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News and Comment July 2014

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16 July (Part 4) - Crossrail info

CrossrailAs predicted there is no way I’ll be able to summarise last night’s two hour Cabinet meeting within today’s crowded schedule, for one thing I wanted to ask some questions at the Crossrail event in Abbey Wood.

I discovered that the concrete columns to the west of Bostall Manorway are indeed piles and they have been bashed into the ground until they reached something solid. They will eventually be chopped off at ground level. Remember this is, or hopefully was, the Thames floodplain and is basically marshland.

The huge drain in what was Abbey Wood station car park is the accumulation vessel for the many 60 centimetre pipes that have been laid alongside the new tracks to cater for unexpectedly heavy rain in a way that Bexley council never did in Wilton Road which frequently floods.

The temporary station and the new footbridge will appear soon. I am not sure I followed absolutely correctly but I think the footbridge will be part of the permanent structure and only the access to it will be temporary.

The single Crossrail track extending half way to Belvedere will, as stated previously, mainly be used to store broken trains so that they don’t seriously impair the service. That track will join the North East Kent line, and similarly near Plumstead, to allow diesel tugs to run around and haul failed trains away. There is no possibility of passenger carrying trains dodging any track problems via alternative routes if for no other reason than a 25,000 volts AC overhead supply is incompatible with 750 volts DC on a third rail.


AttendanceThe house at the end of Florence Road that I have been watching is not due to come down until the end of the year.

While I was there councillors Daniel Francis and Danny Hackett called in to show their interest. They were happy to talk about this and that and took my recent dig at DF in good part which was a relief. The same of course could not be said of three earlier visitors one of whom reported me to her friends in the police for rather less. “Criticising councillors.”

As I entered the Community Hall at a minute before official opening time I had to stand well to one side, the hall doorway is notoriously narrow, while Teresa O’Neill, Linda Bailey and Don Massey filed silently out; my camera unfortunately packed away.

However it is not often that I am invited to sign the same piece of paper as three democracy deniers.

 

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