I had seen the new coverage of this down south, but didn't know it was also an issue here.
This is actually from January. Anyone know more?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Rail bridges being filled in?
(23 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Worth following for more info:
Posted 2 years ago # -
I thought there was a thread on here about this before?
Easier for network rail / other owners of bridges to block the bridges than fix them
Posted 2 years ago # -
In Scottish terms, part of the problem is that responsibility for such infrastructure hasn’t been devolved.
It’s already been done in Edinburgh.
A bridge on a live line at Newcraighall over a disused one was removed and replaced with an embankment, removing the opportunity of a useful connection.
CEC tried to stop it, but as usual, NetworkRail put a large price on an alternative that CEC was unwilling/unable to pay.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The bridges are the responsibility of Highways England - which took over when the British Railways Board (Residual) was wound up a few years ago. No real reason to fill in the small bridges, as repointing and other works are generally pretty cheap.
Posted 2 years ago # -
@morningsider "highways england" even in scotland? argh
Posted 2 years ago # -
@SRD- yes, more details: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/historical-railways/
Posted 2 years ago # -
“
Our team of engineers manage this work, making sure that the structures that need the most urgent attention are prioritised. It can involve repair and strengthening of structures. Very rarely it may include demolition, or partial or full infilling. Infilling is where we put material, such as crushed rock, underneath an old railway bridge to make sure it’s fully supported.
We will only move forward with demolition or infilling work after we’ve first checked with the local authority to see if they’d like to take-on the structure, perhaps for a new walking or cycling route. Where others propose a viable new use, and it is safe to do so, we will delay any work so that they can develop plans to take over responsibility for the structure.
“
Sounds perfectly fine.
Except it shifts responsibility to LAs. If only the UK (and it’s constituent parts) had organisations responsible for transport and/or decarbonising…
Posted 2 years ago # -
Though apparently -
“
The UK is going further and faster than any other major economy to achieve a completely carbon-neutral future. The UK will cut emissions by 78% by 2035 ukcop26.org
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https://mobile.twitter.com/ukgovscotland/status/1408072418510311428
Posted 2 years ago # -
Petition here https://www.change.org/p/highways-england-protect-our-railway-heritage-from-highways-england-s-wrecking-ball
Posted 2 years ago # -
Back in 1971 contemporous with the work of late Richard Hutchings (architect of National Parks Act, Trustee of Herbert Gatliff Hebredean Hostels Trust, and Derbyshire County Solicitor) buying the wayleaves of the Cromford & High Peak & Tissington Railways, and converting them to cycle routes, our Countryside Commission for Scotland reviewed the potential to take over the lines abandoned over the preceding 8 years, as long distance routes - 50 years on & Sustrans is still working on this! (I have a paper copy of the report - just need to get it scanned)
Roll forward and in 1990 I was learning about Rail Banking and the Rails to Trails operation - a lot slicker than Sustrans in their delivery at this time. Rail banking gave the private railroads tax and other benefits, for keeping the corridor intact as a transport resource. This wasn't only for a trail, but as a route for utilities, and a fine example was the Washington and Old Dominion in DC, where a high voltage power line and a trunk fibre optic shared the wayleave with a cycle trail. The real win here was that the wayleave payments for the power line and the fibre provided a core income to pay for path maintenance and staff. An added detail was that AT&T also provided phone boxes at key access points
In Scotland I've reprised this in a small way. In 1995 Cabletel (now Virgin?) put in a trunk fibre between Paisley and Greenock, 10 miles of which was mainly along the cycle route, installed along the edges at a much faster rate and lower cost than 200 metres at a time with traffic signals along the main A761. We got sculptures, path, and an office telephone system. Plus of course the cycle route between Drumgelloch and Bathgate maintained the wayleave for reinstating the railway, and provided the access for initial surveys - checking for any suspect mine workings under the line
Looking at the resource we still have, and the call to deliver high speed fibre broad band, with very possibly enhanced electricity or gas (reverting the current methane system to hydrogen, as it used to be before we switched to 'Natural Gas') NB the old Town Gas was c.50% Hydrogen plus a few less pleasant aliphatics, so a reversion will require a few tweaks to deal with the more pure product (eg some older pipes and valves may leak) - the 'grid' will however provide storage and National delivery for fuel cell powered transport, but we should press for & promote the retention of clear & contiguous transport wayleaves for the national assets that they are
Posted 2 years ago # -
I wondered if the simplest interim solution is along Tulyar's lines: to rapidly contrive a use for the wayleave in order to prevent infilling. Not necessarily a cycle path, but something for which a simple duct buried under tonnes of concrete would not be suitable.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Little point reverting the methane-based gas network to hydrogen when the vast majority of hydrogen available is made with either coal, oil, or...methane. And given the cost difference between those methods and "green" hydrogen produced via electrolysis(and I use inverted commas because exactly how green it is depends entirely on what you're using to fuel the power grid supplying the facility making it) that's unlikely to change any time soon - hydrogen is a complete boondoggle as a green tech, largely being pushed as an option because it lets the current energy companies continue their existing business model and infrastructure with minimal capital expenditure; the basic idea of pumping gas around to be burned has just got to go, and fuel cells won't be viable until we have an 80%+ renewable grid & the dirty sources have been so heavily taxed/regulated that electrolytic production is the superior economic choice.
But yes in general, using the paths for utility trunks sounds like a very sensible idea, which is likely why it will never happen :P
Posted 2 years ago # -
“fuel cells won't be viable until“
50 years ago, fuel cells were the ‘next big thing’.
Mildly OT - I think a major problem with ‘energy futures’ is the prevailing assumption of ‘more of the same’ - only (somehow) carbon free.
Plus the expectation of being able to rely on ‘technological fixes’ like carbon capture and storage which ‘someone else’ experimenting with.
Plus of course all the ‘battery breakthroughs’. Some expect to rely on (for instance) digging up more of Cornwall.
Not my definition of ‘sustainable’.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Was relieved to see this. Will be interesting to see where it goes.
Posted 2 years ago # -
“
Sustrans have identified 50 Historical Railways Estate structures – bridges and tunnels – potentially suitable for integration into future cycling and walking routes.
The report, produced for the Department for Transport (DoT), carried out an “initial assessment of 75 historic structures on hold for demolition and infilling works, seeking to determine the potential for walking and cycling routes.”
“
https://cyclingindustry.news/sustrans-research-explores-potential-cycling-and-walking-routes/
Posted 2 years ago # -
On a walk yesterday, I was wondering about the Neidpath tunnel by Peebles.
The new cycle path from Peebles to Eddleston is being worked on now. If the railway path from Peebles to Tweedsmuir was done, it would put Peebles at the centre of a wonderful network, particularly if the Eddleston path was continued to Leadburn and beyond
Posted 2 years ago # -
“
The analysis, based on responses from councils across England, Scotland and Wales, found 3,211 substandard bridges – but only a few hundred were likely to be repaired in the next five years owing to a shortage of funds, authorities said.
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Posted 2 years ago # -
@Frenchy: That dirt footpath follows the solum of the Drem-Gullane railway. It seems to have been fairly well ploughed over south of that bridge but from the satellite views it looks more or less complete from there all the way to Gullane. The OS suggests that the skew bridge over the Peffer Burn at grid reference NT484814 (which features in Andrew Hajducki's history of the line) is still in situ, which would no doubt be helpful for the cycle path plan.
AFAICS from the aerial photos it should be possible to access the dirt footpath via the field access about 150m west of the road overbridge, though it would mean skirting along the edge of the field. At the Gullane end I think it can be accessed from Saltcoats Road; for the first couple of hundred metres it follows the boundary of the golf course, so perhaps some risk of encounters with bolshie golfers, but after that it runs between field boundaries (some of which do look as if they've been partially grubbed up, but the path still appears to be there).
Posted 2 years ago #
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