TRACK TECHNOLOGY
Successful railway upgrade at Colchester
As RTM was going to press, work was fi nishing on the £7m railway upgrade around Colchester station. Balfour Beatty Rail’s lead project manager Perry Storey outlined progress on the programme.
pgrade works have been taking place around Colchester station in recent weeks to improve reliability and punctuality.
U
Network Rail said the works, contracted to Balfour Beatty Rail, were “urgently required”, and they covered plain line track, S&C, overhead line equipment and signalling & telecoms.
Lead project manager for Balfour Beatty Rail Perry Storey, explained that signifi cant prep works started earlier this year (week 42 to 47 of 2013/14), with the installation of four overhead line switches, to facilitate the running of trains into platform 4 over the core weekends.
The core works on the Great Eastern Main Line took place every weekend from 17 May to 6 July, beginning with a 52-hour possession which saw the re-laying of points and nine lengths of plain line track between them, on the up goods line.
A second worksite that weekend elsewhere on the line saw 240 yards re-layed, with the works carried out adjacent line open (ALO) as trains used platform 4.
Existing overhead line was re-registered onto the new masts that we’d installed, and redundant masts removed.
The following weekend was the longest possession – a 70-hour window, during which points and plain line were re-layed on a new diamond alignment, and ballast was replenished using Railcare’s Railvac system.
© Carol
More track was re-layed on the down goods line, and the down main got its follow-up tamp, allowing the speed restriction of 50mph to be lifted.
“That was a big weekend for us!” Storey said.
Week 10, a 52-hour possession, included the re-laying of 240 yards ALO
He said: “This mean we could, effectively, isolate out our separate sites, on the sidings, the up and down goods lines and the main lines. This would allow us to continue our prep works and ultimately allow us to deliver our works with the roads open.”
Over the following 12 weeks, week 47 to week 7 of 2014/15, works included removing points heating and a headshunt, followed by the installation of nine overhead line mast bases. There was also lots of S&T prep works, including the identifi cation and removal of cable from legacy projects, and removal, repositioning and installation of equipment.
on the down good line, and then follow-up works around the fi xed diamond installed the weekend before. Weekend 11 saw more points re-laid and some re-railing. Story said: “We removed the old sleepers and rail and positioned the new switches that were delivered via a 750-tonne crane which came in 12 hours before. We had them offl oaded ready to enable the Kirow to pick it up and install it. It was a successful weekend.”
This was followed by a midweek possession with more track re-layed on the goods lines, while the up and down mains were still open.
The next weekend, week 12, was a “effectively a big follow-up weekend”, with adjustment panels installed, welding and stressing, proving of overhead line, and S&T installation. More switch heating was installed, outstanding overhead line switches were removed and follow-up tamps were carried out, before parts of the site began to be demobilised.
It was a similar story the following weekend, except with points in the sidings being commissioned, but also some catch-up work on the up goods line that slipped in week 8 due to logistics issues. “We recovered and completed all the planned works at the end of week 13,” Storey said.
As RTM was going to press, all that was left was fi nal tamps and the walk-out with Network Rail to hand over to it as the maintenance organisation, tidying up.
including site clearance and
Storey praised the excellent work of VolkerRail’s signalling team. “They were really collaborative and assisted us in ensuring we got things tested and they were more than helpful in ensuring the project was a success,” he said.
There was also close collaboration with the TOC, Abellio Greater Anglia, whose team at the station were included in all conversations about site access, especially customer service manager Tanya Jacques, and whose opinion was sought on issues like site screening and parking and logistics, ensuring the works caused as little disruption as possible to neighbours and passengers.
Storey concluded: “The programme had some slippage early on due to logistics issues, but we fully recovered because the project team have collaborated with [Network Rail] at Colchester, who have helped us with material and support and access. It’s been a large conglomerate of people working together that’s pulled this over the line and done such a good job.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.networkrail.co.uk/news/2014/may/ Improvements-to-the-railway-around- Colchester/
rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 14 | 105
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148