Rail Engineer - Issue 126 - April 2015 by Rail Media

Engineer

by rail engineers for rail engineers

APRIL 2015 - ISSUE 126

Monte Carlo

OR BUST

CARMUIRS CANAL CLEARANCE

STRATEGY TO BECOME SECTOR 12

DRIVING HIGH PERFORMANCE TRACK

Removing a tunnel and rerouting a canal

The Rail Supply Group sets out its stall to

Developing and testing higher-hardness

to provide clearance for electrification

become the latest strategic industrial sector

steel rails to increase life and reduce cost

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Rail Engineer • April 2015

Contents

Carmuirs Canal Clearance

Don’t Do What We’ve Always Done…

David Packer of PWI’s opinion on the definition of permanent way. News 8 Borders train, Cornish IEPs, Fuel Cells, Brussels Trams, Mail Rail and Waterloo. Monte Carlo or Bust

Scarborough Bridge was just worn out after 140 years.

Improved Efficiency in CP5

The rush to electrify the railway drives major investment in new plant.

Level Crossings Come of Age

Pedestrians and trains meet head-on at level crossings, so they need to be safe.

National Electrification Conference

Network Rail and its supply chain tackle the challenges of electrification. Finding the Real Causes

When it all goes wrong, the RAIB finds out why. The Transition to ERTMS in the UK

Not another ERTMS article? Oh yes…and an interesting one too!

Strategy to Become Sector 12

What is the Rail Supply Group, why does it exist and what does it do? Capability & Competency

Fifty Shades of Progress Rail UK

The railway needs skills, it needs the right skills, and it needs them now.

Excavator track shoes and bollards – what do they have in common with railways?

Helping Rail Organisations to Stand Out from the Crowd

Even the best railway companies need to get their message across. Driving High-Performance Track

Developing harder rails to give better performance under load.

Sustainable Ballast

Keeping Things Warm in Winter

Abandoned Railways are Havens for Wildlife

High-output ballast cleaners generate a lot of waste – then what? 68

Improving the efficiency of points heaters. Shear Brilliance

Cutting up tens of thousands of tonnes of scrap rail is not a simple job. Five Into One Does Go!

Combining five conferences with one exhibition at Olympia. Realising Rail Ambitions in the Gulf

A look at the enthusiasm for rail projects in the Middle East.

One Careful Owner Every good heritage railway wants, and needs, a turntable.

We’re looking to highlight the latest projects and innovations in

Electrification / Power

Plant & Equipment

in the June issue of the rail engineer. Got a fantastic innovation? Working on a great project? Call Nigel on 01530 816 445 NOW!

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Rail Engineer • April 2015

Editor Grahame Taylor grahame.taylor@therailengineer.com

It’s always conference season!...

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Nigel Wordsworth nigel@rail-media.com

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Engineering writers chris.parker@therailengineer.com clive.kessell@therailengineer.com collin.carr@therailengineer.com david.bickell@therailengineer.com david.shirres@therailengineer.com graeme.bickerdike@therailengineer.com jane.kenyon@therailengineer.com mungo.stacy@therailengineer.com paul.darlington@therailengineer.com peter.stanton@therailengineer.com simon.harvey@therailengineer.com steve.bissell@therailengineer.com stuart.marsh@therailengineer.com

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Conference anyone? Yup, we’ve plenty to chose from this month. From ERTMS to Electrification, there has been much wisdom expounded over the past few weeks. Clive Kessell revisits ERTMS and a conference that dealt with the transition from conventional to ‘unconventional’ signalling. Can it be done? Well, everything’s possible - it’s just a matter of time and ...cost. There is plenty of heavy thinking going on out there if that’s any comfort. MetroRail, LightRail, RailTel, RailPower and AirRail five conferences all at once, but which one to choose? Luckily Rail Engineer had two writers available and sent Nigel Wordsworth and Clive along to report back for us. As always, there were a number of fascinating insights rarely making the light of day except at such events. Take for example the thorny problem of what to do when GSM-R runs its course - as it surely will do. Marc Johnson went a bit further afield to his conference. Middle East Rail was held in Dubai, and he found a lot going on out there. The conference featured metros, and trams, and freight, and even a Rail Media stand! For years there has been talk of a shortage of skills. But Paul Darlington’s account of the recent conference on skills and capacity has a stark analysis of the situation. The shortfall of schemes being developed can be quantified, and expressed in monetary terms. The long and short of it all is that rework just can’t be afforded these days. Then there was the National Electrification Conference, attended by our Peter Stanton, dealing with the exciting mix of new schemes already authorised and the logistical challenges of concurrent delivery. A fascinating morsel hinted at the possibility of DC distribution of high voltage power, another area where technical innovation in the industry is emerging. Polly Rivers has been off to see Keltbray which has made a huge investment in electrification plant and equipment. Sourcing from several countries has its challenges, not the least of which is making sure that all the parts of the new wiring unit fit together when they arrive in the UK. Nigel Wordsworth has been talking to the co-chair of the Rail Supply Group (RSG) Terence Watson who, as country chairman of Alstom, has a clear view of the supplier end of the railway industry. He also sees that, whilst there are many moves to coordinate and collaborate in other parts of the industry, there has been nothing put together to help the supply chain. It’s probably been too difficult, but in the end, everything hangs around suppliers. York is, of course, photogenic. Images of the Minster are familiar, but maybe not as they are presented by

Graeme Bickerdike in his article on the renewal of the Scarborough branch bridge over the river Ouse. Trundling down Marygate with the Minster in the background is a substantial chunk of steelwork on its way to the works compound. Civil engineering bits of kit seem to grow when they occupy our ‘normal-sized’ world. Engineering the correct clearances for electrification can pose considerable challenges. Track lowerings, bridge reconstructions and general hacking about at the margins. David Shirres tells us of a remedy at the extreme end of the scale. When confronted with a couple of pokey tunnels under a canal, the solution involved digging up the canal and removing the tunnels completely. David has also been hearing about the first ten years of the RAIB - the Rail Accident and Investigation Branch. Acting in similar ways to its maritime and aviation counterparts, the work of the RAIB is diverse to say the least. At a recent presentation to the IMechE Railway Division in Glasgow, Carolyn Griffiths, RAIB’s chief inspector of rail accidents, outlined some details of a couple of potentially disastrous incidents - neither of which hit the mainstream media. Isn’t it odd? For years we have been treating spent ballast as contaminated waste. Carefully processing it and carting it around. No doubt it contains some nasty substances, but how nasty one wonders? Melanie Oxley’s summary of the flora and fauna associated with abandoned lines tells us that many locations are havens of wildlife. Some are even SSSIs. But these are the very places that have contained over a century of dodgy substances - the very substances that we no longer tolerate. Nature doesn’t seem to read the regulations. From a coffee machine conversation - although we’re not party to what was actually said(!) - to a new rail steel that is giving significant benefits to the UK rail system and potentially around the world, Daniel Pyke of Tata Steel gives us a roller coaster ride in product development. In our latest opinion piece, David Packer, CEO of the Permanent Way Institution, puts forward a logical argument for reinterpreting the definition of the permanent way engineer. There is some considerable merit to his thoughts but they may cause a sharp intake of breathe from some in the industry. In the end, it shows that engineering in a railway environment is more complicated than many would like to imagine. It won’t be long before Railtex is upon us. Make a note of the dates, 12 to 14 May in Birmingham and plan your trip now. We’ll be there and look forward to seeing you and maybe at the first Rail Exec Club outside London in Birmingham on 23 April, too.

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OPINION

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Don’t do what we’ve always done… or we’ll get what we've always got

DAVID PACKER

colleague of mine once said: “Track can’t be that difficult. After all, there are only four basic components: rails, fastenings, sleepers and ballast.” I’ve got a few issues with that. There’s a basic tension at the heart of track engineering. The components are generally large, heavy and unwieldy and they have an extreme duty cycle. If they are in the open air, they are subject to all the vagaries of the weather. If they are in a tunnel the environment is either too dry (London Underground) or too wet (some main line tunnels). In light rail, the track system is often part of the road surface with all the challenges that presents. In every case, track components have to carry severe repeated dynamic loading without failure in fatigue - track is, very definitely, not a fail-safe asset. The inbuilt tension is that the track has to be installed and maintained to millimetre-perfect accuracy. So don’t let anyone ever try to convince you that it’s not challenging. When you bear in mind that the skill of the engineer is to ensure that this is all done safely and at the lowest whole-life cost, it gets even more interesting. If plain line is difficult, switches and crossings are even more so. The dynamic loads are more severe and the geometry, both overall and of components, is much more complex. The interfaces with the signalling system bring a potential disparity in working tolerances. Then, to all these technical considerations, add the network traffic impact of taking units out of service, even for a short while for maintenance. It’s not difficult to see that installing and maintaining these sensitive bits of kit needs excellent engineering and first-class engineers at every level.

treat ‘track’ and ‘permanent way’ as interchangeable terms. Track is a shorter word. It ‘does what is says on the tin’, while permanent way is industry jargon. But they aren’t the same and we need permanent way engineers as well as track engineers. So what is the permanent way and what is a permanent way engineer? The nineteenth-century railway builders used a temporary way to build the railway. Once they had finished their work the permanent way was the finished job, the completed railway. It was, and still is, everything from boundary fence to boundary fence. Looking at the railway this way ensures that engineers take a holistic view of the fixed infrastructure. Who could dispute that an understanding of track support systems is vital? Consider the formation, embankments, cuttings, bridges (in all their various guises) and slab track. The variation in support stiffness, track restraint and the transition between different conditions really matters. All have an effect. What about water management? Not just drainage, but understanding the challenges presented by climate change and the need to keep the railway safe and operable in as wide a range of conditions as possible. Next we turn to interfaces with the public. No-one could dispute the challenge of maintaining safe boundaries and level crossings. Nor how to manage lineside vegetation; steering the right course between conservation, clearance and costeffectiveness. All of these areas - and more, no doubt - have always been the area of interest of the permanent way engineer. But what about the future and what opportunities will the Digital Railway bring?

Back to the future?

Is OLE permanent way?

Track engineering has many excellent people who understand the complex interplay of all these factors. Their input to system safety, reliability and efficiency is vital. But vital as their work is, it’s not enough. We need to bring back Permanent Way. Recently, there has been a trend to

The relationship between the overhead line and the track is a close one. Each has constraints on its geometry but they have never been considered to be part of the same engineering discipline. Standing back from the history, one is tempted to ask why that is. Certainly, each area needs its experts, but

shouldn’t both be part of the permanent way? When faced with a challenge, good engineers will find a solution that has the best overall result for the system, not just the best result for an individual, narrower area. With the nationwide expansion of 25kV electrification, surely the time is right to include overhead line in permanent way. Following on from Clive Kessell’s article last month, the development of train control brings further opportunities. As we move to the digital railway, large elements of train control will depend on data transfer and smart software - ‘Train Control and Communication’ as Clive termed it. But there’s a danger that something will get left behind in the journey to this future; the switch operating mechanism - left out in the cold and rain to do its job in the worst of conditions. The digital railway will need more, not fewer, switches, so we must ensure that they are completely reliable. In-service failures must be eliminated and degraded operating must be a rare thing. We must resolve the challenges presented by track and signalling which meet at switches. It’s one system with one duty cycle, not two functional specialisms that happen to meet at a critical piece of equipment. For radical improvement to happen, switch operating mechanisms need to be thought of as part of the permanent way. If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got and that’s nowhere near good enough. This edition of Rail Engineer has a focus on track and that’s right, as it is a complex and challenging area. However, we need tomorrow’s railway to be much better than today’s. Unifying our approach under permanent way engineering, or fixed infrastructure engineering if you prefer, must be part of the way forward. David Packer is CEO of the Permanent Way Institution The comments expressed are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor, management and staff of Rail Engineer.

NEWS

Rail Engineer • April 2015

IS IT a train? IS IT an advertising hoarding? Transport Scotland is so excited about the forthcoming opening of the Borders railway that it is advertising the fact with a giant mobile hoarding. A complete 70 metre long train has been wrapped in specially-designed livery to promote some of the top attractions of those areas served by the new railway. The artwork has been designed to catch the eye of “train-loving kids and rail enthusiasts” as 170414 travels between Scotland’s seven cities. It features illustrations of Edinburgh Zoo’s pandas, Midlothian’s famous and historic Rosslyn Chapel and the Scottish Borders’ breathtaking scenery. The Borders railway will become operational for passengers in September. Construction of the 30-mile line is progressing well to be complete by June, when Network Rail will hand it over to ScotRail for 12 weeks of driver training ahead of the grand opening. At the unveiling of the three-car Class 170 train,

Scottish Borders council leader David Parker, said: “This eye-catching train wrap will help us to encourage people from across Scotland to come to the Borders and see what we have

to offer. We are grasping this opportunity with both hands and extend a warm welcome to all of our visitors in 2015 to join us at this exciting time.”

NEW TRAINS BETWEEN London and Cornwall As part of a new franchise agreement for First Great Western that will run until at least 2019, the company plans to introduce 29 new trains to run between London Paddington and Plymouth and Penzance. These will replace the old High Speed Trains that currently operate the route from Summer 2018. Agreement has been reached with Hitachi as preferred supplier to manufacture seven nine-car and

22 five-car type AT300 bi-mode trains with an option for 30 more. The new trains will be similar to those already on order for the IEP programme, although this is a separate and privately-financed order which, it is hoped, will be finalised by June. While closely related to the Class 800 bimode (electric/diesel) trains already on order for the London-Bristol route, the new trains will feature higher diesel engine operating

power to cope with the gradients in Devon and Cornwall and be equipped with bigger fuel tanks to cater for the long distance journeys to Plymouth and Penzance. The mixed fleet will allow for flexible use, including 10-car formations (two five-cars coupled together) for through-services to/ from the capital. They will run as electric trains between London and Newbury and then as diesels for the rest of their journey.

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NEWS

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Fuel cells for Germany The UK has electric trains and diesel trains. There are even some ‘heritage’ steam locomotives that work on the network and the new IEP trains will be bi-mode – both diesel and electric. And of course there is Bombardier’s IPEMU battery train described in this magazine recently. But Germany is going even further. It has ordered some fuel-cell-powered trains, based on Alstom’s successful Coradia platform. Fuel cell drives convert chemical energy from a fuel (hydrogen) into electricity through a chemical reaction – a proven technology used in the automotive industry. In addition

to being completely emission-free, the only waste product is water. The trains will use less energy, thanks to the use of an intelligent energy management system, and the noise level will be drastically reduced compared to conventional diesel trains. While having tanks of flammable hydrogen on board trains might be a worry, decades of research have already gone into hydrogen technology. According to the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (DMV), high-pressure reservoirs with hydrogen or even natural gas are actually safer than petrol tanks in comparable hazard situations. In addition,

220 trams for Brussels Brussels transport authority STIB (Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles) recently took delivery of its 220th Bombardier Flexity tram, giving the city the world’s largest, single-type tram fleet. The first order for 46 Flexity Outlook trams was placed in October 2003. STIB then exercised its option for an additional 22 vehicles in September 2005. More orders followed for 87 (2008) and 65 (2010) giving the total of 220 trams. In total, STIB now operates 70 seven-module trams and 150 five-module vehicles. The unique Flexity Outlook tram combines Bombardier’s proven 100% low floor technology with conventional wheel-set bogies. For two months in 2010, Bombardier operated a demonstration service in Vancouver, Canada, to coincide with the Winter Olympics. This ‘Olympic

Line’ service ran on a 1.1 mile route normally operated by heritage trams. However, during the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, two Flexity Outlook trams borrowed from Brussels carried over 550,000 passengers running 18 hours a day between Cambie Bridge and Granville Island. Lutz Bertling, president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Transportation, said: “Over the last ten years, we have delivered to STIB 220 Flexity trams, the world’s biggest fleet of a single type of trams. We are very proud that our 100% low floor trams contribute to providing efficient, passenger-friendly and comfortable public transport in the capital of Europe.”

approval of the vehicles will include extremely strict checks covering all aspects of safety. The trains are developed and will be manufactured in Salzgitter, Alstom’s competence centre for regional trains (EMU & DMU) in Germany. The first two trains will be used on the network operated by Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) and will be incorporated into its train fleet in Lower Saxony starting in 2018. 50 trains are likely to be ordered, and letters of intent have already been signed with the German states of Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.

NEWS

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Railtex exhibitors top 430 The number of exhibitors taking part in Railtex 2015 has risen to more than 430, making this the biggest of these shows for many years in terms of floor space. With companies present serving every sector of the rail market, this will be an event that really does offer something for everyone in the industry. As well as having a great opportunity to learn about the latest on offer from suppliers, everyone attending Railtex will also be able to listen to keynote speeches, presentations and project updates and join discussion forums taking place throughout the show, including Rail Engineer’s own series of industry seminars. The three-day programme is almost finalised, with plenty of high-ranking names preparing to

share their insights into developments in the rail sector. To help plan your visit to the show, full details of all these activities plus everything else taking place during this busy and friendly event, including the second Railtex Awards dinner, can be found at www. railtex.co.uk. The website also features the latest list of exhibitors, to which new names are still being added. Railtex 2015 takes place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham from 12 to 14 May. For free entry to the show, register in advance via the website. Pre-registering avoids payment of a £20 entry fee on the door and gives much quicker access to the exhibition and the many activities taking place.

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NEWS

Rail Engineer • April 2015

3D scanning of the Mail Rail system It may come as a surprise, but London Underground doesn’t have the only underground railway network in the nation’s capital. Running directly under the feet of millions of unsuspecting Londoners and passing many of the city’s most recognisable landmarks, the Post Office Underground Railway - Mail Rail ran between 1927 and 2003 from Whitechapel in the east to Paddington in the west. Shut down over a decade ago, the world’s first driverless, electrified railway has been frozen in time – until now. As part of plans for the Postal Museum, a new national museum coming to central London in 2016, the British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) intends to open up Mail Rail. A loop of the old railway that runs under and around the Mount Pleasant sorting office has been leased for a period of 25 years. Some changes – new entrances and fire escapes – will have to be built in order to open the railway up to the public. However, to create a permanent record of Mail Rail as it is now, and was the day it was closed in 2003, the BPMA has been exploring the use of 3D data capture. ScanLab Projects, a 3D scanning

and visualisation company based in East London, has produced some impressive imagery that shows Mail Rail in a way that isn’t possible through traditional 2D photography and enhances understanding and appreciation of the space. The data collected not only forms a detailed record of Mail Rail before construction but could also be used in many ways to further improve the visitor experience. For example, the use of virtual reality technology could enable a full 3D walkthrough of hidden parts of the network or an app that enables layers to be peeled away to see the original industrial detail beneath. Mail Rail should be open to the public sometime in 2016.

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Major changes due at Waterloo

ince Eurostar moved from Waterloo to St Pancras, the International platforms have lain mostly unused. This despite the fact that Waterloo is London’s busiest terminal with 98 million passengers in 2013/14 and a train arriving or departing virtually every minute during peak times so it could badly do with the extra capacity.

However, that will soon be put right as an agreement has been reached between the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, Skanska, Colas Rail, AECOM and Mott MacDonald to scope out plans to boost capacity at London Waterloo and other inner London stations. These detailed plans will then be submitted to the Office of Rail Regulation and Department for Transport. The agreement aims to develop detailed plans, including the reopening of former Waterloo International Terminal, to be used regularly by commuter services, and lengthening Platforms 1-4 to allow 10-car services to run on suburban routes for the first time ever. The aim is to boost peak time capacity by 30 per cent by 2018. Skanska’s James Richardson, speaking on behalf of the consortium of contractors, commented: “An investment of this size is excellent news for rail passengers in the region and, of course, an exciting opportunity for our alliance team. Working through a unique collaboration model, we will be able to combine and integrate the skills and expertise of a strong supply chain to deliver this challenging programme.”

RailVac - Not just for plain line, but the complex and really difficult stuff as well Fixing maintenance issues on plain lines is relatively straightforward. Sorting out really complex stuff like S&Cs, working in tunnels, on bridges and structures, along platforms and in areas with buried installations: we do all that as well, just as efficiently, and always with the track itself kept in situ. The RailVac is by far the most efficient machine for excavation in any confined area and it’s ideal for heavy refurbishment, drainage repair, track lowering, trial holes and cable management projects. It works at a pace you’d never thought possible, while keeping the entire high value infrastructure intact and safe from the risk of any damage.

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Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ April 2015

Monte Car o or bust

Rail Engineer • April 2015

GRAEME BICKERDIKE

PHOTO: MULHOLLAND MEDIA

t was a very ordinary structure, comprising two spans across the Ouse to the north of York Station. Its replacement, installed over the February half term, is also pretty average. You might wonder then why I’m wasting your time telling you about it, or indeed why the project cost £6 million. Thing is, this wasn’t a typical bridge reconstruction. The key to its delivery - overcoming the site constraints - had been turned in advance of the nine-day blockade which saw the new steelwork craned into place. That’s why I can write this beforehand, leaving the project’s denouement to be conveyed in a few dramatic pictures. And given the size of the crane, I’m confident they will be very dramatic. Judge for yourself.

Rail Engineer • April 2015

PHOTO: FOUR BY THREE

(Above) Typical corrosion afflicting the bridge’s ironwork prior to its reconstruction. (Below) Some of the old deck timbers are lifted out.

Comings and goings Head towards the coast from York and the first structure you’ll encounter - just 40 metres off the end of Platform 4 - is Scarborough Bridge, unsurprisingly identified as YMS/1. When the route opened in 1845, trains crossed the river on timber arches, the sockets for which are still visible in the masonry pier and abutments. The latter incorporate archways allowing pedestrians free access along the banks. The spans were rebuilt in 1875 to comprise four 22 metre wrought iron main girders, ornamental lattice girders to both sides and a timber deck. The east side features a footbridge, tied to the main structure but effectively independent.

Corroded ironwork - for which the city’s vast pigeon population must bear some of the blame - and rotting timbers are only to be expected after 140 years, but there eventually comes a need for intervention. The bridge is not heavily trafficked (two First TransPennine Express services use it every hour) but its RA0 load rating meant bridge examiners had to be in attendance whenever a steam special crossed. And its movement was not kind - often fatally so - to the bats which roosted in its nooks and crannies. Studies concluded that the baseline effort involved in doing any major work on the structure made reconstruction the most cost-effective option, rather than just strengthening what was already there. The four new weathering steel decks, manufactured in Chepstow by Mabey Bridge, are U-shaped in section and each is supported by a pair of plate girders. Whilst not aesthetically pleasing, the decks will demand no substantive maintenance for 60 years. In any case, they are screened by newly-fabricated latticework on the west side - emulating the original - and the existing footbridge to the east. Story Contracting, the principal contractor, pinned down the buildability early by working closely with Network Rail’s in-house design team. The decks are swan-necked, sitting on shallow (200mm) cill units from Moore Concrete and thus avoiding the need to break out any stonework. The arrangement brings with it full RU loading. The pier and abutments remain in good condition although they have benefited from some stitching. Added on the west side is a cantilevered walkway to provide a safe crossing route for track staff. And that’s it, except…

Rail Engineer • April 2015

The final frontier York’s central area is compact - a function of its historical roots - with tight streets and space at a premium. Valuable railway land PHOTOS: MULHOLLAND MEDIA

has been sold off for housing development, a reality which prevents larger vehicles from reaching the triangle between the East Coast main line and the York-Scarborough. This area could then only act as a secondary compound for the works, with bulk materials driven onto site during possessions of the ECML. The main focus was on Marygate car park, a council-owned facility north of the river which was taken-over in phases. The railway fortunately forms its western boundary. Network Rail’s project team established a ‘command room’ here last November, cohabiting with Story. Although the car park is fairly generous, access can only be gained via a narrow street off the A19 and involves negotiating a sharp right-hand turn with buildings on each corner. Separating the south side of the car park from the river is a row of houses and wide pedestrian walkway. Alongside the end-terrace now a bed and breakfast - is a gap of about 10 metres to the toe of the bridge’s approach embankment. It was in this gap that a crane would have to operate, the longest lift being 75 metres over the river to place the cill unit onto the southern abutment.

(Above) One of the new decks is reversed into Marygate.

Under the microscope

A19

activities such as the erection of a scaffold, supplied by the Wood Group (formerly Pyeroy). This comprised a footbridge onto which the lengthened S&T cabling was slewed as well as providing access across the river when the footbridge was blocked off; working platforms were also wrapped around the pier and abutments. To combat the threat of flooding - one of the project’s two biggest risks - debris boards were installed around its base, designed to cope with a river level reaching the top of York’s flood defences.

CRANE MAT

E AT YG AR

COMMAIN POU ND

Forget the Romans; York is a railway city. The train operators and Network Rail have a substantial presence here and those members of their workforce who use the footbridge were no doubt inconvenienced by the need to close it. So the job was very visible, adding to the burden on the project team’s shoulders. Arguably, the temporary loss of the footbridge was felt more keenly than that of the train service. It is a busy thoroughfare, forming a key route to the station and nearby businesses. In mitigation, there had to be a big hit of publicity in the York Press, together with signage on the ground and letter drops. Also affected from time to time was the Ouse, with a full closure in place during the main works and partial closures for specific

HOUSES W

SECONDARY COMPOUND

SCARBOROUGH BRIDGE

YORK STATION

Rail Engineer • April 2015

For years, trains have being sharing Scarborough Bridge with a 16-inch main owned by Yorkshire Water. Typically, stats companies charge substantial sums for the removal of their services and rarely do so at a pace in sync with a project timeline. However an agreement was already in place here that allowed Network Rail to request the main’s prompt removal, at Yorkshire Water’s expense. To fulfil this obligation, the sections at either end were disconnected and removed, leaving the remainder to be lifted out with the lattice girder. In the railway’s early days, members of the public accessed the bridge by stairways within the abutments, emerging between the two tracks and then crossing whilst trains passed on either side. The inevitable happened on more than one occasion, eventually prompting the installation of the footbridge. But the stairways left voids within the abutments which have now been filled, not with foam concrete but a structural resin called Benefil, produced on-site from a liquid base. A bit like Heineken, it gets into places other materials cannot reach.

PHOTOS: MULHOLLAND MEDIA

High hopes Identified as the right machine to fulfil the big lifts was Ainscough’s Demag CC 2500-1, configured with an 84-metre boom and thus reaching 14 metres higher than the central tower of York’s nearby Minster. A crawler crane, it boasts a 500-tonne capacity and superlift attachment which, for some loads, can itself weigh up to 250 tonnes. It comes to site on the back of 17 wagons and takes three days to build with a 200-tonne crane. You can understand then why this process was begun a week ahead of the blockade to minimise the possibility of disruption due to high winds, the project’s other big risk. For the crane to reach its two operating positions, a ramp had to be provided from the corner of the car park, requiring the railway embankment to be cleared of vegetation over a distance of 75 metres. However, as all the trees were covered by preservation orders, consent had to be sought from the Council and a replanting

(Main picture) A spectacular overview of the worksite from the station side. (Left) Ainscough’s Demag CC 2500-1 with its superlift attachment.

PHOTO: MULHOLLAND MEDIA

Rail Engineer • April 2015

scheme developed in liaison with Bootham 2025, a group which oversees the local conservation area. A crane mat was installed at the top of the ramp comprising 200 piles, sunk 12-18 metres and arranged in two strips to accommodate separate pile caps for each of the crane’s tracks. To ensure optimum efficiency, the sequencing of lifts for the bridge removal and installation was planned methodically by the Story team to minimise the number of changes in the crane’s position and loading.

A merry dance The four bridge decks journeyed to site two days before the blockade got underway. To help this difficult operation, they were jacked up on their trailers, allowing them to sit further forward than would otherwise be the case. Even then, as a result of their 24-metre length, they had to be reversed down Marygate - the narrow street off the A19 - for 300 metres in order to take the right-hand turn as a left-hander, approaching it face first. Marygate was matted

(Above) One of the weathering steel decks is lowered into place.

Deck Slabs │ Platforms │ Cill Units │ Ballast Units │ Bespoke Units

028 2565 2566 │ info@moore-concrete.com │ www.moore-concrete.com Caherty House, 41 Woodside Road, Ballymena, BT42 4QH

Rail Engineer • April 2015

(Right) New S&C is installed at the south end of the bridge.

out for these manoeuvres, stripped of lighting columns and other furniture, and a dwarf wall dismantled in front of a pub. Careful consideration had to be given to choreography within the compound. As well as the new decks, the Demag CC 2500-1 and its service crane, there was a need to carry the old decks away to be cut in half and loaded onto wagons for removal from site, involving the use of a third crane. This was added as an insurance measure relatively late in the planning process to ensure nothing impacted on the main crane’s activities.

Nailed down The project’s preparedness for the blockade was the subject of regular reviews from a year out. Each element within the programme was analysed using Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the probabilities of different outcomes occurring. From this, a confidence level could be established for the job finishing on time. Scarborough Bridge passed the 95% threshold despite the uncontrollable concern of crane operations being brought to a standstill by wind speeds exceeding 25mph, common features of a British winter. At the start and end of the blockade - which ran from 23:40 on Friday 13 February to 05:25 on Monday 23rd - Rules of the Route periods were used to make signalling modifications, ensuring the occupation of track circuits by the project’s RRVs did not affect movements on the East Coast main line. The points were clipped and scotched.

Beyond that, I’ll leave the pictures to tell the story. There was nothing unique to report about the removal and installation sequence: it was a bridge replacement like many others. If all went to plan (and someone turned up with a camera), this story should look rather eye-catching. I will, though, report the high praise of Story by Network Rail’s scheme project manager, Darryl White: “The magnitude of this project has brought with it sizeable challenges and the Story team has lived up to its reputation of a superb standard of delivery.”

Coming together Two other things are worth flagging up. The York-Scarborough meets the line up from Hull at Seamer, 40 miles away; the blockade encompassed all of it. To maximise the opportunity afforded, the call went out to find other projects that could be achieved over the nine days, with around two dozen going ahead: canopy cleaning, culvert relining or reconstruction, point-end replacement, level crossing works, spot resleepering and wholesale vegetation clearance to reduce leaf-fall problems.

The cost of these jobs was significant around £3 million - but by pulling them into the blockade, this price tag came close to being covered by the £2-3 million worth of efficiency savings that would otherwise have been spent on access arrangements and piecemeal overnight/weekend working. The ambitious intention now is for no additional possessions to be needed on the route during the whole of CP5. And then we should take our hats off to team member Eamon McAuley who literally built the bridge single-handed…albeit in Lego. It was remarkably detailed - including the track layout and little orange men with chainsaws - and could be deconstructed and rebuilt to follow the lifting sequence. Sitting as a centrepiece in the conference room, it proved more useful than a PowerPoint when explaining the challenges to visitors and stakeholders. Yes, this really was a model project.

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ April 2015

1,200 tonne crane installing key walls on 22 February 2015.

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Carmuirs Canal Clearance DAVID SHIRRES

Britain’s canals formed the country’s first high-capacity transport network. In their day, the raw materials they carried laid the foundations for the industrial revolution. In some places, they also transformed passenger travel. Hundreds of thousands of passengers took the eight-hour Swiftboat journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow, hauled by galloping horses on Scotland’s lowland canals. The alternative was a slower, bone-jarring stagecoach over the rough roads of the time.

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Damming the canal on 1 November 2014.

Railway canal crossings Canal engineers faced significant challenges but at least had the advantage of a country almost free from man-made obstructions. Roads carried minimal traffic and could be crossed by simple swing bridges. For this reason, the Forth and Clyde (F&C) canal was able to carry tall-masted ships bound from Glasgow to European North Sea ports across the centre of Scotland. Opened in 1790, this canal was the world’s first sea-to-sea canal. Railway builders had the canals to contend with. In London, the need to cross the Union Canal resulted in a steep descent from Camden into Euston, a tunnel under the canal before Kings Cross and an elevated station at St. Pancras. The tall ships of Scotland’s F&C canal required railways to pass under it unless a railway swing bridge was provided. When

Replacing the tunnel the Scottish Central Railway to Perth was opened in 1850, its passage under the canal at Carmuirs required cuttings and two 40 metre long single-bore tunnels. The F&C canal was closed in 1963 and re-opened in 2001 as part of a Millennium project which also re-opened the Union canal to Edinburgh and connected the two canals by the Falkirk Wheel which is adjacent to Carmuirs. Unfortunately, in 2002, shortly after the Wheel and its canal basin were opened, there was a slope failure, depositing tonnes of rubble which almost blocked the mouth of the tunnel. This was due to saturated ground and resulted in the line being blocked for 16 days.

EGIP, the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Project, will electrify the Edinburgh to Glasgow route and associated lines, a total of 220 route miles. As with all electrification projects, this requires route clearance to replace or modify large numbers of historic structures well in advance of the electrification works. In December 2011, BAM Nuttall was awarded a £27 million contract for EGIP clearance works. Since then, it has undertaken route clearance work on 41 structures, including some heavily used road bridges such as the five-span Shore Road for which the company received a commendation at the 2014 Saltire Civil

Carmuirs canal tunnels.

Carmuirs canal tunnels being demolished on Christmas Day 2014.

Transforming the landscape and improving peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives by building better infrastructure since 1865. 2015 celebrates 150 years of BAM Nuttall connecting communities. Across the UK we are delivering challenging engineering projects such as re-opening Borders Railway, clearing the route for future electrification on the Edinburgh to Glasgow Line, modernising Cardiff Station and building the complex Acton Dive Under. Our values and culture are the driving force behind everything we do. Delivering more by delivering together. Creating a sustainable future by bringing engineering to life.

BAM Nuttall Ltd St James House, Knoll Road, Camberley, Surrey, GU15 3XW

Tel: 01276 63484 Fax: 01276 66060

www.bamnuttall.co.uk BAM Nuttall Limited is an operating company of the European construction group Royal BAM

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ April 2015 Work at Carmuirs and Falkirk Wheel on 18 January 2015.

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Engineering Awards. Carmuirs is the last EGIP clearance job and presents quite different challenges. Unlike double-track tunnels that have centre space which can normally provide room for overhead line equipment, the single bore tunnels at Carmuirs do not have sufficient electrification clearance. For this reason, the solution originally proposed in the 2007 GRIP 1 report was to lower the track by 150 to 200 mm and provide slab track. It was later decided to replace the tunnels with a canal aqueduct. This avoided drainage problems and also the need for slab track. Together with clearance work at eleven other structures, this will achieve W12 gauge on the line and allow freight trains to carry ‘big box’ containers to and from Grangemouth docks. The aqueduct consists of 36 portal units placed on five cill units on each of the original tunnel abutment walls with wingwalls built in-situ over new bases. These units form a deck over which 34 key wall units are laid to form the canal channel. There is some dead space over this deck as the canal crosses the railway at a 50° angle. To minimise the loading, foam concrete is used for infill behind the portal frame. Outside the wall units, class 6N granular fill provides the base for the towpath and landscaped slopes. On either side of the canal, ducts are provided for existing and future services. With the new structure and its increased electrification clearance,

it is no longer possible to provide a one-metre thickness of puddle clay as required by Scottish Canals. To maintain the required 2.1 metres draft over the portal units, the aqueduct’s canal channel has a waterproof membrane bonded to the concrete face on which there is 400 mm of puddle clay laid on top of a Bentomat sheet.

Getting ready to start BAM Nuttall’s senior site agent John Edelsten explained that a significant amount of work had to be done before work could start on the aqueduct. Two site compounds were required. One, of around 4,000 square metres, immediately adjacent to the canal crossing, includes the base for cranes of up to 1,200 tonnes. The other, 150 metres from the canal, is of around 20,000 square metres. John advised that there was initially some doubt that a compound of this size was required. However, it was proved to be necessary with the requirement for trial assembly of portal units on the cill beams and storage of general demolition material, removed masonry and puddle clay as well as site accommodation and parking. The first key milestone was the provision of a temporary footbridge. This was put in place by a 450 tonne crane in August last year as a replacement for the canal towpath during the works. This bridge also carries high voltage (HV) and low voltage (LV) electrical cables that have been temporarily diverted

from the towpath. Also diverted were BSkyB’s fibre-optic cables although, as a permanent diversion was possible, these were not routed over this bridge. An earth dam had initially been considered as a way of blocking the canal on either side of the tunnel - the same type of dam which had been used to block the canal for the repairs in 2002. However, with a much longer four-month canal blockage, it was felt that a more robust solution was required so dams formed of sheet piles were used. These are a cantilever design with eight metre deep piles that requires six metres of undisturbed canal bed on the dry side of the dam. When the canal is re-filled, the piles will be extracted by a vibro-remover with no requirement to repair the canal bed as the puddle clay layer is self-healing. The canal’s catchment is such that, at Carmuirs, there is a significant flow of water from its summit pond to the sea. Once the canal was blocked, this flow was something else for the temporary bridge to carry. Pipes and pumps were provided for a maximum flow of 400 litres per second - the actual flow at any time is regulated according to weather and Scottish Canal’s requirements.

Fish rescue Works of this scale required the normal environmental mitigation. As de-vegetation was carried out within the bird-nesting season, it was done in stages and subject to a watching

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ April 2015

brief by environmental specialists. The tunnel was surveyed for bats and, although none were found, cavities were filled in to prevent nesting immediately prior to the works. No badgers were found during the survey that had been undertaken. For a railway project, an unusual requirement was the need to rescue fish trapped in the canal once it had been dammed either side of the tunnel. This was undertaken by EcoFish consultants, using a combination

of electrofishing and netting under licence issued by Marine Scotland. This was done from a boat that was lowered into the blocked canal section by a heavy-duty fork lift. As a result, approximately 750 fish, mainly roach, perch and pike, were rescued from the drained 120 metre long section of the canal and released downstream. A further mitigation measure is the fish mesh system on the temporary pumps that maintain the canal water flow. Immediately north of the compound are thought to be the remains of a temporary construction camp for the nearby Roman Antonine Wall. There are no visible remains of this camp which required no archaeological mitigation measures as the project did not excavate any previously undisturbed ground.

Demolition After months of planning, the stage was set for the tunnel demolition. John advised that, amongst many other things, risk readiness reviews had identified the requirement for a trial assembly of the portal unit /cill beams and the provision of extra pumps to prevent protective mats floating away in the event of flooding. This possibility was raised as there are known to be existing drainage problems at this location. The staged demolition sequence had been assessed on the basis of a finite element analysis of the tunnel undertaken by MHB Consultants - designers of the temporary works associated with the tunnels replacement. Demolition contractor was S Evans and Son from Widnes. Prior to the demolition, the headwalls and towpath had been removed as well as the overburden to within 300mm of the tunnel barrels. This represented around 8,000 tonnes of material, about 35% of the total. Demolition took place during a 54 hour possession on 25 and 26 December. After the last train on Christmas Eve, a signal north of the tunnel was removed and protective mats laid over the track. During Christmas Day, the tunnel arches and wingwalls were demolished and all spoil removed to expose the tunnel barrels which were demolished overnight with the lower tunnel walls left in place. These formed the abutments on which a total of 10 cill beams were placed on 26 December. After all material had been removed from the track bed and the signal by the tunnel reconnected and tested, the possession was given up ready for the first train on the following day. The tunnel demolition was a carefully choreographed operation involving around six excavators. As well as demolishing the structure, these machines passed the 16,000 tonnes of excavated spoil to tippers for transport to temporary storage at the adjacent larger compound as landfill sites were not open over the Christmas holidays. This spoil included sandstone masonry from the tunnel portal which is to be re-used by the local landowner. One legacy from the 2002 cutting failure was that, as part of the tunnel repair, the cutting retaining wall north-east of the tunnel was of reinforced

Rail Engineer • April 2015

concrete . As a result, this required much more effort to remove than the other masonry retaining walls.

Construction The possession over 1 / 2 January required a 1,200 tonne road crane, one of the largest in Europe, supplied by Mammoet. It was used to install the lower wing wall bases and numbers 36 portal units, each weighing between 25 and 40 tonnes. As the smaller compound by the canal was not large enough to accommodate them all, most of the units were placed in the larger compound where a 200 tonne crane lifted them onto lorries for transport to the 1,200 tonne crane. The precast concrete units were supplied by Macrete of Northern Ireland which had also supplied units for many of the EGIP project’s reconstructed bridges. Delivery of the 46 large heavy units was arranged to a tight possession timeframe over the Christmas and New Year period - an achievement in itself. After the New Year possession, work was double-shifted due to poor weather and the amount of work required to ensure that the canal would be re-opened on 27 March. Before then, around 1,000 cubic metres of foam concrete backfill was put in place, wing walls were constructed insitu, the canal walls units installed and waterproofing undertaken. During the weekend of 21/22 February, Mammoet’s 1,200 tonne crane again returned to site to install the 33 key wall units to form the canal wall. The few lifts that would impact on the operational railway were undertaken during normal overnight possessions. John Edelsten felt that some of the biggest challenges were the interfaces with other concerns. There was a significant amount of utilities work and the project also liaised closely with Scottish Canals both to ensure

Macrete Macrete NCENCE 1-2 page 1-2 page Feb Feb 15-paths.indd 15-paths.indd 1 1

that the design met its standards and to facilitate inspections at hold points before the canal is re-filled. During maintenance of the Falkirk Wheel the canal water flow had to be carefully regulated as the outlet pipe for the Falkirk Wheel basin is adjacent to one of the sheet pile dams. John commented that the Carmuirs tunnel work had generated a lot of interest from the passing public who had great views, not the least from the temporary bridge. BAM Nuttall has provided good information boards to keep everyone advised of progress including overhead photographs taken by drones.

Railway and canal revival 165 years ago, the contractor for Carmuirs tunnel and other original bridges on the Scottish Central Railway was Thomas Brassey, in partnership with Robert Stephenson. Their structures were well built and could have remained in place for many years to come had it not been for the need to modernise the railway. As part of the EGIP programme, BAM Nuttall has provided modern replacement structures, of which the Carmuirs aqueduct provides W12 clearance for container trains and overhead electrification due to be energised here in 2018. Just 200 metres from the new aqueduct is the Falkirk Wheel, opened in 2002 to connect Scotland’s two lowland canals. It replaces eleven locks which were closed in the 1930s. The Wheel is one of Scotland’s most visited tourist attractions and plays an essential part in the revival of its once-derelict canals. The new Carmuirs aqueduct may not have the tourist pulling power of the Falkirk Wheel. Yet, for those with an interest in modern transport, it is good to see these adjacent modern structures as part of a railway and canal revival.

27/01/2015 27/01/2015 14:23 14:23

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ April 2015

Rail Engineer • April 2015

IMPROVED EFFICIENCY IN CP5 POLLY RIVERS

The buzz around electrification is rife, with no sector receiving more attention in CP5... Network Rail released plans at the beginning of CP5 committing funds to major electrification projects, including the Electric Spine, Great Western, North West and the power supply upgrade of the West Coast. But, with such big plans, not to mention the prospect of the conversion of London and the South to 25kV in CP6 already a rumour, the big question is - are the suppliers ready to cope with such technically demanding projects? Electrification has required significant planning, and not just in the purchase of appropriate plant. Training, recruitment and even longevity planning to ensure that CP6 doesn’t come around too quickly is vital to ensure that the power doesn’t cut out halfway through delivery. Keltbray Electrification Plant, part of the Keltbray Group, has worked to ensure that it is completely ready to take on the challenge. Director of Keltbray Rail Electrification, Martin Brown, has been preparing for the onset of CP5 since 2012, when the company was awarded a £46 million upgrade contract for the West Coast main line, carrying out works from Wembley in the South to Crewe in the North West.

Shaping the industry’s plant Over the past two years, Keltbray has invested more than £8 million in state-ofthe-art rail plant and equipment, increasing its

existing rail fleet to nearly 100 vehicles. The team aimed to build a fleet that suited Network Rail’s requirements for both CP5 and the projected requirements for CP6. Four specially-tailored RRVs, a high-output wiring unit, a Colmar piling unit and a specialist HGV-mounted crane have added to Keltbray’s existing fleet and helped ensure that it is fully switched on to electrification. “We predict that 70% of our rail work in CP5 will be within the electrification sector,” said Martin Brown. “We’ve definitely designed our fleet with the client’s requirements in mind. Effectiveness, together with flexibility, has been the key. For example, our crane can work 'adjacent line open', in line with the CP5 cost-saving model that Network Rail has implemented. It allows us to work at full capacity and still permit the TOCs to run trains.” Introducing so many machines that haven’t been seen in the UK market before is bound to be fraught with ups and downs. Keltbray’s core machines were built in Sweden by SRS Sjölanders and Martin Brown notes that, although the result has been a new fleet of vehicles entering into the UK market, the procurement wasn’t always smooth sailing. “There were naturally some cultural differences to overcome, but we’ve nurtured a really strong relationship with SRS,” he said. “Over the course of lots of contact between the team, and several trips to Sweden, we

have managed to build ground-breaking new innovations into the vehicles that come from a constant cycle of improvements and different view-points.” The Keltbray wiring unit, which is due to reach the UK in the coming months, has posed particular challenges. Half of the machine has been fabricated in Sweden and half in Germany but it is now at the stage where the two parts are due to meet as one for the very first time. “It’s nerve-wracking,” laughed Martin, “but all of the engineers involved are great, so we have no doubt that it’ll all fit together beautifully! This machine will be the very first of its kind in the UK, so we are keen to get it put together and working so we can see exactly how well it performs. It’s challenges like this that has made preparation for electrification so exciting!” As well as taking the opportunity to extend the technology available to the market, a new Control Period heralds an ideal opportunity for a round of upgrades and refurbishments. Keltbray has undertaken a substantial programme, helping to repurpose its existing rail fleet to suit the new electrification slant. “We’ve invested £1 million in a rolling upgrade programme, taking place over 18 months. We are refurbishing a substantial amount of our existing kit, ensuring that not only does it comply with all current legislations, but it also suits the changing needs of our customers,” said Martin. “Elmec is doing all of the upgrades,

Rail Engineer • April 2015

and everything bar the chassis, every nut, every bolt, is being replaced, so every machine is in line with RIS-1530-PLT Issue 5. The first of the upgraded machines has just come back into circulation and it’s looking great.”

Green power The new vehicles certainly have all the gadgets. But can such innovative new products provide a cost effective option to the customer? Martin Brown believes so, and feels that this dynamic new fleet provides the very best option to both the client and supplier. “All of the new electrification vehicles drive on the road, so there is no additional transport costs to the client,” said Martin. “Our operators are all HGV trained, so they will drive and operate the machine on the same shift. This approach helps us deliver obvious cost-efficiencies and environmental benefits by taking additional vehicles off the road, and hopefully gives a smoother service to the customer by cutting out a transport division.” Taking vehicles off the road is a key point

to the fleet, with many of the new machines’ selling features offering opportunities to provide this option. Additionally, the new vehicles are all capable of carrying 1.5 tonnes of material, meaning they are able to transport much more to site over fewer trips - further reducing the amount of vehicles on the road and easing the pressure for both customer and supplier. In addition to metaphorically lightening the transport load, the vehicles are designed to physically lighten loads for the operators too. All machine baskets are designed to hold three people - one operator and two operatives rather than the traditional two. This provides a safety benefit with regards to manual handling and reduces the risk of one person overstretching their lifting capacity. The manual handling lift capacity is set at 25kg, but many tools/materials weigh considerably more so having two operators on hand to share the load minimises the risk of any unsafe lifts.

Passing on the buzz With so much new kit coming in, Keltbray was faced with the situation many organisations are wrestling with at the moment - lots of work, great new machines and the desperate need for an injection of fresh talent to help complete the projects. With this in mind, the team launched a successful apprenticeship programme from its electrification base in Crewe. The organisation currently has 38 apprentices working within the scheme. “We’ve developed a very good relationship with the South Cheshire College, which works very closely with our Crewe depot. They allow us to take our machines in and go and talk about electrification and raise interest among the students. We’re very proud of it,” said Martin. The team at Keltbray is keen to ensure that apprentices are not just sat behind a desk, watching the action happen all around them. Not only do the apprentices move around internal

departments throughout the course of their 18-month stint, allowing them to get a thorough overview of what both Keltbray and a career in rail are all about, the training team also ensures that they gain real life experience. “The West Coast main line contract has provided us with a great training ground for our apprentices,” Martin explained. “We’re working with brilliant teams there, and the work usually isn’t too complex as the teams are all very competent, so the apprentices are really able to get involved on site. It gives them a well rounded view of how we operate as a company within a busy infrastructure, which isn’t something you get from ‘ordinary’ training.”

What’s next? With a brand new fleet, an apprentice scheme producing the new rising stars of the industry, and even a new OHL training centre due to open its doors at the Basildon depot in August, the power switch is definitely turned all the way up on Keltbray’s Electrification division. However, there’s more to come. “We’re aiming to become the Amazon of electrification,” laughed Martin. The organisation’s new venture is to break into materials fabrication, with a team based out of the Crewe depot. Customers will be able to order parts online, then the Keltbray team will pre-fabricate them and ship them out. Becoming a bespoke manufacturer of the component parts involved in major electrification projects would ease the pressure of sourcing non-standard parts and ensure that spares or repairs can always be sourced. “Due to our innate understanding of this market, and our quality of staff, we think this is a logical next step,” said Martin. “We really think we can provide a great service, and save our clients a lot of money.” Efficiency and service, could we be foreseeing the buzzwords of CP6 already?

Innovation in Engineering Keltbray is a leading specialist engineering, construction, decommissioning and environmental services business. Keltbray Aspire specialises in overhead line electriďŹ cation of rail infrastructure, and takes pride in providing innovation, quality, productivity and continuity using dedicated, experienced and directly employed people.

Keltbray Aspire Unit 4a, Crewe Hall Enterprise Park Weston Road, Crewe, Cheshire CW1 6UA T 01270 254 176 F 01270 253 267 E rail@keltbray.com www.keltbray.com

Rail Engineer • April 2015

Network Rail

National Electrification Conference

etwork Rail recently held a National Electrification Conference at its Westwood facility just outside Coventry. The event gave an interested group of engineers and others the opportunity to learn about current developments in railway electrification and participate in best practice sessions that covered a wide spectrum of electrification matters. The subjects were many and varied and the event started off with an important keynote message from Saleem Mohammad, programme director for the National Electrification Programme Team (NEPT). His opening remarks set the scene for the day: “Collaboration will be the key to our success.” The team prides itself on connecting efficiencies, enablers and knowledge sharing. Bearing in mind the relative shortage of those experienced in new electrification works, sixteen ‘converted’ engineers have been taken on board and the qualifications to practise electrification engineering have been enshrined in OLEC (Overhead Line Electrification Competencies). Organisationally, the NEPT sits over the Rail Electrification Delivery Group (REDG), a collaborative arrangement between Network Rail and industry partners. Progress has been made since the last conference - typically in the areas of materials, design quality, right first time and productivity. Now, work is underway to maximise the amount of equipment which can be preassembled offsite.

Going west from Paddington A major feature of the National Electrification Programme is the Great Western scheme and this is very much a subject of national interest. Robbie Burns, director, was very candid about the project and the lessons that are emerging as construction progresses. The audience was reminded of the development of the high-output construction methodologies and the implementation of those methods of working. As in all new developments, there is a learning curve and that curve is now being climbed. There is a big push to increase production rates, particularly the installation of piles which will act as foundations for OLE structures. The project is also piloting the new range of overhead line equipment designs on a high-profile live scheme. This is challenging engineering standards but without compromising safety. Understandably, there was plenty of discussion on safety and continuous improvement. There had been some safety-related incidents and these were the subject of close attention - all of this taking place in a world where the press and media

PETER STANTON

had a strong focus on disruption over Christmas. Programme management had, for instance, ensured that sufficient allowances had been made in the planning of potentially-disruptive works such as bridge reconstructions, which could have a high impact on neighbours.

The regulator’s view An integral part of the railway is the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) and the director of railway planning and performance, Alan Price, is a man of vast industry experience who is therefore able to take a broad view. He reflected on the development of the electrification programme and its re-emergence as the core traction strategy for the UK railway. Control period five can be seen as a huge opportunity emerging from the High Level Output Statement (HLOS) of 2012. The electrification programme must be seen as a whole industry business case (but not at any cost!), crossing all sectors including infrastructure and rolling stock. Despite relatively short-term fuel price trends, diesel is expensive so electrification is very beneficial to the industry. There are risks - a major delay to electrification would take the rolling stock issue out of phase with the power supply and, should new diesel traction be considered, then thirty years could be lost until renewal opportunities came round again. The ORR takes a close interest in safety so the subject was discussed once again. Safety problems pose a risk to productivity if the actions arising from them are not managed in the best way. Programme slippage has occurred on several current schemes which is not acceptable in the longer term. Supply chain management and innovation was another area tackled, and connected to better possession utilisation. It is vital to maximise production time so resourcing, both of material and labour. This is an area of management that requires close attention. Once a project approaches completion, the submission of the technical file (referenced in ROGS legislation) is key both to effective implementation and delivery into service. The ORR quite clearly feels that there is some room for improvement, both in quality and the timely delivery of the file, as

PHOTO: CHRIS CHEESMAN

Rail Engineer • April 2015

PHOTO: NETWORK RAIL

non-acceptance could halt the entire process.

The digital revolution A prime example of how the industry could make really significant changes to itself is in the area that Patrick Bossert, transformation director of Network Rail, called the ‘Digital Railway’ - the digital enablement of the system. Studies on the growth of rail travel have shown that physical infrastructure improvements would not, in themselves, meet the capacity challenge. Even constructing new lines will not necessarily result in enough capability and, in any case, funding would be in competition with many other areas of the economy. Patrick defined digital enablement, under which customers and operators will be joined by ‘digital journeys’ feeding into the ‘digital capacity’ of the railway system. As an example, Patrick referred to signalling where removal of the large fixed safety ‘blocks’ would result in a huge gain in capacity. This, of course, does not mean an uncontrolled system but the introduction of flexible, modern, digital methods of control allowing trains to run closer together in complete safety. ETCS will be the heart of that digital railway, with significant gains in capacity and also energy efficiency through more effective control. Opportunities exist in electrification in terms of sophisticated management of the system, providing greater power to the train itself and taking even more advantage of regenerative capability. Considering alternative forms of rolling stock, the tram-train offers considerable opportunities to move rail customers directly into town centres without a change of mode.

Wiring up the system The conference had been arranged to involve delegates in various subject areas but probably one of the most relevant was the session on OLE wiring. Ian Alsop and Mark Brown of Network Rail’s own internal unit, OCR, put forward a most positive view of wiring erection outside the new-technology high-output trains. New construction can involve the erection of four wires: catenary, contact, ATF (autotransformer-fed) and aerial earth wire. Competent, experienced people and appropriate, reliable plant were seen as the base essential to a production capability able to erect a 1,500 metre tension length of wire onto pre-installed structures in 2.5 hours. Careful analysis has shown that the best solution is for the OCR team to own its own plant and thus gain familiarity with its use and maintenance. Putting up the wire is, of course, only a part of the job and, to achieve

high installation rates, the structures and component parts need to be in the right place at the right time. Overall installation of the wire has changed beyond all recognition from the processes of the 1970s and is offering undreamt-of installation rates for the future, assuming resources are correctly managed. Other break-out groups covered such diverse subjects as entry into service, engineering assurance, whole life cost and best practice acknowledgement - all grist to the mill for improvement in electrification for the future.

New developments The contact system is the very visible part of an electrification scheme but, of course, driving the whole thing is the electrical distribution system. Mark Worward outlined the considerable development that had been undertaken in developing a new generation of distribution equipment, centred round a modular system. Network Rail experience indicated there was a need to move forward but with little supply chain interest it was left to the infrastructure operator to press forward. The end product that has emerged is a palletised system of switchgear and modules, all fitting into a flexible building/container system. Another area where technical innovation in the industry is emerging was outlined by Richard Ollerenshaw, senior electrification renewals and enhancements engineer. He treated the conference to a very interesting description of proposals for the DC distribution of high voltage power, obviating losses and also allowing the opportunity to avoid the Achilles heel of OLE systems - the neutral section. A pilot site has been nominated and will allow proper study and development of this novel proposal. As electrification moves forward at such a pace, it is only right that standards and specifications should be reviewed and challenged, and the professional head of electrical power Richard Stainton put those reviews into the context of electrical safety and emerging legislation. His talk echoed some of the points raised earlier by the ORR and focussed on the role of the safety assessor. Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs) will influence construction outputs and there was a robust review of clearances and safe working voltages. Overall Network Rail had put on an excellent day which allowed views to be expressed on the wide area of engineering and operations related to electrification. The day was best summed up by Roger Dickinson as one that had passed quickly due to the robust content and he rounded off with another safety message: ‘Safe by Design’.

Linbrooke Total Network Solutions

Rail Safety Summit 2015

KEYNOTE SPEAKER, DAY 1

LONDON 30/04/15 - 01/05/15

KEYNOTE SPEAKER, DAY 2

Mark Carne

Charles Horton

Chief Executive

Network Rail

Govia Thameslink Railway

Safety Summit THURSDAY 30th APRIL 2015

FRIDAY 1st MAY 2015

08.00 09:15 09:20 09:45

08.00

Registration, Coffee, Exhibition

09.00

Welcome from Colin Wheeler

09.20

Charles Horton from GTR presents: Keynote

RAIL SAFETY SUMMIT 2015

10:30

Registration, Coffee, Exhibition Welcome from Colin Wheeler Mark Carne from Network Rail presents: Keynote Steve Featherstone from Network Rail presents: Work Staging and Planning Giles Thomas from HS2 presents: Challenges facing HS2 with concept, design and delivery Q&A

10:40

Coffee Break

11:10