteldid not have

sufficienttime to gather all the

necessaryevidencebyJuly.

HS2 Ltd denies the allegations

GWRsheds make wayfor

OldOak Common hub

madeby Bechteland sa ys there

is no waytoi dentify whether the

bid is abnormally low.

Thecasewillreturnto co urton

September 3, andBechtelwill

return to co urtagain on

October 5todetermine if it is

owed damages inrelati on to HS

Ltd’s procurementprocess.

Acro ss the capital,morethan

twothirds of demolitions have

nowbeen completed,with more

than 1,500 peopleat work on the

project.

Recentwork has included the

demolition ofvariou sbuildings

arou nd Euston station, the

dismantling of three disused

container cranesatWillesdento

crea te anew HS2rail lo gistics

hub,and clearanceoft he

planned depot siteatWashwood

Heath in Birmingham.

Clearanceoft he station site

at Curzon Street is alsowell

unde rway.

■EngineeringconsultantWSP

has modified theroof design

of Old OakCommon HS

interchange,using wind tunnel

andsnowmodellingtechniques,

to eliminate 1,000tonnes of

structural steel and save £7million.

HIGHSpeed2Ltd chairman

AllanCook hasreportedly

warned theDepartmentfor

Transpor t(DfT)thatthe new

railway cannot be delivered

within its £56billion budget.

Pressreports in July

suggested upto £30bnextra

could be neededto co mplete

the high-speed line,which

stretches fromEuston to the

West Midlands and north of

England.

However, HS2Ltd andthe DfT

refusedto co nfirm thereports,

saying:“The chairman of HS

Ltd is conducting detailedwork

into the costs and schedule of

the projecttoe nsureitd elivers

benefitsto passengers,the

economy, andrepresentsvalue

formoneyforthe taxpayer.

“This work is ongoing.We

expectAllan Cook to provide his

final assessmentind ue course.”

Fears

However, the probabilityHS

will cost considerably morethan

projectedhas beenraised by

several independentreports in

recent years,leadingto fears

the eastern leg,serving the East

Midlands andYorkshire, maybe

sacrificedto reducecosts.

TheHybrid Billforthe

construction ofPhase 2a of

High Speed2(HS2), linking

theWest Midlandsto Crewe

and Manchester,passed its

ThirdReading in the House of

Commons on July 16.

With across-party majority

of 246votes, thebill has now

passedto the House ofLords,

and isexpectedtobegranted

RoyalAssentbyParliamentlater

this year.

Unless the entireprojectis

delayedbythe review promised

by new PrimeMinisterBoris

Johnson, environmentalworks

would begin in early-2020,

with major civil engineering

works following from mid-

andpassenger services from

late-2027.

HS2 costs to increaseby£30billion?

Demolition of theformerGWRshedsat

OldOakCommon is nowcompleteand

preparations areunderwayfor the new

HS2/Crossrail super-hub on the site.HS

WMTtoseparateEuston-

NewStreet-Rugeleytrains?

Track workersdie afterbeing

struck by traininSouthWales

THE Rail AccidentInvestigation

Branch (RAIB), BritishTransport

Policeand Office of Rail and Road

(ORR) launchedamajor investigation

aftertwo trackworker swerestruck

and killed by atrain in SouthWales

on July 3.

Gareth Delbridge,64, andMichael

Lewis,58, werefatally injuredby

Grea tWesternRailway’s 09.

Swansea-Paddington.Athirdworker

wastreatedfor shock.

Thetrain waspassingMargam,

east ofPortTalbot Parkway, at

around 73mph, when the GWR

driver spotted the three track

workerswalkin gawayfromhim on

the Down line and three moreon

the line ahead of his train.

Despitesounding the horn

and making an emergencybrake

application, the 10-car Class 800

wasstill tr avellingat around 50mph

when the incidentoccurred.

RAIB’s initialreportsuggested

the team had been usingapetrol-

enginedtool andat least one of the

workerswaswearing ear defenders.

CCTV footage taken from the

forward-facing cameraoft he Class

800 suggests theworker sdid not

becomeawareoft he train until it

wasveryclose to them.

Normally,track gangsconducting

noisywork would do so during a

temporaryline closureorwith the

aid of lookouts.

Investigators ar eexpectedtof ocus

on whatsafet yarrangementswere

in placefor the men involved.

■Network Rail has launchedanew

task force,backedwith a£70million

fund to improvetrack-worker safety.

Themovefollows concerns from

ORR, which has issued NR withtwo

improvementnoticesrelatingto

track -worker safety. Theforce will be

headedby Martin Frobisher.

ByTonyMiles

ON-GOING delays and

cancellations to trains on

the new‘joined-up'route

between London and

RugeleyTrentValle yvia

Birmingham NewStreet

has ledto West Midlands

Trains (WMT)admitting

it mayhavetoreturn

these servicesto separate

operations.

Some improvements

have been seen, but

passengersat Rugeley

Town and RugeleyTrent

Valley reportservices

continue to be turned

back shortatHednesford,

with them facing long

waits or journeysby

replacementbuses.

WMTadmits the

situation is still difficult,

with head ofcorporate

affairsFrancisThomas

telling local BBC News:

“Weare moving 150,

extrapeopleaweek

nowwe've got the new

timetable.For the Chase

Line,weare lookingat

ever yaspectofwhy that

serviceisn't working.

“The new interventions

we'veput in placehave

meantthatthe serviceis

improving,but we know

there’sstill more to do.”

Mr Thomas admitted

thatcreatinganew

timetable can takeuptoa

year,with May2020 being

the earliest thatchanges

could be introduced.

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