CIVILS, CONSTRUCTION & STATIONS
tell who worked for who”. Even without a formal alliance-type contract in place, such collaborative working still became the mindset of the site team.
Balancing beams
At the project’s peak, more than 400 people worked on it. And in November 2013, the first of the Shay Murtagh constructed concrete bridge beams and precast concrete culverts started to be shipped over from Ireland to Reading.
However, lifting the beams into place – each weighs about 40 tonnes and is 23m long – required some innovative engineering. This took the form of tandem lifts.
“Ordinarily you wouldn’t plan to do tandem beam lifts, but because of the geography we couldn’t get close enough with a regular crane,” said Smith. “We had to plan to allow a tandem lift, in which you pick up one end of the beam with each crane to place them. One crane would not have been enough to cope with the reach to land them.”
Network Rail told us that there are only a few companies, Balfour Beatty being one of them, with the expertise to carry out this type of work. In fact, Kevin Brown said tandem lifting is “an art in itself”. He also stated that this work was done without disrupting services.
“We made impact briefs, and talked to the train drivers on the line, because what you don’t want to do when you’re driving a 125mph train is come hurtling round a corner and see [because Reading is actually on a very big curve of the track] a beam in the air, which could look like it’s over the track because of the curvature,” he said.
But, during the production of the 2km viaduct, because of this “informative” work Network Rail has received no complaints from any of the train drivers.
Brown noted that, despite tight access to the site, the civil engineering has been fairly basic. “It’s concrete works and earth works,” he said. “What’s been difficult is the logistics.
“We’ve done nothing particularly complex in terms of novel engineering: that’s why we kept it simple, because we had a lot to do in a short time.”
Feeder line box
In May, Balfour Beatty completed the concrete pours for a Feeder Line box, which will provide a route for the freight lines from Southampton and the south to run beneath the east-west main line railway passing over the new viaduct.
The box required six 900mm-thick reinforced concrete decks, using 3,030m³ of concrete, and was completed by June. And now, as part of Balfour Beatty’s remaining work, it will return to the Feeder Line.
By October it is expected to deliver the Feeder Line underbridge, and the embankment that carries the railway from Reading heading south.
In early 2015, the Festival Line viaduct will be the last remaining elevated structure to be completed. “This involves the construction of a reinforced earth ramp and a viaduct bridge, which has six spans,” said Smith. “That carries the Festival Line, which goes through the previously constructed Festival Line box/ Reading West Curve box.”
Once the tracks are in use over the viaduct, Network Rail will be able to complete the widening of Cow Lane from one lane to two, removing a major bottleneck on the road network. At this point, motorists as well as rail passengers will feel the full benefit of the project.
Kevin Brown
opinion@railtechnologymagazine.com TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 14 | 35
“It’s a very small site. The site, essentially, isn’t much wider than the actual bridge itself, so it’s the logistics of being able to do that much work in what’s not much more than a year that’s the challenge really.
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