Building bridges
How realistic is the concept of the ‘seven-day railway’, with all the engineering work that inevitably has to take place on Britain’s infrastructure? Katie Silvester investigates
T
he ‘seven-day railway’ is a term Network Rail uses to underline its commitment to minimising line closures at weekends and over public holidays. Of course, there is
some work that cannot be done, for safety or practical reasons, without closing a line over a weekend, or even during week days, but new engineering techniques mean that this happens less often than it used to. Robin Gisby, director of operations and
customer service for Network Rail, says: ‘Bank holidays and weekends remain the best time to complete vital improvement works, which will ultimately make people’s journeys better, as fewer people travel during this time compared to the traditional working week. However, Britain relies on rail seven days a week for tourism, personal travel and business, and
so we’re working to help reduce disruption during the weekend as well.’ May Gurney has the civil engineering
framework agreement with Network Rail for London & the North East, with part of its remit being to carry out work in such a way as to cause the least inconvenience to passengers. Matt Kuzemko, business development director of May Gurney Rail Services, says: ‘Every scheme is different, in terms of engineering. It all depends on where that scheme is and how busy it is, with regards to train traffic, to what the engineering solution is. It’s only going to get worse in the next 10 or 20 years with regards to passenger numbers, so we’re going to have to run a seven-day railway.’ Last year, May Gurney replaced an
entire bridge in Gateshead over night, without affecting services. The single span bridge carries passenger and freight services
to and from Newcastle at King Edward South junction. ‘We needed to build it within an eight
hour period. Effectively, we built a bridge underneath the existing one, with minimal work to do. We engineered all the problems out and came up with a solution that meant we could build it in less than 10 hours,’ explains Kuzemko. The quick turnaround was a first on the
UK network – two other bridges had been replaced in eight hours in other parts of the country, but this is the first time it had been done underneath overhead electrical wires. The £610,000 project was managed by Network Rail, delivered by May Gurney and designed by Aecom. In other areas of civil engineering,
the emphasis is not so much on finding faster techniques, but delivering schemes more cheaply and with minimal impact on the local community and environment. Embankments can be home to protected flora and fauna, but animals and plants can be the main culprits when it comes to earthworks becoming damaged. The tunnelling efforts of badgers and rabbits can weaken a slope, while on cuttings that
The new concrete
bridge is constructed underneath the old one
The Gateshead bridge seen from above before…
PAGE 26 OCTOBER 2010
…and after
Network Rail
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