Changes

Unfortunately, several factors arose to delay completion of the work. In December 1968 an explosion at West Hagley, at a point where the pipelines cross the Kidderminster to Stourbridge railway, fractured two of four water pipes, after which the Water Authority had decided to flood the pipeline chamber under the railway with concrete to prevent a similar attack.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1968/dec/02/birmingham-water-pipeline-explosion Hansard HC Deb 2 December 1968 vol 774 cc1035-8]</ref> This needed to be removed slowly and carefully with high pressure water jet, so as not to damage the pipes which were still carrying water.<ref name=SStar>[https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2015/02/19/shropshire-aqueduct-pipe-revamp-work-posing-a-huge-undertaking-for-water-giant/ Shropshire Star, 19 February 2015] (Retrieved 23 May 2022)</ref> When the new pipes were ready to be installed, the contractors discovered there was an unexpected 18-inch gap between two of them, due to the prefabricated nature of the replacement pipes and the fact that the dimensions for the existing buried ones had to be obtained from drawings. This required a linking collar to be fabricated and welded into place. Despite 24-hour working, the track bed was not handed back to the SVR until 3 p.m. on Saturday 14 February, some three days late. This meant the evening's Valentine's Day dining train was unable to use the full length of the line, with a full line service restarting on Tuesday 17 February. The SVR negotiated a suitable financial compensation package for the overrun, in addition to which the car park at Bewdley was resurfaced with tarmac at no cost to the SVR.<ref name=SVR190/> Severn Trent Water also became a corporate partner of [[Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust Ltd]].<ref name=SStar/>

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File: Pipes_20150528.jpg | Some of the old pipes alongside the railway following replacement