PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Capability & capacity N
etwork Rail’s £45m capacity upgrade of the Swindon to Gloucester route,
involving the redoubling of the singled track between Swindon and Kemble, will allow for the operation of four trains per hour in each direction and be a vital diversionary route for south Wales trains during the planned electrifi cation of the Great Western Main Line, when Bristol Parkway and the Severn Tunnel are closed.
Earthworks are being improved along the route to accommodate the new track and signalling equipment.
Programme manager Ross Mahoney told RTM: “We’re on track. We’ve moved forward the enabling works programme to cover the earthworks sites fi rst: we’re mobilising a few of those and working through them sequentially. There’s four currently live, mainly at the Kemble end and one at Swindon, and work’s progressing on each of those. Thereafter our civils and earthworks team will move onto the
FGW’s view
Mark Hopwood, First Great Western managing director, said: “We have been talking to our customers about these improvements for some time and we are grateful to them for their feedback and help in realising this project. This upgrade is vitally important to improve our customers’ travel experiences for the future.
“Further improvements to the network infrastructure will pave the way for faster, more reliable services and makes the most of the Government’s planned investment in electrifi cation and new trains – whoever has the honour of running the franchise beyond 2014.”
next batch.”
The track works, governed by possession availability, begin at Easter time (see panel opposite for full timeline).
Project management
The works are being delivered by the Colas Rail Morgan Sindall Joint Venture. Although they came in at the GRIP 5 stage of the project, Network Rail involved them at the GRIP 4 stage. Mahoney explained: “We paid them a sum of money to familiarise themselves and immerse themselves within the project, read up on all the documentation, try to think about a delivery strategy that made sense at that stage, rather than post-tender – to get it in there early.
“They’ve recognised that they’re coming in at the GRIP 5 stage and that there’s lots of work that’s been done by professional,
capable
people before them, and they’ve retained the services of our GRIP 4 designer, Arup, to be their GRIP 5 designer. They are continuing with the design development of this job, so we’ve got design continuity all the way through – that’s a good thing.”
He said the arrangement was truly collaborative, without client and contractor constantly at each other’s throats over costs and so on. “We’re both working to the same objective,” Mahoney said.
A programme of works
Michelle Scogings, the senior sponsor for Investment Projects – Western, and the scheme
Enabling works will carry on throughout the spring and summer to prepare for the 23-day August 9 to September 2 Swindon-Kemble blockade, during which the existing track will be shifted to its new alignment. Weekend Gloucester-Swindon services will be replaced by buses during this period.
Outside of that blockade, the team is working nights, but during slightly longer than normal possession windows, since an agreement has been reached under which the last train in each direction between Swindon and Gloucester/ Cheltenham will be replaced by road transport on Monday to Thursday nights until Thursday 5 December. That allows a nightly possession of around eight hours instead of just under fi ve, so more akin to a Saturday night than a midweek night.
sponsor for this project, said: “Because we’re accelerating a lot of the signalling on the Western, they are being done by the signalling renewals team, through our remit.”
That optimises the effi ciency, she said. “You couldn’t have two lots of signalling in the works, so it’s all being coincided – the commissioning of our redoubling scheme and the enhancement coincides with the Swindon A resignalling and recontrol to Thames Valley. It’s the most effi cient way to do it. That was a key driver.”
Other works that are part of the project include additional signals between Kemble and Standish Junction, allowing headway reduction; the upgrading of level crossings at Minety and Purton’s Collins Lane; and a new footbridge in Stroud.
Track alignment
Earthworks have started ahead of the Swindon-Kemble redoubling project, with enabling works due to start in March. RTM caught up with Network Rail programme manager Ross Mahoney and scheme sponsor Michelle Scogings.
36 | rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 13
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