Sunday 24 September 2017

Of pipes and pylons

The work on the railway line is continuing. It's gone on so long, and there's no end in sight. The prospect of a viaduct carrying ul. Karczunkowska is as distant today as it was last August; at least the problem has been identified - the fact that there's a collision between where the electricity has to go and where the water and sewerage has to go. At last there's some action going on; there are construction crews on site and the pipes and pylons are being sorted out.

Below: a JCB digger on Karczunkowska, ahead of some pipe-laying. It annoys me that Lord Bamford, second-generation owner of JCB, was such a staunch proponent of Brexit. Maybe it didn't occur to him that EU money, through structural funds being spent across new member states on infrastructure, has bought literally thousands of his machines in recent years.


Below: between W-wa Jeziorki and Nowa Iwiczna, the problem is obvious; trackside drainage is inadequate, and as a result when the rains came, putting up new pylons became problematic.


Below: between W-wa Dawidy and W-wa Jeziorki, two new culverts have been completed, but the drainage ditch parallel to the track has only been completed for one short stretch on the eastern side. The rest is overgrown and liable to flooding. And trackside cabling still needs to be installed. Note the new signal turned 90 degrees to the track - it awaits connection.


Below: cabling work is under way  further south opposite W-wa Jeziorki's down platform. Still a long way to go before this stretches all the way to W-wa Dawidy.


Below: heavy plant and heavy rain have turned the path alongside the eastern edge of the track into a morass. No sign of cabling work going on here, just a hundred metres or so south of the location of the previous photo


Below: a new pylon astride the closed bit of ul. Karczunkowska awaits erection, but first the sewers and water pipes need to be laid... or is it the other way round? Saturday and no one's doing anything.


Below: A day earlier, Friday morning, and crews are at work. It looks like a new temporary footpath is being laid to link W-wa Jeziorki's platforms to the bus stop. This suggests that the old temporary footpath will be closed as work on the pipes begins.


On Thursday morning an excavator was busy removing yet more of the Ballast Mountain, below. At present, about 40% of it is left.


Below: view from the top, while I still can. My favourite spot in Jeziorki, which I can climb to think existential thoughts and take photos from.


This time two years ago:
What's the biggest threat - Putin or ISIS?

This time three years ago:
Scenarios for change in Russia

This time four years ago:
A new bus for Jeziorki - the 809 to Bobrowiec

This time six years ago:
Bunker in Powiśle

This time seven years ago:
Sunshine brings out the best in everything

This time nine years ago:
There must be a better way (3)

2 comments:

Ian said...

The signal box nears completion here in Nowa Iwiczna, the barrier 'arm' is in place but no barrier. Must be getting close though. In other news how do you think the new Selgros will impact the locality and especially Auchan?

Michael Dembinski said...

The signal box at Dawidy has been "almost ready" since May, along with all everything but the barriers. On my return from Łódź-Gdańsk-London-Sopot that much has happened in seven days, with new a new transformer station in place by the tracks at Karczunkowska and lots of sewerage and cabling work as well.

As for Selgros - we get its newspaper - the stuff they'll be selling there is amazing! If it's as good as they claim, the Selgros (the largest in Central and Eastern Europe) will make Auchan look like a Żabka. It will make shopping at Auchan slightly quicker as all the faktura merchants will buy their VATable goods up the road. Ten days to go...