The Rail Engineer - Issue 85 - November 2011

November 2011

i s s u e

85

written by rail engineers for rail engineers available online at www.therailengineer.com

Paddington Bore

The completed approach to theRoyal Oak Portal, the route forCrossrail’s tunnelling machines.

Sub SurfaceRenaissanceThe massive programme toupgrade all LondonUnderground’s sub surface lines.

Bishop to King 7

Bishops Grange underbridgereconstruction wins CivilEngineering award.

The Painted LadyOUSEBURN VIADUCT WILL REGAIN ITS STANDING AMONGST THE OTHER BRIDGES AS ‘BELLE OF THE BALL’

november 2011 | the rail engineer | 3welcome

It’s difficult to imagine the Ouseburn Viaduct,shown on our front cover, being constructed intimber. But this is indeed how it started life. Today itsounds as if it didn’t last long in this form. Thirtyyears is dismissed in just three syllables, but thiswas a generation’s worth so it didn’t do too badly.The rebuilt structure then evolved over the yearsbut recently gave rise to concern over its loadbearing capacity. It has now been given a fullrefurbishment with strengthening and painting.Mungo Stacy has been inside the plastic cocoon tosee what has been done. By the way, start Googling“M C Escher”. You will need it to appreciate adescriptive subtlety in the text.

And the winner of the Civil EngineeringAchievement of the Year at the National RailAwards is..... Bishops Grange underbridgereconstruction. Where? Never heard of it. InMungo’s second article this month he explains whywhat appears to be a normal bread-and-butter jobpicked up the award.

At last, Crossrail’s tunnel boring machines havesomething concrete to aim at......literally. the railengineer has been down to Paddington to look atthe two large circular targets in the new Royal Oakportal. As an aside it’s comforting to know thatthere are archaeologists on standby at these hugeexcavations ready to ‘step in’ if anything interestingis found.

So, what’s the attraction of Australia then? Well,for one thing, it’s the employment prospects forBritish railway engineers. As Nigel Wordsworthpoints out in his summary of the Australian Railwayscene, here is a country with a network that is inconstant change and expansion. Just look at theadvertisements in our sister publications and you’llsee a whole load of opportunities - if you don’tmind poisonous spiders.

Nigel also looks at the way that steel,manufactured in the UK, is rolled into 108 metre

long rail sections in France for installation all overEurope and beyond. The UK plant is at Scunthorpe(managed by a Frenchman) and the French plant(managed by an Englishman) is at Hayange in thenorth east corner of France.

Upgrading the Sub Surface Lines on the LondonUnderground is a fiendishly complex operation. Itdoesn’t just involve changes to signalling and theintroduction of an automatic train regulatingsystem, there are complex track changes and acompletely new fleet of rolling stock. All this, ofcourse, has to be shoehorned into a system that isalready heavily loaded. Clive Kessell has been SubSurface and reports back.

I’ll stick my neck out here and say that I reckon the225 train sets are the most comfortable andpractical on the network despite their being 25years old. And so I’m cheered to see that they’rebeing given due care and attention at therefurbished maintenance facility at Bounds Greenin North London. Terry Whitley put in a night shiftto see what happens when they and the class 91locomotives come in out of the cold.

If you want to find out how the railway industrycan “deliver better value for money over the period2014-19” then just perform a quick Google anddownload the 157 page pdf file. The document,which carries a rather odd image of a smiling littlegirl with few front teeth on the front cover, istypically weighty. Or you can get a good feel ofwhat it says instead by reading Graeme Bickerdike’spersonal take on the whole matter.

The recent Infrastructure Show at the NECincluded.... well, infrastructure. That’s everything.Roads, airports, drains. But it also included, ofcourse, railways and from a brief ‘seat of the pants’analysis I would say that railways stole the show. Bein no doubt, our industry is still attractingcommercial attention despite the woes of theeconomy.

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The Painted Lady 6Ouseburn Viaduct is a £10 million project awardedby Network Rail to Carillion.

Sub Surface Renaissance 10The massive programme to upgrade all of theLondon Underground’s sub surface lines.

Paddington Bore 16The completed approach to the Royal Oak Portal,the route for Crossrail’s tunnelling machines.

Bishop to King 7 22

Bishops Grange underbridge reconstruction winsCivil Engineering Achievement of the year.

More ballast bashing 32As part of our Plant & Equipment Focus we look atSwiss manufacturer Matisa.

Maintaining Change 46

Nigel Wordsworth speaks with Network Rail’sDirector of Infrastructure Maintenance SteveFeatherstone.

A magical mixture 54As part of our Concrete feature, we check on avariety of applications in which Fibre ReinforcedConcrete (FRP) is employed.

Electrification/Power, Light Rail December

Stations, Surveying January

in this issue

forthcomingfeatures

4 | the rail engineer | november 2011 news

In order to reduce the skillsshortage and bring new blood intothe railway infrastructure industry,Network Rail has signed anagreement with two civilengineering associations to developa programme which will betterequip civil engineers of the future.The graduate development schemewill see Network Rail working withthe Civil Engineering ContractorsAssociation (CECA) and theAssociation for Consultancy andEngineering (ACE) to create a crossindustry programme of training andexperience for civil engineergraduates. The agreement will allowgraduates working for Network Railto spend time with other civilengineering organisations and viceversa, providing a cross industrylevel of experience.

Neil Thompson, Network Railprogramme director forinfrastructure investment, said:“This agreement provides anexcellent platform for ourengineering graduates to gain crossindustry experience, working withdifferent organisations to developtheir knowledge and skills. It will

also help the future of theengineering industry and developour business by providing betterequipped, more knowledgeableengineers who will help to deliver asafer and better value for moneyrailway for Britain.”

The agreement was signed at TheInfrastructure Show, held at the NECin Birmingham on 17-19 Oct 2011.

Bringing on new blood

Shine a light on BlackfriarsENVIRONMENT

IN BRIEF

New platformsBirmingham New Street development

continues as Birse Rail and BalfourBeatty Regional Civil Engineering havebeen awarded a £16 million contract torefurbish and reconstruct Platforms 2 to11. The works, which will include fittingnew escalators, lifts, lighting andplatform finishes, form part of the £600million rebuilding of the Birminghamstation and will run until 2013.

The new section of concourse,currently under construction by deliverypartner Mace, will be open in December2012. the rail engineer will be visitingthe New Street site and reporting onlatest developments in our February2012 issue.

All changePhilip Hammond MP has left the

expanding Department for Transport totake over at the declining Ministry ofDefence (a promotion?). In comesJustine Greening MP from the Treasuryto take over as Secretary of State forTransport.

At the same time, Dutch state railwayoperator NedRail has been awarded ashort term franchise to run trains inGreater Anglia under its Abellio brand.The agreement runs for only 29 monthsfrom February 2012. The new franchiseperiod, of course, covers the 2012London Olympic Games.

Quicker paymentsDelays in payments have always been

a cause for complaint for both large andsmall contractors in the rail industry.Now Network Rail’s investment projectsarm has reduced the time it takes to paycontractors and suppliers to 21 days,down from 56 days. This new practiceapplies to all new investment projectsworks contracts from 1 October 2011. Itwill not be applied retrospectively toearlier contracts.

David McLoughlin, finance andcommercial director, Network Railinvestment projects, said: “Suppliersand contractors of all sizes will nowhave much greater certainty over cashflows.”

TRAINING

The new Blackfriars station - whichis being built on a bridge spanningthe River Thames - is on its way tobecoming the world’s largest solarbridge after work started recently toinstall over 4,400 solar photovoltaic(PV) panels.

The Victorian bridge, built in 1886,is the foundation for the newBlackfriars station, which is beingupgraded by Network Rail to caterfor more passengers and animproved train service. A new roof,

added to the historic structure, willincorporate over 6,000m2 of PVpanels, creating the biggest solararray in London.

The solar panels will generate anestimated 900,000kWh of electricityevery year, providing 50% of thestation’s energy and reducing CO2emissions by an estimated 511tonnes per year. In addition to solarpanels, other energy savingmeasures at the new station willinclude rain harvesting systems and

sun pipes for natural lighting.Lindsay Vamplew, Network Rail’s

project director for Blackfriars, said:“We’re creating a spacious, modernstation while at the same timeinstalling London’s largest solararray to make Blackfriars moreenvironmentally-friendly andsustainable. Constructed in the ageof steam, we’re bringing it bang upto date with twenty first centurysolar technology to create an iconicstation for the city.”

Paul Clark (Network Rail), MikeCocks (CECA) and Graham

Nicholson (ACE) sign agreement.

november 2011 | the rail engineer | 5news

Balfour Beatty Rail has startedconstruction on the new CanalTunnel Junction project on behalf ofNetwork Rail. The project involves theinstallation of two new turnouts inthe existing up and down MoorgateLines to allow East Coast Main Linetrains from Peterborough and King’sLynn to travel further south of theThames.

The southern end connection withthe existing Thameslink system,situated just north of St PancrasInternational low level platforms A &B, will create the new junction. Theproject is constrained by the oldinfrastructure and the existing track

form will need to be broken out andthe turnouts installed during keypossessions taking place aroundChristmas.

The initial works will compriseof demolition and preparation,followed by diamond wire cuttingand support. Structural concrete andpreparation work will enable theproject team to lift out existing trackslabs and place the new turnoutsections with minimum disruption tothe infrastructure.

Concrete infill and finishing workswill complete the project whichis due to be handed over on 30thDecember 2011.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Canal Tunnel Junction

VolkerRail has been awarded theOverhead Line Electrification (OLE)and signalling works for the firstphase of the White Rose WayImprovement Scheme by BalfourBeatty Regional Civil Engineering, aspart of the Doncaster SouthernGateway project.

The £10.3 million contract is beingcarried out on behalf of DoncasterCouncil and is funded through anumber of sources including thecouncil, the South YorkshireTransport Plan and the EuropeanRegional Development Fund.

The work involves the provision ofa new dual carriageway road bridgeon White Rose Way, over East CoastMain Line. The scheme is to easecongestion problems and enable thedelivery of major regeneration

development in areas aroundLakeside and the town centre.

The current OLE and signallingarrangements are to be altered toaccommodate the proposed bridgeand its construction. Network Railrequires the OLE to be free runningbeneath the new and existing bridgesoffits.

Said Steve Sorby General Manager,“This project will bring a direct and

real benefit to the town and being aDoncaster based company, with ourhead office situated ‘next door’, weare extremely pleased to havesecured this work, and to be able toplay a part in the town’s growth.”

Work is currently underway with aplanned completion date ofDecember 2011 for these enablingworks.

INFRASTRUCTURE

VolkerRail OLE contract

6 | the rail engineer | november 2011 feature

Painted

he bridgescape along the River Tyne isinstantly recognisable - a visible, visual

celebration of civil engineering. Less than amile downstream a tributary, the Ouseburn,commands a further gallery of fine bridges.Compared with the postcard glory-bridgesthough, these specimens normally attractlittle attention.

Yet this collectiontells a similar storyof engineeringdevelopment, andthe structures vaunttheir owndistinctiveappearance.Modest 18thcentury Crawford’sBridge is the lowestand oldest, crossingthe burn in a singlestone span. Almostdirectly above is thered-brick BykerBridge, opened to roadtraffic in 1878 with a half-penny toll totraverse its 22 arches clear over the valley.Efficient twentieth-century precastsegmental concrete technology isrepresented by the elegant curves of the 800metre long Metro light-rail bridge.

The final group-member is currently inhiding, apparently coy of its dressed-masonry piers, wrought iron arches anddelicate spandrel-work. Behind plasticmodesty screening, contractor Carillion istending to every inch of the Network Rail’sOuseburn Viaduct in a £10M project toaddress its condition and load-carryingcapacity, to a design by Cass Hayward.

Pollution policeTwo hundred years ago, the Ouseburn

Valley rang to the sounds of heavy industry.White lead works, lime kilns, pottery, flax

spinning, iron foundries - all situatedthemselves here to exploit the river, both forpower and to drain away their noxiouswastes.

One hundred years ago, the river beyondthe bridges was culverted and covered in upto 30m of landfill. The Ouseburn Tip becamenotorious for its fetid smells, its tendency toself-combust on hot days and the localscavengers who went ‘scrannin’ on the tip’.

Fast-forward to today, and a plethora ofenvironmental legislation rules the actionsof the smallest enterprise. Hence the plasticsheeting which wraps the works andensures that any contaminants are captured,bagged and removed. Blasting and paintingsubcontractor Pyeroy has installed powerfulextractor units to recover and process thegrit used to strip the bridge back to baremetal.

Sounds of industry and activity once againresound across the valley. Inside the wrap,the angular metalwork acts as a sound-boxto echo, amplify and retransmit the smallestnoise. And the work is loud, not quiet - as thebig chisel-heads of demolition picks go towork to remove old rivets, the sound-blowsfeel physical rather than aural.

Up close, the scaffolding resembles a studyin persepective by M C Escher. At its highestit has eleven layers, and it took severaldesign iterations to ensure that the rightaccess was available to all areas of thebridge. Although a haul road was createdalongside, large plant was prohibited by thesteep-sided valley. In lieu of mechanicaltelehandlers, scaffolding subcontractorLyndons manhandled up to 20 tons ofscaffolding per day over the six weeks it tookto install.

Right first timeThe five main 35-metre spans are built of

six parallel metal arch ribs per span. Theopen spandrels are an intricate traceryintended to support the deck from thearch. Masonry piers give the railway aheight of 33 metres above the burn. Two12 metre-span stone arches each end ofthe bridge complete the full 280 metrelength.

T

w r i t e rMungo Stacy

LadyThe

The elegantOuseburn Viaductdisappearedbeneath elevenlayers ofscaffolding (right).

However, these details are not completelyoriginal. When first opened on 18 June 1839,as part of the Newcastle and North ShieldsRailway, the viaduct was built of laminatedtimber. Compared with stone arches, theonly viable alternative at the time, thecarpentry saved around 25% on the originalconstruction cost of £24,500.

The designers were father-and-son teamJohn and Benjamin Green, who were alsoresponsible for Newcastle landmarks such asGrey’s Monument and the neo-classicalTheatre Royal. By some accounts, John wasthe civil engineer, taking part in early chain-suspension bridge experiments with Capt SirSamuel Brown RN, whilst Benjamin wasmore of the architect.

That said, it was the son Benjamin whowas awarded a prestigious Telford Medal bythe Institution of Civil Engineers. Hisdescription of the Ouseburn Viaduct in theInstitution Proceedings of 1841 describedthe economies obtained by using timberand the ‘Kyanizing’ process to treat it.

Unfortunately it seems that the preservativewas not entirely successful, for the viaduct wasrebuilt in metal thirty years later. Fortunatelythe original directors of the railway companyhad insisted on masonry piers which werecapable of supporting a heaviersuperstructure. Care was taken to replicate theform of the timber arrangement, and theengineer on this occasion was T E Harrison.

Increasing traffic led to the viaduct beingwidened in 1887 to add a further two trackson a similar but slightly narrower new

structure. In the 1950s,the tracks wereballasted andadditional verticalframes were added totransfer the extra deadload withoutoverloading thespandrels.

Assessed In the worst tradition of architectural

fancies, the ornate spandrels appear to putform before function. Their prettyappearance has contributed to the Grade II*listing of the structure. However, the narrowsections are prone to corrosion, have atendency to develop cracks and create anindeterminate load-path.

Concerns over thecapacity of thebridge led to a speed

restriction of 20mph being imposed.Refurbishment was essential as this affectedthe East Coast Main Line. Network Railcommissioned Gifford to assess the bridgeand design a strengthening scheme to FormA, Approval in Principle stage. The schemewill provide full RA10 capacity for 60mphfreight and RA8 capacity at 100mph forpassenger traffic.

november 2011 | the rail engineer | 7feature

Up close, thecorrosion damageis obvious.


The Gifford assessment chose to treat thespandrels as non-structural, accounting fortheir dead weight but ignoring their stiffnessin the computer model of the bridge. Thisleft a well-defined load path, taking verticalloads from the deck into longitudinalstringer beams just below deck level andthence into the 1950s vertical frames downto the arch and to the piers. Strengtheningmeasures were required and detailed for allthese elements.

Under this scheme the spandrels are notrequired to carry load, although someresidual stresses will remain in them. Loadsfrom the railway will be carried by theexisting vertical frames behind the fascia,which can be seen by careful examination ofan elevation of the bridge.

StrengtheningThe tendered scheme was won by Carillion

with designers Cass Hayward to develop thedetailed design. Cass Hayward exploitedtheir knowledge of the bridge, gainedduring the Category III check of the Giffordassessment, to identify opportunities tooptimise the strengthening.

James Parsons, partner at Cass Hayward,explains: “Originally, doubler plates wereshown for the full perimeter of the arch ribs.During detailed design, we were able to lookmore closely at the areas needing extramaterial which allowed us to remove aroundtwo thirds of the main rib strengthening.”The newer 1870s section of widened bridgeonly carries a single line plus the overheadline equipment bases, and around 90% ofthe strengthening to the ribs was designed-out for this section.

Construction has been carefullysequenced whilst still allowing thecontractor to work on several spans at once.

Clearly, strengthening had to be in placebefore introducing additional load intoexisting members. Thus, the works to thearch web splices are first, followed by thedoubler plates to the arch flanges.

After this, the lower connections for thevertical frames are to be strengthened. Thennew stringer-beams will be added tosupport the deck off the vertical frames.Additional infill panels will be fitted to thespandrels at the centre of the arch wherenew stringers cannot be installed.

Heritage valueExtensive discussions were held with

English Heritage and Newcastle CityCouncil’s conservation officer about theworks to the bridge. Darryl White, NetworkRail’s scheme project manager, commented,“They were most concerned about theappearance of the outer elevations”. Headded that, following eight to nine meetingsover a couple of years, a suite of details wasagreed and consent obtained.

A key consideration has been retaining theoriginal structure as far as possible. Thereduction in arch rib strengthening hasassisted with this as it allows more of theoriginal material to be visible rather thanoverplated.

Other detailed-design changes have alsohelped. Thelongitudinal stringerbeams were intendedto be standarduniversal beamsections. These werechanged to T-sectionstrussed together bychannels, on first sighta cumbersomearrangement, but

actually assisting with installing the smallerpieces in a congested area and reducing thechanges needed to the existing verticalframes to make a connection.

Recent policy on painting for historicbridges has been to recreate the originalcolour where possible. Specialistconservators Crick Smith were engaged toanalyse the original paint. Although itseemed that the bridge had been takenback to bare metal in the past, a few traceswere found. Trial panels in these colourswere previewed by the interested parties tomake a colour selection. In engineeringterms, the M20 RT98 system is expected tohave a 25-year life.

Re-emergenceWhen the bridge re-emerges next summer

after a year of work, the most visible changemay be the fresh paint. It is a tribute to theattention paid to the heritage that theextensive works, which will fundamentallychange the way the structure carries loads,have such a minimal impact on theappearance of the bridge.

With the scaffolding removed, and withthe capacity to meet the needs of twenty-first century rail traffic, the Ouseburn Viaductwill regain its standing amongst the otherbridges as belle of the valley.

Extensivediscussions wereheld with EnglishHeritage andNewcastle CityCouncil’sconservationofficer about theworks to OuseburnViaduct.

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Invensys Rail’s winning solution

Proud to be Network Rail’s Supplier of the Year 2011

onsiderable publicity has alreadyemerged on the new S stock trains

being delivered to the Metropolitan Line.However, these are only part of a massiveoverall programme to upgrade all of LondonUnderground’s sub surface lines. With avariety of ageing rolling stock, and somesignalling systems that date back to the1940s, the lines are overdue formodernisation.

Hedley Calderbank is the Upgrade Sponsorwithin London Underground (LU) to ensurethat the project plans are financially oncourse to deliver all the required benefits toLU’s business. He gave the rail engineer afascinating insight into the project, itsplanning and delivery.

The business planIn the PPP era, the

two organisationsawarded thecontracts wererequired to putforward plans formajor improvementworks. Metronet,responsible for theSub Surface Railway(SSR), was committedto a completeupgrade of trains andsignalling on all thoseroutes as a singleproject. The existingtrack layouts hadbeen unchanged foryears - some evendated back to theloco hauled days ofthe MetropolitanRailway. Piecemealrenewals had kepteverything largelyunchanged as thishad been the

simplest thing to do. As a result, many tracklayouts were less than optimised for theexisting train service while the capabilities ofboth signalling and rolling stock fell wellshort of LU’s aspirations for capturing moretraffic.

The PPP organisational structure has beenovertaken by events, but it was the catalystfor developing the SSR scheme as a singleentity embracing the Metropolitan, District,Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. Theensuing business case for the upgrade hasbeen based around a number of elements:• Shorter journey times for passengers -

entry gate to exit gate• Faster trains with better acceleration• Provision of more frequent trains, thus

giving less waiting time on stationplatforms

• Higher speeds on the Metropolitan lineout in the north-west suburbs

• Fulfilment of suppressed demand becauseof existing service limitations.

Considerable work has gone into provingthat the business case is robust. The peaknumber of trains per hour on every routewill be increased as follows:• Metropolitan Line - from 21 to 28• Circle and Hammersmith & City (central

section) - from 28 to 32• District (central section) - from 28 to 32

• Hammersmith & City - from 7 to 16, alreadypartially achieved by the extended Circleline

• District Line branches - by 1 train on each. Many of these additions are

interdependent but, once the existingsignalling has been replaced, the peakpassenger capacity of the network will beincreased by more than 30%.

Layout constrictions andimprovements

The SSR group of lines has four majorjunctions where little can be done toeliminate flat crossings: Aldgate, BakerStreet, Edgware Road and Earls Court. Toprovide grade-separated layouts would beprohibitively expensive. However, runningmore trains across the conflicting paths canbe simplified by changes to the tracklayouts, the signalling system and the use ofATR (Automatic Train Regulation).

One example is the Metropolitan line atBaker Street which has two throughplatforms and two terminating bays. Thenew service envisages 28 trains per hourwith 12 terminating and 16 running ontothe Circle line. This can be achieved by minoradjustments to the track layouts and bychanging the signalling to give better ‘run in’times to platforms so that over restrictiveoverlaps are removed.

C


Clive Kessellw r i t e r

Platformextensions atBaker Street.

RenaissanceSub Surface

Elsewhere, there are around 30locations where even minor changes tothe layout can give improved operatingflexibility and/or higher speeds, as wellas providing the opportunity toterminate trains at additional stations.Some of those locations will have newtrackwork with fewer point ends andthus cheaper signalling and lessmaintenance. Bi-directional signallingenhances these simplifications at somesites.

The Signalling Workand Contract

As important as theprovision of the new trainsis the resignalling of theentire SSR network with amodern Automatic TrainControl (ATC) system. Thesignalling work contract hasrecently been let toBombardier for a value ofaround £350m based upontheir CITYFLO 650 productwhich has been proven onthe Metro de Madrid andthe Shenzhen Metro. Theterms and conditions forimplementation arepredictably quite onerous.For the first time on LU,there will be no majorblockades permitted forsignalling installation,testing or commissioning,although some closures will, of course,be needed for trackwork changes.

The ATC system will first be testedand proven by Bombardier on the OldDalby test track in the East Midlands.This is planned for 2012/3. Thereafterthe new lineside signalling equipmentwill be progressively installed with theintention of testing it in traffic while inshadow mode. It will be switched to belive during engineering hours toenable testing to be carried out, butswitched back to the old system readyfor traffic the next day. The system willhave all the features one would expectof a modern metro:• Automatic Train Protection -

continuous with elimination of trainstops

• Moving Block, allowing variableheadways

• Attended Automatic Train Operationretaining the driver in leading cab

• In-cab display showing movementauthority status and no lineside signals

• Automatic Train Regulation withjunction optimisation.

Lineside equipment is much reducedwith most of the active equipment onboard the train. Space was designedinto the rolling stock design for thenew signalling equipment. However, assome new trains have already beendelivered, these will need to be retro-fitted as will the engineering fleet. Laterbuilds of the trains will have the in-cabsignalling fitted as original equipmentat the Derby factory.

The new Service Control Centre hasalready been built. A second disasterrecovery centre will also be provided indue course. All communication to andfrom trains will be by radio which will useconventional aerials on the overgroundsections. However, radiating cable will beneeded at some locations in tunnelswhere antenna mounting is not possible.It is intended that a dual transmissionpath will exist continuously to all trains,resulting in an extremely robustcommunication system. To achieve this,both cab units on the train will be activeand will receive radio data byindependent paths. The cab units will beconnected together via an on-train fibrelink. A new fibre network will be installedto convey safety critical instructions tothe trackside transmitting points.

Train position will be confirmed bysmall track-mounted balises. Axlecounters will be used for secondarydetection only. They will not be neededunder normal operation but, shoulddisruption occur, then they will be partof the recovery process.

Point machines of varying types -pneumatic and electrical - will remainwhere the layout is unaltered, but fornew trackwork LU will standardise on amodern in-bearer clamplock design onballasted track and the Surelock pointmechanism elsewhere.

Since station dwell times will becritical in achieving serviceperformance, the driver will haveresponsibility for door closing, aided byan in-cab countdown clock.


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Institution ofRailway Signal Engineers

(Above) Installinga Bailey Bridge atNeasden forconstruction trafficaccess.


Interfaces with other linesThe Metropolitan and District lines share

tracks with the Piccadilly line from RaynersLane to Uxbridge and Barons Court to Acton.The District line operates over Network Railtracks to Wimbledon and Richmond whilethe Metropolitan line has to accommodateChiltern Railways trains over its tracks fromHarrow to Amersham. Different philosophiesare being employed to cater for thecontinued safe operation of these “alien”train services.

On the Piccadilly line sections, studies haveshown that it is more cost effective to equipthe trains with the new SSR ATC equipmentrather than to provide dual ATC and linesidesignals. This will also allow interoperability oftracks between Barons Court and Acton sopermitting both District and Piccadilly trainsto run on either track.

The full ATC system will be provided on theWimbledon branch from Putney Bridge toWimbledon in addition to the legacylineside signalling for the few non-LU trains.From Gunnersbury to Richmond, the ATCsystem will be overlaid on the existingconventional Network Rail signalling. On theChiltern line, there will be lineside signals inparallel with the full ATC system forMarylebone to Aylesbury trains.

Provision may need to be made at Watfordfor the extension of the line to WatfordJunction under the Croxley Link schemenow under active consideration byHertfordshire County Council. Should the

project come about, this will

mean another interface with Network Railsignalling at Watford High Street. TheChesham branch will remain ‘One TrainWorking’ but the junction will be movednorthwards from Chalfont & Latimer to gaingreater capacity.

Project Phasing and Priorities8-car S stock trains are already entering

service on the Metropolitan line anddeliveries will be complete by 2013. Thesewill take over from the A stock that has beenin service since 1960 and are LU’s oldesttrains. The new trains have, however,necessitated some adjustments to theexisting signalling to cater for slightly longercars, a different driving position and alteredsignal sighting. Before the new ATCsignalling can be brought into public serviceuse, all trains on a particular route must beoperated solely by the new stock. Newsignalling can then be commissioned on theUxbridge branch and then progressively onthe rest of the Metropolitan line by 2016,although not at that stage from Baker Street

to Aldgate.

Similarly, on the Circle, Hammersmith &City and District lines, which will all receive7-car S stock sets, the existing signalling willbe modified so that trains can be driven for aperiod in manual mode. S stock deliverieswill be complete in 2016 whereupon thenew signalling will be commissioned on theCircle and Hammersmith & City routes, withthe District line finally being converted by2018.

The complexities of this project should notbe underestimated. It will be considerablymore difficult to achieve than the recentVictoria and Jubilee line upgrades as thesewere essentially end-to-end routes with nointermediate junctions. There will no doubtbe issues surrounding the required safetycase, although a measure of crossacceptance will be applicable as thetechnology has successfully been appliedelsewhere. To facilitate this, LU has everyintention of not deviating from the standardsignalling product even if this meanschanging its operating rules.

It is going to be fascinating over the nextseven years to watch the work as itprogresses. The end result will be a world

class metro operation that should be goodfor an intended life of 40 years.

Track relaying atBaker Street andHammersmith.

New S stock trainon theMetropolitan line.

www.transportation.bombardier.com

Bombardier CITYFLO 650 communication-based train control (CBTC) delivers a service that’s as regular as clockwork. Thanks to shorter headways, passengers will never wait long for the next train. Time effi cient from the outset, CITYFLO 650 can be overlaid on an existing system and installed without interruption to passenger services.

Solving the capacity challenge with CBTC

BO

MB

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w r i t e rTerry Whitley

East Coast 91109 isserviced at BoundsGreen depot. Onthe left is a rake ofMk 4 carriagesminus their class 91(inset) East CoastDVT 82210 has itstyres turned atBounds Greendepot.

PHOTOS: JONATHAN WEBB

he East Coast Main Line is the mostrecent, and most obvious, example of

the failure of a rail franchise. Taken back intopublic ownership in November 2009, theroute is now operated by Directly OperatedRailways (DOR) under the “East Coast” brand.

From the outset, DOR established a clearvision for East Coast, supported bytransparent objectives and performanceindicators to ensure that the executive teamand management understood the directionand focus for the business. One of theobjectives was to improve the FleetEngineering function.

A decision to re-launch the business inMay 2011 coincided with the introduction ofa major new timetable for the East CoastMain Line, the biggest such change on theline for more than 20 years. Requiring 155trains to run each day, this new timetableneeded the train fleet to be in top condition- particularly in terms of reliability.

Lagging behindDOR’s own board reported last year that

East Coast’s engineering organisation “hadlagged behind other train operators inachieving their goals”. However, this yearthey could report “As part of the East Coastturnaround, which started early in 2010, theEngineering function has been substantiallyre-organised during the year, and significantadvances have been made. This hasincluded a revitalised EngineeringManagement System and a review ofmaintenance practice.

The lack of investment in previous yearshas been reversed; and as a consequence,this investment has started to translate intoimproved performance. Utilising its 500engineers, and by adopting a systematicapproach using visualisation techniques andcondition monitoring methods, both of theEast Coast fleets (InterCity 225 electric fleet,and the HST diesel fleets) are currentlyamongst the most reliable InterCity fleets inthe country.”

The fleetThe East Coast fleet is managed from three

principal train depots. These are BoundsGreen in London, Craigentinny in Edinburghand Clayhills at Aberdeen. The train fleetconsists of 31 Class 91 locomotives, 30 225train-sets and 13 HST 125 train-sets.

Bounds Green is the major depot used forClass 91 locomotives and the 225 train setsmaintenance programme whereasCraigentinny maintains the HST fleet. Anumber of Class 08 shunters are located atthe 3 depots and shunting movementswithin the depot was one area of concernthat was focused on in the last 2 years toreduce shunting mishaps.

the rail engineer was invited along toBounds Green to see how the recentimprovements have affected the workcarried out overnight.

Bounds GreenEverything starts with the afternoon team

briefing which plans the evening and nightmaintenance schedules, looking at anymaterial requirements for unexpected faultsor failures. One major input into this is theinformation gathered from East Coast’s newremote electronic fault reporting andmonitoring system, Project Falcon, which isbeing introduced across the whole fleet ofElectric Class 91/DVT’s and Diesel Class 43locomotives.

The 225 train sets are now 25 years old.Even with the best maintenance procedures,and they haven’t always been as good asthey could be on the ECML, componentswear and faults occur. When a component iscritical to the train’s performance, so that if itfails then the train fails too, is called a “SinglePoint Of Failure”. In a 225, there are no lessthan 300 of these. It is therefore crucial forthe maintenance team to know how eachitem is performing, and whether it is gettingclose to failure.

Monitoring and recordingProject Falcon is a web-based, real time

system that transmits live data from aRemote Monitoring Device (RMD) fitted tothe trains via wi-fi. The System will analyseOn Train Monitoring Recorder (OTMR)outputs plus the performance of other keyitems of equipment. Based on a provensystem on NXEA Norwich services, wheretangible benefits are already beingdelivered, East Coast is looking for furtherdevelopments to provide greaterfunctionality.

The aim is to have every aspect of a train’sperformance monitored and recorded. Thenany problem that is reported may be

analysed in detail to find the cause. Even theposition of the driver’s controls can beplayed back to see how any incident mayhave developed. This has additional benefitsother than just train maintenance, as nowthe whole operation of a service can bescrutinised.

A couple of examples could help explainthat. Analysis of a run between Newcastleand London revealed that a particular trainnever reached its top speed, but instead ranat only 122mph. After checks, it was foundthat the Automatic Speed Limiter had beenset too low. This was easily recalibrated and,when the unit was returned to service, itcovered the same route three minutes faster.

As a second example, East Coast engineerswere looking to see why there was a highincidence of delays at Wakefield. Wassomething causing the train to be held inthe station too long? Examination of therecordings showed that the dwell timeswere consistently one minute, but that thepreceding timing points made it difficult toachieve the station stop time accurately. Thetimetable was adjusted slightly and theproblem solved.

East Coast plans to be the first trainoperating company to have all its fleetsinstalled with remote monitoring andautomated delay attribution. The project willbe crucial in helping the company deliver itsperformance targets in future.

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Good EngineeringGetting back to

More conventional engineeringOnce the data has been analysed, and the

engineering teams briefed, it is then downto conventional engineering to keep thetrains running. But even that has been thesubject of reorganisations. Air conditioningsystems with a fault were routinely replacedwith a spare and sent to a contractor nearDoncaster for repair. However, any backlogcould quickly mean that there was ashortage of operational units. Now,engineers can power-up air conditioners atBounds Green, check for faults and makesimple repairs on-site. Only major defectsstill have to be sent away. This has resulted inwithdrawn units being repaired andreturned to service much more quickly, withno more shortages.

When East Coast took over the fleet, itwas common for a class 91 to operate withone traction motor isolated due to anunrepaired fault. This is now rare. Miles percasualty for the 225 fleet now runs at16,774 - still poor compared to 45,000 forthe HSTs but significantly better than whenDOR first started.

East Coast’s Engineering Director, IanDuncan, commented that 26 of the 225 setswere in traffic at any one time, with oneheld in reserve and one or more away for amajor refurbishment. Such an overhaul cantake a month, so scheduling each set’sabsence from service is important, and themore work that can be done at the depotthe better.

Bounds Green has its own Hegenscheidtwheel lathe, installed by GNER in 2007.Usually it takes a shift to reprofile the fourwheelsets on a Class 91 or Mark 4 coach.Wheel slide protection (WSP) on Mark 4coaches works well but the Slip/Slide onclass 91s is not so effective and can causewheel flats. The wheel lathe corrects this,

while another ongoing project aims toreduce the occurrence of the problem inthe first place.

Sanders, which can have an adverse effecton wheel condition, were a major area ofun-reliability due to lack of repair/parts, butbig improvements have been made duringthe East Coast regime. Likewise, pantographrepair and maintenance is now conductedin the depot.

To cut down on workload at Bounds Green,the facility at nearby Ferme Park has beenupgraded. Situated on the other side of themain line, this now has facilities for trainwashing, cleaning and the emptying of toilets.Trains can now be routinely fettled at FermePark, and even ones destined for BoundsGreen can have their daily service first.

There is still much to do at East Coast, andat Bounds Green. But Ian Duncan and histeam are determined to keep themomentum going, and improve fleetavailability and performance through theapplication of Good Engineering.


Repairing an air conditioning unit from a Mk4 carriage at Bounds Green depot. (inset) A class 91 has its sandersfilled by hand. To mechanise this process would cost thousands of pounds, so East Coast has no plans to replace aman with a can!

Two EC class 91 sets undergo routinemaintenance at Bounds Green depot.


Grahame Taylorw r i t e r

here are always developments going onbeside the railway. Many go un-noticed.

If you travel by train from South Wales intoPaddington, there’s always been a mish-mash of sites just to the north of the mainline. The Westway A40 dominates the skylineand there have been rows of parked busesand lines of taxis in various states ofassembly and colour. There’s even the GreatWestern Studios occupying a cold-warbunker style building. But now, as youprepare to arrive at Paddington, beingforever exhorted to “Make sure you have allyour luggage and children with you” and to“Mind the blindingly obvious gap”, a glanceover to the lineside reveals that everythinghas changed. The buses have gone, as havethe taxis and the seemingly immovableGreat Western Studios have vanished.

Entrance to the underworldAll this is because of Crossrail – a major

project that is well and truly under way.On the invitation of Crossrail, the rail

engineer has had a chance to view thecompleted approach to the Royal Oak Portal.What might resemble a slip road in morerural surroundings is in fact the entrance tothe underworld – the route for the project’stunnelling machines and then, later on, thefleet of Crossrail trains.

Simon Pledger is Bechtel’s Project Managerfor this part of the Crossrail scheme andleads us through the backgroundengineering.

Narrow strips of landA little bit of orientation may help. There

are two sites involved. The Westbourne Parkarea will eventually accommodate the turn-back sidings for trains out of Paddington,along with a reinstated bus deck. Originallythe site of all the buildings and vehicles

mentioned above, it also has a Tarmac stoneterminal siding facility – which has to bemoved.

The Royal Oak Portal site, which is just overhalf a mile from the bufferstops atPaddington, is just to the west ofWestbourne Park. They are both narrowstrips of land sandwiched between the A40on its flyover and the London Undergroundand Network Rail tracks.

Buried servicesThe Crossrail parliamentary bill allowed

for compulsory purchase orders for theland involved and, when all these processeshad run their course, two contracts were letfor demolition work. Morgan Sindallundertook the clearance of the WestbournePark area along with moving an existingretaining wall back to create a wider site forthe ultimate relocation of the buses and fornew sidings for Tarmac. The Studios (StudioSpace for the Creative Industries) havebeen relocated to just the other side of theA40.

Keltbray moved into the Royal Oak site toprepare the land for the portal works. In theprocess, ‘things’ were found. Simonremembers that, “We encountered at least26 buried services across the site. It mayhave been more. These and otherobstructions to the movement of the TunnelBoring Machines (TBMs) had to be removed.They included a thrust block to a cablechamber, a signal gantry leg and a selectionof signalling location cabinets.

“We have implementation arrangementswith Network Rail that allows them to do thatwork on our behalf. So far as plant workingright by the London Underground andNetwork Rail tracks is concerned, there are anumber of liaison mechanisms to ensure weadhere to undertakings and carefully protecttheir assets. We develop what we call ‘workpackage plans’ – effectively methodstatements for how we do the work. Wherethere’s an impact on their assets we sharethose method statements with LondonUnderground and Network Rail over whichthey have approval rights. They’re alsoinvolved at the design stage and have whatwe call a final design submission that theyget to approve - this basically tells them whatwe’re going to build.”

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(Right) Excavatingthe approach tothe portal.

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Temporary propsWith the site cleared it was time to install

the diaphragm walls. Most of thesestructures are of reinforced concrete placedin trenches filled with bentonite slurry. Thebentonite keeps the trench sides stable andis displaced by the poured concrete. Theremaining part of the wall, completing along box structure, was constructed usingsheet piles. Temporary props were placedacross the tops of the walls so that materialcould be excavated down to track formationlevel. Some of these props were designed toremain in position as part of the permanentstructure. Others remained in place onlyuntil the track base slab had been pouredand had cured. At this point the props wereremoved.

The project was fortunate that the materialarising was mostly from made ground. Therewere none of the issues of contaminatedmaterial so often encountered in urban andespecially railway environments.

Leading the muck awayWith the site being long and narrow, there

were limited options for leading the muckaway. The original contract had provision forcarting material out via both the eastern andwestern ends. The eastern end sent haulagetraffic out into Central Paddington. Thewestern end was land locked and wasdependant on an agreement with thecontractor occupying the Westbourne Parksite. An agreement was reached with MorganSindall that allowed CSJV (A joint venturebetween Costain and Skanska) to construct ahaul road through the Westbourne Park siteand out at the western end.

“It was a much better option because itallowed us to use both ends of the site andalso it speeded up the programme witheasier access and egress,” Simon Pledgerrecalled.

Traffic went out at set times throughoutthe day in accordance with the Section 61agreement arranged with Westminster whowere fully supportive of the spoil going outthe West because of the reduced impact onPaddington Central area. Most of thematerial – London Clay – went off to theDownes Barnes Golf Course in Hillingdon.

Ancient geological structureAll four sides of the new box structure

have vertical extensions to cater for a ‘floodlevel 2’ – a fairly bland term for a major floodthat would have the rest of London introuble long before Crossrail!

On more mundane drainage matters, thislarge hole in the ground has temporarysumps and pumps to remove rainwaterbefore the main cross-London tunneldrainage is installed.

The Natural History Museum had aninterest in the excavations as they wentthrough the Westbourne River. This ancientgeological structure was found at about11m depth and yielded around 160 (animal)bones, some of which appeared to have had‘human intervention’.

This caused some delay. However thecontractor did well to minimise anydisruption by working with thearchaeologists and eventually completedthe job almost a month ahead of schedule.

The subterranean riparian encounter hadbeen expected because of earlier soilinvestigations.

Crossrail has a number of different siteswhich are likely to have significant historicalinterest and has a targeted ‘watching brief’on these areas. An archaeologist will standwatching work in progress and as soon asthey spot something they will ‘step in’.

The first phase portal structure is nowcomplete – that is, the civils works for thepurposes of allowing the TBMs to drivethrough London.

There is some additional scope of works todo once the tunnelling contractor hasfinished. Once the muck has been taken outfrom Bond Street and beyond and the TBMhas emerged at Farringdon and been takento pieces, the portal will be finished off and aheadhouse erected.

Future programmeSo, what next for Simon? “I’m looking at

scoping the works that need to be done atWestbourne Park and Royal Oak Portalbetween the tunnelling contractorcompleting and the system-wide team

coming through. Sothere is somescoping of works toget the buses back atWestbourne Park, anundertaking tomanage therelocation of Tarmacand to put thesidings back. Still todo is the headhousefinishing for theportal, Network Rail’sMarcon Sewerdrainage and theGreen Lane Sewerdrainage toaccommodate thenew Crossrail tracks.

I’m setting that up at the moment andbasically assisting the delivery team withsome exercises trying to simplify ourprocesses and to find additional value formoney.”

A major item of Crossrail infrastructure hasbeen completed. The next things we will see(that is, if we pay attention as we arrive on

our trains from the west) will be theTBMs being delivered in bits, beingassembled and trundled down tothe headwalls. the rail engineerlooks forward to an invitation to seeit all close up!


(Top) Lifting steelprops by gantrycrane.(Left) Some of thebones uncoveredby archaeologists.

he Chinese must be feeling very smugindeed, gazing westwards at the warm

glow of Capitalism burning. In the secondquarter of 2011, economic growth therealmost hit 10%; industrial production was upmore than 15%. Energising this expansion ischeap power - generating capacity is beingdoubled to 1,000 Gigawatts - alongside therelentless march of transport andcommunications networks. Majorconurbations are having their skylinesredrawn in steel and concrete. Even thepoorest are profiting - moving out of cavesand into proper housing, just as manyBritons prepare to go the other way. Thecontrast in fortunes is blinding.

With our economy flat-lining and theEurozone debt crisis frightening the markets,those tasked with accommodating therailway’s substantial projected growth inboth passenger numbers and freight havefound their options limited by the coalition’shatchet. Standing on the brakes to controlpublic spending has largely blocked-off thestrategist’s preferred route out of trouble:build new infrastructure.

Room for manoeuvre has been furtherconstrained by Sir Roy McNulty. Rememberhim? Though some privately slate his ‘valuefor money’ conclusions as flawed or over-simplistic, political expediency demandsthat the railway is seen to respond positivelyto them. Whilst it is widely accepted thatcosts need to come down, how and to whatextent? McNulty’s study asserted that theRoute Utilisation Strategy process “tended tolead too easily to capital and infrastructuresolutions”, instead advocating “a move

towards ‘predict,manage andprovide’, with amuch greaterfocus on makingbetter use ofexisting capacity.”The objectiveremains thesame; the legacyis directionalchange.

An uncomfortable SoFA?The first manifestations reveal themselves

in two Initial Industry Plans (IIP) developedby Network Rail, ATOC, the Rail IndustryAssociation and Rail Freight Operators’Association. Published in September, theylook forward to Control Period 5 (2014-2019)and beyond - one dealing with England andWales, the other focussing on Scotland.

The former aims to provide 170,000additional seats on key urban networksduring the peaks whilst making room for30% more freight. This will be done against abackdrop of efficiency improvements andrevenue growth, cutting by two-thirds thefinancial burden borne by the taxpayer from£3 billion in 2014 to £1 billion in 2019. It isalso presumed that High Speed 2 evades thenimbys to relieve pressure on the West CoastMain Line, with the Chilterns welcoming itsfirst bulldozers during CP5.

Think of the IIPs as a portfolio ofinvestment opportunities. Beyond thosealready committed - the Thameslinks andCrossrails - it features up to £5.6 billionworth of proposals, bringing with them avery impressive social and economicbenefit:cost ratio of 4.5:1. But ultimately thechoice lies with government. Next summer,having considered the industry’s pitch,Westminster and Holyrood will present theirexpectations through High Level OutputSpecifications (HLOS) alongside assessmentsof what they can afford to spend, known asSoFAs (Statement of Funds Available). Giventhe parlous state of our finances, the moneywill probably come from down the back ofone. Nothing is set in stone until the autumnof 2013 when the ORR issues its finaldetermination based on Network Rail’sStrategic Business Plan - a statement of howthe firm intends to deliver the HLOSs,working with the industry.

Pause for breath.

All about contextSo how do you ‘manage’ more capacity

into the network rather than build more ofit? The answer has several components,none of which bring revelation. You makethe infrastructure more resilient and thenmonitor how it performs, taking proactivesteps to avert failure; you reduce the needfor engineering access through longer-lifecomponents and more time-smart practices;you improve signalling headways, adjust the

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thatAll

Trains andtrackworkersconverge in thethroat ofManchesterPiccadilly.

Remote conditionmonitoring andtime-smartengineeringpractices help tocreate additionalcapacity.

GraemeBickerdike

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timetable and match train length todemand; you optimise passenger loadingsthrough the fares structure, offering off-peakincentives (or by clobbering commuterswith a mallet). All this can be done, is beingdone and will continue to be done. But thenwhat?

The IIP paints a picture of an industrytrying to put its house in order, providing 50pages of ‘context’ and ‘value for money’analysis, extolling the railway’s safetyperformance and fine environmentalcredentials. It gets very touchy-feely aboutmeeting customer needs. Improvedcontractual relationships are described; sotoo are asset management savings; so too isdevolved decision-making to local route-based organisations; so too is the movementtowards goal-based standards and theirtrialling using Red, Amber and Greenindicators. Yes, it all gets quite granular.McNulty’s critique (see Issue 80 of the railengineer) is tackled and despatched pointby point. It seems almost apologetic whenthe plan serves up nuggets of cold capitalinvestment.

Big ideasThe headline proposals have already been

well flagged: the closure over 30 years of 800signal boxes as part of Network Rail’s newoperating strategy, with control transferredto 14 modern signalling centres (see Issue 83of the rail engineer), the application ofERTMS on the Great Western and East Coastas a precursor to its adoption on otherroutes after CP5, as well as an extension tothe electrification programme launched in2009. The latter would involve wiring -• the Midland Main Line northwards from

Bedford to Sheffield via Derby, along withthe section from Trent Junction intoNottingham (already supported by astrong business case)

• Gospel Oak to Woodgrange Park Junction,benefitting London Overground servicesand offering a through electric freightroute from the Thameside area

• South Wales’ Valley lines, linking CardiffQueen Street with Rhymney, Coryton,Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare, Treherbert, Radyr(via Ninian Park), Penarth and Barry Island

• the North TransPennine network,encompassing Manchester-Leeds/York/Hull through StandedgeTunnel, Temple Hirst Junction-Selby andNorthallerton-Middlesbrough

• the remainder of the diesel-operatedpassenger lines around Scotland’s centralbelt, beyond the 342 single trackkilometres involved in EGIP, the ongoingEdinburgh-Glasgow ImprovementsProgramme.

Conversion of the South East’s vast third railDC network to overhead AC traction is alsounder examination - presumably beneathcold, wet towels. The cost and logisticalimplications are clearly off the scale.

Providing better links across the North,vital for economic stimulus, is the forcebehind the Northern Hub - 17 discreteventures that could collectively bring 700additional weekday trains to the region (seeIssue 81 of the rail engineer). Costinggovernment £735 million, it offers benefitsback at an attractive ratio of 4.1:1

All this will entail more new rolling stock,over and above the 2,150 vehiclescommitted for Crossrail, Thameslink andmain lines via the Intercity ExpressProgramme. Around 150 electric vehicles arerequired in London and the South East, 100more for long-distance services andupwards of 320 (dependent onTransPennine electrification) to serveregional and Scottish routes - a mix ofelectrics and diesels. Key to this will beeconomies of scale, both from betterprocurement practices and by cutting backthe plethora of rolling stock designs,possibly based on five broad categoriesidentified by the ubiquitous working group.

Original thoughtMore likely to catch the engineer’s eye -

and certainly that of the product designer -are the less quantifiable opportunities. Overthe course of CP5, £150 million will hopefullybe earmarked for innovation - ideas that

help to meet system-wide needs with theaim of delivering annual cost savings ofmore than £100 million. Two-thirds of thefund would be used to progress‘demonstrator’ projects on key programmesidentified by the Technical StrategyLeadership Group; the other £50 million willbe available for emerging schemes.

Did the trend towards benign winters lullthe industry into a false sense of security sofar as weather resilience is concerned? Eitherway, the attendant disruption over twoconsecutive harsh winters broughtreputational damage that the railway coulddo without, prompting a strategic review ofthe system alongside shorter-term initiativesto minimise service impact. A >£300 millionshopping list of potential fixes has beenidentified featuring 4,000 heavy-duty switchheaters, the fitment of insulation to 18,000existing point-end heaters and 24 additionalwinter trains with snow ploughs, hot-airblowers and steam lancers. Even on theagenda is the establishment of an early-warning network of around 2,000 weatherstations, together with a purpose-builtclimate chamber to test S&C units, OLEsystems and carriages.

Global warming - or whatever we’re callingit today - will have longer-termconsequences for the industry, thus it’slargely a blur at the edges of these five-yearfocussed plans. It is though worthhighlighting a single sentence lurking onpage 123: “The scientific understanding is

More electrificationand theestablishment of 14modern signallingcentres areamongst theheadline proposals.

The Midland MainLine could benefitfrom remodellingwork at Derby andelectrification, aswell as longertrains andplatforms.


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that…on a global basis, carbon emissionsare increasing faster than the extremescenarios used as the basis for establishedlikely climate change outcomes”, promptingthe recognition that any projected impactson the railway can only be ‘probabilistic’ andsubject to change. Now that’s the definitionof ‘wriggle room’.

Best of the restMeriting a round-up are some of the

localised interventions that could bringwider operational gains. An unsurprisingpriority will be congestion relief at majorstations that have not recently beenremodelled, with Fenchurch Street,Clapham Junction, Charing Cross andLiverpool Central amongst those on the list.Platform lengthening to accommodate 11-car trains is suggested as a space-creatingmeasure on the Midland Main Line.

Renewal-led opportunities couldsee packages of work taking placethrough the Oxford corridor, atDerby Station and around theMedway towns of East Kent. Signalling andtrack layout changes are proposed betweenFerriby and Gilberdyke in East Yorkshire, withHalifax and Bradford Interchangebenefitting similarly.

Detailed options are being developed foraccess into Heathrow from the west whilst,north of the border, Inverness andAberdeen will gain from aninvestment of £200 million onthe routes into andbetween them, togetherwith their commuternetworks.

Low-cost opportunities could be exploitedby a fund targeting improvements injourney times and connectivity.Development is still in its early stages butseveral candidate schemes have alreadybeen identified on the Maidstone East,Portsmouth, Hastings and West of Englandlines, amongst others.

Freight figures heavily. Traffic levels areexpected to double over 25 years, largelydriven by container flows between thedeep-sea ports. The industry’s StrategicFreight Network Group has developed aseries of options with strong stakeholdersupport. Amongst these is a second phase ofcapacity enhancements between Nuneatonand Felixstowe, allowing some

freight totravel cross-

country rather than viaLondon, thus releasing

capacity on the congested Great Eastern.Gauge clearance to W12 on the GreatWestern will open the door for terminals tobe developed close to Heathrow and atAvonmouth. Infrastructure options for thecore and diversionary routes betweenSouthampton and the West Coast Main Lineare being established in light of forecastgrowth, along with the business case.

Mother of invention“The world has changed” is a lazy and

over-used truism. But it has, and the tone ofthese Initial Industry Plans reflects that.There’s a sense of consolidation, morerestraint than before; lacking (for the mostpart) are those big eye-catching schemes, indeference to McNulty. In the context of cost

cutting it’s certainlyambitious. There is

though a

mountainto climb -

dispelling Philip Hammond’s recent“uncomfortable fact” that the railway is “arich man’s toy” will command much timeand effort. RPI+3% annual fare increasescontinue to push the summit upwards.

The mind-boggling expansion of China’shigh speed network - 6,000 miles of it builtin just a decade - reflects national aspirationsand the health of its economy. Another10,000 miles is planned. Cash has beenthrown at HSR like confetti - totalling $300billion by 2020 - to fuel growth. But thefallout from July’s crash at Wenzhou, whichclaimed 40 lives, has exposed a rat’s nest ofsuspect safety and quality systems,ministerial corruption and environmentalimpact exceedances. Ticket prices are high,ridership low, and now the trains have beenslowed down.

Money doesn’t always bring the bestsolutions; it can impede creative thought.Who knows, perhaps a dose of austerity iswhat our industry needs to rebalance thoseyears of plenty. Of course several thousandemployees might have a very different

perspective.

Existing OLEnetwork (25kV AC)

Schemes alreadycon!rmed

Possible CP5schemes

(Below right)Upwards of £300million could beinvested inweather resilienceprojects.(Below left)Freight trafficlevels are beingdriven upwards bycontainermovements.

How England andWales’ ACelectrified networkmight develop.

PHOTO: TIM166PHOTO: FREIGHTLINER

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HALLRAILE S T A B L I S H E D 1 9 4 8


t the rail engineer we like to celebratesuccess. So we are pleased to report on

the Bishops Grange underbridgereconstruction, winner of Civil EngineeringAchievement of the Year at this year’sNational Rail Awards on 15 September.

First an admission though - when theshortlist was announced, no-one on theeditorial team had heard of the project. A bitof research showed why. Underbridgeredeck - minor road - one out, one in - bit ofa skew - heavy load transporters. It allseemed to be bread-and-butter stuff.

But that’s where this project, or rather thisproject team, did something a bit special -challenging assumptions and pushing theboundaries. Rather than take theproffered concept design,contractor MayGurney’s tender

submission proposed an alternative, morecost-effective structural form. And in thedrive towards the 24/7 railway, they havestaked a claim for the fastest mainlinebridge reconstruction on the London NorthEast region.

Pity meBetween Durham and Chester-le-Street,

the East Coast Main Line skirts theexquisitely-named village of Pity Me. Anunclassified minor road heads north andpasses below the twin-track electrifiedrailway close to Bishos Grange.

The rail underbridge, a half-through girderdesign with trough decking, had a highskew of 62 degrees and was life-expired.And, minor road or not, replacing the bridgedeck required a closure of the115mph main line.

Pressure from the train operatingcompanies put a maximum of 43 hours onthe available shut-down. The scheme wastendered on this basis in late 2009 includinga pre-booked possession for January 2011.An agreed Form A preliminary design for awestern region-style box-girder wasprovided to suit the high skew, requiring18m-long girders despite a road width ofonly 7.5m.

Alternative tenderRather than simply price-up a conforming

bid, May Gurney took the initiative to developan alternative submission in addition. This“non-compliant” response proposed a designchange to a U- deck type, offering lower cost,

reduced construction depthand improved maintenanceby designing-out theconfined spaces associated

with boxgirders.

Each U-deck

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Positioning thenew bridge.


carries a single track, allowing theconstruction to be shallower than the widerconforming two-track design. In turn, thisallowed a standard headroom of 5.03m tobe provided over the road by planing off just200mm from the high side.

However, the U-deck cannot cope withsuch a high skew. Working with theirdesigners Pell Frischmann, May Gurney’stender proposed a 55 degree skew byintentionally making the bearings non-parallel with the abutment. This allowed thedeck to have a smaller skew than the roadwith the mismatch accommodated by awider cill beam.

Never contentIn the spirit that

epitomised the project, oncethe contract was awarded on8 December 2009, MayGurney revisited the designto see if it could be doneeven better. Further workbrought the deck skew backto 50 degrees, now at theupper limit, but within therange, of Network Rail’sstandard underbridgedetails.

While the alternative design still required anew Form A to be produced and agreed,using the standard details removed much ofthe programme risk for gaining thoseapprovals, a significant advantage.

Steve Richardson, May Gurney’s projectmanager, says, “We were extremelyconscious of the deadline of the pre-bookedpossession, so we worked closely withNetwork Rail to look at timescales anddesign parameters.”

Design to buildHeavy load transporters

from ALE were fundamentalto the construction method.

Critically, these allowed the entirereplacement to be carried out below theisolated overhead line equipment whichremained in place throughout. They alsoremoved any risk of high winds delaying theprogramme.

www.maygurney.co.uk

Rail ServicesEssential.

May Gurney is an infrastructure services company. We are committed to helping our clients in the public and regulated sectors deliver sustainable improvements to front-line services across the UK.

Group office: Trowse, Norwich, Norfolk NR14 8SZTel: 01603 727272 Fax: 01603 727400Email: [email protected]

We work in long-term framework contracts with our client Network Rail to deliver vital maintenance and refurbishment works on rail structures, rail property and in the signalling environment.

We have an enviable safety record and have won numerous awards for the quality of our delivery, including nine industry awards for our heritage maintenance works on the High Level Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne.

We improve access, quality of service, and safety for those who travel by rail.

Replacing thetrack.


There have been 8-hour bridgereplacements before, but they havetended to be of smaller, squarestructures on less critical routes. “Fortythree hours is exceptionally tight for abridge of this kind”, says SteveRichardson. “We looked at time-savingin everything in the design”.

As much as possible of the revetmentwalls were left insitu behind theabutments, reducing the amount ofnew ballast retention and backfillneeded. Just a 20mm gap each sidewas allowed to squeeze the new deckin. With these tight tolerances, a littlestrategic adjustment with a lumphammer was needed on the night!

The cill beams were connected to thedeck and driven in as one unit, makingneat use of the anti-uplift devices at thebearings for the attachment.Temporary tie-downs were positionedto avoid conflicting with thewaterproofing and track, making theirremoval a non-critical event later in thesequence.

Further time was saved by doing the‘drive out’ and the ‘drive in’ with ballastin place, both as the old deck wasremoved and with the first layer ofballast already installed on the newdeck. The high, narrow embankmentsmade this a major consideration sincethey prevented the normal lay-out ofballast on the cess. Over 200t of stonewas needed to reballast the decktrackwork, withadditional road-railmachines being usedto transport baggedballast from thenearest access pointsup to a mile away.

Network Railplayed a critical rolein the delivery too.This included the keyenabling work ofslewing the linesidecabling onto atemporary servicesbridge. Operationsstaff tracked the

progress of the last trains due over thestructure from the day prior to thepossession, allowing the electricalisolation to be taken two hours inadvance of the possession rather thanafter commencement. Finally, with thearea handed back six hours early byMay Gurney, Network Rail’smaintenance team installed the trackand tested the signalling to allow therailway to be brought back into service.

CheckmateThe award judges commented, “The

winning entry truly demonstratedexcellence in both design andexecution”. Although May Gurney’scontract value was a fairly modest£910k, the short timescales of thedesign phase and possession requireda high level of attention to detail whichpaid off with a successful project.

The team has set what is believed tobe a new record for a main-linereconstruction. But today’s record istomorrow’s target - and the trainoperators will surely soon bequestioning whether 43 hours, orbetter, can be achieved not just thistime, but every time. So perhaps in ayear or two, our editorial team will bejustified in overlooking a 43-hourrebuild as the norm.

www.pellfrischmann.com

Proud to have been involved with the

reconstruction of Bishops Grange Bridge

Pell Frischmann provide a wide range of rail design services

to depots, stations and bridges from minor masonry repairs

to deck reconstruction and major structures overhauls

The finished bridge open and readyfor business.

‘The plaudits MayGurney andNetwork Rail arereceiving fordesigning,planning and theimplementation ofthis project arewell deserved,’ saidKirk Taylor ofStobart Rail, whothemselves had 17pieces of plant and40 men on thisscheme.

Incorporated in 1993 as WA Developments by

Andrew Tinkler, now Chief Executive Officer of

Stobart Group, Stobart Rail represents the

civil engineering and rail-based freight

elements of the UK’s leading multimodal

transport business.

Stobart Rail is one of the UK's leading names

in rail network maintenance, repair and

improvement.

The company is active throughout the

earthworks, structures, permanent way,

drainage and lineside infrastructure sectors of

the rail industry and offers a presence

throughout the UK.

Stobart Rail holds a Network Rail Principal

Contractor's Licence and Rail Plant Operating

Company Licence, as well as a comprehensive

list of Link-up accreditations.

The Company's wide-ranging expertise,

innovative approach, experienced workforce

and extensive fleet of plant is also deployed

undertaking development projects and

delivering improvement works at a number

of major Stobart Group facilities.

Stobart Rail operates an award winning

training school, ensuring all operatives and

staff are qualified to the very highest

standards.

‘’Stobart Rail are extremely proud of the part we played in assisting in the delivery of this time criticalscheme. The plaudits May Gurney and Network Rail are receiving for designing, planning and the

implementation of this project are well deserved.” Kirk Taylor, Managing Director

BISHOPS GRANGE Bridge Underpass

David Richardson

t. 01228 518 150e. [email protected]

Kirk Taylor


Liam Martin


Plant Hire

Managing Director

Rail Freight Director

stobartrail.com


eaders who have recently browsedthrough the Appointments pages of our

sister publication RailStaff, the online job-board RailwayPeople.com, or even the backpages of this magazine, will have noticed anumber of advertisements from Australianrailway companies seeking British railwayengineers. Everyone knows that Britishengineers are amongst the best in the world,but why suddenly are they in such demandon the other side of the world? the railengineer has been to find out…

History of confusionAustralia is a big place, but with only a few

centres of population. They started as Britishcolonies, so the first instructions were toensure that all railways were built to the

British standardgauge of 4’ 8½” (or 1435 new-

fangled millimetres).However, politics and an Irish engineer

intervened, so by the time that the variouscolonial networks started to take shape

there were a mixture of gauges. Railways inVictoria and South Australia were built toIrish Broad Gauge (5’ 3” or 1600mm) whileNew South Wales, after opening one line inBroad Gauge in 1855, then built the rest oftheir network in Standard Gauge.

Queensland decided to use Narrow (Cape)Gauge of 3’ 6” (1067mm) for their network,as did Western Australia around Perth.Tasmania built one line in Broad Gauge, thenstandardised on Narrow Gauge.

All this wasn’t a problem while theindividual networks didn’t connect.However, once the railways started to grow,and freight movements became important,this became more of a problem. Variousreports suggested standardising thenetwork, but to no avail. By the outbreak ofWorld War II there were 12 breaks of gaugeon the network, and some interesting multi-gauge trackwork in several yards.

Today, theindividualcity metroservices still retaintheir original gauges.However, the long-distanceinter-state routes, used primarilyfor freight and tourist passengertrains, are now all standard gauge. So arethe privately-owned, heavy-haul railwaysbuilt by the iron ore mines in the Pilbara inWestern Australia. The other heavy freightroutes, out of the coal mines in Queenslandand New South Wales, use the regular state-owned lines. Perhaps the best way to breakdown current activity is by state.

QueenslandPassenger services are run by the state-

owned Queensland Rail. The Narrow Gaugenetwork covers 7000 kilometres and thecompany employs 7000 people to run

R

OpportunityLand of


w r i t e rNigelWordsworth

260,000 scheduled services a year. Annualrevenue is over A$1.8 billion (£1.1 billion) andthe network services the main populationcentres around Brisbane as well as reachingas far north as Cairns along the coast.

The Brisbane-Cairns service is operated by adiesel-powered Tilt Train built by Downer Rail.The 1050 mile service runs twice weekly andtakes 23 hours 55 minutes. A more leisurelyservice, The Sunlander, is loco hauled andtakes 31 hours, three times a week.

The more conventional suburban andshort-haul services are run by a fleet ofaround 150 EMUs. Two new classes arecurrently being built by Downer /Bombardier.

Freight operations were split frompassenger services in 2009, with theformation of QRNational. This is the largestrail freight operation in Australia, in terms ofweight hauled, with 9,000 employees, 746

locomotives and 16,330 wagons hauling243 million tonnes each year.

QRNational also operates andmaintains 2,300km of largely

dedicated and purpose built,heavy haul, narrow-gauge rail

infrastructure, known as theCentral Queensland Coal

Network (CQCN).The Queensland

Governmentannouncedplans to floatQueensland Railon the stockmarket thismonth, after aA$5.1 billion(£3.1 billion) bidfor the coal-

freight networkby a consortium

of coal companiesfell through.

New South WalesPassenger services

are operated by RailCorporation New South

Wales (RailCorp) undertwo brands - CityRail for

metropolitan services andCountryLink for long-distance

services. RailCorp employs 15,000people and owns and operates the

1595 kilometre standard gaugeSydney area rail network as well as

providing access to that network forfreight operators.Passenger stock is a mixture of electric

and diesel-powered multiple units. Thelatest EMUs are the A sets (or Waratah -named after the flower which is theemblem of New South Wales), being builtby a joint venture between Downer Railand Hitachi. The order for 626 carriageswas the largest passenger rolling stockorder in Australia’s history. Deliveriescommenced in July 2011 and will runthrough until 2014.

Also currently in production are the H sets(or OSCAR - Outer Suburban Car). 122carriages have already been delivered byUGL and a second order for 74 cars isunderway.

British visitors will recognise CountryLink’sXPT as it is based on the British Rail HighSpeed Train! The power cars are shorter, withderated diesel engines, and the train hasBudd carriages as the Mark 3s were thoughtto be unsuitable for Australia’s conditions.But the shape is very similar.

VictoriaMelbourne’s broad gauge suburban

network is operated by the franchise MetroTrains Melbourne, a joint venture of MTRCorporation (Hong Kong), John Holland andUGL. It is currently two years into an eightyear franchise contract. 331 trains areoperated over 830 kilometres of track and211 stations.

Rolling stock is primarily EMUs which in2009 were taken over from predecessorConnex, although an order for a secondtranche of 38 six-car Alstom X’Trapolisunits were in the process of beingdelivered. The first 19 were built in Italy,the balance assembled at UGL’s Ballaratplant to meet the requirement for a 40%local content.

In contrast, the diesel-powered trains inregional Victoria are operated by V/Line,which is owned by the state government. Itoperates 82 railway stations and also runs alarge number of coach services. The fleet is amixture of DMUs and locomotive-hauledtrains, the most recent being Bombardier’sVLocity 160 DMUs that were first delivered in2005.

V/Line also maintains all the non-urbanlines, including those that are freight-only,but not including the interstate main lines.

South AustraliaThere is a small broad-gauge metro system

around Adelaide operated by AdelaideMetro. It is the only one of Australia’ssuburban rail networks that operates solelyon DMUs, although there are plans toelectrify it from 2013.

The 600km of the narrow-gauge EyrePeninsular Railway is totally separated fromthe rest of Australia’s railways. It carriesfreight only, mainly gypsum, salt and grain.

Western AustraliaPerth’s urban services are operated by

Transperth Trains, a division of the PublicTransport Authority of Western Australia. The173km system consists of five lines and 69stations and is operated by a fleet of 94EMUs.

QR National coaltrain (Moura line).

Services outside of Perth are operated byanother Public Transport Division, Transwa,which links 275 stations within WesternAustralia. There is also a standard gauge linefrom the port of Esperance to Leonora,which crosses the main interstate railway atKalgoorlie.

The Pilbara region, on the northern coastof Western Australia, is the centre of thecountry’s iron ore mining. Privately-ownedheavy-haul railways, all standard gauge andwith axle loads as high as 40 tonnes, runinland from the ports of Dampier, CapeLambert and Port Headland. The newestsuch railway, opened in 2008 by Fortescue, is260 kilometres long and regularly carries220-wagon trains up to 2.5 kilometres longand with a gross weight of 35,200 tonnes ata 40 tonne axleload.

Northern TerritoryDarwin has no suburban rail network at all.

In fact there is only one railway in the wholeterritory, and that is one end of the standardgauge interstate railway from Adelaide.

Interstate railwaysThe capital cities of all six states are linked

by standard gauge main lines that are usedfor both passenger and freight services.There is a costal route from Brisbane downthrough Sydney and then on to Melbourne.Another line goes from Melbourne throughAdelaide to Perth. And part way betweenAdelaide and Perth, at Tarcoola, a track splitsoff north through Alice Springs to Darwin.

Most of this network is owned by theAustralian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC),although Tarcoola to Darwin isowned/leased by AustralAsia RailCorporation. In Western Australia theoperator is another non-profit governmentorganisation WestNet Rail. Some otherstretches are owned by the local operators.

The Great Southern Railway, which isowned by Serco Asia Pacific, operates threenamed passenger trains, The Indian Pacific(Sydney-Adelaide-Perth), The Ghan(Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin) and TheOverland (Melbourne-Adelaide).

Freight operationsFreight traffic falls into two categories.

There are dedicated services, such as thoseon the private iron-ore railways in Pilbara orthe coal trains running in Queensland andNew South Wales. There are also long-distance general freight trains which tend torun on the interstate main lines.

Pacific National is one of the largest privatefreight operations. With over 600locomotives and 14,000 wagons, it operateson the interstate main lines and also rurallines in New South Wales, Victoria andTasmania (which has a small freight-onlynarrow-gauge system).

QRNational also operates in other statesthan Queensland. It took over that part ofthe Australian Railroad Group which runs inWestern Australia and South Australia. Thebalance, including the line up to Darwin, isowned by Genesee & Wyoming. Elsewhere, asubsidiary of Freightliner operates in NewSouth Wales, and there are half a dozenother significant freight operators.

Current developmentsWith such a complex railway system, there

is always something happening. Newprojects are being run at both national andstate levels. These include some big-moneyprojects, several of which are on holdpending federal government funding, andsome more conventional ones.

Queensland projectsThe Queensland government is looking at

expanding the Acacia Ridge freight terminalso that it can handle 1500 metre long trainsand have a capacity of 750,000 containers ayear. Five new intermodal freight terminalsare also on the shopping list.

Work is already underway to extend theregion’s rail network from Darra to Richlands.The second phase, taking the line out toSpringfields, should be complete by 2013 fora total cost of A$646 million.

The Gold Coast Rapid Transit System is anew tram network being built over 13 kmfrom Griffin University to Broadbeach. Thisfirst phase will include 16 stations and isexpected to be finished by 2014. The trams

will be Bombardier’s Flexity 2 - longerversions of the ones recently launched inBlackpool (the rail engineer issue 84,October 2011). Work started in 2010 and the

total project has abudget of just underA$1billion.

Construction willstart in 2012 on a raillink from the BowenBasin coal region to anew export terminalat Gladstone. TheA$900 million projectincludes constructionof a 15km balloonloop near Gladstone,upgrades to sectionsof the North CoastLine, the MouraSystem and theBauhinia branch lineas well as duallingsections of the

Blackwater System. First trains should run onthe new link in 2014.

The Environmental Impact Statement hasbeen released for an A$8 billion project tomove 120,000 people in the two-hourmorning peak. 18km of track, 10km of it intunnels, and six new stations are included inthe project which will run from Salisbury toBowen Hills.

QR National is laying railway track on theNorthern Missing Link in CentralQueensland as part of the A$1.1 billionGoonyella to Abbot Point (GAP) expansionproject. The A$385 million Northern MissingLink rail corridor is the cornerstone of theGAP expansion, which is one of the largestrail infrastructure projects in Queensland’s145-year rail history.

The GAP project includes 69 kilometres ofnew track across the ‘Missing Link’ to join theexisting Goonyella and Newlands systems aswell as the expansion and upgrading ofexisting track and 15 new bridges along theNewlands rail system, including associatedrail unloading infrastructure at the AbbotPoint Coal Terminal.

New South Wales projectsARTC will duplicate existing track to

remove a bottleneck caused by a steepgrade over the Liverpool Ranges as part ofan A$284 million upgrade to the MainNorthern line. Coal exports through the Portof Newcastle are expected to increase fromthe current 6 million tonnes a year to about50 million tonnes by 2020.


Queensland Raildiesel-powered tilttrain.(right) Brisbane -new interurbanmultiple unit.

Installing points atDalrymple Baycoal terminal.

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Triple gauge trackin the yard atGladstone (May1982).

(Left) NSW - A-set(Waratah) EMU atCentral Station. (Below) QRNational coal train(Dawson Mine).

An A$8 billion project to provide 23km ofnew track between the Sydney suburbs ofEpping and Rouse Hill, which has beenpostponed once before, is now back on theagenda. Concept designs are beingprepared and A$314 million allocated fromthis year’s budget for preliminary work andland purchase.

Also in Sydney, a 5.6 km extension to theexisting light rail network, from Lilyfield toDulwich Hill, will be built along the disusedRozelle goods line corridor. The new routewill include nine new stops and cost aroundA$70 million. And in 2010 the NSWgovernment invited tenders for a detailedstudy into a A$500 million light rail link toserve Sydney’s central business district.

RailCorp is installing a digitalcommunications system on its electrifiednetwork. UGL won the A$255 millioncontract in December 2009. Meanwhile,Alstom is installing Automatic TrainProtection (ATP) on the CityRail network in aA$65 million contract with the first 50 trainsdue to be in service in 2013.

Victoria projectsThe 50km Western Rail Link in Melbourne,

complete with 2 new stations, has beenestimated to cost A$4.3 billion. It will be dualtrack with a river crossing and will improvereliability across the network.

Western AustraliaPerth is developing plans to build a light

rail network with three routes, out from thecentral business district, to Mirrabooka andBalga, to the University of Western Australiavia the QEII hospital complex, and to CurtinUniversity via Victoria Park.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore is spending money onits private railway and port facility in thePilbara. Ansaldo STS has been given anA$467 million contract over 5 years toinstall railway signalling, train control andcommunications systems. At the sametime Abigroup, in a JV with GeraldtonLinehaul, has an A$83 million contract forthe construction of rail formationearthworks.

High Speed RailThe first of two studies into proposals for a

high speed line between Brisbane andSydney, Canberra and Melbourne waspublished on 4 August by AECOM Australia.It is looking at a double-track electrified linelimited to 350 kph (200kph in urban areas).Journey times from Sydney to Melbourne orBrisbane would be around 3 hours. A moredetailed analysis will be ready by mid-2012and the budget is estimated to be in therange of AUS£61-108 billion.

And more…Then of course there is the usual mix of

railway engineering. In NSW, O’DonnellGriffin is installing track balises as part of an11 month project by RailCorp to introduceAutomatic Train Protection (ATP) across itsNetwork. Siemens is supplying nine narrowgauge 25kV heavy haul class 7100locomotives to Pacific National for their coalcontracts in Queensland.

WestNet Rail is resleepering 370 kilometresof narrow gauge track north of Albany inWestern Australia and at the same timereplacing 185 kilometres of rail on the EasternGoldfields Railway at a cost of A$95 million.

The list is nearly endless. Australia has abusy programme, so look out for morereports from “down under”.

Check out UGL’s latest vacancies on page 59.

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orking outdoors means beingconstantly exposed to changing

weather conditions; fluctuatingtemperatures, driving wind and rain, hotsunshine, snow and ice. Exposure to theelements can be uncomfortable and a threatto health and safety. It is recognised thateffective clothing protection significantlyreduces this risk, thus effective PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE) is a legalrequirement within the rail industry.

Hi-visibility clothing was first introduced torail workers in the United Kingdom in 1964.It is an essential part of PPE ensuring that railworkers remain visible not only whenoutside conditions are good but, mostimportantly, when poor light or severeweather conditions reduce visibility.

British weatherNetwork Rail Standards for PPE demand

top-to-toe protection for every employee ofNetwork Rail or their sub contractors. Thechangeable weather conditions which are sofamiliar in the UK mean that the same PPE isnot appropriate 365 days per year. Thereforea layered clothing system is the best optionfor trackside personnel including hi-visibilitypolo shirts, t-shirts and base layers as theywill provide comfort and safety for allconditions encountered.

Scientific studies show that a person’s well-being and mental alertness depend on theircore body temperature. A change of morethan one degree above or below the normalcore body temperature of 37 degrees has asubstantial impact on physical comfort andbrain function. This increases both the riskof damage to the body and the potential foraccidents. Losing body heat can be verydangerous and when workers experiencecold weather coupled with high winds thedanger increases rapidly.

The wind chill index is a recognisedmathematical formula that determines theeffect of wind speed on the outsidetemperature which may lead to frostbite andhypothermia occurring in 20 minutes or less.It calculates the body’s heat loss during coldand windy weather. For example, atemperature of -4º C occurring with a 10 kphwind gives a wind chill factor of -8º C. Mental

alertness is critical as many workers mayoperate in potentially hazardous conditions -perhaps working with electricity or insituations with poor visibility - so awarenessof wind chill is important.

Clean visibilityThe human eye responds best to bright

objects. Even in low light or dark conditionstrain drivers and operators of track-sidemachinery are alerted to rail workerspresence by their hi-visibility clothing. Cleanbright-coloured clothing ensures workerscan be seen from all directions with theirvisibility enhanced by the contrast betweenthe bright colours, the reflective tapes andthe dark background of the workingenvironment.

However, to maintain safety it is crucialthat hi-visibility PPE is kept thoroughly clean.Contaminated or dirty reflective materialswill not provide acceptable levels ofvisibility, exposing rail workers to increaseddanger.

Proper industrial laundering, specificallytailored for specialist hi-visibility materials,removes oil, grease and debris but doesn’tharm the fabric, reflective tape orwaterproofing elements when the garmenthas been manufactured using GORE-TEX®laminate. As a result, quality is maintained

throughout the life cycle of the garments.The washed-out pale-orange look simplydoesn’t exist. Personnel can work withconfidence enjoying the benefits ofpremium quality, hi-visibility garments withwaterproof and breathable protection washafter wash. Keeping costs to a minimum is apriority for rail industry purchasers. Thecombination of high performance fabrics,quality manufacturing and managed aftercare offers significant long term savings.

Throw-away safetyThe debate over disposable garments

versus higher quality, re-usable garmentscontinues due to the short term cost savingsthat can be made from using disposables.However, in the long run it can be more costeffective to select the most technicallysophisticated products available. Durable,high quality products that meet or exceed

WPPEPitfalls

Simon Lubacz & Gordon Burnsw r i t e r

W.L.Gore and Associates (UK) Ltd


the required EN Norm Standards have alonger life-span making them the most costefficient solution. Typically low costgarments are not capable of beinglaundered and are thrown away as opposedto being cleaned. The primary reason forthis is that the seam tape applied to theinside of all stitched seams becomesdetached in the washing process andsubsequently causes the garment to leak ininclement weather.

Considering medium and long terminvestment, major cost savings can be madeby purchasing garments that have a lifecycleof more than two years. A durable garmentwill also reduce procurement costs,significantly cutting down invoicing,handling, despatch and storage costs.

Counterfeit garmentsCare also needs to be taken to ensure that

the garments actually conform to thestandards they claim.

Non-compliant and counterfeit PPE is aserious threat to user and worker safety, notonly in the UK, Europe but also world-wide.This unscrupulous criminal activity seems tobe on the increase and is currently a hottopic in the health and safety arena, forgood reason. If counterfeit, non-compliantand illegal PPE products are sold and used inrail environments, the consequences couldlead to expensive legal action for theemployer and potentially prove fatal forworkers.

Dave Matthews (Leader of the UKDelegation to both CEN & ISO on allProtective Clothing) comments:” The PPEtrade in the UK and Europe is worth up to£17 billion and involves many companiesand thousands of employees. It is surelyunacceptable to put all of this at risk fromthose who choose not to manufacture andplace on the market PPE which is compliantwith the appropriate BS, EN or ISO standard.”

To ensure that PPE equipment complieswith the relevant standards, buyers mustsource from companies that have a strongheritage and reputation for qualitymanufacturing and who use technicalfabrics and components which are tested forquality and which are designed for thespecific end use. They should avoidpurchasing products online from a companywhich offers rock bottom pricing as lowcosts can equal low quality and potentiallyno protection. Importantly, they must checkthat all items are classified andlabelled with the required Britishstandard (BS) and/or the relevantEuropean Normative Standard (EN),Railway Group Standards (GO/RT)and are CE approved.

As John Ruskin who oncefamously said: “There is hardlyanything in the world that someman cannot make a little worse andsell a little cheaper…And thosepeople that consider price only arethis man’s lawful prey.”

GORE-TEX® garments and footwear – for complete protection and advanced wearer comfort.

For further information about GORE-TEX® Garments and Footwear please visit www.gore-workwear.co.uk

Worker Safety And ComfortIs A Right Not A Privilege

Good Reasons Why Rail Workers Should WearGORE-TEX® Garments

And it that's not enough to convince you then remember this:

GORE-TEX® Garments meet and often exceed the European Normstandards such as EN471, EN343 and GO/RT 3279.

They provide durable year round protection from the weather.

Rail specific products engineered to be 'fit for purpose’.

Advanced wearer comfort because they are Waterproof, Windproofand Breathable.

Outstanding Safety as these hi-visibility robust fabrics don't fadeafter numerous industrial washes.

Durable GORE-TEX® garments = lower replacement levels = cost savings

PHOTO: FOUR BY THREE

32 | the rail engineer | november 2011 plant & equipment

ballast bashingMoreatisa, the Swiss manufacturer of trackmaintenance machines that was

established in 1945, has supplied equipmentall over the world. The company has beenactive in the UK since 1964 and is currentlybased in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire.

In that time, it has delivered manymachines since the early LRC03 Tampers andR7 Ballast Regulators. Last year, the railengineer (issue 69, July 2010) looked at twonew types of machines being developed forBalfour Beatty. These have now beendelivered, so it is time to look at them in a bitmore detail and see what else Matisa hasbeen up to.

B41UE tampersWhilst the new B41UE Tampers recently

delivered to Balfour Beatty Rail are similar tothose that are already in operation in the UK,a number of detailed improvements havebeen made to the machines.

Health and Safety has been reviewed inaccordance with both the latest legislationand Balfour Beatty’s internal policies. Thishas led to small but important modificationsto tools handling, access ladder design andthe floor structure to reduce the risk of injuryduring both operation and maintenance.

The CATT Guiding system has beendeveloped for both known and unknowntrack geometries, enhancing the userinterface through a better visual appearanceand additional tools such as reverse

measuring. Theseenhancements canreduce possession timesby taking fewer passes.

B66UC tampers The new B66UC

universal tampingmachine is a majorinnovation for the UKmarket as it is the firsthigh performance plainline and switches andcrossings tampingmachine which is fullycompliant with third railelectrification.

Based on the proventechnology of the B41UE,the B66UC is fitted with ashuttle that has a highertamping output. It usesthe same efficient high-frequency eccentrictamping technology butwithin a continuous

M

action arrangement that delivers excellentoutput when in plain line operation. In pointsand crossings mode, output will be as good asthe B41UE, but on plain track it is a lot quicker.

Especially designed for Balfour Beatty Rail,the B66UC is fitted with a brush box to clearthe tops of sleepers in the four foot and theclips on both sides of the rail. Two additionalbrushes clear both sleeper ends but willautomatically de-select in the presence of aconductor rail.

P95 Track Renewal TrainHigh-output Track Renewal Systems,

known in the industry as TRS, have beenused on the UK rail network for many years.

Currently there are 4 different systems, allowned by Network Rail and operated byAmeyColas, and all slightly different fordiffering applications.

The latest system, TRS4, includes the secondP95 Track Renewal Train (TRT) in the country.Pretty similar to the first one, delivered in

2005 and currently working in TRS2, this newversion has some improvements. Based onexperience operating the earlier unit,equipment such as rail guards, rail pullers,fastening brushes and rail transfer clampshave been added or improved.

The core of the train is 6 different wagons witha total length of 140m, all interconnected buteach carrying out different processes with theend result of removing old rails and sleepersand relaying new units in a continuous action.

november 2011 | the rail engineer | 33plant & equipment

Laying new sleepers.

MATISA Track Renewals Trains are capable of positioning new track in the trace ofthe old one, with the same cant, level and lateral position.

Removal of old sleepers is acontinuous operation,completely automatic aftera manual start up.


The New EZiCAT i600, i650 & LOGiCAT Software now available! !"#$%&!'()*+&!',&*"+%&'-.%#/+.$'/&%0$.-.12

Provides a unique data capture and on board memory function,supporting operations management initiatives to increase onsite safety and identify operator training needs.

Visit %#(-&!&/&%/+.$3%.3)4 for more information.

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NETWORK RAILNETWORK RAIL

The new rail transfer clamps have beenincluded at the request of Network Rail. Theytransfer the old rail, previously left in eitherthe six- or four- foot, to the cess. This allowsfor easier collection later.

Equipped with two Deutz 2015 400 kWengines powering 16 axles, the normalworking speed is an average of 350 m/h.

New sleepers are passed forward from thewagons towards the rear of the train bythree gantry cranes of two different types.Two PMP cranes transfer 24 sleepers at atime along the length of the machine at anastonishing 18 kph (11mph), while one P2RLgantry rotates two sets of six sleeperssimultaneously.

One problem when removing andreplacing track simultaneously is that ofexcess ballast. This can cause the new track

to be laid at a higher level than the originalwhich can cause clearance issues,particularly where overhead electrified linesare present. Additionally, that excess ofballast can create large ballast shoulderswhich can cause other problems whenlaying the new track.

With the reduction of possession timesbecoming ever more desirable, a quick andeffective solution to the problem of excessballast had to be found. So for the new P95track renewal train, Matisa, working togetherwith Network Rail, developed the D75, anadditional ballast transfer unit.

D75 Ballast Transfer UnitThe new D75 is based on an existing

integrated system currently used on theMatisa C75 and operating in Italy, Belgium,Netherlands and Spain, although it had tobe redesigned to W6A gauge for the UK. Ithas been developed to be coupled to theTrack Renewal Train and can lower thetrack down to an excavation level of270mm below sleeper bottom, afterrelaying. The D75 can also be usedindependently.

Equipped with two Deutz 2015 400kWengines, the new D75 ballast transfer unithas an output of 500m³/h.

The whole track renewals train, including aD75 and D93, is 160 metres long with a totalweight of nearly 600 tons. Add to this up to20 sleeper wagons and this moving factorycan reach an overall length of almost 600metres.

(Right) BalfourBeatty Rail’s newB66UC tamper(below) P95 TrackRenewal Train.

Total Rail Solutions:

The Right Plant For The Right Job

Certificate No. EM2000303 Registration No. 0044/1

ISO 14001

Registered Firm

International

Accreditation Board

Certificate No. GB2002956 Registration No. 0044/1

ISO 9001

Registered Firm

International

Accreditation Board

Total Rail Solutions is an independent rail consultancy and safety services

provider.

Infinitely flexible, TRS works under a ‘One Team One Objective’ philosophy,

offering the highest levels of personal and professional service to all our clients.

Our services include:

• RRV & RMMM Plant hire inc provision of Plant Operators Licence.

• Vortok Rigid Barrier:

and removed.

• Site Lighting: VT1 or Link lights.

• Holdfast RRAPs: Dry hire only or installed and maintained.

• Off Track Works: Drainage, Track access steps & temporary roads.

• Cable Route works: Supply, Clearance, Installation, refurbish.

• Labour Hire: Including Crane & machine controller.

including UTX installation, Signal bases, Platforms

and PWay.

Short and standard telescopic sizes available for dry

hire or installed

• Package works

Tel: 01962 711642

E-mail: [email protected]

www.totalrailsolutions.co.uk


thinkingClevern a world where service delivery, trustand safe practice define success, the

demands placed on rail plant hirecompanies have always been challenging.Add to this the pressure both to reducecosts and deliver efficiency savings and thenet result is that plant suppliers need toinnovate, think outside of the box, andwork more closely with clients than everbefore.

Hydrex is the largest UK supplier of road-rail plant with over 300 on-track machines,1000 attachments and around 500 fullytrained and experienced operators. It istaking these challenges seriously and isencouraging its entire team to work morecleverly, focus on safety and use newprocesses to enhance production. Earlier thisyear the company outlined their plans for2011 with “safety, reliable delivery andinvestment” the cornerstones of thecompany’s strategy. So has this beenachieved? It seems so as the Hydrexmanagement team has helped set newproduction records on two recent projects,the Charlbury to Worcester redoublingprogramme and the Boston to Skegnesstrack renewals project.

Charlbury-WorcesterThe £67 million Network Rail-backed

Charlbury to Worcester project forAmeyColas was to double 21 miles of singletrack during mid-week night possessionsand a single 9-day blockade in August.Hydrex operatives used tracked andwheeled excavators to great effect to lay1500 sleepers in one night’s possession at arate of 22 chains per hour.

Hydrex was tasked with creating a newformation with new bottom ballast,unloading sleepers, spacing them out andthen placing them in their final position,before thimbling and stressing the rail.

Boston-SkegnessOn Babcock’s Boston to Skegness project,

1,002 yards of track renewals were deliveredin nine hours and 36 minutes. This projectwas the largest conventionally-deliveredtrack renewals programme (by volume) in2011 and involved Network Rail, BalfourBeatty, DB Schenker, Hydrex, SES and VolkerRail working in partnership.

In collaboration with Babcock’s LNE TrackRenewals team, the task for Hydrex involvedthe removal of the old track using two TerexGigarailers in a tandem-lift operationfollowed by the levelling of the ballast using

rail-road dozers and Kobelco SK135s. Oncethe site was fully prepared, the new trackwas laid in place using Balfour Beatty’s NTCtrain. Hydrex appointed a dedicated team ofmachines, engineers, machine operatorsand planners to provide a seamless andconsistent approach to the plant operationsfor this project. At any one time, they werecontrolling up to 7 different machinesundertaking delivery, loading and sitepreparation activities, and finishing withfollow-up works including brushing andcleaning the site.

As Peter Baverstock, Rail Services Directorat Hydrex, commented afterwards, “Theseproduction records symbolise our ‘working inpartnership’ philosophy at Hydrex. We placegreat importance on this and are keen tocontinue to work with clients, efficiently andsafely, to help achieve the required targets.”

I


PRE-EMPTIn order to combat some of the

traditional pressures of managingassets in the plant industry, Hydrex hasinvested in PDA devices with GPStechnology for the company’s team ofservice engineers. This initiative,known as PRE-EMPT, has beendesigned to ensure accurate andtransparent reporting of maintenanceand service jobs, with the addedbonus of reducing paperwork andadministrative duties.

For the customer, this will lead toincreased confidence in effectivemaintenance through prescribed andtimed checks on all assets, in otherwords carrying out the right checks atthe right times - without deviation. Italso means there is increased visibilityat the audit stage as, at any point intime, a full asset file can be accessed byan auditor with no hidden elements,no lost files and no misfiled papers.PRE-EMPT also provides a footprint ofactivity with everything date stampedand traceable.

Jobs can be communicated quicklyto the field engineer, a programme ofwork can be changed and, withinminutes, a work schedule canaccommodate urgent events. Thehidden benefit to the customer is theability to gain access to flexiblereporting, which in turn can be used byHydrex to drive efficiencies throughmanagement information.

At any point in time Hydrex will beable to see the locations of theengineering work force through theiracceptance of tasks on their PDAs andthrough the GPS capability in thehandset. The devices will also be ableto take good quality photographs andadd relevant documentation to theasset file on the management system.

Bob Tonks, Hydrex’s NationalEngineering Manager, commented onthe new system. “PRE-EMPT willrevolutionise the way our Engineeringteam carry out their work. This is not a‘Big Brother’ type exercise, far from it.Instead, it helps us to gather solid data,

expel paperwork and plan ourscheduled maintenance activitieseffectively.”

PRE-EMPT underlines the company’scommitment to working in partnershipwith its clients by providing accurate,transparent reporting.

Safely HomeHydrex also remains firmly

committed to the company’s “SafelyHome” programme, which continues togather pace. One area of focus hasbeen to reduce the risk of working atheight with the development ofprototype platforms to prevent falls.The current design comes in two partswhich can be locked together into an ‘L’shape (for fitting around machines), in-line (for working on two machinesparked nose-to-tail), and individually(to gain access to one machine). Theplatform is long enough to allow anengineer to both work on thesuperstructure in safety and to gainaccess to the cab with tools whileavoiding violating the three points ofcontact rule. The platforms are easy tomanoeuvre and the wheels each havebrakes to lock them securely intoposition.

Safely Home also now has a standalone committee made up from staff inOperations, Compliance, HumanResources and Marketing. This ishelping to keep the programme freshand maximise the impact of internaland external campaigns.

Carl D’Ammassa, Chief Executive, isproud of what has been achieved. “AtHydrex, we are committed to buildingstrong, trusting relationships with ourclient base. Our recent productionachievements, our multi-million poundfleet investment programme, our focuson safe practices and our developmentof PRE-EMPT underline our efforts andwill help drive our business forward.We believe that these importantrelationships are key to deliveringvalue on the infrastructure and are apre-requisite for the modern-daysupply chain”.

For further information about how Hydrex can help you:

Telephone: 01275 399400 Email: [email protected]

With a network of depots across the UK, Hydrex is uniquely

placed to offer a combination of national coverage,

consistency, local knowledge and expertise.

Our passion for customer satisfaction, together with our

focus on compliance and delivery excellence, ensures

that Hydrex can offer repeatable and reliable services

for customers.

Our Rail Solutions:

• RRV and operator hire to support all aspects of Track

Maintenance, Renewals and Enhancement work

• Plant Operator Licence Services – total support in the

planning, organisation and control of RRV operations

• Contract lifts and development of lift plans

• Solutions for Piling, Drainage, Vegetation Clearance,

Earthworks, OLE & Signalling requirements

Workingin partnership with UK Rail

espite anunseasonably

warm October, coldweather is on its way.And if the past twoyears are anything togo by, the UK is on-track to expect another extreme winter.

After last year’s winter chaos the rail sectorhas a lot of making up to do, withpassengers remembering servicedisruptions, cancellations and a generalsense of bad organisation. However,forewarned is forearmed, and it is fair to saythat the industry seems more prepared todeal with whatever the weather can throw atus this year and maintain a good service.However, what good is it if the trains arerunning, but winter maintenance does notextend beyond the track? If passengers can’tget onto the platform safely, is there goingto be anyone there to get on the trains?

As well as access roads, it is also importantto ensure that the winter maintenance of carparks and pavements is taken care of asthese will not usually fall under the remit ofthe local authority. Train and stationoperators find it more cost-effective to hirein specialist equipment from companiessuch as the Quattro Group, rather than havetheir own plant. Usually, this consists of abase carrier vehicle which can be fitted withvarious attachments.

Multicar Fumo carrier vehiclesIn compact areas such as station

approaches it is vital that the carrier vehicleis small enough to manoeuvre into tightspots, but powerful enough to get the jobdone.

The Multicar Fumo ticks all the boxes and,as their advertising claims, is a goodcombination of FUnction and MObility. It isvery compact, only 2.20 metres high and1.62 metres wide, but still packs quite apunch with a gross pulling capacity of up to7.5 tons and a braked trailer load of up to 3.5tons. Despite this, it has a turning radius ofless than 5.5 metres, making it ideal foroperation in tight spaces.

When it comes to attachments there isplenty of choice. A Multicar Fumo fitted withsnow plough and gritter attachments is anideal addition to the winter maintenancefleet.

Fiedler snow ploughsFiedler snow plough attachments are able

to handle quite severe snowfall, helpingminimise disruption and maximise safety.Because of its unique rounded-off shape, the

plough is perfect for clearing wet snow,powdery snow and even snow drifts. Twopivoting cylinders control the blade’s turn,allowing movement up to 32° to the left orright so that the operator can roll the snowaway on either side..

The cutting edge of the plough blade is adurable, abrasion resistant plastic whichgives long life in service while minimisingdamage to the underlying road surface.

Giletta Spreader AttachmentsOne of the major concerns in winter

months is icy conditions, which can sendboth vehicles and pedestrians on a slipperyslope to disaster. Gritting is the answer, andGiletta spreader attachments ensure that

swift and comprehensive gritting is possiblein even the harshest conditions. Grit is fedout on a rubber belt running across astainless steel base which ensures uniformcoverage. A rotating blade acts as a grinder,crushing any large lumps of material andensuring that the flow of grit remainsconstant.

Tracmaster As well as areas surrounding the station, it

is also vital to consider the safety ofpassengers when they get inside thebuilding. Many stations have outsideplatforms that will have been exposed to theelements, potentially leaving them coveredin snow and ice and very treacherous.

In most cases there is no way for largemachines to access the platform itself, so thejob often falls to a member of station staffwith a thick pair of gloves, a shovel, a broomand the promise of a hot cup of teaafterwards. This is heavy work, and can leadto concerns over the health and safety of theindividuals involved. In these conditions,pedestrian-operated snow clearanceequipment comes into its own! TheTracmaster unit, when used by an

D


wonderplantWinter


experiencedoperator, is thesimple way to clearsnow from a platform quickly, effectivelyand, above all, safely.

The compact machine is able to operatewith three snow clearing implements, all ofwhich are easily switchable depending onwhich is most suitable for the task. The snowblower can clear snow up to 30cm deep,blowing it a distance of up to 15cm away ineither direction. The snow plough is moreeffective at cutting a path through snow upto 20cm deep. Able to be angled to eitherside, the plough directs the snow away,leaving a clear pathway which can then begritted for extra safety. The snow brush ismost effective at removing snow up to 10cmdeep - leaving a clear and safe pathway forpedestrians to walk on immediately.

As well as the health and safety aspectsthat have to be considered when dealingwith platform areas, it is also important toconsider the potential damage that can bedone to such areas by wintery weatherwhen left untreated. Snow and ice can causestructural damage to buildings and floorcoverings. Areas such as exposed outsideplatforms are at risk of experiencing the‘pothole’ effect that can be seen on roadsafter severe weather, when melted snow has

leaked into smallcracks and frozen,forcing them open andenlarging them into pitsand craters. Repair costscan run into thousands ofpounds. Clearing snowpromptly, whilst not acomplete answer to thisproblem, certainly helpsminimise danger to thepublic and reduces the costof such damage.

The Quattro Group’s WinterMaintenance division operatesa large fleet of municipalequipment that is perfectlydesigned to handle all essentialwinter maintenance requirements.A nationwide presence in 13depots across the UK allowsregional teams to managerequirements locally, helping tokeep reaction time to a minimumand ensuring that both thefinancial and environmentalimpact is kept as low as possible.

Now all we need is some snow!

With over 265 RRV machines, the QuattroGroup’s dedicated rail division provides anestimated 30% of the UK operated RRVMarket across all aspects of the rail sector.

The huge fleet is able to handle any type of planned works, including lightmaintenance, heavy maintenance, renewal,S&C and OLE, and makes the QuattroGroup the first choice for many of theleading industry contractors.

As well as being able to provide the perfect machine for the job, the QuattroGroup pride themselves on a comprehen-sive rolling maintenance programme thatnot only ensures that all machines are inperfect working order when they arrive onsite, but also that promises ongoing reliability, helping make sure all jobs canprogress with no disruptions.

Call us today on 0845 900 2999 or visit www.quattroplant.co.uk

HELPING YOU KEEP YOUR JOB ON TRACK


One stopne Stop Hire is a splendid example ofthe phrase “does what it says on the tin”.

The family-owned firm, formed in 2009 fromSJS Hire Tools and PSL Hire, is now the largestindependent hirer of power tools, accesssystems & small plant in the North West ofEngland. Branches throughout the regionensure a fast response to customers’ requests,whatever and wherever they may be.

With over 7500 items of equipment in thehire fleet, covering equipment for the DIYmarket through to the largest contractor’srequirements, there are not many items ofplant that One Stop cannot supply. So, whenthere were several occasions during thewinter of 2010 that specialist equipment hadto be cross hired from elsewhere,management was quick to take note.

Lack of lightThe items in question were temporary

lighting towers. One Stop had a small fleet,but ran out from time to time and had tohire-in additional examples.

Then, in early 2011, the Warrington depotof major civil engineering contractorMurphy expressed the need for versatilelighting towers to be used on some of thebiggest rail projects in the North West. SteveHitchen, Managing Director of One StopHire, takes up the story: “Although we hadgot through the past couple of years crosshiring our lighting towers, when Murphyvoiced a demand for constant access to ourrange for their rail projects, we realised thatwe needed to invest.

“After working at a very high profile cranehire company for a number of years, onhuge Network Rail projects, I know the railindustry intimately and recognised thecalibre of machinery required for theseprojects as I understand the unique hurdlesthat rail work can pose.”

As a result, One Stop Hire chose to invest ina small, powerful and reliable lighting towerfleet for use on such projects.

Reliable lightSteve Hitchen again: “Whilst we wanted

the machines to be with us for winter, whenthere is clearly a greater demand for them,Murphy will use them all year round as manyrail projects are carried out in the hours ofdarkness. Taking this in to account, weneeded robust, reliable and versatilemachines that were able to offeruninterrupted operation and withstand nearconstant use all year round.”

Although other leading brand names wereconsidered, One Stop Hire eventually choseto purchase ten Network Rail-approved SMCTL-90 mobile lighting towers from ArcGenHilta, one of the UK’s leading suppliers ofonsite power equipment. The SMC TL-90

lighting tower is ideal for all temporarylighting tower applications and is used bymany leading plant and rail rentalcompanies.

Crucial safety features include anemergency stop that disconnects allelectrical circuits and shuts down instantly,as well as a mast deployment alarm and asafety system that ensured that the mastdescends automatically when thehandbrake is released to ensure that it doesnot clash with electrified overhead railcables.

O

to a brighter future


GOGREENOur Lighting Towers may look Grey...But they’re actually very Green

• Lower fuel consumption• Lowest sound power levels• Economical to transport

Phone us on 0845 409 0272 or email [email protected]

Network RailApproved

RESERVE YOUR SMC LIGHTING TOWERSTODAY...DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THE DARK!

For every SMC Lighting Tower ordered this year, we will donate £10 to the LIGHTHOUSE CLUB Construction Industry Charity.

British lightAll SMC TL-90s are designed,

developed and manufactured at SMC’sheadquarters in Gosberton,Lincolnshire. Phil Winnington,Commercial Director at ArcGen Hilta,said: “We certainly designed the TL-90with the rail industry in mind. The wellthought out design process andexecution allowed us to create alightweight, stable, and easilytransportable lighting tower, with all ofthe necessary safety features that areso integral to these machines.

“This meant that when we applied forNetwork Rail approval in 2006, it wasgranted without the need for anymodifications. Features such as fork liftpockets, single lift eye, emergency stopbutton, auto engine shutdown andrapidly deployable mast were allincluded by our engineers to sidestepsome of the complications that railprojects can throw up.

“It is testament to its functionalitythat the TL-90 is in constant use on railprojects around the UK - from frequentwork on the London Overground tothese future projects with Murphy inthe North West.”

Lightweight and compactThe units are designed to give

operators easy access for routinemaintenance. They are also lightweightand compact, and can be transportedto the site in bulk if needed, thenmoved around the site as easily aspossible. Working trackside, often withlimited access to sites, doesn’t alwaysoffer a lot of room for manoeuvre, sothis is often a key decision-makingfactor in purchasing and hiring alighting tower for rail projects.

As Steve Hitchen concluded, “I hadevery confidence in the purchase ofthe TL-90 - the size and power of theproduct, as well as their brandawareness in the industry convincedme that I was making the rightpurchase.

“Yes, they are ideal for use in the railindustry, and I did buy them with thatmarket in mind, but they are alsowidely used in construction, eventsand petrochemical industries, so I ampositive that I will never struggle tohire them out.”

The SMC TL-90 lighting tower is idealfor all temporary lighting applications.


QTSValue Engineering

TS have had an extremely successfulyear operating both as a sub-contractor

on many large rail projects and increasinglyas a Network Rail Principal Contractor. Thissuccess is demonstrated by the award of theNetwork Rail BCDP (Building and CivilDelivery Partnership) for the Northernregion and recently also being successful insecuring the Network Rail Out of Use AssetsFramework. However, well known throughout the railindustry for their investment and innovationin rail plant and equipment, QTS continue tolead the way with some exciting newdevelopments…

Tactile IndicatorsWorking in partnership with the Australian

company Austact, QTS has been developingthe use of individual tactile indicators - theraised dots on platform edges and at the topand bottom of stairs to convey importantinformation to visually impaired pedestriansabout their environment. For example,hazard warning and directional guidance,

that help to preventthe visually impairedfrom puttingthemselves in danger.

Traditionally, platform-edge tactileindicators come in the form of 400mm by400mm slabs which are laid between thecoping stone and platform surfacing. Thisapproach to platform construction is labourintensive as it requires three separate buildstages, each individual stage requiringcompletion prior to the next commencing.

The QTS/Austact system is fitted once thesurfacing is complete. Individual studs areset into holes drilled directly into theplatform surface so they have operationaladvantages as well as being simple to install.The studs are manufactured from a cross-linked, co-polymer material that can beproduced in any colour, includingfluorescent types for underground use.

A carborundum insert on the top of eachstud increases slip resistance and reduceswear and the patented “tooth” form on theshaft prevents pull-out, even in asphalt.

One of the attractions of the studs toNetwork Rail is that they are not affected byfrost heave and with Network Rail incurringsignificant costs every year repairing andmaintaining station platforms, this is asignificant benefit.

The first pilot installation at Perth Stationhas been successfully completed as part of a

major repairs project. Around 1400 metresof tactile indicators were installed, whichproduced substantial cost and time savings.

Following the success of the Perth Stationproject, QTS has installed tactile indicators atFauldhouse Station where they are the maincontractor for the design and build of thenew footbridge. The tactile indicators werefitted at the bottom of both sets of stairs inplace of traditional slabs.

Lightweight Platform ExtensionsQTS are currently developing a

Lightweight Platform System. With acombination of value engineering, existingmethods and cutting edge innovation, QTSaim to maximise the efficiencies of thelightweight design philosophy and toprovide Network Rail and industry partnerswith a full design and installation package.

The engineering philosophy behind thesystem is that the weight of the platform isequal or less than the excavated materialremoved, therefore no large foundations arerequired and by default the heavy plantelement is removed. The benefit of this istwo-fold; it can be used on sites withsettlement issues; time on site andfoundation requirements are significantlyreduced therefore saving time and cost.

As the system is weight-neutral there is norequirement for large complex foundationdesigns. The system reduces bearingpressures on the surface and can be used onembankments or on underbridges.

Minimal plant is required to install thesystem which offers significant cost andprogramme savings with the quickinstallation time and no requirement forwet trades.

Q

RRV High Speed Braking SystemQTS have just received approval for the use

of an industry first high speed brakingsystem for high ride RRVs. TFI weresponsored to undertake the design andbuild of a rail wheel tread braking system toa Gallmac access platform, which is currentlyon permanent hire with Network Rail OHLE.

The system incorporates four brakeassemblies which are bolted to an axleframe and operate on each rail wheel. Eachbrake assembly has a combined spring-applied, air-release, parking and air servicebraking canister. The brake application isapplied to a tread brake shoe onto the railwheel running surface. Vehicle parking andrail-wheel parking brakes are combined tooperate through the same cab controlswitch.

Service braking is progressive. Vehicleservice hydraulic braking and rail wheel, airservice braking are linked to operate fromthe same vehicle brake pedal. This isachieved by a hydraulic-to-air proportional

control valve operating from the vehiclehydraulic brake

signal.The system is designed so that,

during the initial brake pedal travel, the railwheel brakes apply before the road wheels.The brake application ratio of rail wheel tovehicle braking is set from vehicle typebrake trials.

Braking effect is relayed via a gauge to thecab. The gauge range is colour coded greenand red with red indicating over-braking toshow the operator he is going into apossible wheel-lock condition.

The new braking system has been appliedto the Gallmac WMW115 and as a result ofthis it is now suitable for use on gradientsgreater than 1 in 75. It is the first successfulsystem that has been certified by the VehicleAcceptance Body (VAB) and Network Rail toboth the RIS 1530 PLT Issue 2 and theNetwork Rail Remit for Rail Wheel Braking. Ithas been operating virtually continuouslyfor the last three months without any issuesand is currently the subject of patentapplications.

Euro-drill RigThe most recent addition to the QTS plant

fleet is the Euro-drill Rig supplied byCasagrande UK, well known for their firstclass drilling and mini piling fleet. The unit islighter than much of the competition andprovides significant power/torqueadvantages - thus improving drilling time.

The unit was supplied with 2 differentmast sizes, which means that for restrictedsites such as tunnels/cuttings a shorterstroke can be used and on open ground thelarger mast can be applied to achieve higheroutput. Either way, the unit is compact andmanoeuvrable, allowing works to be carriedout easily in the usual ‘tricky’ railwayscenario. The unit is primarily used for theinstallation of soil nails on our earthworkssites, but can also drill rock anchors, mini-piles and wells if required.

The rig has successfully completed its firstsoil nailing project at Ellestree for BAMNuttall, installing soil nails, and will move onto complete projects at Arkleston (BalfourBeatty) then Lochawe (Network Rail).

QTS are leading the way in providingunique and innovative cost-effectivesolutions to the Rail industry.


w www.qtsgroup.com

(Above right) TheTFI rail wheel treadbraking system inclose up.

e [email protected]

The Euro-drill rig inoperation.


w r i t e rNigelWordsworth

Maintaining

nfrastructure maintenance, the every-dayjob of keeping the railways safe and in

good repair, has changed beyond allrecognition over the last eight years. the railengineer met with Network Rail’s Director ofInfrastructure Maintenance, SteveFeatherstone, to find out how that cameabout.

Project Glasgow After the Hatfield derailment, it became

clear that, in putting the work of trackmaintenance in the hand of subcontractors,Railtrack had lost most of its in-houseengineering expertise and had inadequatemaintenance records.

On taking over in late 2002, Network Railmanagement looked at the problems thatRailtrack had created and concluded that itneeded to bring maintenance back in house.Project Glasgow, as this initiative wasnamed, started with the Thames Valley areaon 28 November 2003 and was completednine months later on 24 July 2004.

The effort that this took is startling. 15,884people were transferred into Network Railemployment, bringing with them 77 differentsets of terms and conditions. 3,979 roadvehicles and 524 properties also came to thenew organisation, along with 7,995 differentprocesses and procedures documents.

In return, Network Rail issued 41,628 itemsof clothing and equipment to its newemployees and management held almost400 face-to-face staff briefings lasting a totalof over 1,000 hours, equivalent to 42 days ofnon-stop briefings. 4,771 new desktopcomputers and laptops were installed andstaff trained to use them, and over 1,000new contracts were placed with directsuppliers.

Quick resultsIt was an immense undertaking, but

quickly showed results. By the end of March2006, £213 million had been saved on themaintenance budget. Points failures hadbeen reduced by 40% and there had been a

similar reduction in track circuit failures.Workforce safety was improving, theaccident frequency rate (AFR) was down by21%. More full-time workers had been takenon, the vacancy gap was cut from 19% to6%, and the reliance on agency staff hadbeen slashed by almost 70%. And above all,more trains were running on time.

Management structures were beingrefined at the same time. The initial structurehad been to divide the country up into fiveterritories, and then those five into 16 areas.Actually doing the work were 46 deliveryunits. This was soon revised, with territoriesand areas disappearing, and 40 deliveryunits reporting directly to a topmaintenance team. A number of sectionmanagers, working for those delivery units,were responsible for carrying outmaintenance, but the new streamlinedstructure made the whole organisationmore efficient.

Ongoing processWork continued to improve the

organisation still further. The 77 differentsets of terms and conditions were tackledwith staff and unions. New standardisedconditions were proposed which matchedwork rosters and addressed a number ofissues including pay, hours and workingpractices. Negotiations were tough andlasted over three years during which therewas some industrial action although thisdidn’t affect passengers. However,agreement was finally reached and thebenefits of that are now flowing through.

In control period 3 (CP3), from 2004 to2009, maintenance costs were reduced by35%. CP4 (2009-2014) requires another 23%reduction - equivalent to over £200 million ayear. However, Steve Featherstone isconfident it can be done. “73% of our costsare manpower-related,” he commented.“However, we now need fewer peoplebecause we’ve caught up on the BritishRail/Railtrack backlog. The railway is in bettercondition and our move to reliability-centred maintenance has changed ourmaintenance frequencies. We are also much

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Holding both Network Rail Principal Contractor and Plant Operator in Possession Licences,TRAC have themanagement capability and operating systems to effectively control and deliver projects safely, on time

and to budget.

moreproductive in what we do, so I am confidentthat, though they are tough, we will meetour CP4 targets.”

The new working practices, phase 2bc ofthe improvement programme, went live on1 April 2011. They include a new safetyculture, improved rostering arrangements,alterations to team sizes to reflect the tasksthey are required to perform, a reduction inthe number of individual job descriptions(down from 350 to just 95) and aproductivity incentive agreement. It wasthe biggest change in living memory forany railway company and affected theterms and conditions of some 13,000people.

Since 2009, Network Rail has reduced itsdirectly-employed workforce by over 2,000to 16,000. Over 1,300 people have leftthrough a voluntary severance scheme,which remains open. However, over 200apprentices are still recruited each year andan agreement with trade unions on nocompulsory redundancies remains in force.

DevolutionMoving more authority out to the regions

is an important part of current and futureplanning. Ten new route Managing Directorswill report to network operations directorRobin Gisby. The first two routes, Scotlandand Wessex, went live in May and all ten willbe fully functional by 14 November 2011.

By June 2011, the new network operationsfunction had completely replacedoperations and customer services with allexisting teams moving over. Infrastructuremaintenance and all its organisation willtransfer in November.

Robin Gisby commented on the changes;“We have to make sure that we support thechanges and opportunities that will emergein our devolved routes with a centre that isable to match the pace of delivery they willdemand. With maintenance and operationsworking so closely in our new route structureto meet our customer needs, it makes a lot ofsense to do the same centrally.”

The futureAs Network Rail

continues to strive forsavings, it needs to savemoney on infrastructuremaintenance as well aseverything else. Thesavings already madeover the past few yearspoint the way to morecost-reductionopportunities in thefuture.

The new networkoperations organisation,once it beds in, will

improve efficiency still further, as willdevolving some responsibilities to the tennew route managements. Reliability centredmaintenance, and remote conditionmonitoring, both subjects reported onpreviously in the rail engineer, will result inmore cost savings.

New ways of working, and cleverequipment will also bring their benefits.Video and aerial inspection, standardisedmaintenance tasks and increasedmechanisation using high-outputmachinery will all play their part. Longcherished ideas and techniques are comingthrough; mobile flash-butt welding,mechanised tree cutting, motorisedinspections on small “buggies”, mechanicalrail clipping and unclipping, and many more.

With all these new ideas, and newequipment, it seems certain that infrastructuremaintenance will be a topic we return tofrequently over the next few years.


Network Railapprentices Vicki Fox,Natalie Burton,Andy Wheeler andAndy Fox trainingat HMS Sultan.

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L e n g t h

orraine, in the north east corner ofFrance just south of Luxembourg, is an

area in industrial decline. Local iron oredeposits encouraged the early developmentof an iron and steel industry and by the endof the nineteenth century almost every townin the north of the region had a steelworksor iron foundry at its centre.

However, things change. The local iron orewasn’t of great quality, so new works werebuilt close to the coast to take advantage ofsupplies coming from overseas, and theneven they hit trouble with the downturn ofthe global industry.

Today, many towns in northern Lorrainehave empty spaces in the middle of them,where their steel works and foundries used tobe. Coal, iron and steel are no longer the bigemployers, and local government is doingwhat it can to help the employers that remain.For instance, the factory that makes Smart carswas built on a 67 hectare site at Hambach.

But steel still exists. Driving down theFensch River valley from the surroundinghills, there are still blast furnaces on theskyline over Hayange. This is a town built oniron and steel, developed by the Wendelfamily from a small forge in 1704 to becomethe largest iron enterprise in Lorraine in theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But

today even those blast furnaces are cold. Thelast one closed on 3 October and theassociated flat products steel mill nowbrings the basic steel slabs in fromDunkerque.

New investmentDrive on a little further, under a railway

bridge, and another steel mill comes intoview. This one, though, has just had €35million invested in it to improve capacity.It is the Hayange plant of Tata Steel, and itmakes rails for SNCF, other Europeanrailway companies, and even customersas far away as Canada, USA, Brazil andAsia.

Steel rails have been made in the area fora long time. This particular plant waspurchased by British Steel eight days beforeit became Corus Steel, and now it is ownedby the Indian group Tata. Previously, theplant was capable of rolling rails fromvarious types of steel and to variousspecifications up to 80 metres long. Now,the new facilities have extended that rangeto include lengths of up to 108 metres.

The processTata Hayange is a

rolling mill, not a steelworks. The steel isbrought in as blooms,rectangular-sectionedlengths of roughly-rolled raw steel eachweighing between 6and 7 tonnes, fromthe sister works atScunthorpe. Eachbloom is produced toa specific order for railso it has both thecorrect compositionand contains theexact volume ofmaterial needed toproduce the lengthand section of rail

required.Blooms arrive from Scunthorpe by train

through the channel tunnel, and are storedoutside in piles. When required, they arepicked up by overhead cranes fitted withelectro-magnets and placed onto tracks

which lead into a large reheating furnace.Several hours later, glowing bright orangeand now at 1200°C, the bloom emergesfrom the furnace and passes along a set ofrollers to the main mill.

The cogging mill starts the process ofreducing the bloom in size. The bloom passesback and forth between hardened steelrollers, growing in length as is reduces insection. A thinner web starts to be visible asshaped rollers begin to force the section intoits finished shape. Finally the rail, now around77 metres long, passes through a high-pressure-water descaling station in a cloud ofsteam and emerges from the final rollers thecorrect shape and length, and bent! It is rolledonto a cooling rack with a distinct curve but,as it cools down, it actually straightens itself.The different amounts of material in the topand the bottom of the rail section means thatthey cool and contract at different rates, andthat is all calculated in to the rolling processso the rail is self-straightening.

However, it is still not completely straightso when cool the rail is put through one finalset of rollers that straighten it completely.The rough ends are cropped and thefinished product, correct and ready to ship,is placed on racks ready for loading ontowagons and departure by rail. Markingswhich show the specification have beenrolled into the web as part of the processand the whole operation is controlled toensure that material batches are keptseparate and traceability is maintained.

Longer is betterModern continuously welded rail (CWR) is

made up of individual lengths weldedtogether. The longer the original piece, thefewer the welds, the lower the cost, and theless chance of future failures due to crackingat weld interfaces. Infrastructure companiestherefore have, in recent times, increased thelengths of rail they purchase. On thecontinent, lengths increased from 36 metresto 72 metres, then 80, and now the acceptedstandard is 108.

L

DOESmatterw r i t e rNigelWordsworth


Scunthorpe has been able to roll 108metre lengths for some time. However,Hayange was limited to 80 metresmaximum. SNCF (French Railways)wished to move to 108 metre lengths,and an order worth €350 million over 4years gave Tata the confidence toinvest in new plant.

Moving from 80 to 108 metres takesup quite a bit of extra space. Thefinishing mill has to be 28 metreslonger, the cooling racks have to be 28metres longer, the straightening millhas to be 28 metres longer, and so dothe storage bins. Even the partfinished blooms emerging from thecogging mill are 15 metres longer. Itall adds up.

UpheavalPlanning started in September 2009.

At the end of the finishing mill was alarge ‘extension’ to the main building,mainly containing electrical plant. Overthe next 18 months that was all clearedout and new wings added to make itthe same width as the rest of the shop.Internally, everything was repositionedand reworked - even the cranes had tobe able to handle weights 25% higher.

400 people at the peak of the workmoved 7,000m³ of rubble from the site,and poured 4,200m³ of new concrete.300 km of cable were needed in totalfor all the rewiring. All withoutstopping production.

The revised mill started rolling on 27June 2011 and, after a few tests toproduce the familiar 80m lengths, thefirst 108 metre rail was produced twodays later. By the start of July, the firsttrainload of new 108 metre rails wasdespatched to SNCF and was weldedready for track-laying at its plant inSaulon the following week.

Further deliveries have already beenmade to France, Luxembourg andAustria, and Belgium has taken a batchof 100 metre rails.

Excellent resultPlant manager Paul Hodgson is

English, while coincidentally the plantmanager of Scunthorpe is French! Hewas pleased with the final result. “Ihave to admit that when the first snowof last winter arrived earlier thannormal in December, with much civilswork still to do, the objective did attimes appear hard to achieve. We hadto resort to Plan B, Plan C and

sometimes Plan D in order to keep tothe timeline. However, after a difficultstart, the winter from January onwardswas kinder than most Lorraine winterscan be, and from around mid-March Iceased to consult the Meteo Franceweather-forecasting website two orthree times per day! Our project teamhas accomplished a spectacularmission and I’d also like to thank all theother employees for adapting theirwork patterns which was extremelyimportant for the success of theproject.”

All the hard work has already bornefruit. As well as supplying the SNCFrenewals programme which started thewhole exercise, Tata Steel has recentlysecured a major order to supply railwaylines for a new high-speed trackbetween the French cities of Bordeauxand Tours. The 430 employees atHayange will manufacture 84,000tonnes of high quality rail for the new302km (188 miles) TGV South-Europe-Atlantique route for delivery from 2014.The company will also supply switchesand crossings to the constructionconsortium COSEA. The total value ofthe steel supplied will be around €80million (about £70m).

Without the confidence of Tata’smanagement to invest in the newplant, this order would have goneelsewhere. As it is, there is a brightfuture for this steel mill at least, one ofthe survivors of Lorraine’s “rust valley”.

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52 | the rail engineer | november 2011 concrete

More passengers = Moore concreteext year may well see rail passengernumbers in Northern Ireland increasing

by 50%. As part of its ongoing £114 millioninvestment in rail infrastructure, theDepartment for Regional Development haspurchased 20 new Class 4000 trains. Eachwill have six carriages as opposed to thecurrent three that are used for commuterservice trains. In addition, each of the newcarriages will have the capacity to holdsignificantly more passengers than thosenow in use so there will be plenty of capacityonce the new trains come on line.

This investment in new rolling stock comesat a time when rail travel is back in vogue.Translink has confirmed that a record 10.4million passenger journeys were madeduring 2010/11 - the highest level since the1960s. All of the new rolling stock will becommissioned over the coming months,giving passengers a faster and morecomfortable option when it comes togetting from A to B. However, there is onesnag…

Longer platformsThe new trains are considerably longer

than those currently in use, so TranslinkNorthern Ireland Railways is investing £8.0million in platform extensions at 20 stationsacross the province: Balmoral,Jordanstown,Whiteabbey,Hilden, Moira,Lisburn,

Sydenham, Yorkgate, Lambeg, Dunmurry,Downshire, Finaghy, Carrickfergus, BridgeEnd, Whitehead, Larne Town, Larne Harbour,Lurgan, Adelaide and Derriaghy.

The project to extend the stationplatforms, christened the “New Trains TwoPlatform Extension”, is now well underway.McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd has beencommissioned to carry out this significantengineering project, which will continuethrough until mid 2012. Ballymena-basedMoore Concrete was appointed as the solemanufacturer and supplier of the precastplatform components. These includePlatform Wall Units, L-Walls, Edging Units,Slabs and Copings.

“The project entailed the design of precisemoulds and the ensuing manufacture of theindividual units to a very high specification,”explained Moore Concrete’s John Parkinson.

“We have worked closely with McLaughlin& Harvey in the past and were committed todelivering the units on time to each requiredlocation. The overall objective is to ensurethat the required extension work is carriedout in a way that causes the least degree ofdisruption to the travelling public.”

McLaughlin & Harvey’s Graeme Pollockconfirmed the strong working relationship

that exists between his company and MooreConcrete. “On a project such as the ‘NewTrains Two Platform Extension’, timing iseverything,” he stressed. “We want to ensurethat the inconvenience caused to thetravelling public is kept to a minimum. It is,therefore, crucially important for all oursuppliers to meet the design andengineering specifications agreed and todeliver on time. Moore Concrete hasconsistently ticked all of these boxes.”

Well establishedMoore Concrete is not a new name in this

field. It was founded in the late 1970s by theManaging Director Wilbert Moore, who listshis company values as Health & Safety,Quality, Resoluteness, Efficiency and Respectfor All. A strong emphasis is placed on stafftraining and the company is a committedparticipant in the Investors in Peoplescheme. All of the casting shops at theBallymena factory are served by a state-ofthe-art Skako mixer and the on-site cranescan handle individual items weighing up to50 tonnes.

Heavy investment over recent years hasintroduced a range of new products such asBridge Arches, Box Culverts, Post TensionedTanks and Retaining Wall Systems with the

result that Moore Concrete is nowwell established in the

Agricultural,Construction

and Civil

NInstalling the newdeck at Garriongill.

A BEBO Archsystemmanufactured forAssetInternational.

PHO

TO: S

TORY

RA

IL

Engineering sectors. Raw materials aresourced locally and the company takes painsto ensure that its manufacturing processesmeet the highest environmental standards.

GarriongillRail projects throughout the UK make up a

significant part of Moore Concrete’s activities.A recent example was the replacement ofthe Garriongill Intersection Bridge atUddington Junction near Wishaw in NorthLanarkshire. The existing bridge had been inplace since 1842 and was life-expired. StoryRail, the main contractor on the project, hadthe job of replacing it with a new structureover a single weekend blockade.

The design of the new bridge deck calledfor 12 bespoke precast concrete sections.Story Rail recognised that delivery of thedeck units would be crucial to the success ofthe project. Northern Ireland-based MooreConcrete was selected as the manufacturerwith the facilities and track record to meetthe specifications laid down and to have theunits delivered on time.

“The new bridgedeck comprised oftwelve individual sections, eachweighing twenty four tons and having anextensive amount of protruding steel toallow it to be connected to the abutmentwalls,” John Parkinson explained. “Thebiggest constraint of the project was thetight timeframe. Due to the size andcomplexity of each beam, extensive mouldwork was required to accommodate theprojecting steel.

“Critically the spacing of the steel had tobe exact in order to match perfectly withadjacent beams as well as the existingabutment walls on site. Before the unitscould be despatched, we had to provethat the units could fit together byperforming a trial erection.

“Once all the components arrived on sitethey were assembled and stitched togetheron a multi-wheeled transporter before StoryRail took possession of the bridge.”

He further commented: “The new deckfitted perfectly with its protruding steelmeshing exactly with those on the walls of

the existing abutments. The successof the project is a tribute to the skills of ourstructural precast production team.”

Other sectorsIn addition to its rail work, Moore Concrete

has recently been involved in manufacturinga range of bespoke products, including boxculverts and crib walls, for a number ofIreland’s most prestigious road developmentprojects. The company has also recentlydelivered a very large order of precast unitsto Tulloch Developments Ltd for a new pierat Lerwick Harbour, Shetland.

“Moore Concrete’s production facilitieshave been developed specifically tomanufacture custom-made precastproducts to the highest specification,” JohnParkinson concluded. “We have investedheavily to allow us to undertake projects ofthis kind and, very importantly, we are alsoconcrete enthusiasts! We want to build onthis potential for the future.”

november 2011 | the rail engineer | 53concrete

www.moore-concrete.com QUALITYPRECASTSOLUTIONS

STRUCTURAL PRECAST FOR RAILWAYS

• Bridge Deck Construction

• Station Platforms

• Bespoke Units

MOORE CONCRETE PRODUCTS LTDCaherty House, 41 Woodside Rd, Ballymena BT42 4QH T. 028 2565 2566 F. 028 2565 8480 E. [email protected]

Constructingplatforms forTranslink inNorthern Ireland.


Bernard Bergew r i t e r

Product Specialist Engineer, Maccaferri Ltd

ajor infrastructure projects worldwideconsume huge quantities of concrete,

much of it reinforced. As consumption hasgrown over recent years, so has the use ofsteel fibres as an alternative to conventionalrebar reinforcement. Growth has occurredboth in the sheer volume of concreteconsumed as well in the variety ofapplications in which fibre reinforcedconcrete (FRC) is employed.

In the early years of its development, steelfibre reinforced concrete was principallyused in two major areas of application:reinforcement in temporary spray concretetunnel linings and in industrial paving inport, airport and factory flooring etc. Withmore recent advancements in fibrereinforcement technology, the use of FRChas spread rapidly into new, innovativeapplications such as in precast segmentaltunnel linings and other structural concreteuses.

What is FRC?FRC is a compound consisting of a

cementitious concrete mix into whichreinforcement fibres - in this case, small steelfilaments about the size of a paperclip, aremixed.

The multiple steelfibres redistribute theforces within theconcrete, restrainingthe mechanism offormation andextension of cracks.The result is a moreductile concretewhich is able tomaintain a residualcapacity in the postcracking phase. Thesteel fibres within theconcrete literally ‘stitch’ the sides of aforming crack together.

Origin of the speciesThe principles of fibre reinforced

composites are far from new and historyshows the concept was established well over2000 years ago in ancient Egypt with mudbricks reinforced with straw fibres. Fast-forward to more recent times and itdeveloped through the application ofasbestos fibre cement, widely used duringthe 20th Century, and continued with thehighly sophisticated carbon-fibre typematerials of the aerospace and specialist

automotive industries.In the 1960s, studies by

American industrialscientists Romualdi, Mandeland others, establishedtheoretical andexperimental foundationsfor the development ofsteel fibre as a medium toreinforced concrete.

In 1973, BattelleDevelopment Corporationof Columbus, Ohio (USA)patented the principles ofsteel fibre-reinforcedconcrete, creating what wasessentially a completelynew material for civilengineers.

Battelle lodged patents allover the world and alsoregistered WIRAND as atrademark for steel-wireconcrete reinforcementfibres. Through one of itssubsidiary companies, theMaccaferri Group becamelicensee of the patents andacquired the right to usethe WIRAND trademark.

Subsequent research within the Italiancement industry and the University ofBologna led to further improvements inconcrete performance, using fibres with animproved shape which gave bettermechanical strength and/or workability.Later, in the 1980s, an automated processwas developed which allowed the sprayed-on application of premixed and site-mixedFRC. Alongside this, the use of fibres in themanufacture of pre-cast concrete productsprogressed, particularly for componentssuch as tunnel lining segments.

Steel vs. polymer fibresPolymer fibres, thinner than a human hair,

are also suitable as a reinforcement mediumfor concrete and are often used inconjunction with steel fibres to providegreatly enhanced fire resistance. Thesepolymer fibres melt when exposed to greatheat, leaving multiple microscopic ‘tubes’within the concrete into which latentmoisture can evaporate. This moisturewould otherwise cause explosive spalling ofthe concrete as it would have nowhere toexpand to within the concrete matrix.

The non-metallic composition of polymerfibre-reinforced concrete also has benefits inapplications for which the use of ferrousmaterials would be inappropriate due totheir electromagnetic properties.

FRC in the real worldIn Spain, construction of the 43km long

extension to the Barcelona Metro has madeextensive use of precast tunnel lining-segments incorporating steel reinforcementfibres. A joint venture constructionconsortium of, UTE Gorg, UTE Linea and UTEAeroport used an earth pressure balancetunnel boring machine (TBM) to excavatetunnels. The precast lining segments wereplaced, ring by ring, behind the machineusing a robotic arm.

M

aMixtureMagical

Steel fibres aboutthe size and shapeof a paperclip aremixed with theconcrete.

Purpose built fibredosing equipmentwas supplied byMaccaferri.

november 2011 | the rail engineer | 55concrete

FRC tunnel ring segments were cast off-site. Theoriginal design for the precast units required120kg of traditional, fabricated steel cagereinforcement per cubic metre of concrete, toprovide the required structural strength. No fibrereinforcement was considered at this time.

Subsequently, a proposal was made to use30kg/m³ of Maccaferri Wirand steel reinforcementfibres in an attempt to reduce the amount of steelbar within the segments. Through ongoingtesting, the amount of steel rebar was graduallyreduced and a final optimised combination of25kg/m³ of Wirand fibres and 60kg/m³ of steelrebar gave the required structural performance.

This design specification produced thenecessary strength to provide adequateperformance both during the placement of thesegments and during the early service life of thetunnel. An early age compressive strength wasalso required to ensure sufficient crack resistanceduring the de-moulding, stacking and on-sitehandling phases.

Reinforcement fibres were added to theconcrete mix via purpose made dosingequipment to ensure controlled introduction andconsistent dispersion of the fibres.

Fibre-only reinforcementSome months into the tunnel construction

programme, contractors proposed anotheralternative method of casting lining segments,this time without the inclusion of any steel cagereinforcement and relying solely on steel fibrereinforcement for the structural integrity of theunit. The high cost of steel cage reinforcement

and the need to reduce casting time and increasemould utilisation were the principal motivationsfor this proposal. Despite successful trials, it wasultimately decided that the use of fibre-onlyreinforced concrete segments was atechnological step too far for the project team,having already reduced rebar content from120kg/m³ to 60kg/m³ through the use of fibres.

Fire protection legislationRecently introduced Spanish legislation

concerning fire protection in tunnels has obligedcontractors to incorporate polymerreinforcement fibres into precast lining segments.Along with its steel materials, Maccaferri alsosupplied Fibromac FR polymer fibres to theproject.

At the conclusion of the works it is anticipatedthat the company will have suppliedapproximately 20,000 tonnes of steel andpolymer reinforcement fibres to the BarcelonaMetro construction project which saved a total of40,000 tonnes of conventional rebar.

The implications of the Barcelona Metro trialsmay be a portent of the future design andconstruction of tunnels. Through a willing projectteam comprising contractors, designers, materialsuppliers and research, cost savings andperformance enhancements were made possible.

With London’s Crossrail, Europe’s next hugetunnelling infrastructure project on theimmediate horizon, the question is: will theproject team be even more innovative than theone in Spain and embrace the use of an all-steelfibre reinforced concrete segment?

The 43Km longBarcelona Metro

line extensionused precast

tunnel liningsmanufactured

with Maccaferrifibre-reinforced

concrete.


wallshen enlarging a station in a limitedarea, the resulting excavation often

results in a retaining wall being specified.These walls can sometimes be quite high,and as they are in public areas have to bedecorative as well. Cast in-situ walls aresometimes not the best solution, a modularsystem such as Keystone may be better.

Keystone retaining wall units aremanufactured from high strength, durableconcrete which are laid dry and can be usedin conjunction with a geogrid to provide tallwalls or to accommodate high surcharges.Keystone’s ability to connect positively with

proprietary geogrid systems has enabled itto be built to heights of over 15 metresworldwide - making it ideal for rail andbridge applications and its simple, dry buildconstruction enables it to handle the mostchallenging site design.

Fixing pinsIt can also be used with or without a

concrete backing to create a gravity wall. Ituses a unique high strength fixing systemwhich securely locks the component parts inplace. At the centre of the system arepultruded G.R.P. pins which offer a highsheer strength that will last the lifetime ofthe wall.

A combination of Keystone modular units,positive pin and comb connections and soilreinforcing geogrids delivers ‘rock solid’stability and performance. Its enhancedconnection between grid and block is criticalto ensure economic designs and is availableon a design and supply basis.

New solutionsThere are two recent additions to the

Keystone family of retaining wall products.Slope-Loc is intended for similar applications

to Keystone but it offers a sloped face finishwhich in certain situations is morepreferable to the traditional vertical face.Stepoc is designed as a direct replacementfor shuttered concrete and is ideal for use ina wide variety of retaining wall applications,including retaining walls, sheer walls,laterally-loaded panels and blast walls.

So next time you need a “simple” wall,there may be more choice than you think.

W

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58 | the rail engineer | november 2011

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The Rail Engineer - Issue 85 - November 2011

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