Work is next essential step towards the final construction programme.
Contractors are on the site of the Great Central Railway’s ambitious Reunification project carrying out three weeks of work, to assess ground conditions.
The project will see the creation of an eighteen mile heritage railway by joining two separate halves of the former Great Central main line back together, which requires the construction of 500 metres of new railway.
Fresh from the granting of planning consent which will allow the line to go ahead with the work, contractors moved onto site for the ground investigation programme.
Malcolm Holmes, General Manager of the Great Central Railway said, “This is the next essential step on the road to Reunification. We have an outline design of the new embankment, urban viaduct and bridge required but until we know whats under the ground we can’t arrive at a final design. In turn this will allow us to ascertain a final cost for the project.”
Over the course of three weeks, sample pits will be dug along the route of new railway, with some bore holes extending to a depth of 30 metres. The soil samples will be analysed. The work is being led by Cass Hayward, internationally renowned railway bridge specialists. Richard Clough of Cass Hayward said, “The ground investigation is logged and we use it to determine how strong the ground is, to help us design the foundations. The samples are tested in a lab and it all helps to give us a picture of how the ground is likely to behave. The more we know, the fewer surprises, the less risk and the cost is likely to be better for everybody.”
Reunification is a partnership between the GCR in Leicestershire and GCR (Nottingham). The two lines are already working together to stage joint events preparing for the day through trains run between north Leicester and south Nottingham.
Andy Fillingham of GCR (Nottingham) said, “We have had so much support from people living locally, nationally and around the world. There was a flurry of donations after the news about planning consent came through and we know people will be excited to see orange jackets back on site! It’s now down to raising the money so we hope people will consider a contribution at www.gcrailway.co.uk/unify because every pound helps push this project forward.
The railway has two and a half million pounds banked for the project but the final cost is expected to be in the tens of millions. You can see the work in progress at the GCR YouTube channel.