GE19 bridge move this weekend
The second of the three major bridges for the East London Line extension is being moved into place this Sunday and Monday. It's the GE19 bridge that crosses the Great Eastern Main Line (the line out of Liverpool Street), right next to where Shoreditch tube station was. See my map of the whole area.
This photo was sent to me by TfL's actually-being-helpful press office, which shows just about everything, taken from above Brick Lane looking east:
The building on the right is Shoreditch station, and the bridge is sitting where the platform cutting used to be.
The accompanying info says the best place to view the move is Allen Gardens (a short walk from Whitechapel station). Regarding when to go:
The best times to see the bridge actually moving are expected to be Sunday 04:00 to 07:00, 09:00 to 12:00 and 17:00 to 22:00 or Monday 04:00 to 08:00, but are of course subject to progress on site and weather.The bridge will be moved using "strand jacking", which is where a hydrualic ram is used to pull on a steel cable. Once the ram is fully extended, it's disconnected from the cable, retracted, and reattached further down the cable, so the process can begin again.
They say the structure to be moved weighs 1800 tonnes including "kentledge", which is your new word for the day.
Update: The east end is on wheels!
8 comments:
With the ELLX and the improvements to Thameslink we will have vastly improved North/South cross London links. One opportunity that I have never heard dicussed is extending the Northern city line the short distance from Moorgate to provide through platforms at Cannon St lets say. I suspect it is because of the number of tunnels around bank but wonder if anyone ever heard it mooted?
I's a nice idea on the map, but what you have is two sets of platform approximatly 900 meters appart, however, one set is 20 meters below ground at moregate and the other is 8 meters or so above at cannon street. In between you have some of the most congested and expencive land in the world, the Vaults of the Bank of england, and the increadibly complex Bank Monument Complex extending deep underground - I just can't see how you could do it without massive demolition, or a new much deeper tunnel, which would not be able to use canon street platforms or bridge due to the gradient, which would not be able to turn east and gain enough height to reconnect with London Bridge, so would have to tunnel under the station and emerge somewhere out by the viaduct beyond.
I've always thought Moorgate was a bit of a poor terminus, and certainly is one reason for no weekend service on what is quite a nifty little line. It could be great, even to tunnel to London Bridge and terminate there underground - would certainly help the Northern line out!
But again, I think the Bank area is too congested and restricted for much more tunnelling - and imagine if the DLR was extended to Charing Cross, which is far more likely.
Four major new bridges surely:
The Regents Canal Bridge
Shoreditch High Street
GE19
New Cross
Mwmbwls
Kentledge is simply a heavy weight. In this case I think it placed on the rear of the bridge and is being used to stop the front of the bridge dipping down as its launched out over the tracks (else it would tip, just like a see saw). During the slide, the kentledge has to be removed.
Your post back in January, with the map, said that you would be posting links to some source documents. Did you post some links (because I couldn't see them after a quick scan)?
JJBone
Your suggestion for the best place to view the move on 4/5 May is Pedley Gardens. It's actually called Allen Gardens, accessible from Brick Lane along the western end of Pedley Street or else from Buxton Street.
Richard J.
That's a good point - fixed.
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