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Taplow and Crossrail

Fred Russell

By now most of you will have read something about the ambitious Crossrail project to connect Maidenhead to the East of London. Taplow is to be a part of this project and there have to be some mixed feelings about the pros and cons of the idea. It is a shame that the total level of local consultation appears to have consisted of a single afternoon’s exhibition in Maidenhead on the 11th Feb. Wonder how many of you went to it, let alone heard of it? Fortunately Jon Wilmore has been keeping tabs on the project and he provided the material for these brief notes. The salient points are as follows:

Crossrail is the plan to electrify the Western mainline from Maidenhead through London and then extending beyond London to Shenfield and south to Abbey Wood. It is planned to be operational by 2013.
There are both temporary and permanent impacts on Taplow, the former arising from the estimated 4 to 6 month construction period (lengthening of platform etc.) The permanent effects, applying to the parish as a whole, would be:
Increase in the number of passengers. Taplow would become a more practical destination for London-bound commuters from the north of the county and our attractive parish would become more interesting to potential settlers from central London and beyond. Can our roads cope?
Increase in local traffic, environmental impact at the station and along the A4 corridor, increased car parking and increased pressure to build more houses.
The southern skyline of South Taplow which is dominated by the railway embankment and is currently ‘softened’ by trees will radically change since one suspects that most of the trees will have to go and be replaced by electricity pylons. The Brunel Bridge will also carry pylons. Isn’t the Brunel Bridge planned to be a National/World Heritage site?
The loss of tree cover would also mean a significant increase in noise levels in Riverside Taplow. The new much longer trains will be driven by electricity and are supposed to be quieter but they will take longer to pass and there will be no muting from trees. Additionally we can expect increased traffic. Normal inter-city diesel trains with their high noise level will of course continue.

The scheme has obvious benefits for London in that Paddington will become simply a large ‘Hub’, a waystation, rather than a terminus which will change the traffic patterns in that area. The scheme has full government backing and the Crossrail Parliamentary Bill was deposited in February this year. It could take up to 2 years before it is approved and the £10bn funding is available. There are lobbyists who wish Crossrail to end at Slough and some Maidenhead residents are ready to support this.

The consultation process which seemed to exclude us at this stage concluded that so far as Taplow is concerned the “permanent effect is deemed to be relatively slight” (Business case 2003, para 5.2). However the Crossrail proposal has to be seen in the wider context of the South East Plan which makes everything vastly more complicated. (See separate article by Eva Lipman). Crossrail is seen by the government as an essential part of the transport infrastructure for the South East to match their programme for a massive increase in housing in the Thames Valley area.

For those wishing to learn more: visit our Website, www.taplowsociety.org.uk where Jon Wilmore’s fuller article is available.

Wharncliffe Viaduct

This is Wharncliffe Viaduct where the Great Western line passes through Ealing on the way to Paddington. The track here was electrified for the Heathrow Express, so it gives some idea of what Maidenhead Bridge might look like in future.

Wharncliffe Viaduct

After going to press we received some more information from the Crossrail Information Office:

As you are aware the Secretary of State for Transport deposited a Bill in Parliament on 22 February 2005, seeking powers to construct a railway transport system running from Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport in the west through central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
As part of Crossrail proposals, the Great Western Main Line (GWML) between Stockley Road bridge in Hillingdon and Maidenhead will be electrified. This will require the provision of new 25kV AC overhead line equipment (OHLE). This will generally employ portal frames, although masts with cantilevers will be used over Maidenhead railway bridge. Some utility diversions on the railway bridge will be required to enable installation of OHLE.
Works will be undertaken using rail-mounted equipment. The majority of materials will be taken to and from the site by rail. The OHLE requires that supporting posts be founded on the bridge structure. These will be positioned so as not to disrupt the symmetry of the bridge. Three sets of masts will be fixed at the bridge supports and a further two sets will be fixed at the far ends of the bridge. The masts will be fixed such that they may be removed in the future without damaging the bridge as it stands today.
It is proposed that the OHLE over Maidenhead bridge will use masts with wires suspended from cantilevers, since these will be visually lighter structures than the gantries to be used along other parts of the route. Standard OHLE would not be suitable for Maidenhead bridge, it must be designed to suit the unique qualities of the bridge. Special foundations would need to be created to minimise the impact to the bridge. The detailed design will be agreed with the local authority.