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CHRISTMAS
CLIVE KESSELL
A Great (Western) Christmas
O
ne of the many projects that took place over the Christmas period involved the Great Western main line between London and Slough. There was no major headline project, but the opportunity of the twoday train service shutdown was taken to do some important renewal and enhancement work. Some disruption to train services before and after was inevitable but this was kept to a minimum. A variety of work took place. Trackwork was renewed, overhead electrification lines were remodelled, signalling systems were enhanced and stations were upgraded. This one article attempts to draw all of these individual works together, the common link being that they were all carried out on the Great Western route out of Paddington, which, as a result, was closed from 24 to 27 December and offered a reduced service from 28 to 31 December.
Track and crossing renewal Southall East junction, at the London end of the station, has a ladder junction enabling trains to cross from Up Main to Up Relief or from Down Relief to Down Main, as well as permitting crossover movements between the various lines as and when required. The Christmas renewal involved the switches between the two relief lines, part of an ongoing project which commenced in Christmas 2018, at which time half
Rail Engineer | Issue 181 | Jan/Feb 2020
of the junction was renewed. This year, the third quarter was added to the project, with the remaining quarter being planned for just before Christmas 2020. A conversation with the project manager – Sarah Fraser – who works in the Network Rail track renewals office at Bristol revealed all.
Essentially, this was a like-for-like renewal, so it was relatively easy to implement. The relief lines are maintained for 90mph running, with the ladder junction allowing 70mph crossing movements. Hence, the pointwork stretches over a considerable distance. It required an all-line possession (because of overhead electrification work – see next section) from 01:30 on Christmas Eve through to 04:00 on 28 December and then possession of the relief and main lines in turn from 28-31 December, which allowed a reduced train service to operate with a full timetable being restored on New Year’s Day.
