Goblin Electrification info

I only see bits and bobs. I haven't seen any articles or presentations about the works / progress. I'm not even sure the full scope of *all* of the works being done (including stuff at stations) are in the public domain. The twitter account for the works showed masts in place at Crouch Hill and also that they are doing track lowering on the curve round to the ECML at the moment. I had a short walk through the back doubles to see the new slab track and new ballasted track through Walthamstow recently. Workers were putting new cable troughs in place. Installation of masts is distinctly patchy at the moment. Some sections have them, others don't (Ferry Lane for example hasn't got them yet although there are some near the bridges over the Lea navigation). Lots of preparatory work ongoing for the bridge replacement there next month. A concrete pour is taking place at Blackhorse Rd today - I assume for foundations for the new accessibility facilities on the wb platform. Those for the eb platform were there the other week. I expect we'll see the modular ramps in due course once the structure has gone up for the lift tower. Not sure if the footbridge is being retained or not.

As to questions well it looks like the User group are very fed up. They are firing questions at TfL via the Mayor every Mayor's Question Time via their usual Assembly Member contacts. There have been repeated questions about refunds for regular users displaced from the line and travelling via more expensive routes, questions about cuts to the rail replacement buses (Barking service has seen off peak reductions apparently). For MQT tomorrow we are back to questions about using displaced class 315 EMUs off the Shenfield line and also questions about why TfL won't respond to the user group!!! Finally they are asking whether the works are on time. Given we are only 2.5 months away from reopening that's probably a pertinent question given the patchy at best progress. I'd certainly expected a far more regimented approach to installing the masts for example. I am also wondering whether NR will even string any catenary wires before February - there's no need for electric haulage straight away and if the wires were hung but not energised they'd be stolen almost straight away so I can see NR deliberately holding back on that and only installing and tensioning the wires at the very last minute. That obviously brings risks of its own around later possessions etc but we know that not all of the work will be done by early Feb anyway.

Quoted below are some of the questions for MQT tomorrow. Whether we get any answers next week remains to be seen. TfL are notoriously slow at answering "difficult" questions posed to the Mayor.

Wires into Barking pfm.1 look complete now.

Don't forget the 2 bridges over the River Lea just past South Tottenham as well as, according to Network Rail, they started to be replaced from 26th November until 6th Jan 2017.

A couple of photos from Blackhorse Road today showing works under way on Access for All and the extent of electrification. Cranes were in evidence at both of the Lea crossings near Tottenham Hale. A concrete pour was also being done for mast foundations on the Ferry Lane stretch. I imagine the masts will be in place very shortly.

www.flickr.com/photos/24759744@N02/30573040574/in/dateposted-public/

www.flickr.com/photos/24759744@N02/31025450360/in/dateposted-public/

When you say "separate" do you mean they are still NR works but within the "bridges and structures" work plan rather than electrification scope? I assume they are the last two bridges in that area to be attended to given others have been strengthened / refurbed / replaced. I know AFA is always separate - I've only been asking about the BHO works for years via Twitter. Took ages for anyone to admit they were actually going ahead.

Thanks for the explanation about the concrete pouring. Can't see NR being popular if they'd rammed a pile or two through the Vic Line tunnels.

Are the platform lengthening works happening within the blockade timescale or being done later in engineering hours? I know they are mostly (?) being procured separately by TfL. Will seem rather odd to reopen the route with promises of longer trains but without the platforms having been done in the blockade.

When are the new trains due to arrive?

It is a very long time since I have personally used this line, but I certainly recall that many of the platforms on the line were quite long and had been shortened mostly with barriers to block off the unmaintained extra section. I guess current HSE considerations could mean that work to reinstate the closed off platform sections might need a line possession to protect the workforce especially when fitting new style platform edges, but hopefully this sort of work can be accommodated overnight before the new longer trains become available.

However I really hope they are using this extended closure to sort out the two more problematic short platforms - South Tottenham and Harringey Green Lanes. To confirm my recollection I found a reasonably recent "drivers eye" video taken of the route on YouTube - Gospel Oak - Barking - Darren J which at 8.10 and 10.30 shows that extending these platforms could well be problematic if the line was operational. At Harringey Green Lanes it appears the earlier longer platforms have been removed, leaving just decapitated concrete stubs. As for South Tottenham I suspect the junctions before and after the already staggered platforms may make extending the current platforms problematic.

Network Rail have had a fair bit of bad press recently, with delayed and over budget  projects like the GWR Electrification.  I hope their planners have done a better job here as I doubt GOBLIN users will be keen to suffer further closures to extend platforms on a line which has already been subject to an extended closure.

I suspect that even building a platform from scratch, most of the work can be done while the service is running by the simple expedient of it being sufficiently far from the nearest running rail (2 metres?) and/or temporarily fenced off from it (this doesn't need to be a sturdy fence, just something to stop workers accidentally passing it I believe). The majority of remaining portion of the works will likely be able to be done in standard engineering hours and the little bit left will need only short (1-2 day) closures - and weekend closures will continue after the end of the blockade for other work anyway.

Most of the platform lengthening on GEML has been done with trains running.

And so far as I can see, you've done a good job, Rachael. Much more workmanlike than some of the extensions on the Chingford Line done in 1959-60 (also with the trains running!)

I believe the GOBLIN has using two-car DMUs since before privatisation; it formerly used to have longer trains when services ran into St. Pancras.

Yes, and very annoying they were. But that was mostly down to OLE renewal and Ilford depot reconfiguartion, not platforms

Here's an odd edifice...

The Redbridge incident was only a test drill to get a core sample. Very fortunately for the driver of the train that hit it, it missed him on its way to getting embedded in the bulkhead.

A much bigger auger penetrated the NCL tunnel near Old Street a few years ago. It later transpired that the test bores had not found the tunnel, and over a dozen piles were planned to be put right through where it ran. Fortunately the auger broke drilling the first one, and the driver of a passing train was alerted by the mysterious pile of mud that had suddenly appeared. It seems that none of the council planning department, architect, surveyor, or anyone else involved in the project even knew the line was there. (There are, of course, "no tube lines in Hackney")