CardiffWalesMap

Might as well get the ball rolling with this topic.

The replacement of the Windsor Road bridge over the South Wales Mainline goes before the planning committee tomorrow (July 16).
The work is to replace the bridge in its entirety, albeit with a slightly different (raised) design to accommodate heavier road loads and future electrification of the line.
The work is due to start in December 2014/January 2015 and should last 12-18 months, to facilitate this the Butetown branch railway will be closed and the line removed to create a temporary access road to the underground car park of the Peacocks Headquarters - no idea if it will be reinstated upon completion, maybe when the Metro kicks off? (lol)

It seems weird to build a new platform for the Bay branch and then close the line for 18 months, is that definitely happening?

The butetown branch is not the bay line.

It goes to the steelworks

Does everyone agree that this thread should be used for all improvements to the railway locally or do projects like the rebuilding of Queen Street Station and Central Station deserve separate threads as they are not directly linked to the electrification?

New one for station upgrades and new one for metro?

redragon wrote:New one for station upgrades and new one for metro?

That was my thinking

Two applications in with the planning committee this week - one to replace the bridge at the bottom of Trowbridge Road over the main line with a raised footpath/cycle way, and the other to simply remove the bridge over the mainline at the bottom of Wentloog Road (been inaccessible for years, so long in fact that I thought it had already been removed!).

As the mainline electrification continues I'd expect more of these applications to appear - particularly New Road, Brachdy Lane, Beresford Road and Splott Road. Southern Way and Central Link already have enough clearance, Beresford Road I am uncertain on...

has the mainline electrification actually started then? I assumed it would start near London and work its way towards Swansea but I hadn't realised it had started yet.

Jantra wrote:has the mainline electrification actually started then? I assumed it would start near London and work its way towards Swansea but I hadn't realised it had started yet.

London to Bristol section due for completion by 2016, and then Cardiff to Swansea by 2017 but at nowhere on the Network Rail website does it state if the actual process of electrification has started yet...
May just be facilitating works at the moment (raising bridges etc.)

Most of the modifiaction work east of Swindon seems to have been completed. As I understand it the erection of pylons, wires etc is done in one go by a rolling works unit. Presumably that's timed to start once the modification part of the job is sufficiently advanced.