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| Bedford Bridge Closures 26/02/2018 at 12:36 #106175 | |
58050
2659 posts |
Last Monday was the first day of the closure of Ford End Road bridge. This is the large road over rail bridge at the London end of Bedford station. The span over the Up & Down Fast lines is too low for the overhead wires to go under it & as a result that span has to be knocked down & re-built. The bridge won't re-open to road traffic until July(if all goes to pan). Then I suspect that Bromham Road bridge will be next which is the road over rail bridge at the north end of Bedford station as both spans will be too low. Those bridges are over 100 years old I suspect as I can remember them as they are now when I was very young. No doubt at some point the Up & Down Fast lines will be blocked to rail traffic & everything will be diverted via the station if pathing permits. It's causing chaos to the road traffic with the diversions going right past my front window. There are also several rumours going about of 2 new stations being built either side of Bedford. One at Souldrop just north of Sharnbrook Junction & the other at Whixham which is a large village to the south of Bedford(recently been built) which is in the vicinity of the Redlands depot south of Bedford off the Up Slow line. Both stations are going to be parkway stations.
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| Bedford Bridge Closures 26/02/2018 at 13:31 #106178 | |
Danny252
1461 posts |
Regarding those new stations, I know NR has recently started cancelling many resignalling projects over the next few years due to no funding for such projects. Does the same apply to any potential new stations, or is funding easier to come by for such projects?
Last edited: 26/02/2018 at 13:34 by Danny252 Reason: None given Log in to reply |
| Bedford Bridge Closures 26/02/2018 at 14:33 #106179 | |
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58050
2659 posts |
Also from what I'm led to believe from people who work for East Midlands Trains(EMT) that once the lectrification to Corby has been completed & the OLE has been energised there will be a major change to the train services to & from London St. Pancras. It would appear that all EMT services will no longer call at Luton Airport Parkway, Luton, Bedford or Wellingborough. All EMT services will be fast from Kettering to London St. Pancras & visa versa first stop Kettering. Thameslink would run services between London & Corby & visa versa. Intermeadiate stopping at Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford will be carried out by Thameslink services only, which has created a bit of a stink with commuters in Bedford as it has raised issues in the local papers. The one thing I hope happens, but is subject to money obviously is that they re-double the slow lines between Sharnbrook Jn & Gelndon North Jn. If they don't do it this time it will no doubt cost alot more in several years time when they do do it. This has been on the cards now for several years as well as the re-opening of the Up Slow Line platfoprm at Wellingborough which I hear is also on the cards.
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| Bedford Bridge Closures 26/02/2018 at 14:57 #106181 | |
Peter Bennet
5402 posts |
There is nothing in the current Franchise agreement (ending September 2021) about extending services North of Bedford. It's too early to say what the next Franchise will contain. Peter I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs! Log in to reply The following user said thank you: VInce |
| Bedford Bridge Closures 26/02/2018 at 15:01 #106182 | |
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58050
2659 posts |
I'm only going by staff members of EMT & Thameslink have told me Peter. Maybe the service will be extended to have trains running from Corby/Kettering through to Brighton & visa versa. That seems logical, but anything can happen I guess. Time will tell no doubt.
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| Bedford Bridge Closures 26/02/2018 at 15:17 #106184 | |
postal
5264 posts 
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Pascal Big article about it all in this month's Modern Railways. I've already binned my copy or I would have scanned it and sent it to you. The Thameslink changes are having an impact to the extent that flagship trains like The Cutler are having up to 10 minutes of padding added to their TTs which is not going down well! “In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe Last edited: 26/02/2018 at 15:25 by postal Reason: None given Log in to reply |