Severn Valley Railway: The Infastructure Manager gives us the latest as we meet him at the landslip.

Shropshire Star

Chris Bond, the infastructure manager talks us through the latest from the actual landslip site.

Transcript

00:00So we're here at the Severn Valley Railway, where the landslip is, and we're here with Bond, Chris Bond.

00:05Hello sir, how are you?

00:07Not too bad, thank you.

00:08And what's your role with Severn Valley then, Chris?

00:10So I'm the Severn Valley Railway's infrastructure manager.

00:13I'm responsible for all structures like this along the line, as well as the track and buildings.

00:18So it's quite a broad role.

00:20So let's start with what we know so far then.

00:23So unless you've been living under a rock, people will be aware there's been a landslide.

00:29What do we know? Go on, fill us in on it.

00:31What's your take on it and what you know so far and how it happened?

00:34Well, what we know so far is that it happened probably during the night in the early hours of last Wednesday.

00:41And it was reported to us during the morning of that day by the chaps who work in the yard opposite.

00:48And obviously we rushed out here to see what the issue was.

00:51But as you can see, it's quite a devastating scene.

00:56What seems to have happened at the moment is the wing wall has collapsed of the bridge.

01:00Yeah, so the wing wall, that's that. If we look kind of just over your shoulder, we've got the bridge.

01:04But then we've got these walls that kind of curve round almost at an angle to support it.

01:09So that's the wing wall. So there would have been one over there.

01:13So we think that that's what's given way first, possibly.

01:15That's what the initial look at reports are.

01:20Until we get the material removed from the surface and are able to look at the foundations,

01:24we won't know exactly what the nature of the failure is.

01:28It's worth pointing out that the structure was inspected about three days before

01:32by one of our volunteer teams of civil engineers.

01:36And they didn't pick up any obvious signs of imminent failure.

01:40So this has come as a bit of a shock to them.

01:41So no cracks in the wing wall and they'd have been looking for those, wouldn't they?

01:45Something like that. There's been no history in the past of problems here.

01:49So this is a new issue that we've obviously got to deal with.

01:54Yeah. So at this stage, are you coming up with ideas of how to fix it?

02:02Because as a layman, I'm thinking, I haven't even got a clue where you start here, Chris.

02:06Well, luckily, we've got a lot of expertise on tap.

02:11And this last week, we've been having meetings here on site with various people from Network Rail

02:17through our partnership with them.

02:19So they brought a lot of expertise to the table.

02:21We've got our consulting engineer and our previous consultant engineer

02:26has come as a volunteer as well, who has vast experience.

02:28So we've had all that information feeding in.

02:32In the next day or two, we're going to carry out ground investigations,

02:34which will involve sinking boreholes to find out what's underground.

02:38And then hopefully next week, we're having a big sit around a table

02:41to start formulating what we're going to do to repair this damage.

02:46So based on how the investigations go, can you see the solution ahead?

02:55Are you thinking, well, if the ground's blah, blah, then it'll be metal struts

02:58or it'll be another wall?

03:01I mean, the thoughts at the moment, and these are only early thoughts,

03:04that it's going to be some kind of piling solution,

03:07either sheet piles or vertical concrete piles. We don't know yet.

03:10Obviously, having the ground investigation information will help us to decide

03:15which sort of course we're going down.

03:17But it's quite obvious, as you can see from the scale of the damage,

03:21this isn't going to be a quick fix.

03:23And we are talking months, I think,

03:25and probably in the hundreds of thousands of pounds to repair.

03:29I was going to say, so was it 2007 when we had the landslip before?

03:34That's right, yeah.

03:35So on the scale of what happened there and the difficulty that's facing you here,

03:41this is bigger, isn't it?

03:42Well, not really. No, in 2007 we had damage on this kind of scale

03:48all along multiple points of the railway.

03:51And that was a once in probably a hundred year rain event

03:54that happened on that occasion.

03:56And the repair bill was something like £3.6 million.

04:00So, but this is obviously just a single location.

04:03So we can focus all our energies on getting this sorted as quickly as possible.

04:09So it's kind of similar, but it's not on the same scale as 2007, fortunately.

04:14But do you say you'll be hoping that the repair bill is going to come in less than the previous?

04:20Our initial finger in the air feeling is it's going to be in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

04:25Until we've got the solution designed and then costed,

04:28then we won't be able to provide an accurate figure to them.

04:30I'm sure that will be available at some point.

04:32If it is going to be kind of like say,

04:35a pile driving up with concrete or metal.

04:38Can you work out in your head from an engineering point of view,

04:40how you do that with the stream and you know,

04:42because you've kind of, it's tricky, isn't it?

04:46The piles will go in from above.

04:48From above, okay.

04:49And then obviously we've got to clear all the fallen material

04:52and then rebuild that embankment over there.

04:55I think what we're probably going to end up doing,

04:56rather than rebuilding the masonry wall,

04:59we're going to end up putting gabion baskets with stone in them.

05:03Which is a quite common repair on sort of land related issues.

05:06Oh, is that when you get like the mesh blocks

05:09and then slowly fill them with the stole bit by bit?

05:11Okay, okay.

05:13I've got you.

05:13So with, I mean, at the minute,

05:16you know, people who think that,

05:17oh, well, we'll be back on the Severn Valley from Bridge North in the summer.

05:20That might not be the case.

05:22The plan at the moment is that we're able to run from Kidderminster to Hampton Load Station.

05:26So that will at least allow a decent length journey for our visitors.

05:30Obviously, we have a problem that most of our locomotives are stranded at Bridge North.

05:34And indeed, there's a movement of one shortly down to Kidderminster.

05:38So we've got a steam engine that end,

05:39because they've all been brought for winter maintenance.

05:41I didn't think about, you know what, that's one thing I've not factored in actually.

05:45Yeah, like you say, you're getting those engines to Kidderminster.

05:47So one will have to be transported via another main.

05:50One initially.

05:51And then once we've kind of got a scale of how long this is going to take,

05:55then there might be further road movements to take locos down there.

05:59Yeah.

06:00And we're hoping at some point to do something at Bridge North.

06:02So visitors to Bridge North have got something to look at.

06:04And it's something that we have done in the past when we've had similar issues.

06:08Yeah, because potentially a train could...

06:10In previous events...

06:12Is it Erdington, the station just down the road from here, Bridge North side?

06:16So they have had kind of special events there, haven't they?

06:18With vintage cars and stuff.

06:19It's unlikely we'll have trains running to Erdington.

06:21But there might be something going on in the station there.

06:24All these sorts of things have got to be organised.

06:27But yeah, fortunately we've got a significant length of line available for our visitors to travel on.

06:32So that's a blessing.

06:34So do you think it's still kind of on the cards as to whether there'll be something happening at Bridge North

06:39where there'll still be a bit of...

06:40You know, the trains will be going, there'll be a bit of puff and stuff.

06:42Before now, we've had a locomotive in steam there and given footplate rides just outside the station.

06:48Yeah.

06:49So there's something for our visitors to see there.

06:51But yeah, obviously we've had an event coming up

06:53which we've had to contact a number of our visitors to say

06:56we're not being able to take you from Bridge North.

06:58Yeah.

06:59We're being redirected to Kiddingham instead.

07:00Yeah.

07:01And of most of them, do you know, they've just kept the tickets and said,

07:04yeah, we'll go with that line.

07:05Yes, it's got my area of expertise.

07:07Yeah, yeah.

07:07But yeah, you know, obviously we've got a whole visitor services department

07:12that can deal with those sort of issues.

07:14So the bridge isn't listed.

07:16Those inspections that you mentioned, they used to be every five years,

07:19but they're actually every year now on the bridges, aren't they?

07:21Yeah, yeah.

07:22So, when you came and saw...

07:25I mean, how long have you been involved with the Severn Valley, Chris?

07:27Well, I started as a volunteer when I was 15 in 1977.

07:30Fifteen, wow.

07:31So, I worked for BT for nearly 30 years

07:34and then I started working for the railway when I took voluntary redundancy.

07:38Yeah.

07:39And I've been in this role about 12 years.

07:41Yeah.

07:42It's been a very steep learning curve and I think this is my 2007.

07:46Yeah, yeah.

07:47And I mean, how did you feel then on a personal level?

07:50I guess it's always on the cards.

07:52Isn't it? That something could happen and you're just waiting for that call to a degree.

07:55Yeah.

07:56But when you came down and saw it, how did you feel personally then?

07:59Well, you know, the railway is very dear to my heart

08:02and we've seen some quite difficult times lately with Covid and the cost of living crisis

08:07and, you know, all tourist attractions are having to fight for each pound.

08:11Yeah.

08:12And this is really something we could have done without at this time.

08:14We're kind of starting to get back on our feet financially in the right direction.

08:19So, this is a bit of a blow to those efforts.

08:22So, you know, we've had a lot of generous support financially so far with donations coming in.

08:28It's obviously going to be quite a large repair bill for this.

08:30So, you know, the more money people can donate to us

08:34then the quicker we can get this done and restore the railway.

08:37And what have we actually got flowing through here?

08:40Is this a certain stream? Has it got a name?

08:42This is called the Moor Brook.

08:43The Moor Brook.

08:44M-O-R.

08:44Yeah.

08:45Not with an E.

08:46And does it flood?

08:48Yes, it flows into the River Severn just around the corner there.

08:51So, when the River Severn level comes up, it kind of backs up this way.

08:55Yeah.

08:55Also, you get a lot of water flowing down it because it feeds into the sides of the valley.

09:01Yeah.

09:02So, this is, I mean, the area along the Severn Valley floods regularly now,

09:06which is possibly a sign of climate change.

09:09Yeah.

09:09And I guess, I wonder if that could be a factor then?

09:12If there's been, you know...

09:14Yes, as I say, we don't know until we've got eyes on what's going on over there really.

09:20At the moment, we can't really touch anything.

09:22So, what's your concern about, I mean, obviously, you know, we can see how it is now.

09:26What's the thinking on, you know, that another, that same amount again could come down?

09:31And kind of the, you know, the concern about, you're digging this out,

09:35but then obviously that leads to even more falling down.

09:38Yeah.

09:38That's obviously a possibility, I guess.

09:39One of the things that, you'll see the guys up there today.

09:42These are chaps from Network Rail.

09:43Yeah.

09:44Through our partnership, they've given us a lot of assistance with this.

09:49And they're actually going to put a protective sheet over the top of the slip to keep the rain off it.

09:54Because what we don't want is heavy rain washing more material down.

09:57Yeah.

09:58Yeah.

09:58And further undercutting the line.

10:00So, this is kind of like a temporary measure just to help keep it as it is for now.

10:05Yeah.

10:06So, the first stage will be covering it up and then digging all this out that's come down.

10:11Yeah.

10:11Once we've got the engineering solution developed and posted.

10:14Yeah.

10:15Then we'll presumably be looking at a contractor to be able to carry out this work.

10:20Yeah.

10:21And that's all to be decided yet.

10:25Well, thank you Chris.

10:26And thank you for all the hard work you do here on our beloved Severn Valley that we all love really.

10:30So, good luck in moving forward with it chap.

10:33Thank you very much.

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