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Original poster

The Forth Road Bridge is totally closed...

228 replies

cashewnutty · 04/12/2015 07:23

...what a nightmare that is going to be.

I live in Fife and DH works in Edinburgh. He gets the train but now they will be mobbed. Not good for businesses as a whole. The Kincardine Bridge will be mobbed and the roads around there are not great.

I hope they fix it soon.

OP posts:
harrasseddotcom · 07/12/2015 10:49

I read in the Scotsman that businesses are going to try and get compensation from SG for not being able to get over the bridge. Hows that gonna work??? Have also read some really pathetic comments laying all the blame at the door of the SNP. Surely these things happen and the important thing is that is has been noticed and any tragedies avoided.

VinylScratch · 07/12/2015 11:03

Some people will try and blame the SNP for anything, they'd blame them for snow in winter if they could.

myotherusernameisbetter · 07/12/2015 11:12

The reason people are blaming the SNP is because they have continually cancelled the maintenance work required on those spurs for years whilst they controlled the budget. They chose instead to spend the money on other things they thought were bigger vote winners and gambled that the new bridge would be open and they wouldn't have to do anything. Maybe sometimes when they are blamed it's their fault?

INeedSomeHelp · 07/12/2015 11:36

I am concerned about my journey home because I don't get on the train until South Gyle. If it's packed with people from Waverley and Haymarket I've got no hope!

myotherusernameisbetter · 07/12/2015 11:44

There's supposed to be extra carriages. Some services further west have been replaced by buses so as to release carriages for use. Hope you manage to get on. Might it be worth getting the train fro glue into Waverley and then getting the next train home? Appreciate it adds to the journey though. There is no decent train service from Stirling way to Fife so not even worth coming up that line from Edinburgh Park and over.

INeedSomeHelp · 07/12/2015 11:56

I'm going to try it today and see how it goes - although I will be leaving work early. Hopefully they'll leave some space as South Gyle is a busy station despite it being so small.

Pobspits · 07/12/2015 12:25

dementedma Dh has to do that journey tomorrow - can you let me know what it was like pls?

curriegirl · 07/12/2015 12:30

Ineed - apparently and this is just what I have heard is that only so many people are getting on at Waverley to enable some to get on at Haymarket and then they have to leave enough for people to get on at the Gyle. Fingers crossed for you.

Redglitter · 07/12/2015 13:18

Compensation for not getting over the bridge? That's ridiculous. Ok it's inconvenient but it's not like they're cut off and don't have other options. You'd think the bridge was shut for a laugh the way people are complaining.

INeedSomeHelp · 07/12/2015 15:19

I'm on a train back to Dunfermline. It's much busier than I would expect at this time of day but not packed - I've got a seat and the one beside me is actually free. It's running about 10 minutes late but that's understandable. I'm just lucky I've got an understanding boss and a job I can be flexible with.

StoorieHoose · 07/12/2015 16:22

pobspits. Alloa/Tillicoultry to Stirling was gridlocked today - if he can get on the A9 and into Stirling that way it might a bit quicker, They blocked off the Dunblane & Bridge of Allan exits on the Keir roundabout so you don't have to stop and you get right into the motorway to Stirling

myotherusernameisbetter · 07/12/2015 16:37

I know stoorie that took me by surprise as they haven't put up any warning till you get round the roundabout and get faced with cones. Its a fucking nightmare trying to get out of Dunblane or or out of Bridge of allan as there are no breaks in the traffic. A9 usually has a slight queue on it going south anyway.....not anymore!

snowypenguin · 07/12/2015 18:37

DH going to try the train to the Gyle tomorrow. Don't know whether to go for Cowdenbeath, Inverkeithing or Dunfermline. He wants to be on a train for 6 ish.

INeedSomeHelp · 07/12/2015 18:41

Snowypenguin I would say the closer to the start of the journey the better for getting on the train. I got on the 7.07 at Queen Margaret this morning and got a seat no problem. But it was pretty much full by the time it pulled out of Dunfermline Town. The car park at Queen Margaret was full by that time though so he might need extra time to find a parking space.

INeedSomeHelp · 07/12/2015 18:43

I'm driving from Dunfermline to Glasgow tomorrow. I was thinking about going up the motorway to Perth and then on to Stirling from there. I know it's going further North than the diversion route but it's motorway all the way and I thought that might be better than unfamiliar and busy A and B roads.
Am I giving myself extra travel time for no reason?

dementedma · 07/12/2015 19:04

pobspits I drove to kinross and then came off the 977 to take the hillfppts road through Dollar and Menstrie. Not too bad at all. Go past the Wallave monument and drop down into Stirling that way.
Bridge of Allan was horrendous though!

dementedma · 07/12/2015 19:05

Hill foots road!

snowypenguin · 07/12/2015 19:11

Thanks Ineed. Cowdenbeath would be easiest tomorrow morning but is the trains at night. He won't be on one until about 7 pm anyway. He's due to finish work at 6 in the Gyle but has only just made it to the clacks bridge to get back to the Gyle yet alone getting back over to come home!

HirplesWithHaggis · 07/12/2015 19:22

myotherusername, #SNPbad are not responsible for the maintenance of the FRB. From 2001 (when the Scottish Executive was Labour/LibDem controlled) til June this year (when Amey took over) it was the Forth Estuary Transport Authority, made up of four from Edinburgh and Fife Councils, and one each from Kincardine and West Lothian. Apparently, FETA was Labour-dominated, though I'm finding it difficult to establish the actual members to confirm that.

This damage was discovered during a routine maintenance check.

myotherusernameisbetter · 07/12/2015 19:30

This damage was discovered during a routine maintenance check.

Yes, in 2009.

"In February 2009, a report was presented to the Forth Bridge Board saying that the truss end links were showing signs of being overstressed. At that time, they decided to defer the works until after they had carried out the repairs and dehumidification of the main cables. That's fair enough.
They expected to start the work on the truss end links in 2010/11, and even put a notice out inviting tenders for the work in 2010. The tender process was then cancelled.
Then in 2013, the Board were told that the truss end links were one of three projects to be tendered in 2013/14. That was again deferred in early 2014 because of Government funding cuts. At that time, the Board were to,d that deferral of these projects would increase the risk to the long term structural integrity of the bridge and when the works are eventually carried out, the cost will be greater than if they were caught in time"

myotherusernameisbetter · 07/12/2015 19:34

Put it this way, if anyone else was to blame then the SNP would be all over it like a rash and it would be National News everywhere - especially if it was Westminster to blame. It's surprisingly quiet. That's because SNP media stanglehold kicks in and the silence is maintained.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 07/12/2015 19:38

In February 2009, a report was presented to the Forth Bridge Board saying that the truss end links were showing signs of being overstressed

Yes, but the crack they discovered is not the same part that was being discussed in 2009.

myotherusernameisbetter · 07/12/2015 19:43

Well everything I have seen is referring to the cracks being on the links at the end of the trusses - sounds the same to me.

If it isn't the same bit then isn't that even more concerning given that the other issues have never been resolved and sound like they are in the same region if not exactly the same bit?

AnthonyBlanche · 07/12/2015 19:55

Can those of you on this thread who are SNP supporters not just accept the facts? It IS the SNPs fault that the bridge has had to be closed. If they hadn't cancelled planned maintenance due to spending all the money on the white fantasy paper and road signs in Gaelic the bridge would be open right now.

Never ceases to amaze me how SNP supporters will never ever criticise their beloved party. It's like you've all been brainwashed!

myotherusernameisbetter · 07/12/2015 19:56

From the BBC:
"Chartered engineer Mark Arndt, from maintenance contractor Amey, told a media conference he had been faced with an "unprecedented set of circumstances".
He described the fault as a failure of the "inner link support beam to the North east tower truss end link"."