Canal and River Trust no longer trustworthy?

[Tracy D'arth]

1 minute ago, Heartland said:

This  Harecastle Tunnel once had a towpath, thanks to the skill of Thomas Telford and the foresight of the Trent & Mersey Canal Committee. BW removed that towpath as it had become unsafe in parts. With the volume of craft using the tunnel, is there a case for a towpath replacement scheme?

I understood that the towpath was removed as the distortion and settling of the invert due to subsidence caused by mining had rendered it an obstruction to passage.

 

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I understood that the towpath was removed as the distortion and settling of the invert due to subsidence caused by mining had rendered it an obstruction to passage.

 

Not just the invert - the whole tunnel has sunk over the years. Removing the towpath allowed boats to travel in the centre of the tunnel where the headroom is greatest, whereas the towpath forced them over to one side.

[David Mack]

 

1 hour ago, Heartland said:

This  Harecastle Tunnel once had a towpath, thanks to the skill of Thomas Telford and the foresight of the Trent & Mersey Canal Committee.

Not sure that foresight was really involved. The delays caused by the one way working of the old tunnel and the need to leg boats through led to a decision to duplicate the tunnel, so one could be used northbound and the other southbound. It was then a no-brainer to provide a towpath, to allow horse towage through the tunnel. Telford provided twin towpaths in Newbold and Coseley tunnels to allow two-way horse drawn traffic.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

20 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I've never checked my phone signal in the tunnel, but it would surprise me a bit if there was one. How else could you have verbal communication in there? You can't hear yourself think over engine and fan noise if there's more than one boat in there.

I'll check the phone in a couple of weeks...

 

20 hours ago, wandering snail said:

That's very brave of you and maybe beyond the call...

 

18 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I don't know if it ever got installed but there was talk of an emergency mobile phone system being put in so you would be able to make an emergency call inside the tunnel.  I would have thought that would go through to the emergency services though and not the CRT tunnel staff.

It was a coroners Regulation 28 report in 2014, following the death of Michael Holgate, that suggested CRT investigate installing a telephone cable with emergency telephones in the tunnel -

 

Quote

... There is no means of communication within the tunnel, I accept that mobile phone and the like would not operate but would ask the Trust to explore the possibility of a telephone cable and a number of emergency telephones at strategic and regular points within the tunnel.

Here is a link to the report and CRT's response - https://www.judiciary.uk/publications/michael-holgate/

CRT states - It is clear from the evidence heard at the inquest that in some sections of the tunnel the use of sound signals can be ineffective as a means of communication to persons at the entrances to the tunnel.

I don't believe the report the CRT told the coroner they were producing was ever published.

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Allan(nb Albert)
Added the year in which incident happened.