This is outside of London but as the Abbey flyer is discussed I am sure this
can be. The Government has just announced an additional £50 m on top of the
£130 m already agreed. Ten years ago I was staggered at the £60 m estimate
and now the project cost is £180 m. This can only be about a mile or
railway, 2 stations and a viaduct. I don't think even HS2 is that much per
mile and they will have to cost in the trains. Does anybody know why this
project is so expensive?

Kevin

This week, the Government announced an extra £50million to take the Croxley
Rail Link to its next phase. The funding is in addition to the £130million
already committed to the project.

The new funding was awarded after I met with officials in the Department for
Transport, Communities Minister Greg Clark MP and TfL to make sure the
project was kept on schedule. After campaigning in Parliament, I can now
confirm that the rail link is completely financed and will move forward to
the construction phase with work soon starting on the two new stations.

The Croxley Rail Link is one of my key priorities for Watford and after
decades of slow progress, I am delighted that it is finally to become a
reality. The project will link Watford Junction to the Metropolitan Line,
with new train stations being built at Vicarage Road and Ascot Road. This
will improve access to Watford General Hospital, the football club, local
business parks and thousands of homes.

Watford Junction Redevelopment Campaign

This week in Parliament, I called for the complete redevelopment of Watford
Junction Station to become a priority for the Government and Network Rail.
This will ensure the station is ready for increased passenger numbers and
new services.

Watford is a significant transport hub and we need the infrastructure to
match this. Rail use has doubled in the last decade and with the Government
investing so heavily in Watford transport by backing the Croxley Rail Link,
this rise looks set to continue. We now need to look at what we can do to
improve capacity at the stations as well as on the lines and this means
completely redeveloping Watford Junction.

The Station forecourt was re-designed less than two years ago, but has been
plagued with problems with drop off and pick up of passengers, arrangements
for taxis and pedestrian safety. I have pushed for these issues to be
tackled as soon as possible, but feel a long-term plan for the station is
needed.

I am meeting with the Communities Minister, the Department of Transport,
Network Rail and other key stakeholders to look at the redevelopment of the
station. I hope to report back soon and would like to hear your views so
please get in touch.

Kind regards,

Richard Harrington MP

"Kevin" wrote:
This is outside of London but as the Abbey flyer is discussed I am sure
this can be. The Government has just announced an additional £50 m on top
of the £130 m already agreed. Ten years ago I was staggered at the £60 m
estimate and now the project cost is £180 m. This can only be about a
mile or railway, 2 stations and a viaduct. I don't think even HS2 is that
much per mile and they will have to cost in the trains. Does anybody know
why this project is so expensive?

There may only be a mile or so of all-new railway, but altogether it's
nearer to 3.5 miles, including the reopened section and two new stations.
But, yes, it does sound like a lot for what is really quite a simple
project. Maybe it wouldn't have taken so long to get approval had it been
more affordable?

Obviously some of the cost will be for upgrading the DC line that's shared
with the Overground, including work at the existing High St and Junction
stations.

2 stations and a viaduct.

Two viaducts or major bridges. No provision appears to have been made for reinstatement when Ascot Road was build.

"Recliner" wrote in message
...

"Kevin" wrote:
This is outside of London but as the Abbey flyer is discussed I am sure
this can be. The Government has just announced an additional £50 m on top
of the £130 m already agreed. Ten years ago I was staggered at the £60 m
estimate and now the project cost is £180 m. This can only be about a
mile or railway, 2 stations and a viaduct. I don't think even HS2 is that
much per mile and they will have to cost in the trains. Does anybody know
why this project is so expensive?

There may only be a mile or so of all-new railway, but altogether it's
nearer to 3.5 miles, including the reopened section and two new stations.
But, yes, it does sound like a lot for what is really quite a simple
project. Maybe it wouldn't have taken so long to get approval had it been
more affordable?

Obviously some of the cost will be for upgrading the DC line that's shared
with the Overground, including work at the existing High St and Junction
stations.

According to this the new Lea Bridge station will cost £6.5 million. Lets be
generous and say the 2 new stations will £15 million. That will put
re-instating the line, the viaduct, upgrading High St to Watford Junc at
£165 million. I also understand that Watford Met will be retained as sidings
so add a junction with the deviation. Anybody know how long phase 1 of the
East London Line was and that came in at £1 billion. Something doesn't add
up in my mind.

Kevin

"Kevin" wrote:
"Recliner" wrote in message
...

"Kevin" wrote:
This is outside of London but as the Abbey flyer is discussed I am sure
this can be. The Government has just announced an additional £50 m on top
of the £130 m already agreed. Ten years ago I was staggered at the £60 m
estimate and now the project cost is £180 m. This can only be about a
mile or railway, 2 stations and a viaduct. I don't think even HS2 is that
much per mile and they will have to cost in the trains. Does anybody know
why this project is so expensive?

There may only be a mile or so of all-new railway, but altogether it's
nearer to 3.5 miles, including the reopened section and two new stations.
But, yes, it does sound like a lot for what is really quite a simple
project. Maybe it wouldn't have taken so long to get approval had it been
more affordable?

Obviously some of the cost will be for upgrading the DC line that's shared
with the Overground, including work at the existing High St and Junction
stations.

According to this the new Lea Bridge station will cost £6.5 million. Lets
be generous and say the 2 new stations will £15 million. That will put
re-instating the line, the viaduct, upgrading High St to Watford Junc at
£165 million. I also understand that Watford Met will be retained as
sidings so add a junction with the deviation. Anybody know how long phase
1 of the East London Line was and that came in at £1 billion. Something
doesn't add up in my mind.

Please could you use a proper newsreader, so your comments don't get mixed
with the ones you're responding to?

The Lea Bridge station is a reopening, using the existing platforms. A
better comparison might be the all-new station at Southend Airport, which
cost £16m in 2011. Allowing for inflation, the new stations for 8-car
trains might cost £20m apiece, plus a few million each to upgrade two
existing stations, so the stations probably account for ~£50m.

As for the line, the new non-electrified Bacon Factory chord cost £59 for a
1.2km line, while the 2km, electrified single track Hitchin flyover cost
£47m. By those standards, building the new 4.5km Croxley line, and
upgrading the shared DC line to Watford Junction could be expected to cost
upwards of £100m. According to table 3.2 in this document
http://www.croxleyraillink.com/media...n%20report.pdf

The works are described as:

• 4.5km of new railway track, signalling and structures;
• 0.4km embankment and viaduct over Watford Road, Grand Union Canal and
River Gade linking the Metropolitan Line and the Croxley Green Branch;
• New stations at Ascot Road and Watford General Hospital;
• Refurbishment of station at Watford High Street;
• Refurbishment of Cardiff Road, Ascot Road and River Colne underbridges;
and
• Maintenance of Tolpits Lane, Vicarage Road and Wiggenhall Road
overbridges.

- Construction and engineering costs: £133m
- Land, additional vehicles, public enquiry: £19.1m
- Risk allowance: £19.9m
- TOTAL £172m

On 2014\07\11 21:53, Recliner wrote:

the new non-electrified Bacon Factory chord cost £59 for a 1.2km line

Bargain!

Basil Jet wrote:
On 2014\07\11 21:53, Recliner wrote:

the new non-electrified Bacon Factory chord cost £59 for a 1.2km line

Bargain!

Oops! Bells prices, of course.

According to this the new Lea Bridge station will cost £6.5 million.

The Lea Bridge station is a reopening, using the existing platforms. A
better comparison might be the all-new station at Southend Airport, which
cost £16m in 2011.

These prices are insane. How could reinstating Lea Bridge station on
land which is presumably still owned by the railway cost as much as
buying 14 average London houses and the land they stand on? Southend
Airport station is quite nice with its enclosed footbridge and lifts on
both sides, but how could it cost as much as 78 average Southend houses
and the land they stand on? Somebody is getting very rich here, and I
bet it isn't the men with bricks in their hands.

Basil Jet wrote:

According to this the new Lea Bridge station will cost £6.5 million.

The Lea Bridge station is a reopening, using the existing platforms. A
better comparison might be the all-new station at Southend Airport, which
cost £16m in 2011.

These prices are insane. How could reinstating Lea Bridge station on land
which is presumably still owned by the railway cost as much as buying 14
average London houses and the land they stand on? Southend Airport
station is quite nice with its enclosed footbridge and lifts on both
sides, but how could it cost as much as 78 average Southend houses and
the land they stand on? Somebody is getting very rich here, and I bet it
isn't the men with bricks in their hands.

Yes, I know, these prices are astonishing, if routine these days. It's why
NR brought in modular stations, and Chiiltern decided to build Warwick
Parkway itself, for much less than NR said it would cost:
"The managing director of Chiltern Trains, on BBC's Panorama, had asked
Network Rail to quote for a new station for Warwick Parkway. Network Rail
said it would cost £13 million. The managing director thought this was a
lot of money. He went to the train companies and the station was built for
£5.5 million."

From:
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.u...#ixzz37EvFsA00

I don't know if TfL is any more efficient at building new stations than NR.
I think one aspect that's particularly expensive in this country is to
build new stations on in-service lines, so the two all-new stations on the
Croxley line should be cheaper than they would be if the line were already
in use.

These prices are insane. How could reinstating Lea Bridge station on
land which is presumably still owned by the railway cost as much as
buying 14 average London houses and the land they stand on?

Perhaps start by costing in the passenger lifts? Adding them to an old
station can easily cost around a million with ancillary works included.
--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid