The LNER Encyclopedia

The Basel tram company are relaying track all over the place at the moment, mostly for groundwater protection, but also for wear. I took these pictures on Friday night on the Steinenberg - one of the busiest sections of the network, where there are 2 - 3 trams a minute at peak times. The company are relaying all the pointwork due to wear - they have set themselves 21 days to do it.
A view up the hill: Iron rodding under the crossing for later concrete reinforcement Adding the prefabricated missing piece between two sets of points Full size equivalent of the razor saw - an oxyacetylene cutter (they were only about 2 cm out!) Peter

Good pics Peter, were they able to complete it in the 21 days?

Sorry, have not looked here for some time.

Yes, everything was completed on time and within budget. The Swiss are very good at this - see the Gotthard Tunnel, which was completed early.

On the other side of the Rhein, the DB are way behind schedule with the quadrupling of the Karlsruhe-Basel line which is part of the transalpine project. The Katzenberg Tunnel was opened on time, but the infrastructure to the south is far from complete, although they have been messing around for four or five years now. To the north they are still arguing about the route, and of course, just south of Rastatt a new tunnel under the line shifted and closed down all traffic between Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden for almost a month.

DB's major project "Stuttgart 21" - a new underground through station - won't be completed until 2023 (I don't believe this either) and is about 1/3 above budget already!

Peter