Project Wareham

The crossing would be closed and padlocked

 

Proposed Dorset Metro initially an additional hourly Brockenhurst-Wareham service. Details were in the Bournemouth Echo in July 2024.

 

Strange idea when the trains are rarely full west of Brockenhurst and there are already two an hour, albeit on the slightly strange 20 minute/40 minute spacing in the down direction.
Was the proposed in addition to the Bournemouth Winchester stopper?

 

The proposal includes retiming the Weymouth trains so they are more evenly spaced. The proposed service is in addition to the existing stopper.

 

Certain local councillors would probably padlock themselves to the crossing gates in defiance of closing the crossing!

 

In which case, if I were NR, I'd just go "ok then - but when the lease ends, that's it". And I'd do it now, and publicly, so that his grandstanding can be seen for what it is.

 

Rather difficult to retime Weymouth trains with a stretch of single line, thats without the "excellent" time keeping achieved on this line.

 

Guess also the proposal for a Brockenhurst-Wareham service will be less affected by events on the longer main line and therefore bring a better service for passengers doing short journeys.
If it does start (going back to the thread title) there is the remote, but possible, chance to occasionally extend, and run diesel (class 158) or battery powered trains, to Corfe or Swanage.

 

Really?
Given that SWR is going to be swallowed up by Great Britain's Railways or whatever It's going to be called, The first thing that will happen will be "ALL CHANGE PLEASE ALL CHANGE!!!!!" as has happened previously New Bosses, New Ideas.
I certainly do not know about battery powered trains going to Corfe or Swanage, (More information required please.) I rather fear any such proposals will falter when the ££££££'s get involved and I cannot see SIR&CO throwing any funds towards Dorset either.
Regarding Wareham foot crossing, the only pratical solution I can think of, is providing a similar Manual controlled barrier crossing as provided at Poole, I:E CCTV controlled by the Dorset Coast signaller at Basingstoke.

 

Hopefully any lifting barriers would have barbed wire along the top to stop people climbing over....
( It was suggested for Grays on North Thameside where near misses were not recorded as individual incidents, just the time - sometimes up to 10 occasions in a day.)

Cheers, Neil

 

Interesting video with Neil Drury about GWR's battery test (9 min in) and how existing SWR Desiro or Aventura 3rd rail electric trains could be fitted with batteries to replace the diesel 158 and 159 on non electrified routes such as Exeter in a few years time, so I was thinking could also be used to extend the Dorset Metro trains, if they eventually start!, to occasionally run to Corfe and Swanage (if funding can somehow be sorted).

Also possible the heritage 117 and 121 DMUs could be converted to battery with new motors like the Byron Bay train in Australia, although solar charging will not be as effective in the UK.
https://byronbaytrain.com.au/

Batteries could also help with reliability so if electric 3rd rails have to be depowered because of trespassers or maintenance, some trains could still run.

 

Just one minor point, the railway don't mix running trains and engineering possessions nowadays. The days of "Clear Short Notice " for specified trains (often postal trains) have long since been written out of the rule book. Trains moving within a possession are controlled under different rules and regs.
Out on the track and in the dark is not a place to take short cuts even if permitted in the current safety culture.

If there is a trespass incident, trains should be stopped. It's a matter of life and death.
( Sometimes ending the career of a railwayman due to PTSD if there is "one under".)

Neil

 

With 3rd rail agree power needs to cut with trespassing, but there are long 3rd rail sections where battery ,or even existing diesel, trains could still run to some stations under careful controlled signalling, reducing the overall impact of cutting large sections of 3rd rail power. The GWR test is self contained, but rules for mixed 3rd rail operation with some diesel or battery trains may need to be revised and tightened.

 

My view is that people who act like idiots but who potentially only threaten themselves eg trespassers on the railway, moronic driving/riding behaviour etc should receive serious criminal penalties is because of the impact that getting themselves killed can have on those who have to sort it out.

Clearly people who are mentally ill and attempting to end their lives would not be included

 

Also those intent on graffiti and damage, or stealing metals. I notice NR have been improving fencing and adding more CCTV especially where there is 3rd electric rails. But an ongoing problem.

 

Surely the present gates would be more effective than that whether locally or remotely controlled.

 

NR and Councils do seem to try and get a balance between risk assessments and operations. So can see why NR might still push for ramps rather than a local gatekeepers or a software and involvement of remote signal man solution at Wareham.

Although no current plans, the future use of the Wareham to Corfe railway line will still be discussed by several bodies.
Batteries are coming down in price so the chance of occasionally using batteries on class 450s on the Swanage branch more feasible

 

Poole is legally a highway...albeit it pedestrianised .....so wouldn't work
This no barriered system in the UK for pedestrian footpaths.
As stated before lease expires in circa 2028

 

The crossing is as safe as it can be apart from closure. Any changes to the present state would increase the risk to a level that is unacceptable.

 

The lease expires 2038
https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/wareham-pedestrian-level-crossing

So the present situation with gate attendants could last another 13 years.
But the council and NR want something better and cheaper.
NR want a ramp, the council wants an untested automatic gate, hence the current need to sort out something acceptable to all ASAP. But it won't be the current gate attendants.