FEATURE: PETER O’DOWD
Dams Images:
(Left & Above Left) © Keith Bowden by permission
(Above Right) © Network Rail
The photos graphically demonstrate the success of the Murlac Water Dams when seen along side the devastation caused by previous uncontained flooding which left onlookers confused as to which was the railway or the river. Railway engineers and maintenance
crews worked tirelessly throughout the whole of the Christmas period, maintaining the dams and preparing for the anticipated structural repairs. On Christmas day, the flood waters receded and the Environment Agency and the Met Office were able to give assurances that flooding wasn’t going to occur again in the near future. As soon as it was possible, and with absolute disregard to the fact that they should be at home celebrating the festive period, Network Rail crews sprung into action carrying out repairs to damaged sections of track. Following inspection of the affected
Network Rail engineers had to think outside the box and looked for methods of temporary dams or other means of doing their upmost to minimise delay and disruption to passengers.
area, it was found that the innovatory decision by Network Rail engineers to install the Murlac Water Dams had indeed paid dividends. The dams had contained the flow of water back into the river Exe and although the flooding had as anticipated caused ballast wash-out, it was contained to
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a limited area and most importantly S&T equipment had been protected, eliminating the risk of a lengthy repair period.
On the 23rd December, Mr Steve Hawkins of Network Rail said that trains between Exeter and Tiverton had to be cancelled due to the flooding at Cowley Bridge Junction.
He explained, “Network Rail had the Murlac Water Dams in place to reduce the impact from the flooding and protect the signalling so that when it was determined, with the assistance of the Environment Agency and the Met Office, that the River Exe had reached its maximum height and that the flooding wasn’t going to accrue again in the near future, they would then remove the dams and start work on the structure of the track.” The level of structural repairs required could not be assessed at that moment because the track was still under water, but because the dams were in place this would mean that the problems would only last three to five days, rather than three weeks.
When visiting Cowley Bridge Junction on 27th December, Murlac Chairmen Peter O’Dowd and Josh Taylor commented that Murlac were delighted with the results achieved by utilising the water dam system and that they were enormously impressed by the level of commitment and dedication shown by Network Rail staff to getting the lines reopened as soon as possible.
Thanks to the indefatigable work of Network Rail team the main lines at Cowley Bridge Junction were reopened at 1315 on the 27th December.
Lessons Leaned
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “We have learned some lessons from the flooding in November and done some things differently. “There’s nothing that we could do to
prevent the River Exe bursting its banks and causing the track damage - but we have done some things proactively to minimise damage to the signalling.” The proactive stance taken by Network Rail to try the water dams, and the results achieved by their use, has now resulted in the purchase of site specific Water Dams from Murlac Ltd which have been specifically designed for the location and for installation across rail tracks. Network Rail together with Murlac Ltd are also surveying other flood risk locations throughout the rail network where site specific flood response units would be deployed in order to, where possible, eliminate or at least minimise damage to the rail network and delays to its users. We will keep you up-to-date on the progress of this collaboration in future editions of RailCONNECT. Murlac Ltd commented that they
were delighted to have been able to assist Network Rail in there efforts to minimise delays to rail users. They felt that their ability to quickly respond, with a specifically designed and manufactured product to match their clients’ needs, had only been made possible by their decision to invest heavily in their West Midlands Design and Manufacturing facility. It’s good to see an innovative UK manufactured product being used by proactive engineers in the rail industry that delivers real results to the passenger.
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