Wires Up!

The first catenary of the project has been erected at Castlefield Junction (Not Deansgate Junction as I originally posted - That's somewhere else entirely.)

Update:  I've now been for a quick visit to Castlefield and I can report that a very short length of catenary has been erected at the Deansgate end of the viaduct.

The wires run from Castlefield Junction, so presumably future works will not need any closures of the Warrington line, although they may require the power to be switched off - I didn't spot a neutral section.

Wires For Christmas

My attention has been drawn (Thanks, Peter) to an interesting article in The Rail Engineer about Balfour Beatty's work on the electrification.  The report states that the first wires will go up during the Christmas shutdown, in the area of Castlefield Viaduct.

Still No Trains

Modern Railways' Roger Ford reports today that the contract for new trains for Thameslink continues to slip, and Transport Minister Simon Burns has said the first trains will be delivered for testing in summer 2015.

This means that the second hand Class 319 trains intended for the Northwest electrification will probably not be available until after all phases are complete.

Roger goes on to say that the DfT are rumoured to be considering a quick build of new trains to plug the gap.

Ordsall Chord Consultation

Network Rail have announced what they call a "Phase 2 Consultation" on the Ordsall Chord, with public exhibitions to be held as listed below.  Much more information on Network Rail's web site.

• Tuesday 20 November, 4pm - 8pm, Museum of Science & Industry
• Wednesday 21 November, 12pm-8pm, Museum of Science & Industry
• Friday 23 November, 12pm - 8pm, Creative Media Centre, Salford
• Saturday 24 November, 1pm - 5pm, Museum of Science & Industry
• Monday 26 November, 4pm - 8pm, Salford Central Station
• Tuesday 27 November, 10am - 5pm, Manchester Town Hall
• Wednesday 28 November, 4pm - 8pm, Manchester Piccadilly Station

Prescot Resignalling

The resignalling work was completed at the weekend, and Prescot Box is now closed.  In addition to the changes at Prescot, the gantry at Huyton Junction which has for many years supported just one semaphore signal now has none, and the other three semaphores controlled by Huyton have also gone.  Hopefully I'll take a ride up the line soon to get more details of the changes.

Update:  I have now been for a trip and there isn't that much to report, just a smattering of new signal posts.  I am disappointed that the opportunity to insert more sections, thereby increasing capacity, doesn't seem to have been taken - I used to commute along here and my journeys towards Huyton were almost always delayed waiting for the preceding train to clear.  And while I'm having a moan, the displays at Prescot are not linked to the signalling system - I watched a train shown as on time until a couple of minutes after its scheduled time, whereupon it was replaced on the display by the next train.  The errant service finally appeared fifteen minutes later.