Somerleyton Bridge Unable To Operate.

[Hylander]

14 hours ago, Fredrick said:

Sound like it would be a good idea to replace them with buses permanently would save thousands

Unless you local and have to travel on a bus.

[dnks34]

The line over Somerleyton Bridge causes more inconvenience to non rail users than to just the boating community.  Road traffic through Oulton Broad continues to queue nose to tail most of the day.  
 

Traffic will back up down Gorleston Road, Beccles Road, Cotmer Road, Victoria Road and Normanston Drive in some places for up to a mile.  With repeated rail crossing closures for what seem like an eternity the traffic seldom gets chance to clear.  
 

 

[Fredrick]

You would only need a bus from Lowestoft to Reedham

millions could be save by doing away with the bridges

[Cheesey69]

With the size of government majority I guess any rights can be changed. In the 90s I seem to remember a lot of rights was cleared from the books.  
Parliament’s sovereign right?

 

[Hylander]

2 hours ago, Fredrick said:

You would only need a bus from Lowestoft to Reedham

millions could be save by doing away with the bridges

You are obviously not a local on the Southern Broads who uses the train to get to and from work.    Buses are few and far between in this neck of the woods.    I personally think our bridges break up the boring reeds , reeds and more reeds,  they focus the mind.   They all have their own charm.     A lot of boats dont even need them to open, just wait for the tide in a lot of cases.

[grendel]

4 minutes ago, Hylander said:

 A lot of boats dont even need them to open, just wait for the tide in a lot of cases

some of us dont even need to wait for the tides

[SwanR]

This is why I like the forward steer cruisers. I know what so many people say about not getting a view over the reeds and across the land but it’s a trade off. 

[ScrumpyCheddar]

They have had enough time in lock down to fit the summer rails and fix the bridges ...If they fail to work. Leave The bridges open and suspend rail travel put on hourly bus services At least this wouldn’t block the navigation of all river crafts.. But that’s to easy it’s Absolute joke every year.. And reading Network rails report on the 3 bridges program it’s going to be 2023 before all 3 are done so at least another 2 years of misery with this situation... Not good enough and Not fair 

[dnks34]

A bus from Lowestoft to Reedham probably wouldn’t be practical.  To get a bus to Reedham from Lowestoft your almost going in to Norwich or Great Yarmouth depending on which way round you go.  That is unless the Reedham Ferry is used. 

A bus to directly to Norwich or Great Yarmouth would be best which already operate on a daily basis.  
 

The Lowestoft to Norwich line is clearly important to some but in my opinion its operation in these modern times has become a thorn in the side of this area.

[Hylander]

1 hour ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:

They have had enough time in lock down to fit the summer rails and fix the bridges ...If they fail to work. Leave The bridges open and suspend rail travel put on hourly bus services At least this wouldn’t block the navigation of all river crafts.. But that’s to easy it’s Absolute joke every year.. And reading Network rails report on the 3 bridges program it’s going to be 2023 before all 3 are done so at least another 2 years of misery with this situation... Not good enough and Not fair 

Get a smaller boat?     Simples!!!

[ScrumpyCheddar]

1 hour ago, Hylander said:

Get a smaller boat?     Simples!!!

I have next week thank god.. But that’s not the point it should be working and the summer rails fitted ... Simples ...

[Cheesey69]

I think the greater public would want rail travel over navigation 

[grendel]

I suppose its a numbers game, how many people use that rail service, verses how many use the navigation, i suspect at different times in the year, you would get a swing towards the navigation, I always notice a few boats hanging around waiting for the bridge to open when I slip under, and then you have to remember that the broads authority dredgers need a bridge opening too, so there are still 'commercial' craft plying the navigation

[Fredrick]

The amount of money brought to the norfolk economy by boats is vast the trains always look empty

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Just found this online ... Says it all really 😡😡

[dnks34]

I have not studied the timetable but google tells me Norwich to Lowestoft gets 21 Trains per day.  By my reckoning thats 42 crossings at Somerleyton Bridge and 42 times the Level Crossing Barriers close at Oulton Broad North Station.  
 

Passenger numbers before Covid I had read previously to be around 750k per annum which dropped to over 400k during last year, Im not sure if numbers are recovering this year.  As Fred says the trains always look empty and I have to agree.  Maybe there are too many trains on the service. 
 

[dnks34]

1 hour ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:

Just found this online ... Says it all really 😡😡

This is unbelievable! 

[Bytheriver]

15 hours ago, Fredrick said:

You would only need a bus from Lowestoft to Reedham

millions could be save by doing away with the bridges

Bus from Reedham to Lowestoft would be a bit pointless as it would have to go via Great Yarmouth or Norwich which are both on Express  Bus services to Lowestoft

[Bytheriver]

1 hour ago, dnks34 said:

This is unbelievable! 

This are the component replacement details  https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/anglia/improving-the-railway-in-anglia/swing-bridge-renewals/

[Bellatrix27]

Was at Somerleyton Marina yesterday, working on the boat. Not a particularly hot day, bridge was closed when we arrived apparently also closed the day before. Inexplicably opened at around 2-3 pm - it had not started snowing so not sure why.
Could not spot a single passenger on any carriage. Yes guys, when you buy a ticket you are not just paying for your ride but all those empty trains that run in the hours you are not on them. This is a bit similar to me, I pay a BA toll of several hunderd and currently get to use 1 mile of the Broads most of the time. Btw, train may fill up later but SSB only connects three stations before the end of the line. 
I have to ask, if the bridge has an issue with the heat, maybe try to stop it getting hot? Anyone who has left a bit of bare steel out in the sun for a couple of hours will know they will get a nasty burn if they try to pick it up. The ambient temp may only be 26c or so, but the metal absorbs energy and heats up well past that point. Can they not engineer a sun canopy system to keep the sun off? Furthermore it is right next to a bloody river so they would have no shortage of water for an aerosol cooling system to deal with high ambient temperature.
These measures would be relatively cheap, but they won't do that because the old boy's network ensures that when work IS done, it has a decent price tag and goes to the "right" engineering firm. There's no money in low-volume, lower cost solutions.    

[grendel]

as mentioned previously, the issues may not just be heat, to be fair its not yet at the sort of temperatures that have closed it in previous years due to heat, so my thoughts are that there are other issues (no doubt that are being looked at as part of the upgrades due next year) they mentioned upgrades to the bridge controls and to the cables.

water misting at that location has the tricky issue that at least part of the time the water has salt content, which will induce rust on the track and bridge structure. I believe they did try painting the rails white the other year to reflect some of the heat.

I think you will also find that the number of firms left in this country that can perform engineering work on the scale of these bridges is limited, so naturally they will be given the contract for the works, i dont believe there is any of the old boy network left in many industries nowadays, it all comes down to who can do the work at the cheapest price, they have to be seen to go out to tender and justify their acceptance of the contractor they choose, especially nowadays where public funding is involved. the penalties for doing other than this are just too great nowadays.

[dnks34]

13 hours ago, Bytheriver said:

This are the component replacement details  https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/anglia/improving-the-railway-in-anglia/swing-bridge-renewals/

I was referring to the part about opening the bridge being an inconvenience.  

As opening the bridge for navigation is an obligation going back years that last statement says quite a lot about the mindset of the organisation. 

[grendel]

they do have the option of raising all their track and bridges as the alternative, i wonder which is more expensive.