PERMANENT WAY
WCML upgrade: three key weekends completed at Watford
Network Rail’s John Nixon tells RTM about why August’s works were so important to the Watford Area Renewals Programme.
D
uring August 2014, Network Rail was under signifi cant pressure and time constraints to deliver upgrades and renewals around the Watford junction on the West Coast Main Line (WCML).
The original plan was a 16-day closure in August, with a nine-day closure in February 2015. But a review in early 2014 decided the work would take place over three weekends in August and two weekends in February.
Although this decision was taken to reduce disruption, it meant the project partners on the £81m scheme – which includes the complete renewal of signalling and signalling power supplies between Kings Langley and Bushey, as well as the renewal of 15km of track and S&C and OLE upgrades – would be pushed for time.
Network Rail Infrastructure Projects’ senior programme manager for the works John Nixon told RTM: “The three weekends we’ve had, which are weeks 20, 21, 22 [of CP5 2014-15], involved having to renew the whole of the points on the Up Fast, Down Slow and the Up Slow.”
In particular, the team had a number of piling gantry and straight post signal installations to carry out, plus the installation of gantry dropper cages, fast line gantry legs as well as gantry booms.
Nixon told us: “The main thing about the works over the last period has been with regards to the heavy engineering aspect of the
96 | rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 14 signalling system.”
The stages of gantry installation start, of course, with the foundations, including cast down concrete for some of the bigger gantries. Nixon said: “We had to erect the legs separately and then the booms across the large track sections. This was done in a separate stage as well.
“We also had some relatively standard straight- post signals as well. So the work has been a combination of completing bases and legs and booms and straight posts.”
In terms of the number of straight-posts delivered during the three weekends, the team erected about nine new signal posts. Additionally, anywhere the project team has done S&C works, new sleepers have been laid.
“The way the work was split on the fi rst two weekends was the actual renewal of the points, bearers and over ballast. But because of the way the South Junction is set up, you have to stress the whole junction in one go. So, eff ectively, the fi rst two weekends were renewing all the assets and the third weekend stressing and tamping of the South Junction and OLE work,” said Nixon.
As well as carrying out the South Junction works, the project team, which includes members of Network Rail, Siemens and Colas, started work on the North Junction, where approximately 650 yards of track has been plain lined and re-ballasted.
Nixon said: “What we did was done in the run-
up to the renewal of the whole North Junction. We have plain-lined the S&C on the Up Fast and renewed all the ballast and the formation there in preparation for our works over the coming weeks and months ahead to renew the North Junction.
“In terms of plain line, we’ve probably done about half a mile on the North Junction.”
The North Junction will now be out of use until Easter 2015. Eight S&C units have been renewed over the three August weekends at the South Junction, Nixon said. And following the August works, the team have, eff ectively, now completed all of the works at Watford South Junction.
Upcoming work
Although the project team has been able to carry out a large part of the renewals work around Watford, Nixon says the team isn’t going to get complacent as there is much more work to be done.
“We have four weeks of signifi cant work in the period weeks 25-28. We will continue plain- lining and will be removing the Central Ladder at Watford Junction. After we carried out analysis, it was not seen to be required going forward,” he said.
The Central Ladder, which has been a notable feature of the layout at Watford, is the series of points which connect the Up Slow with the Down Fast.
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