23 August - Crossrail suffers delays but arrives on time
This weekend has seen a huge amount of Crossrail activity in and around Abbey Wood Station.
At the last Crossrail Liaison Panel meeting
the Network Rail Project manager said that Felixstowe Road would be restored to two way working by the end of July, Gayton Road
would be back to normal by the end of September. The Bostall Manorway bridge would be installed in August
and new track would be put in place around the station during September and
October. Except that Felixstowe Road is still far from finished the forecast
would appear to have been a good one.
The
major undertakings today and yesterday were the installation of the new
footbridge at Bostall Manorway and the replacement of the London bound North
Kent line behind Fendyke Road.
The bridge was eventually installed after innumerable delays at 5 p.m. today.
Messages from useful on site contacts had at first been predicting 9 p.m.
Saturday followed by many others specifying progressively later times. I made
ten abortive trips before the eleventh brought forth the desired photos of a
bridge dangling from an enormous crane.
The bridge is 42 metres long and weighs 38 tonnes. It was fabricated more than a year ago by
DMG Steelworkers in Wigan and stored in Skelmersdale from where it was
transferred to Dartford a few days ago from where it could be summoned quickly
when required.
The track replacement east of the station is causing some consternation among
local residents as it has been placed in exactly the same position as the old
North Kent line. The expectation from those who lost gardens and sheds to
Crossrail was that the line would be slewed to the south.
The explanation is simple and sensible. When the time comes to align the new
track to the new London bound platform it will be relatively easy to nudge it
over, much quicker than laying new track at that stage on what would already be
a very busy weekend. And nudging old track would run the risk of breaking it.
The third activity, and the one pictured here, was a modification to the central
staircase of the station footbridge. I understand it is a minor redesign to
improve access to the new platform and according to my informant will be noticed
by tomorrow’s commuters.
With more than 160 photographs to chose from and a lack of inclination to do so
following eleven tiring visits to Mottisfont Road (site of the new bridge) the
photo feature is not going to appear until tomorrow.
More Crossrail related blogs.