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In the news again!
Bat flaps used to help clear Galashiels railway tunnel
A series of one-way flaps and pipes have been fitted to a Victorian rail tunnel in the Borders to enable bats to leave ahead of renovation works.
The operation was necessary after a small group of the animals was discovered near Galashiels.
Story continues:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-23973127
"
Row over number of bikes to be carried on new line
THE controversial Borders Railway has run into a new row, this time over the number of bikes it will carry.
Scottish ministers are coming under pressure to ensure trains travelling to one of Scotland's most popular cycling areas will be equipped to carry more than three bikes per carriage.
...
The Federation of Small Businesses lobbied enterprise and tourism minister Fergus Ewing in a bid to ensure cyclists could make full use of the line.
"
Nice to see pressure coming from a group outside the "cycling lobby". They obviously appreciate the potential benefit encouraging cyclists to the Borders can bring.
Transport Scotland seem to have been caught by surprise.
"The spokesman said cycle parking would be provided at all seven Borders Railway stations."
Missing the point somewhat.
Tourism in the Borders is quite low key, but it is very popular for cycling of all forms (and there's quite a few audaxes). Let's hope that they can come to a sensible solution here and maybe it can become an example for other railway lines.
I suspect that unless specified in the Scotrail franchise, there is exactly zero chance of enhanced cycle carriage on the Borders railway. Which is a pity. I am looking forward to being able to take my bike to Galashiels on the train. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
It is good as well to see the FSB, of all bodies, lobbying for better cycle provision! Will wonders never cease?
Fingers crossed that old Class 156 units are cascaded onto the Borders Railway, as they'll have good bike capacity.
The 158s with their bike cupboards are the least desirable solution.
I wonder if suburban 170s are more likely given they already run to Newcraighall? This would be a good choice giving official capacity of 4 bikes per set, potentially up to 8 with guard discretion.
The article is a little bit confused by implying that the workings being blocked up near Monktonhall are part of Monktonhall. The working level at Monktonhall was 930m deep brick/concrete lined shafts, which were good and proper sealed up by the Coal Authority years back. What they must be uncovering and filling are the early and pre-Industrial revolution shallow workings around Edmonstone.
@kaputnik The 158's used for Highland services (which migrate to the south for various diagrams) have no cupboard (only 4 units might remain so equipped, - gained by Scotrail from England about 3 years ago) Highland ones have a seat of seats removed in the 'other' coach. My record for a Northern Rail train with 140 seats filled by 78 passengers was having 8 bikes in the bike space (ie 10% of passengers with bikes) I would suggest that this is a commonly found percentage on routes popular with cyclists. After PfS I observed an arrival at Glasgow Queen Street when 32 bikes came off a 6 coach Class 170 (that would be 8 bikes in bike spaces and 2 bikes per vestibule in each of the 12 doorways on the opposite side to the platforms.
Basically for a 130-seat 'Highland' Class 158 6 bikes can comfortably be fitted on the unit and approximate to 5% of the seated capacity - or 10% of a half filled train - typical for off-peak travel on most trains I've checked.
Records for Scotland as far as I'm aware - Class 334 (130 passengers 13 bikes 260 seat trains - Ardrossan harbour 14.15 service - common) Class 314 37 bikes on 3 coaches for Loch Lomond path opening, 36 bikes on Class 380 etc. We do need to press for flexibility in internal layouts that permits bikes to go on board and internal layouts that (despite Scotrail's position on this) that allow tandems and other special types of cycle to fit on board. If you do get them on take pictures! and do count the bikes on the trains!
You've only got to look at the Highland "mainline" to see just how difficult and expensive it is to retrospectively try and double-track a railway. For the sake of a few more metres width of concrete and steel we're determining ourselves to have either an underperforming railway or a massively expensive and disruptive future project.
Very parochial and underwhelming are the aspirations of Transport Scotland that they're planning for such a slow and infrequent service now with a very restricted ability to increase capacity in the future. Even the Victorians built this route double-track.
Imagine the hoo-hah if they had decided the Elephant Replacement Crossing should be one lane each way and if we need to widen it in the future we should demolish what we've already built and replace it with something a bit wider.
The original design for Borders included, where feasible, room for future electrification and double tracking (ie, the single track was to be laid on one side of the inherited trackbed rather than down the middle). NR must be fiddling about with the designs now.
Recent news releases from Borders Railway project include these photos of bridge works in progress.
Sheriffhall:
Not much room for a double track in there, no chance of a cycle lane either! Presumably to get the whole project in on budget they had to cut the span?
Here's the bridge over the A7, which appears to have room for twin tracks?
Despite some of the engineering challenges and achievements in re-instating the line, their approach to the service (and double tracking) is highly parochial. "We said we'd build a railway, so we did, nobody said we had to provide a convenient and easy ride on it!"
Oh I passed under that A7 bridge the other day. Definitely room for two tracks there.
I like the early start to services too: should allow for taking part in some Galashiels audax events from 2015 onwards...
Getting off at newcraighall and cycling would probably speed things up for the commuters?
Reasonable chunks of the route are double track, see attached schematic:
http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk/media/22114/Schematic%20Line%20Overview.pdf
Looking at the engineering drawings, it seems like the northernmost double track section extends under the bypass:
http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk/media/13339/129713-bam-drg-md-000006.pdf
Think the perspective on the picture makes the new tunnel look narrower than it is in real life. Hope so anyway, apparently building the temporary bypass deviation cost £1m, so can't see them doing that again.
The line is being built on a shoestring budget (really) as many politicians were/aren't in favour of it and the budget was kept as low as possible to try and keep it from looking too scary. The fact it might constrain future growth is of no interest to current politicians - that will be someone else's problem to deal with.
I stand corrected. Good that the double track covers the main crossing points, should allow for some flexibility in timetabling as the railway service matures.
I am reading Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal, which is a good novel and made a good film as well. It was published in 2003. It includes these lines:-
"We took a taxi from Edinburgh to Peebles. This was an extravagant thing to do, but Sheba said that the train would be too slow."
I thought it was a novel about relationships, not science fiction. .
The fact it might constrain future growth is of no interest to current politicians; that will be someone else's problem.
I think that rather neatly sums up the UKG stance on everything ever.
From this:
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/section-of-a6106-to-close-for-six-months-1-3255755
'A 130ft-wide tunnel has already been carved beneath the City Bypass'
Thats on Wide Tunnel!! I wonder how long it is?
And as for Lord Steel, he must be an ignorant fool if he didn't know what Willie Ross was doing at the time!
Think that is "long" - "wide" = 'under the bypass'.
That's only 40 metres. I think that possibly is genuinely the width from having seen the tunnel.
no it's the length - it's basically a concrete box, the apparent width from external inspection being the cutting they've dug to sink the box into. When it's all filled back in again it will be a fairly narrow tunnel, 130ft in length.
John Furnevel's photos on the Railscot site give a pretty clear overview of how it's being constructed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-26031827
Borders Railway: Black Path closure.
The Black Path between Langlee and Tweedbank will be shut from 17 February 2014.
Works on the Redbridge viaduct over the River Tweed will result in footpath diversion via Galafoot Bridge which will be in place for the duration of the works. Work on the bridge will continue once the path reopens, with the walking route fenced off.
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