Rail Engineer - Issue 124 - February 2015 by Rail Media

Engineer

FEBRUARY 2015 - ISSUE 124

by rail engineers for rail engineers

Turn left for

Heathrow Stockley Viaduct: Crossrail's first section opens. PAGE 12

CHRISTMAS WORK

BRIDGES AND TUNNELS

FOCUS ON BIM

The success and failures that

News of bridge replacements and

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tunnel fires

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Contents

Over the Edge

Opinion 7 Grahame Taylor comments on the advisability of Christmas working

Using rope access to examine complex structures.

News 8 Carmuirs tunnel, select committee, Eversholt, apps and apprentices

18 Hawarden Swing Bridge

Turn Left for Heathrow Finishing off the new flyover at Stockley

The Cost of Failure Ongoing problems with Denmark’s new IC4 trains

Antwerp’s New Rail Link 28 The new Liefkenshoek rail link under Europe’s second largest port

34 Fire in the Tunnel!

Hawarden Swing Bridge It doesn’t swing, but it did need a major overhaul

River Teme Replacement Built in 1852, this bridge near Ludlow needed reconstruction

Paint Inspection on the Network How can you tell the thickness of paint? Or what’s underneath?

A Very Busy Christmas 50 11,000 people worked on 322 projects over the Christmas holidays

An infrastructure owner’s worst nightmare under the Channel.

Black Saturday Understanding what went wrong with two high-profile projects

44 Unlocking Innovation

Not Breaking News… 64 The work at Stafford and Watford that went to plan, so no-one knew Earls Court – the sequel 66 Track Partnership spent a second Christmas at the London station Application of BIM on Infrastructure Projects BIM and BIMwash explained – in a railway context

Modelling Maintenance Using BIM to monitor track condition remotely

Listen to the station! 78 Guiding the visually-impaired to their platform, and the coffee shop

See more at www.therailengineer.com

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

Track

Environment

in the April 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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the rail engineer • February 2015 Editor Grahame Taylor grahame.taylor@therailengineer.com

Production Editor Nigel Wordsworth nigel@rail-media.com

Production and design Adam O’Connor adam@rail-media.com

Matthew Stokes matt@rail-media.com

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

Advertising Asif Ahmed | asif@rail-media.com Chris Davies | chris@rail-media.com Devan Karsan | devan@rail-media.com Paul Curtis | pc@rail-media.com the rail engineer Rail Media House, Samson Road, Coalville Leicestershire, LE67 3FP.

Telephone: 01530 816 444 Fax: 01530 810 344 Email: hello@rail-media.com Website: www.therailengineer.com Editorial copy Email: news@rail-media.com Free controlled circulation Email: subscribe@rail-media.com The small print the rail engineer is published by RailStaff Publications Limited and printed by Pensord.

Part of

Christmas Crackers... and humble pie

Grahame Taylor

This month we’re featuring Bridges and Tunnels and kick off with our cover story with a new flyover. Not content with one flyover, the Heathrow airport link now has two - but one of them is all to do with Crossrail. Just recently opened, the Stockley viaduct has carried the very first train on the Crossrail route just a short piece. Nigel Wordsworth tells us that in keeping with its international connections, the bridge was constructed by the Portuguese company Martifer using Italian steel, fabricated in Romania and the concrete units came from suppliers in Ireland. Hot off the press - or rather smoky off the press - is Nigel’s account of the recent fire (or smoulder) in the Channel Tunnel. Despite the desperate disruption caused, it is at least a comfort to know that fire management is at the top of the safety agenda and that evacuation strategies actually work. A story about a swing bridge that doesn’t swing is in fact much more positive than it sounds. Hawarden Swing Bridge on the River Dee is an heroic listed structure that has been the victim of changing times. But despite this, major strengthening, repairs and painting were completed last year, and nobody’s that bothered that it doesn’t swing any more. In the list of things that make the knees shake, perhaps near the top of the list are the images, and the thought, of dangling on ropes from the highest of railway structures. Graeme Bickerdike has some stunning photographs to accompany his article on rope access and maintenance. Even being flat on the printed page the shots make the heart race. Christmas possessions. Bit of a mixed bag really. We’ve positive coverage of four sites this month. Earls Court, Watford Junction, Stafford and one just down the road from me near Ludlow. Steve Richardson of Balfour Beatty gives a detailed account of how to build a bridge from the abutments up in six months without soil data being available until after the bridge is designed. That’s challenging. Nigel goes into great detail over those other successful possessions nobody heard about but, drawing on the words of an exclusive interview with Network Rail board director Dr. Francis Paonessa and on his frank and open report, it’s obvious there were some difficult issues revealed. Clive Kessell and I have our own thoughts on the ones that hit the headlines. Parts of Belgium are flat. Really? Parts of Belgium around the docks are very flat - and bleak. The ‘best’ vantage point is on the top of a landfill mountain. But being flat and almost at sea level has meant that the new Liefkenshoek rail link is mostly in tunnel. Forming a vital direct link between the northern and southern areas of the port of Antwerp, this major scheme has been a successful PPP project.

Public announcements on railway stations have been lampooned by many a comic. Hearing the human voice has always been a challenge. But, as Paul Darlington tells us, there’s now the prospect of the partially-sighted or blind hearing a station - that is, hearing the station in its entirety. With a special head set and bone-conducting technology, information from around the station is transmitted to the wearer to build up an audio picture of the surroundings. Futuristic. As is BIM - Building Information Modelling. If you don’t know what it is or what it can do then it’s time to learn. A good start would be to read Mungo Stacy’s summary of the technique and technology when applied to complex railway infrastructure projects that contain a complete mixture of shapes. Looking for some funding for your new and bright idea? You may find yourself wearing a party hat and rattling through your proposal in just two minutes. Party hats? It’s true, and the colour of them shows whether you are an angel or someone after cash. David Shirres, dressed we presume in the required garish colours, reports on how an innovation speed-dating event brings together funders, advisors and mere mortals. Without wishing to dwell on sorry stories, Stuart Marsh has been investigating the tale of some Danish rolling stock that has got into a thorough muddle. (Good) couplers that couldn’t couple, brakes that couldn’t brake, axle box housings that were less than homely, power packs that packed less power than they should. It’s been an expensive exercise. And to cap it all, one unit was gifted to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who now has little use for it. And just in case you haven’t noticed, The Rail Engineer has been rebranded. It’s now just Rail Engineer. After over ten years of sterling service the ‘The’ has gone!

@StobartRailLtd

MARTIN OSBORNE – SENIOR PLANNER Martin has over 20 years’ experience in the construction and rail industry. He joined the company on a part-time basis in 2002, working Saturday night during possession works. His construction experience enabled Martin to seamlessly become a key member of the Stobart Rail project team which delivered bridge reconstructions and long timber renewals on a weekly basis – a full-time position soon followed. Martin’s skill base, professionalism and ability to visualise a project from conception to delivery, resulted in promotion being achieved to Ganger Joiner and subsequently Foreman Joiner. Throughout Martin’s time on site he has been an integral part of the delivery team who successfully delivered strategic projects including reinforced concrete structures, slab track (Rheda 2000 and Pandrol Vipa SP) on concrete haunches. During his time at Stobart Rail, Martin has gained various safety critical roles from COSS, Machine/ Crane Controller, ES and both single and tandem lift planner. Consistently looking for ways to professionally develop, in 2007 Martin identiﬁed that his delivery experience and site knowledge could be ideally suited to evaluate tenders received and subsequently programme and price the works accordingly.

This resulted in Martin moving into the office environment and joining the estimating team as Project Planner. To date his knowledge has been used to programme some large scale projects including Hampstead Heath tunnel, Chorley flying arches and the Walsall to Rugeley track lowering scheme. Whilst Martin enjoys being in the office he continues to work on site by regularly working weekends as a Site Manager on the current Network Rail LNW scrap rail clearance. This ensures he can continue to utilise current operational railway experience within planning and estimating commercial tenders. Martin added: “During my time at Stobart Rail I have seen a lot of changes. This includes the move from Appleby to Carlisle, and the rebranding of the company from WA Developments to Stobart Rail, encompassing significant growth and an overall company approach building upon a can do attitude to include a fair and just culture for all. My career, to date, has been very challenging yet rewarding at the same time, from delivering high profile jobs on the rail network to strategic planning in the office. My role provides a large amount of job satisfaction, which is gained from identifying more efficient ways of delivering projects, winning new work for the company and ultimately successful projects are delivered as programmed. We have a great team here at Stobart Rail and I feel very lucky to be involved in it.”

Bridges and tunnels Stobart Rail have self-delivered many key structural projects on the rail network. Utilising its own resources and plant has enabled the company to strategically deliver challenging operational and commercial projects including overbridge, underbridge and viaduct reconstructions – remits including waterprooﬁng, structural strengthening, long timber renewals and associated drainage. Specialist tunnel works have been key within our portfolio, a particular focus being on the installation of slab track within demanding time and environmental constraints. If you need a contractor with vision, project ownership and a proven track record please give us a call and we would be delighted to discuss your requirements with you.

Dave Richardson Plant Manager t. 01228 882 300 e. david.richardson@stobartrail.com Gary Newton Contracts and Estimating Manager t. 01228 882 300 e. gary.newton@stobartrail.com Andrew Sumner Business Development and Stakeholder Manager t. 01228 882 300 e. andrew.sumner@stobartrail.com

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Is Christmas a-changing? But the fact remains that, as far as the general public are concerned, the railways came unstuck spectacularly. This is both saddening and frustrating and has prompted my following thoughts, aided and abetted by Clive Kessell. Is there a problem with Christmas railway engineering work? There will be many who will say that Christmas possessions just have to happen and that the industry is well capable of managing what is a very ‘challenging’ time. But, from our perspective of watching the industry over the past half century, we can see that it’s not all that plain sailing.

Things aren’t like they used to be There are changes to society, to people’s aspirations, to their motivations, to their personal circumstances. But we can barely detect changes in the way that railway engineers and planners approach the prospect of seductively-long Christmas holiday shutdowns. Look back twenty years or more. Just as now, there were no trains on Christmas Day (in England). The system was completely shut. Even the control office was closed. Apart from a phone call from the local police about a drunken car driver knocking down a bridge parapet, everything was quiet. Then along came a change. Privatisation released oceans of cash and, as a result, the lure of complete blockades and long possessions of all lines was too tempting to resist. Pay negotiations had become ‘flexible’. With the prospect of huge pay packets - really huge by any

measure - there were many who were only too willing to turn out. With pay having been held back for years this was entirely understandable. The money really made a difference. Most would have been on basic rate tax, so much of the pay packet would have landed in the pocket. So the ‘A’ teams who, by and large, had been party to the planning of a job, turned up to see it through. Fast forward to today and ask what motivates those in the present industry - or rather, ask what motivates them to come out on a Christmas shift. From whispers on the grapevine the response is markedly different to what would have been said two decades ago. Bluntly, there is very little motivation. Many would far rather be with their families. The lure of fat pay cheques makes little difference. If they’re good at their job then they’ll be on high rate tax and the Christmas pay packet will be derisively small once the Chancellor has had his whack in tax and national insurance. So, what can be done to get people out over Christmas? Blackmail, intimidation and threats are generally effective, but they do very little to instil morale or loyalty. The long and short of it is that, unless you change Christmas (little prospect there), there’s not a lot that can be done to reverse this sociological change - apart from managing your way through it. So, here are a few pointers perhaps: »» Don’t overstretch resources so that good teams are diluted. Not everyone that is hungry for cash is talented. »» Design projects for the absolute minimum necessary to achieve

Grahame Taylor

PHOTO: CAROLINE PARKER/TWITTER

For the railway industry, this Christmas was a little torrid. Headlines about a couple of jobs drowned out all the good works and robust planning that enabled other projects to be completed successfully, but without any fanfare. (We’re covering several this month just to set the record a little straighter.)

just what is needed and no more in these extraordinary possessions. »» Keep the big and complicated toys in their box. »» Think the unthinkable, such as doing work over live railways during the year. Or can there be an alternative to wheels-free commissioning? Whilst the appeal of these blockades is recognised, a fourtrack railway should not need to be shut down in its entirety. Where time pressures are significant, work should be done two tracks at a time and planned as if it were a double track railway. Then, if things go wrong, it will still be possible to run a degraded service. And, longer term, gradually design escape hatches into the infrastructure.

Bad press The justification for working over the Christmas period has always been that there are fewer passengers travelling. This may be true for Christmas Day itself, but the January sales have been brought forward to Boxing Day. Those that do travel are mediatoxic and many people will want to use trains for these shopping expeditions. No wonder the lack of trains on Boxing Day causes widespread complaint. This is all the more a problem at a time when media outlets have very little to report on and whose resources are thin on the ground. An overrun at Christmas is

a complete gift to a newspaper or television channel. The story writes itself. In fact there are probably templates already prepared. Just fill in the stations at each end, find a few quotes from this year or last year or just make them up anyway, get the public to provide the images via their mobile phones and show a generic image of a destination board with everything cancelled. It’s that easy and the end result is a corrosive piece of publicity that negates everything that the industry has done in the previous year. With all this in mind it will not be at all surprising if timescales and resources become hopelessly bloated over the Christmas period in an effort to reduce every risk of an overrun. Efficiencies will be lost. In short, design to be in, out and back home for Christmas as quickly and as simply as you can. There may be howls of protest over what we’ve said. Hurt feelings from those who really do pull their weight over the holiday period, but we’re unrepentant. If the industry doesn’t get to grips with how society is changing, then the benefits of this once-a-year possession gift will be largely squandered. Network Rail’s report on the London overruns reads well and the content is honest in what it says. But, when under the cosh, few are going to admit to being less than keen about turning out for Christmas Day. That’s why we’ve said it!

the rail engineer • February 2015

Carmuirs Canal Tunnel demolished over Christmas

NEWS

This requires a temporary footbridge across the railway for the many who use the canal towpath and also for the pipes that carry the flow of water along the canal.

n unusual electrification clearance task for EGIP (Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme) is the construction of a canal aqueduct to replace the Carmuirs twin tunnels which took the Stirling to Glasgow line underneath the Forth and Clyde Canal and were adjacent to the Falkirk Wheel boat lift.

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After blocking on 20 October and draining the canal the tunnels were demolished over Christmas. As of 8 January work on the replacement aqueduct is now well advanced with the canal due to reopen on 27 March. PHOTO: PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV

Carne and Gisby under the spotlight Following the well-publicised problems at Holloway and Old Oak Common over Christmas, Messrs Carne and Gisby were up before the Commons Transport Select Committee in January. The questions were a strange assortment. The committee chairman was stern yet laid the facts out well. Some members asked about provisions made for passengers, the decision-making process, what lessons had been learned and why they hadn’t been learned from previous years. Others seemed almost bizarre. Mark Carne was asked where he spent Christmas (at home in Cornwall), what he did over Christmas (talked a lot with Robin Gisby and others on the phone), whether he was taking a

performance bonus this year (he had already announced he wasn’t), what would happen to the fine money (what fine?) and where would the funds to pay the fine come from (what fine??). That line of questioning took up quite some time and didn’t seem to contribute anything to the debate. In fact, it actually overshadowed some of the more sensible questions, leaving observers confused about the whole situation at the end and no wiser overall apart from knowing that Mark and Robin were both concerned and apologetic.

the rail engineer • February 2015

NEWS

PHOTO: NETWORK RAIL

Eversholt goes Chinese Eversholt Rail Goup, which owns 28% of the UK’s passenger train fleet, is being sold to the Hong Kong-based Chinese-owned Cheung Kong group. Completion of the transaction remains conditional only upon receiving clearance from the European Commission under the EU Merger Regulation. It is anticipated

that the transaction will close in March 2015. Mary Kenny, chief executive officer of Eversholt Rail, said: “Eversholt Rail has performed strongly, both

operationally and financially, under its current ownership providing, managing and maintaining key UK rail assets. We look forward to continuing our success with CKI, who have extensive experience in managing infrastructure assets and are highly supportive of our strategy

and approach.” The news coincides with an announcement that train manufacturer China CNR Corporation will be exhibiting at Railtex 2015, so does this all represent a new push by China to break into the UK rail market?

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Where’s Patrick? Crossrail has created its 400th apprenticeship. Fatima Alghali, 23, from Denmark Hill in southeast London, was previously a sales negotiator at an estate agent in London, Fatima now works for contractors BBMV as a commercial apprentice at Whitechapel and Liverpool Street stations. Over the lifetime of the project, Crossrail has committed to delivering at least 400 apprenticeships. Around two in five (44%) have been filled by people that were previously not in work - a figure that’s double the UK average. They have been trained in a range of professions from construction to accountancy, quantity surveying to business administration. Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport, visiting the Bond Street Crossrail site, commented: “Crossrail is the biggest construction project in Europe and shows UK engineering at its best. I am delighted it has created so many opportunities for

young people in civil engineering and construction.”

Fatima was equally enthusiastic: “I can’t recommend apprenticeships more highly. Working on Europe’s largest construction project has given me an unforgettable introduction. No two days are the same, and not

only am I learning from some of the best engineers in the industry I will end up with a qualification that will give me a great start to a career. It’s also a huge help that you earn a salary as I’ll be debt free when I qualify.”

Railway couch potatoes Polish company WellSERVED has developed a mobile application called mWARS, in conjunction with Polish Railways, that allows passengers to order meals from the restaurant car with their smartphones without having to leave their seat.

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The mWARS app, named after catering services provider WARS SA, contains photos of food and descriptions of meals. Users can browse the menu, place orders anytime they want and expect their freshly prepared meal to be delivered directly to their seat in around 15 minutes. The company claims that the mWARS application does away with passenger dependency on the snack trolley, or the need to consume meals in the restaurant car at specified times. From now on, Polish Railways’ passengers with the mWARS app will be able to use their smartphone to order a cup of tea, a sandwich or a hearty

meal from the comfort of their seat. It is interesting to imagine this facility on British trains, even though most have neither a restaurant car nor a buffet. “Waiter – bring me lunch!”

the rail engineer • February 2015

NEWS

Countdown continues for a busy Railtex With just three months until Railtex 2015 opens its doors, the amount of confirmed stand space booked at the exhibition continues to run ahead of the level achieved in 2013. In mid-January space taken by exhibitors was 10% up compared to the same period two years ago, with more firms signing up after the Christmas and New Year break. The number of confirmed exhibitors has now risen to well over 300, with Vossloh Cogifer and Vossloh Fastening Systems among the latest companies to finalise their stand plans. For everyone visiting the

show, there will be plenty to see. Alongside more regular participants, more than 80 exhibitors will be taking part in the event for the first time, bringing new ideas to the industry and all keen to discuss their capabilities.

A full list of organisations planning to take part in the show can be accessed on the Railtex website. As well as learning more about the latest thinking from the supply industry at Railtex, visitors and exhibitors will be welcome at the wide-ranging programme of seminars, project briefings and discussion forums that is set to be the most stimulating yet. Plans include a series of industry seminars hosted by Rail Engineer.

Details of all these activities are being added to the show website as they are finalised. The website will also be the gateway to online registration to visit Railtex free of charge – the availability of registration will be announced soon. Railtex 2015 takes place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham from 12 to 14 May. For more information, visit: www.railtex.co.uk

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Turn

left for

Heathrow C

rossrail - Europe’s biggest building site. 26 miles of new railway being built in tunnels under the centre of London that is due to go into service in 2018. But it isn’t. Crossrail is, in fact, a 73-mile long railway that will stretch from Reading (Berkshire) to Shenfield (Essex) and Abbey Wood (Kent). So nearly twice as much of it will be outside those new tunnels as in them. And parts are already in service. In fact, the first train ran on New Year's Eve. OK - maybe we have stretched a point there, but it’s true that the first piece of Crossrail infrastructure carried its first fare-paying service on 31 December 2014.

The original arrangement The location was the new Stockley viaduct just to the west of Hayes & Harlington station on the Great Western main line (GWML). At this point, the GWML consists of four tracks. Running almost exactly East-West they are,

from the south, the Down Main, Up Main, Down Relief and Up Relief. Heathrow Express trains come out of Paddington on the Down Main and simply turn left just after Hayes & Harlington to curve round onto the Down Airport line. On their return, trains emerge from Heathrow on the Up Airport, cross over the GWML Up and Down Mains which run through a concrete box installed in the 1990s, and then join the Up Main just before Hayes & Harlington station.

the rail engineer • February 2015

That’s all fairly simple. But there is also a Heathrow Connect service. This comes out of London on the Down Relief line so, to turn left for Heathrow, it has to cross the Main lines. To do this, up until the end of last year, the train would turn left onto the Up Airport line, travel the wrong way along that until it had traversed the concrete box over the Main lines, and then transfer over to the Down Airport using a crossover just before the portals to the tunnels under the airport. On it’s return, the Heathrow Connect service would cross the main lines on the Up Airport in the usual way, but instead of swinging right onto the Up Main it would swing left, across the Down Relief using a ladder crossing onto the Up Relief. So the stopping service that is Heathrow Connect ends up going the wrong way on two tracks of this complex junction with all the inherent risks of delay that this can cause.

Given that the Heathrow Connect service will eventually be absorbed into Crossrail, which will be running a high-frequency service both to Heathrow and to Reading on the Relief lines, this is one bottleneck too many.

Solution for the future Network Rail is responsible for engineering and improving the overground sections of Crossrail, so, working with designer Jacobs, it came up with a plan to rearrange this junction completely.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Installing the FRP walkway safety walls. A new two-span flyover would be built to the west of the concrete box, crossing all four GWML lines (and a freight line servicing the nearby Hanson terminal) and carrying the Up Airport track onto a high-level viaduct. This would run alongside and parallel to the existing lines until it cleared the (shortened) freight siding and would then drop down to filter into the Up Relief line. This work was completed over Christmas 2014. In the short term, Down services will also use this new link in the reverse direction until Christmas 2016 by which time a second connection up onto the flyover from the Down Relief will be completed. Carillion was awarded the contract to construct the new viaduct in December 2012, but the company was no stranger to this area. Indeed, it was Carillion which constructed the original flyover interchange and the cut and cover tunnel (the first section of the tunnel to the airport) in 1994/5. In addition, Carillion had an ‘advanced works’ contract, immediately prior to the current main award, to construct a section of the approach ramp on the south side of the mainline and demolish 17 existing structures, some as close as three metres from the existing lines. Before construction could commence, some challenging environmental aspects had to be addressed. There was historic contamination of the site from Victorian landfill sites - the area was mined for sand and gravel, which was taken to London via the Grand Union Canal, and it was then infilled with waste brought by returning barges. There was also an area of wildlife interest in the form of ponds inhabited by amphibians. And the Crossrail Bill, which authorised the construction of all aspects of the works, has strict requirements for noise, vibration and dust emissions - all of which required a complex process of monitoring and control to ensure compliance. As for the main construction works, the two main elements were the viaduct, with access ramps along the north side of the site, and the bridge itself.

The viaduct Running for 450 metres along the north edge of the site, and containing a single track, the viaduct is a massive structure. It is made up of 19 concrete spans resting on concrete piers, which in turn are resting on in-situ concrete bored piles. At the western end it curves south to access the new bridge, at

Accessing the side of the viaduct by rope. the eastern end it drops down a 280 metre-long in-situ concrete box and reinforced earth ramp and connects with the Up Relief line just short of the Station Road bridge. The piers were cast in-situ. Precast beams were brought in from Shay Murtagh while the robust kerbs, designed to retain a derailed train, house cable ducts and provide a safe walled walkway, were from Concast. Each arch was assembled by lifting in the beams and stabilising them on an RMD Megashor falsework. After casting the in-situ infill decks, the robust kerbs were lifted into place. 500 to 1,000 tonne cranes were used for these lifts and, due to the very restrictive site, each lift had to be undertaken from a specific (and different) location in the yards of the adjacent warehouses - a time-consuming process. Top ballast was added and then the track (rail from Tata Steel secured by Pandrol Fastclips to Tarmac concrete sleepers) installed on top. The lower sections of the ramp down to the Up Relief line consist of an in-situ ‘U’ section filled with a lightweight aggregate and a tapered approach

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the rail engineer • February 2015

ramp constructed using a reinforced-earth panel to bring the tracks to ground level. The sevenmetre-high in-situ walls were constructed using a rolling gantry. This section was very challenging to construct within the tight gap between the freight line and adjoining properties Part-way along the viaduct is half of a turnout, supplied by Vossloh. The concrete wall alongside is missing - instead there is a temporary steel structure. This will become the access to the second ramp which will connect with the Up Main and Down Relief tracks. It will be constructed throughout 2015 whilst maintaining an operational railway with the tracks (and the rest of the turnout) installed and the connection made during the Christmas 2016 closure A sprayed-on waterproof membrane, jointing and anti graffiti protection across all the structures were applied by VolkerLaser.

Bridging the gap The bridge itself is a weathering-steel structure. This is a high-strength, low-alloy material which rapidly forms an impermeable oxide layer, similar to rust. However, once the surface layer is fully formed, then no further degradation occurs. The structure is protected by the oxide layer and will never need painting, which significantly reduces the whole-life cost of the structure, although it does make it look a bit like a rusty bridge.

To ensure a consistent protective layer, the same weathering steel has to be used for everything. Bolts, nuts and welding rods all have to be manufactured from the same material. The bridge itself was constructed by Portuguese company Martifer using Italian steel. Manufacture was carried out in Romania and the 275 component parts shipped to site. Meantime, the embankment alongside the existing Heathrow rail access to the south of the main lines was widened and reinforced. This would both act as an assembly site for the new bridge and as the base of the rail link to it. Reinforced-concrete bridge abutments were constructed at the edge of this embankment and at the end of the new viaduct opposite, and a central pier was built between the Main and Relief lines. The bridge components were reassembled into two connected bridges, the 40-metre-long West Span and the other 70-metre East Span, by the company’s own largely-Romanian workforce. A disposable launching nose and tail were added

and the concrete deck of the West Span was poured to act as a counterweight during the bridge launch. When ready, the structure was launched over the GWML tracks using strand jacks mounted on a temporary tail unit. First target was the central pier which had been fitted with Teflon skid blocks to receive it. “We had to be careful,” Ewen Morrison, Network Rail’s civils project manager, explained. “Not only is the bridge curved, it is on a 305 metre radius, but we were also launching it downhill.” After a few anxious moments, the nose contacted the pier as planned, stabilising the structure. Then it was just a question of resetting the jacks and relaunching the bridge over the Relief lines. Once that had been achieved, and the joint between the two bridge sections was supported by the central pier, the bridge could be separated, the skid blocks removed, bearings installed and the nose and sections removed.

The incomplete turnout that will access the second ramp.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Then the tracklayers could move in. Ballast and track went down, along with some heavy-duty check rails in the centre of the track ‘just in case’. For the same reason, there were also concrete retaining walls and cable troughs, but the walkways, safety fences and handrails are all fibrereinforced plastic, purchased in the USA or China. Overhead wiring and signalling kit went in throughout the structures 10,000 metres of signalling cable and 50 OLE structures.

Finishing off over Christmas It was all ready just before Christmas. During the holiday closedown, when trains on the main lines weren’t running, the final connections could be made and preparatory work undertaken for the following phases of the work. The Hanson freight siding (Dawley goods loop) was shortened and a new connection made with the Up Relief line west of Dawley Road Bridge. This allowed the previous siding junction to be used for the new viaduct. A brand new crossover was installed between the Up and Down Relief lines, in the gap left by the shortening of the goods loop, to allow Down trains to access the viaduct. The old Up Airport connection with the Up Main was also moved, and the redundant track lifted to make way for a concrete box to be built across the Relief lines over Christmas 2015. Some preliminary piling also took place to lay its foundations. A new link between the two Relief lines was installed west of the entire junction under the old Stockley footbridge, and a temporary connection made between the Up Airport and the line over the new bridge. It’s all very complicated, but Toufic Machnouk, Network Rail’s project manager for the rail systems, managed to explain it all using several plans, a whiteboard and various coloured pens. So that was it - phase one complete. In a year’s time, the concrete box which will carry the connection between the viaduct and the Up Main line will be constructed, along with the ramp to carry the track down to ground

A train passes on the GWML. level, and some more trackwork undertaken. Then in 2016 the turnout on the viaduct will be completed and the final track layout alterations made. All of which will have been facilitated by the work done this last Christmas. After two years of hard work, the first Heathrow Connect train came over the bridge on 31 December. Now there will only be two more years of work before the new bridge, viaduct and junction are fully integrated with the network and what will soon become Crossrail.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

OVERTHEEDGE

the rail engineer • February 2015

lever technology is forever loosening humanity’s grip on mundane, repetitive, high-volume tasks. Immune to boredom, gadgets are ideally suited to this role, often providing insight that we simply can’t match with our five basic senses. But when it comes to understanding structural condition, there remain few better tools than the Mark I eyeball. There is, of course, a world of difference between looking and seeing so, to deliver real value, the eye has to be connected to a perceptive mind, stuffed with knowledge accrued through theoretical study and real-world experience.

Get a grip

Rope access can involve entry into confined spaces such as the cluttered interior of a bridge pier. Enter IRATA (Industrial Rope Access Trade Association), the formation of which was driven by a handful of leading oil and gas companies in the late Eighties. It is now recognised as the global authority on industrial rope access, developing a code of practice and training regime that underpins a framework of techniques in use at the front line. In 2013, its membership of 277 companies employed 12,039 qualified rope access technicians, the split being broadly 50/50 between onshore and offshore. Over the years, around 73,000 people have been through its training programme. PHOTO: SPAN ENGINEERING

School friends Jon Lawton and Dave Hesleden, directors today of Span Engineering, have been part of that evolution from its early days. They’d started climbing in their teens and were looking for part-time work to sit alongside their engineering studies at Sheffield Poly in the late-80s. The traditional option was bar work, but rope access firms - of which there were only a few - were crying out for good people. “If you were a climber and you had any kind of nous about you, you just had to knock on the door and they said ‘Right, when can you start?’,” recalls Jon. Initially, there was a huge amount of money sloshing around, reflecting the Eighties boomtime culture. A rope access team might do in a few days what previously had taken weeks with a scaffold, saving infrastructure owners a small fortune when it came to routine inspections and maintenance. And they were happy to share the financial benefit. Then rates fell through the floor as ‘blokes with ropes’ offered their services to earn a bit of cash for their next climbing adventure. Fortunately, these opportunists came and went, but their presence underlined the industry’s need for a formalised structure to drive up competence and prevent reputational damage.

PHOTO: SPAN ENGINEERING

Getting the eye to a useful viewpoint can bring with it all sorts of difficulties. Overcoming these might be relatively straightforward when it comes to track inspections - subject to protection being set up that safeguards the patrolman from trains but what if the eye needs to check out something with a significant vertical component? Scaffolding might remain the to-go solution for longer-term projects, lifting large workgroups to within touching distance of a structure; mobile platforms are becoming ever-more ingenious and far-reaching. There is, though, nothing to rival rope access from a cost, simplicity and time perspective when it comes to the basics: looking at something, hitting it with a hammer, removing vegetation or applying a lick of paint. Formalised industrial rope access has not been around as long as you might think. Its emergence in the UK goes back only to the exploitation of North Sea gas and oil fields in the 70s and 80s. To fulfil cleaning and maintenance needs on their platforms, companies turned to the potholing and rock climbing fraternity which was benefiting from a new generation of durable, lightweight equipment. What we know today as rope access is an evolution of those recreational pastimes, with additional safety measures bolted on.

IRATA’s intervention has turned the safety regulator’s perception of rope access through 180 degrees. The anxious furrowed brows of 30 years ago are gone; it now enjoys a preferred position in the risk hierarchy thanks to an unrivalled safety record. Worldwide, despite seven million man-hours being worked on ropes in 2013, the industry reported just 49 injuries, although there was a rare fatality in South Korea. The UK accident rate is about one-fifth that of comparable industries.

Know the ropes Beyond the obvious physical demands, rope access workers have to meet the challenge of a training and certification regime comprising three technical grades, the course for each lasting five days including a full day of assessment: »» Level 1 qualifies you to work at height under close supervision. »» Level 2 introduces deeper knowledge but a little more independence. »» Level 3 brings with it the responsibility to plan and supervise work activities, have an extensive knowledge of advanced rigging and rescue techniques as well as holding current first aid certification. Due to the obvious risks, every piece of equipment has to be secured to the technician or kept in sealed bags.

the rail engineer • February 2015

PHOTO: SPAN ENGINEERING

To step up a grade, technicians must have experience across a variety of situations over a period of at least one year, involving 1,000+ hours on the ropes. Competency is reassessed every three years. It’s a process that is necessarily gruelling and success is far from assured. “You’re putting someone in a potentially very dangerous position,” explains Dave. “And, if they’re not comfortable with that environment, they can put other people at risk. There is no room for error.” Although rope has been around since prehistoric times, it underwent a transformation in the 1950s thanks to improvements in materials and manufacturing. There are two basic types: »» Dynamic rope, compliant with mountaineering standard EN 892, can arrest a free fall whilst limiting shock load as a result of its ability to stretch. In other words, it is used to stop a climber from hitting the ground. »» Semi-static rope, meeting EN 1891 Type A, is used for practically all industrial applications including rail. It is low-stretch, typically 10-11mm in diameter and comprises a kernmantle construction with a core of synthetic fibres - providing about 70% of the strength - and a braided outer sheath.

Beyond this, the kit of rope access parts is too extensive to describe but the key elements are a full-body harness, carabiners (lockable), ascending devices, auto-lock descenders, lanyards (for attaching work tools to the harness), edge protectors (reducing/preventing wear on the rope when it runs over an edge) and anchors (to attach ropes/wires to appropriate points on the structure). All of this has to be inspected and maintained in accordance with the HSE’s Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment (LOLER) Regulations 1998.

PHOTOS: SPAN ENGINEERING

(Above) Examining one of the Tay Bridge’s piers. (Inset) Every anchor point has to be subjected to an axial pull-out test. (Top) Careful planning ensures minimum disruption to train services.

The fundamental principle of rope access is that the technician must be clipped to two independent systems at all times, one taking their weight for work positioning (primary) and the other for fall arrest (back-up). If they ever find themselves attached only to one system, something has gone badly wrong.

In suspense Rail’s association with rope access dates back to the early Nineties, although the workforce numbers involved since have been constrained by the industry’s relatively onerous certification requirements. Jon Lawton and Dave Hesleden’s first assignment came in 1991, up in the roof space of an extension to Liverpool Street Station, installing dozens of filigree panels which had been…let’s say overlooked by the contractor. Their bread-and-butter work now is bridge examination. Here, the classic image of rope access - HV-clad adventurers suspended against a vertical face - represents only a small part of what is demanded. Whilst pier-ends and spandrels can generally be reached by straightforward abseiling, getting hands-on with all the other parts of a structure (as required for

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the rail engineer • February 2015

PHOTOS: SPAN ENGINEERING

Detailed Examinations, usually every six years) often involves highly complex rigs, with ropes and steel wires wrapped right around a span. And there can be cluttered confined spaces to access - pier legs, bearing chambers and the like. Establishing suitable anchor points comes with its own challenges. Take, for example, the examination of a long arch soffit over water. This might initially entail working from an inflatable boat, reaching up the pier face to drill a hole for a temporary anchor bolt, clipping in and then repeating the process to ‘aid climb’ up to and across the arch. Once at the crown, stainless steel studs would then be fixed in resin, allowing a system of tensioned steel wires to be installed which technicians could clip into and slide along. All those anchor points have to be subjected to axial pull-out tests. The track offers a reliable anchorage and is often used as such, but clearly it is only available during possessions. Imaginative rigging, sequencing and methodology can lessen or eliminate any work impact on the passage of trains - a factor that significantly influences Jon and Dave’s approach to planning. Beyond the obvious benefit, this improves examination quality by facilitating daylight working as well as extending the hours available and reducing fatigue. Despite efforts to improve efficiency, possessions continue to time-squeeze activities perceived as less important, particularly in heavily trafficked areas. Another driver is the experience of the people taking part. The tendency now is for consultancies to train some of their staff engineers to IRATA Level 1 grade, enabling them to work on the ropes under supervision. The insight to be gleaned can greatly assist their subsequent assessment of the structure’s condition but can change both the

choice of equipment and the rescue plan which must be put in place to deal with anyone who becomes incapacitated. Jon and Dave are unusual in having both attained STE4 qualifications - as required under Network Rail standard NR/SP/CTM/107 to examine structures - and IRATA Level 3. This happy consequence of their climbing interest and engineering background puts them in a group probably numbering less than 100 across the railway industry. It means that a consultancy firm with a work bank of structures to examine might choose to fulfil 99% in-house, but ask a specialist company to handle the remainder because of the exceptional difficulties posed. Jon and Dave’s experience tends to attract more demanding jobs on larger, unique structures.

Not for everyone Human fallibility manifests itself in every industry from time to time; there is no way to disable it. Railway history is littered with tragedies caused by folk cocking up. But in this context your mind is brought into sharp focus by a photo of Jon and Dave inspecting the 52 metre high mast to which the aircraft warning lights are fixed above Hong Kong’s 72-storey Bank of China Tower. There can be no fallibility - absolutely none at all - when you’re 1,205 feet in the air, roped onto some steelwork the diameter of a post box with helicopters flying below you. You might expect then that the health and safety regime would have become stiflingly prescriptive. Oddly, though, it hasn’t. Talk through the challenges that confront a rope access technician - especially those in supervisory roles - and it soon becomes clear

(Above) Repainting the 52m mast above the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong. (Top) Work on Oykel Viaduct, Sutherland. how reliant the process is on things that can’t be quantified: experience and judgement calls, team dynamics, the willingness to check each other’s work. That’s not to say there aren’t procedures and paperwork, but accepted practice empowers those with proven skills to make decisions and adapt plans to meet emerging conditions. It’s what makes rope access work. If you think that runs counter to conventional wisdom, how do you explain those enviable accident statistics? As yet, there isn’t a gadget that sees what humans can, hanging from ropes. In some respect that’s unfortunate, not least because circuit boards are dispensable and have no sense of fear. That’s a real issue. A few people go on rope access courses and find they can’t hack it; others pass the training but get too immersed in the equipment mechanics to do meaningful work. Even Jon and Dave admit to occasional twitches when they peer over parapets from a ludicrous height. But that’s how it should be: if you’re intent on defying gravity, you’ve got to have a respect for it.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

STUART MARSH

s you may have noticed, The Rail Engineer likes to feature upbeat articles that focus on rail engineering successes and the deployment of clever new technology. Fortunately such stories are not hard to find. Triumphant conclusions to highly complex projects are the norm rather than the exception. Everyone expects excellence, and indeed why shouldn’t they? Sometimes, though, things can go badly awry and this article takes a look at the heavily delayed and problematic introduction of new high-speed diesel multiple units (DMUs) in Denmark - the infamous IC4 trains. An independent report published in December 2014 attempts to set out a way forward for this beleaguered project. No one sets out to create an exhibit for the rail engineering cock-up hall of fame. It’s tragic, therefore, that a brave engineering endeavour like IC4 should find itself a contender for that dubious honour. Serious delays and a host of technical shortcomings have caused the IC4 project to become a contentious issue within Danish politics. For those of us who are not involved, the technical issues behind a failed project can be interesting and we can gain insight. As ever, though, when things don’t work out, there is a price to pay. Failure always comes at a cost!

IC4 As part of its ‘Good trains for everyone’ plan (‘Gode tog til alle’), the Danish national railway operator Danske Statsbaner (DSB) ordered 82 IC4 4-coach trains (and 23 IC2 2-coach trains) from Italian train builder AnsaldoBreda in 2000, to be delivered from 2003 onwards. Each IC4 train comprises four articulated coaches of lightweight aluminium alloy construction. The trains were designed for a top speed of 200km/h (120mph). Braking is achieved by means of a blended mix of hydrodynamic braking and pneumatic braking. There is also a magnetic track brake.

Delayed The IC4 fleet was intended to replace the existing IC3 trains used on the country’s transGreat Belt routes. Unfortunately, completion was delayed by ten years, with the last of the IC4 trains only arriving in Denmark in October 2013. Because

their intended routes are set to be electrified, this has reduced the life cycle of the fleet from 25 years to 15. Numerous technical problems have further delayed the introduction of the trains and only 67 sets are currently approved for passenger use, of which just 12 are in regular passenger service. Indeed, five of the new trains have been cannibalised for spare parts. By October 2014, the entire fleet had covered just 10.8 million km, 30% of which had been completed during 2014. DSB’s choice of a heavily-customised train has been criticised as being a major reason for the delays. The Nordic minimalist design philosophy of DSB’s own designers was paired with Italian chic from the design studios of Pininfarina. Only four trains were running by the end of 2007 (in regional service) but even they were suspended from service in February 2008 because of exhaust fume problems and many minor faults.

Ultimatum In June 2008, DSB gave AnsaldoBreda an ultimatum whereby at least 14 trains had to be approved and ready for regular service before

The

the rail engineer • February 2015

costof failure

PHOTO: PROSE

May 2009 as otherwise the contract would be cancelled. This ultimatum was met, following which DSB announced it had reached an agreement with AnsaldoBreda on the delivery of the remaining trains. The final delivery date was to be extended to 2012, AnsaldoBreda would drop all further development, and all subsequent train sets would be identical to the then-current test train. Any future upgrades would be performed by DSB and AnsaldoBreda was to pay DSB compensation of 2 billion kroner. Together with previously paid compensation fees, this meant that half the original value of the contract was refunded. Also, for what seems to be a bizarre reason, the Danish IC4 fleet remains one train short. The missing set does exist, however. It can even be seen on Google Earth at its current resting place in Tripoli, Libya (at 32.828791°N 13.111563°E). AnsaldoBreda and the then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gifted the train in 2009 to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to mark the fortieth anniversary of his rise to power! An ambitious scheme to construct standard gauge lines in Libya had been started in 2008, but the project stalled because of the 2011 civil war leaving the IC4 train with nowhere to go.

Crack in the manifold between the turbocharger and the rear cylinder.

PROSE report Now an independent report produced by Swiss rolling stock engineering company PROSE Ltd, in association with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Enotrac, has assessed whether it is worthwhile for DSB to continue spending resources on IC4, given the expected 15-year operating life of the trains. It concludes that DSB can hit its target of having 74 of the IC4 trains in service by 2019, with a reliability figure of 20,000km between failures. The main functions that need to be improved are as follows: »» The IC4 sets can’t work in tandem to provide the required train capacity, because the coupling system doesn’t work properly. »» The brake blending and wheels slide protection systems are deficient, meaning that a speed restriction has been imposed on the entire fleet.

»» Cracking has been found in axle box housings. »» The power packs have several integration problems and component defects which have reduced the availability of the train sets.

Coupler The Prose report highlights several problems associated with the Dellner inter-unit coupler system. There is no suggestion within the report that Dellner Couplers itself has been at fault; rather it was the way in which the train manufacturer incorporated the Dellner coupler system into the overall design concept, and especially the train computer and monitoring system. Deployment of the IC4 trains on their intended long distance routes, e.g. Copenhagen-Aalborg, has been hampered because these services require 8-car units at peak times. The 4-coach IC4 trains have therefore tended to be used on regional services, for which they are unsuited.

the rail engineer • February 2015

When not in use, the coupler is hydraulically retracted and protected by sliding covers. The system is supervised by sensors and is controlled by the train computer. It has been decided that the sliding covers will be replaced by a fixed gaiter solution to reduce the complexity of the system. Three prototype gaiters from different suppliers have been trialled. The version selected is actually from Dellner itself and uses the same high-end silicone as the company’s gangways. Dellner has successfully supplied similar gaiters in Norway and Sweden. According to the Prose report, the electrical connections will not separate in about 20-30% of uncoupling operations. An investigation by Dellner, working in conjunction with DSB, found that there was no problem with the movement of the electrical coupler itself. However, it was the solid attachment of the cables to the car body that was restricting the couplers’ movement. This has been overcome by using a sliding clamp which allows the cables to move in and out when the electrical couplers are moving. Incorrect assembly of the guiding arms that open and close the cover for the electrical couplers contributed to the problem. Replacement of these moving covers and adoption of the new Dellner gaiter will provide better protection in the future.

Brakes There are two issues concerned with the IC4 braking system. Poor braking performance on slippery rail has meant that a reduced maximum speed limit has had to be imposed, which limits the ways in which the trains can be deployed. There is also a reliability issue associated with some of the braking system components. As built, each axle has independent Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) control, except axles 5 and 6 (on a trailer bogie) which are both controlled by one Brake Control Unit (BCU). During November 2011, two IC4 sets failed to stop at signals. As

a result, the maximum brake percentage was reduced from 170% to 130% and the maximum operating speed was lowered. In addition, axle 5 was no longer braked so that it could always provide an accurate position reference for the ATC system. These measures have led to the currently imposed 169 km/h speed restriction. During the autumn period the maximum speed is reduced further to 140km/h. The restrictions have an important impact on the operation of the IC4 fleet and the fulfilment of its deployment plan. In January 2014, a task force was set up to eliminate the braking problems. It has identified incorrect piping of the parking brake anticompound device, which could lead to locked wheels during braking. The parking brake was being automatically applied when the air pressure within the brake pipe and brake cylinder fell below thresholds of 2.7 bar and 2.0 bar respectively (as might occur during emergency braking). The anti-compound device then received the cylinder pressure from the WSP valve outlet instead of from the integrated relay valve outlet. During braking on slippery rail, the parking brake could therefore be applied, resulting in locked wheels. The task force also found problems with the brake blending. IC4 has conventional pneumatic brakes and hydrodynamic brakes (HDB). Powered axles have both types, but the trailing axles only have pneumatic brakes. The HDB is prioritised in order to reduce heating and wear of the brake pads, but it is blended with the pneumatic braking on the powered axles. There is also a cross-blending function for the pneumatic braking on the trailer axles. When wheel sliding is detected, the HDB is switched off and the pneumatic brake force is increased to compensate. The task force found that, during wheel slide conditions, the additional pneumatic braking was not always applied. When it was applied, it occurred mainly on the trailing axles. The brake

system will now be simplified by removing the cross blending function and an equal brake force will be applied to all axles. There will, however, be a reduced brake force on trailer axles 5 and 6 in order to ensure a reliable speed reference for the ATC.

Axle box housings IC4 has also suffered from failures within the castings that carry the axle boxes. Cracking and fracturing has occurred where the primary damper supports meet the lower part of the housings. The primary dampers have also suffered from sweating and leakage. From February 2010 to October 2014, three broken damper supports and six cracked damper supports were discovered. The Root Cause Analysis (RCA) revealed the following issues: »» Poor wheel maintenance due to incorrect instructions and the measurement of wheels at 180,000km intervals; »» Over-braking of trailer axles due to incorrect cross-blending of the braking system; »» Incorrect brake piping, resulting in locked wheels and wheel flats; »» High compression speeds within the dampers due to wheel faults and the striking of objects on the rails. Cracking and fracturing has occurred both above and below the point where the damper support bracket meets the wheel bearing housing. Mitigations put in place by DSB have included increased wheel inspection frequency (visual inspection at 30,000km intervals) and it has been decided that ‘comfort turnings’ of the wheels will be undertaken at 80,000km on front bogies and 120,000km on the intermediate bogies. As a high priority, new dampers will be fitted, which provide one third of the reaction force at high compression. Changes at the damper support of the axle box itself are not considered appropriate since the above measures (including improvements to the braking system) should eliminate the over-stressing of the damper supports. It is thought that some initial cracking might be caused by obstacles on the track, so the guard irons will be lowered by 75mm to prevent the leading wheels striking larger objects.

Power packs

PHOTO: HUGH LLEWELLYN

IC4 unit MG5615 departing from Copenhagen Central Station.

An IC4 train set is equipped with four powerpacks mounted underneath the coach body, two per end coach. Each power pack has an IVECO 560 kW low-emission 12-litre V8 common rail diesel engine, turbocharger, alternator, air compressor and cooling system. The alternator, air compressor and cooling pump are driven hydraulically. Each power pack powers one axle through a mechanical transmission. Reliability of the power packs has been poor and the PROSE report covers 25 different

the rail engineer • February 2015

is specific to the affected engines, or whether there is a design problem affecting the entire IC4 fleet. A design change would be costly and could become a major issue for the outcome of the IC4 program and the fulfilment of the deployment plan. PROSE recommends the implementation of a task force to assess the risk of a design failure and to define specific corrective actions. The alternators (three per IC4 train set) provide three-phase 400V AC power, but problems have arisen with overheating. Instead of an airflow through each alternator of 22.4 m³/min, as specified by the alternator manufacturer, only 7 m³/min was measured. To improve this, the air outlet has been enlarged by replacing the original cover with a grid.

The bottom line DSB-designed turbocharger support bracket. faults. It discusses four critical problems in detail, starting with broken turbocharger fixing bolts and cracked exhaust manifolds. The root cause was quickly identified as being the weight of the turbochargers, which are mounted eccentrically and fixed only onto the manifolds. DSB has now designed a turbocharger support bracket that is expected to solve the problem. Broken fuel pipes are another problem, with leaks occurring in a 12mm fine-grain E235 steel piping that links the primary and secondary fuel pumps. The report says that IVECO is responsible for this component, but it has not responded to requests for assistance from DSB. The cause and solution have yet been determined and because leakage of fuel is considered a high risk, weekly inspections are undertaken. Two alternative fuel pipes are currently undergoing trials. Crankshaft thrust bearing damage (scoring) is identified as another problem with the engines. One instance of a broken crankshaft has been attributed to this problem. It is not yet clear though whether the cause

It is estimated that the remedial action required on the power packs, axle box housings and brake systems will cost DSB in the region of 1.5 million kr (€202,000) per train set. The final availability goal to have 74 IC4 train sets in operation in 2019 is nevertheless regarded as realistic. In order to reach this level of operation, the report recommends that DSB should employ more engineers and workshop staff. This includes a taskforce to deal with the power pack issues, at least two more train computer and monitoring systems engineers and at least 40 additional workshop employees. The total cost of the programme will be more than 111.2 million kr (€15 million), although reduced operating costs will partially offset this. Even as the PROSE team was at work in September 2014, the Danish department of transport launched an investigation to determine whether it would be more economical to have the IC4 trains scrapped, or have them rebuilt for slower regional traffic. Implementation of the PROSE recommendations therefore looks set to go ahead. Regardless of the number of train sets used and their duration of operation, they only have a value if the functionality and the reliability goals are reached.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Antwerp’s

new rail link

the rail engineer • February 2015

GRAHAME TAYLOR

las it was not to be. The Rail Engineer’s audience with the King of Belgium didn’t happen. The royal presence was cancelled because of the death of Queen Fabiola. Perhaps it wasn’t going to be a one-to-one

meeting - there were a few hundred others who were going to be there too.

the rail engineer • February 2015

View from driver's cab on the right bank.

Now, for those unsure of the Belgian royal lineage, Queen Fabiola was the wife of King Baudouin. When he died in 1993, the throne passed to his brother, Albert II, as Baudouin and Fabiola were childless and thence to the current King Philippe. Queen Fabiola died on 5 December 2014, just four days before the Rail Engineer’s (and others’) royal audience so, understandably, the King could not be present.

Second largest port The venue was to have been a remote corner of the flat, windswept and rather forbidding industrial landscape that surrounds the vast area of the Antwerp dock complex. The occasion was the official (and hitherto royal) opening of the Liefkenshoek rail link. More of the opening ceremony and general extravaganza a little later, but first a bit of background and some statistics that may surprise you. The Port of Antwerp is the second largest port in Europe behind Rotterdam having been expanded after the Marshall plan and through the period from 1955 - 1965. There are now 163km of quay headings and 409km of roads. Over 60,000 are directly employed in the port with a further 82,900 in support industries. There are also 1,061km of railway lines from which 250 loaded freight trains depart every day. A total of €1.6 billion is planned to be invested up to 2025 in dredging, in the construction of a second lock on the west bank, dock renovation and the construction of a rail tunnel connecting the left and right banks. The second lock is currently under construction and, when it is completed in 2016, will be the largest lock in the world with a length of 500 metres, a width of 68 metres and a depth of 17.8 metres.

But it is the rail tunnel - or, to be specific, the completed rail link - that we will be looking at.

Time savings The Liefkenshoek rail link connects both banks of the Port of Antwerp. It is a direct route of 16.2km for freight traffic between the port facilities on the left bank, the Waaslandhaven and the Deurganck Dock, and the right bank - the Antwerp North marshalling yard. It has the longest rail tunnels in Belgium running at a depth of up to 40 metres under the Scheldt river - more than half of the railway runs through tunnels. In addition, the new link eliminates the need for trains to negotiate existing bottlenecks, including the Kennedy tunnel to the south and junctions on the Berchem Schijnpoort line, giving valuable time savings for the majority of freight trains. The added bonus is that extra tracks and capacity are now available for passenger transport around the city. Infrabel, the Belgium ‘Network Rail’, wishes to increase the share of rail container traffic from 8% to 15% by 2030 and actively supports the growth of the Port of Antwerp. It has already achieved greater transport efficiency by developing the rail network around the Deurganck Dock area. Its longer term aspiration involves better access to the Belgian ports and improving critical parts of the rail network to allow interoperable freight corridors from all parts of Europe.

A PPP that worked But the Liefkenshoek rail link was not cheap and, in itself, it was way outside of the funding capability of the Belgian Railways. Contrary to the experiences of some, it seems that a PPP (public-private partnership) has worked for Infrabel. Under a DBFM agreement (design, build, finance

the rail engineer • February 2015

and maintain) construction risks and the availability risks have been transferred to the private investor. It is worth noting that this is the second PPP arrangement that Infrabel has entered into. The first was for the construction of the Diabolo project - a new railway line serving Brussels National Airport. The total investment in the Liefkenshoek link has been €873 million, of which €183 million has been funded by Infrabel while the balance of €690 million came from Locorail NV, a private investment group made up of BAM PPP Investments Belgie, CFE NV and Vinci Concessions SA. This group will be responsible for the financing of the infrastructure and, for 38 years, for its maintenance costs. During this 38 year period, Locorail NV makes the infrastructure available to Infrabel and transfers, in 2051, the ownership of the infrastructure completely to Infrabel. The construction consortium is Locobouw responsible for building and maintenance for the 38-year period. Locobouw is MBG, CEI-De Meyer, Wayss & Freytag (a BAM subsidiary) and Vinci Construction.

The route Much of the new link is in a cutting or in a tunnel as it has to pass under the Waasland Canal, the River Scheldt and a canal dock. From the fan of sidings adjacent to the Deurganck Dock on the South side, the line drops down to an existing tunnel under the Waasland Canal. This tunnel had been constructed at the same time as the parallel Beveren road tunnel in 1969, but it had never been used. Effectively it had been buried and had to be pumped out completely before renovation work could start.

After a short section, there are two single track tunnels that run for 6km. These were bored by tunnel boring machines christened Schanulleke and Wiske after some Belgian cartoon characters. The line then climbs back to ground level to make the Northern connection with the existing main line. Work started on site in November 2008 with the bored tunnels completed in May and July of 2011. The civils works, controlled by Locobouw, were completed in the summer of 2013. The construction of tracks, the signalling system and overhead line system were the responsibility of Infrabel which started work in the summer of 2012. By the autumn of 2014, all works had been tested ready for driver training.

Inside the Beveren tunnel.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

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Fire precautions

Driver's eye view of the new bored tunnel.

The new bored tunnels have extensive fire safety systems. This reflects the type of traffic that will use the tunnels which will be almost-exclusively freight. The emphasis is the suppression of potentially high temperature fires rather than the mass evacuation of people. There are, of course, conventional detection and ventilation systems, but the use of an automatic foam fire extinguishing system is a European first. Being constructed beneath an industrial area has allowed the construction of 14 evacuation shafts. There are 13 crosstunnel connections and escape routes every 300 metres.

The stormy weather in the run-up to the official opening finally abated and the preparations at the site of the temporary platform in a deep cutting near the entrance of the Beveren tunnel had to battle industrial quantities of mud. The final installation of the sound and light systems was on a pop-concert scale. One or two of the wheelmounted flight cases had rolled into an open ditch looking like distraught Daleks. The press contingent had been bussed in and all seemed fairly deserted until the VIP train arrived. The eight coaches were rammed with assorted dignitaries. This then retreated discreetly out of sight to allow the speeches and the ceremonial opening of the link with a symbolic signal lever. (The link is fitted with ETCS, so the lever really didn’t have much effect). The ‘first’ train then roared through the site with containers emblazoned with sponsorship. Once clear, this was swiftly followed by the sound/light/firework extravaganza - choreographed by a twelve-foot-high illuminated marionette. Then it was all over. The VIPs and, as it turned out, most of the press contingent decamped back in the train which made its way back to Antwerp Central. The remaining handful of souls, who were not packing up the show, made their way back to the car park to find that their coach had also made off to the city centre. At times like this, with no immediate prospect of rescue, the site swiftly reverted back to being that remote corner of a flat, windswept and rather forbidding industrial landscape - but this time in the pitch dark!

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Hawarden Swing Bridge 34

the rail engineer • February 2015

GRAHAME TAYLOR

An Airbus A380 wing passes under the Hawarden Swing Bridge.

y the 1880s, railway engineers in the UK had really got the bit between their teeth when it came to steel bridges. Up until then, it was the stone masons and the brickies who had ruled the roost with structures that have lasted to the present day and which will likely last for another century or two (with maintenance!). Up until then, metal bridges had been limited by the materials available and, to a large extent, by the vision of the engineers of the time. But come the 1880s - or at least the latter part - larger, chunkier structures were replacing the somewhat-too-flexible bridges that were beginning to show their limitations under heavier loadings. The locomotive engineers, too, were flexing their muscles. Larger loads, larger locomotives. The bridges just had to keep up. When new lines were built in the back end of the nineteenth century, these too were on a bolder and chunkier scale. Nothing seemed to be impossible, so when the Chester Northgate to Hawarden

Bridge Junction line needed to cross the River Dee, then this was just another obstacle to conquer. Construct a 165 metre long bridge with provision for all the tall trading vessels as well? Not a problem. The engineers just got on with it with a massive structure and a massive opening portion that swung majestically under steam power. The Hawarden bridge was opened in 1889 after a two year construction period. The 85 metre opening span, designed by C.A.Hobson, allowed shipping to pass upriver to Chester and was at the time the largest such bridge in the UK. Weighing 764 (metric) tonnes, it could swing through 90° within 40 seconds.

Past its prime But the world moves on. The tall ships to Chester stopped going to Chester - or anywhere else for that matter - and the bridge swung for the last time in 1960. The steam houses with their boilers have been demolished. The winches and chains remain as visible reminders of a splendid achievement. The bridge is fixed. Despite its name, the Hawarden swing bridge….. doesn’t. There are a number of other things the bridge doesn’t do - or at least didn’t do before the major works that were carried out by AMCO Rail and Network Rail over the past two years. For example, it didn’t allow trains with an axle load of greater than RA7 to pass over at more then 20mph and then only with one track loaded. Although hardly on the seaside, Hawarden and Shotton on the other side of the River Dee are harsh estuarial and industrial environments.

the rail engineer • February 2015

The weather and seawater has not been kind to the bridge and so structural repairs as well as strengthening was required. Network Rail’s aim was for the bridge to be strengthened so that it had an RA10 rating.

An extra three months AMCO Rail was engaged to carry out the works with design partner Cass Hayward. An initial design required extensive additional steelwork to the soffit of the structure. This prompted a re-think and so sampling and testing of the steel within the existing bridge was commissioned. Analysis proved that the existing steel was of sufficient strength to enable the majority of the soffit steel to be removed from the design. This successful challenge to standard analysis was critically important due to limitations on clearance and the Grade II listed status of the bridge.

Once the final design was complete, AMCO Rail was contracted to grit blast and paint, strengthen and carry out other general repairs to the structure. AMCO Rail, along with AMCO Engineering (another part of the AMCO group) and Jack Tighes, an experienced grit blasting and painting contractor, then planned and executed works. Works started in Sept 13 with an initial 46 week program.

Early in the planning stages the analysis of the structure revealed that the bridge did not have sufficient capacity to carry full ‘traditional’ steel scaffolding. As a result all the scaffolding used was aluminium. Even then, the works were carried out in two phases due to the capacity of the bridge. There were further limitations on the works. Freight traffic was reduced to 5mph and two trains were not permitted on the bridge at the

the rail engineer • February 2015

same time. Scaffolding was erected in stages so that strengthening to the top boom could take place before the soffit scaffold could be erected allowing the soffit to be grit blasted and painted. But as Tony McCann, Amco’s site agent, wryly observes from his years of experience: “You don’t know what damage you’ve got until you get the old paint system off!” And indeed, following blasting it was established that a significant amount of condition-led repairs were required. In the end, these extended the contract by another three months.

Logistical difficulties Once the repairs and strengthening systems had been finalised, the work progressed much as any other grit blast and paint project. The weather was varied, of course, but because of the encapsulation system used, most of the site was protected. That’s not to say that working conditions weren’t challenging on occasions. Because of the tight structural clearances between the scaffolding and the running lines, working space could be somewhat cramped.

At first, access appeared to be a problem. Servicing the works from one end only with a massive 500kva generator some distance from the bridge prompted a thought to occur to Tony. Right by the bridge was a derelict building on Tata Steel’s land. This was down for demolition but, with appropriate words and inducements arranged by Network Rail land agents, Tata rewired and replumbed the building after which Amco made the place habitable for the duration of the contract. This, along with an area of land made available for plant, ensured a smoother operation. Span 10 - the navigation span posed its own unique problems. Airbus A380 wings, which are manufactured at nearby Broughton, travel under Hawarden Bridge on barges around three times a week, on their way to Mostyn harbour where they are loaded onto a custom-built rollon, roll-off ferry for the trip to France.

the rail engineer • February 2015

A cradle system, which could be pulled back to Pier 10, was developed to allow passage of this ultra-hightech equipment under the vintage infrastructure. Under a protocol agreed with the Harbour Master and Afon Dyfrowy, the cradle was docked one hour prior to the passage of a wing.

Statistics of success The official opening day (of the project, not the swing span) was on 12 November last year by which time the following statistics could be presented: »» £8 million scheme (£4 million painting, £2.5 million strengthening and £1.5 million condition-led) »» Over 85,000 man-hours worked on the project; »» Only one, no-lost-time, minor accident; »» No RIDDORs; »» No environmental issues; »» Over 550 tonnes of grit used on the structure; »» Over 7,000 litres of paint applied to the structure; »» Over 12,000 tension control bolts used; »» Over 130 tonnes of additional steel on the structure. Most importantly, the project objectives had been met. There has been the complete removal of operational restrictions. At just 25mph, it’s not a high-speed railway but the bridge now has a full RA10 rating. Those engineers of the 1880s would have been proud of their descendant’ achievements. Sure, the bridge doesn’t swing, but that’s because of changing trading patterns. It still stands as a proud monument to what engineers can achieve. There’s an unexpected twist in the tale. That building? The one that was to have been dropped by Tata? It’s had a new lease of life. As part of the Gateway Project, an

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the rail engineer • February 2015

STEVE RICHARDSON

The existing cast iron structure being lifted out.

River Teme Replacement T

he railway bridge over the River Teme near Woofferton was constructed in 1852 as part of the Shrewsbury to Hereford Railway Line construction. Built by Thomas Brassey, the 24.4 metre long, square-span cast-iron arch structure was originally constructed as a single line but records suggest that the bridge was built with a future double track in mind. This doubling took place in 1862. However, nothing lasts forever, and 150 years later the bridge was looking a bit tired. So, in May 2014, Network Rail approached Balfour Beatty Rail to reconstruct the bridge over Christmas 2014, which was the next available track possession of appropriate duration.

Selecting the design A detailed examination showed that discrete elements of the spandrel ironwork and lateral bracings had cracked, however the main arc ribs remained intact. Real-time monitoring was employed by Network Rail to monitor the ongoing condition of the structure until it was closed at the commencement of the Christmas blockade on 24 December 2014. DATUM Monitoring was contracted to monitor the structure. Cass Hayward LLP was initially approached by Balfour Beatty Rail in June 2014 to provide a design for the reconstruction of the viaduct. An outline scheme had been prepared by others and issued for planning by Network Rail in May 2014, consisting of a Network Rail Standard Design Box Girder (known as a Western Box) bridge supported on new foundations. Cass Hayward and Balfour Beatty Rail reviewed the original proposal and quickly concluded that, to achieve the demanding programme deadline, the only option available was to adopt a Standard design from the Network Rail suite of Standard Design and Drawings illustrated on the planning drawing.

The fabrication was undertaken by Lanarkshire Welding in Scotland, started prior to full substructure design. Within two weeks, principle dimensions of the box girder bridge had been agreed between the project team including the overall width and span. The design constraint was primarily governed by the capacity of the 1,200 tonne crane needed to lift the structure into place. A box girder with a span of up to 27 metres could be designed with a narrow deck, but any longer spans (up to 39 metres) would have a wider and heavier deck, thus exceeding the crane’s capacity. In terms of the substructure, the outline scheme involved constructing piled foundations in advance of the possession at all four corners of the bridge and fixing precast concrete ‘needle’ beams with reinforcement bars during possession to form portal frames. Again, on review, it was decided that rather than ‘fixing’ the beams onto the columns to form moment connections, the beams would be placed onto fabricated steel bearings. This eliminated the need to form in-situ connections during the possession, hence reducing the installation work required and minimising the time required for the possession and disruption to the train service. The design of the needle beams was governed by limiting the vertical deflection under each track to 3mm. This changed the form of the needle beams to a two-metre-deep composite box beam weighing approximately 140 tonnes.

Foundations The needle beams span between new abutments placed outside the footprint of the existing structure and in the outline scheme are identified as piled foundations. No detailed site investigation had been possible at the outset of the design phase but historical studies indicated that the ground conditions consisted of river deposits and alluvium over mudstone. The first investigative boreholes were drilled towards the end of July 2014 and it was quickly established that the mudstone was relatively shallow and that piled foundations would not be appropriate. The foundation scheme was then changed to pad footings, but due to access restriction no early site investigation was possible directly under the proposed foundations. Therefore the foundations were designed based on a conservative assumption of the ground conditions, which would then be confirmed and validated during construction. As a result of this, the design included a degree of flexibility to cater for any variations in the ground model. The plan area of each footing at the South (fixed) end is 5.6 metres x 4.5 metres and each contains approximately 125m3 of concrete. Similarly, at the North (free) end, the plan area of each footing is 4.5 metres x 4.5 metres and each contains approximately 85m3 of concrete. The pier heights vary from 4.4 metres to 5.2 metres depending on the ground topography and each foundation is tiered. They became affectionately known as the ‘Wedding Cakes’! From a design perspective, this was quite an unusual process because the bridge form and position was fixed at an early stage before any site investigation was made available and the foundation design could begin; thus immediately introducing a positional constraint on the sub structure design.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Construction commences With the fabrication started and the design progressing, the site works commenced in September 2014 with preparation of the adjacent fields which would house the crane and bridge components. In excess of 10,000 tonnes of stone was imported, the majority of which was placed in the south-western field to build up ground levels and allow access for cranes and working areas. This was followed by the construction of the new foundations. The initial design included pockets for a proposed jacking beam positioned beneath the existing arch in order to free the bridge from its bearings prior to the crane lifting it out. Due to the location of these foundations the team needed to dam sections of the river using a Portadam system. The northeastern foundation was successfully constructed and the south-western excavation was completed and majority of the lower reinforcement fixed. The initial programme showed a reasonable delivery with the foundations completed two weeks ahead of the Christmas possession. At this stage, which was now mid-November, the weather started to conspire against the team to try to prevent the Christmas possession. The river level rose significantly in a matter of hours, flooding the south-western excavation and preventing the north-western and south-eastern ones from even starting. Following close consultation with the Environment Agency, Balfour Beatty Rail quickly altered the dam approach. Unfortunately, due to the mudstone riverbed, a conventional sheet pile cofferdam was not possible. The solution was a fabricated cofferdam incorporating the Portadam drape to seal it against the river bed with the frame bolted against the abutment and soilnailed into the river bank. This was known on site as a ‘fabricoff dam’. As the south-western excavation was almost complete, the team opted for a slightly different approach. The Portadam was resisting the flow but not the water level. As such, the team was able to quickly arrange for a dive team from Kaymac to complete the reinforcement cage and place front shutters - underwater concrete was used to cast the lower section of the foundation. The project team was grateful to the Environment Agency for its understanding of the situation and the prompt and helpful responses to requests to alter the works. The revised programme showed an extremely tight delivery with no scope for any further delays - the planned last concrete pour was 19 December. In order to maintain this schedule, the ‘wedding cake’ design was altered to remove one of the tiers and save three valuable days. Now working day and night, the team was achieving three concrete pours a week. In addition to ensuring that the foundations were completed in the correct timescales, two composite ‘needle beams’ also had to be cast on site and a 240 tonne box girder needed to be constructed adjacent to the 1,200 tonne crane location. Detailed storyboard planning ensured that the constantlychanging site ran efficiently, allowing each of the trades to complete their works on programme. The team even had to plan to strand a 13 tonne excavator on the wrong side of the new bridge build area until after the Christmas works as removing it during the run up to Christmas would be almost impossible. The lifting out of a 160-year-old cast iron arch was not the easiest of things to undertake. The original plan of jacking the structure from inside using the foundations had to be revised early in December due to constraints with the progressing works and clashes with existing bracing within the bridge itself. So, with less than four weeks to go, the jacking free of the old bridge arrangement was revised. The new solution required temporary ‘needle beams’ spanning across from the newly constructed foundations to be placed during the Christmas possession. The overhead truss was simply extended to pick up these new positions with the hanging arrangement remaining the same, although additional stabilising scaffold tube supports were included following a Cat III check. In order to optimise the available time within the 117 hour Christmas possession, the scaffold access and Mabey temporary works, proposed by Balfour Beatty Rail, were planned to be installed in the week leading up to Christmas Eve.

Longitudinal cutting of the bridge. The scaffold was installed to the Down side with specific instruction relating to evenly loading the arch. Through detailed design, the loading from the scaffold was limited to three tonnes per pair of arch ribs under the Up and Down lines. However, as the scaffold started to be installed to the Up line, one of the sensors monitoring a spandrel crack suggested that the crack had widened under load from 0.3mm to 3mm. Works were suspended whilst the team established the issues and potential solution. The ultimate conclusion was that Network Rail arranged for freight to be prevented from running over the Up line for 24 hours prior to the start of the Christmas possession in order to allow time to fit access scaffold and temporary works.

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Christmas possession With all the pieces of the puzzle in place - albeit some slightly modified and most at very last minute - this only left the actual reconstruction planned for a 117 hour possession starting at 21:15 hours on Christmas Eve. The meticulous planning for this included several run-up meetings incorporating step-by-step, storyboard-style presentations and an animation. These included all relevant subcontractors and Network Rail. The earlier meetings established that the perceived nine-hour contingency was actually only three hours due to activities not being able to be carried out concurrently. The possession started well with the track removed on time. Preparation for the bridge lift-out was slow due to the cast arch not performing as expected. Thankfully, Ed Atherton from Cass Hayward was on site to alter the hanger tensioning schedule in order to ensure that it worked correctly. The programme was recovered when the bridge was split in half using two thermic lances. The jacking of the existing bridge was slow but essential in order to ensure that the crane did not receive any shock loading - the temporary works performed exactly as expected and the bridge came free with relative ease. The lift-out was hampered by high gusts of wind but the bridge came away well and was placed on the awaiting reception trestles to be moved to the new bridge build area later in the possession in order to ensure dismantling could take place without interface with the operational railway. All was going well and in accordance with the sequence the team had planned until arches were discovered behind the abutments that had been previously filled with clay. The solution, through conference calls with Network Rail and Cass Hayward, was to demolish these arches, dig out the clay and back-fill with compacted 6N aggregate. The possession followed the plan for the remaining time, albeit behindprogramme as a result of the unforeseen arches and wind delays. With the existing bridge removed, and the abutments and wing walls reduced to the required levels, the new bridge was constructed. The lower eight precast units were placed using the 500 tonne crane whilst the 1,200 tonne machine prepared to lift the two 140 tonne needle beams. Once installed, these were followed by the 240 tonne deck. Then it was just a case of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;simplyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; building up with the remainder of the 36 precast concrete units, backfilling and waterproofing as the level came up.

The Colas tamper runs over the completed new bridge.

The new bridge deck awaiting installation. Finally the ballast and track were installed, taking full use of the contingency tamper with the track handed back with minimal disruption to rail users.

Looking back Within a six month period the Network Rail and Balfour Beatty Rail project teams, supported by key supply chain partners (APB Group, SRK Scaffolding, Sarens Cranes, Stobart Rail, Mayby, Kaymac) achieved a fantastic end result with the full design and implementation of a 27-metre twin-track underbridge over the River Teme - a process which would traditionally be carried out in a period in excess of 18 months. This project had many challenges including working at height, working over a fast flowing river, high winds preventing crane working, underwater concreting, substantial temporary works utilising heavy plant and the monitoring of an existing life-expired bridge whilst preparatory works were undertaken to construct new abutments and foundations. All of which required effective management, communication and collaboration across all of the teams. Steve Richardson is a project manager at Balfour Beatty Rail.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Paint Inspection

on the Network

hen looking at any coating project, whether new or for maintenance, the question of quality control always arises. What level of inspection is required and who will carry it out? Generally the client will hand responsibility over to the painting contractor and request assurance that the works will be completed in accordance with the required specification and industry standards. The painting contractor will take a level of responsibility for its work - this generally runs for a 12-month period after completion unless back-to-back warranties are put into place. Approved Network Rail specifications will have a required minimum expected service life. This can be up to 25 years with some systems but, whilst a certificate from the paint manufacturer provides details on its products and preparation standards, it is not the guarantee being provided by a painting contractor. Tested paint systems and specifications are backed up with specific requirements for surface preparation and paint application and any deviation from these will generally mean reduced service life. With all this in mind, the long-term approach to performance and maintenance of the paint system must begin at the design stage and run through the project programme. Having the contractor self-regulating its work and quality cannot always be relied upon so the appointment of an independent organisation to undertake either full or part-time inspections will give the client some level of assurance that the work is being completed in accordance with its requirements and the specification.

Changing requirements Over the years, Network Rail has taken various approaches to paint inspection and who provides it. Initially, the company provided its own in-house paint inspectors but this proved

costly, especially at times when paint projects were thin on the ground. The next approach was to require the appointed contractor to provide its own inspectors to regulate its work. History has proved that this approach has been costly with many paint projects having coating failures and corrosion issues within the required service life. Moving forward, Network Rail and its principal/ framework contractors now use independent paint inspectors, either on a full or part-time basis. This has proved to be the most cost effective approach. Having the inspectors working alongside the painting contractors has given the best control at all stages of the process. Paint Inspection Ltd were appointed by Network Rail in 2012 on a direct contract to undertake coating inspections for CP4 coating projects within the North West region. One example of how this method of inspection has worked well is the project to refurbish Eskmeals viaduct (above). This was carried out as part of the Enhanced Spend Programme - the principal contractor was Balfour Beatty and the painting contractor ICS Ltd.

Detailed checks Paint Inspection carried out weekly ad-hoc inspections as the works progressed, covering both surface preparation and coating application. For the blasting and painting operations, half of the bridge (only half of the viaduct was treated under this programme) was split up into 16 bays and, due to weight restraints, only three bays could be scaffolded out at any one time. The standard of the blast cleaning required was to ISO 8501-1 Sa2.5, and the coating system applied was International Protective Coating’s version of the Network Rail M34 system as defined in NRL3-CIV-039. This involves applying 450 microns of modified epoxy barrier coat and 50 microns of isocyanate-free modified epoxy topcoat. Paint Inspection’s role in the project on behalf of Network Rail was to carry out regular witnessing

and inspection visits, as well as a document review of the main contractor’s paint application subcontractors. The above inspections included carrying out post-blasting condition testing of the surface to check for defects that could lead to corrosion points. This could include detecting sharp edges from steelwork repairs, as well as highlighting any areas of difficult access for blasting and coating, such as crank angles, seams, joints and raised rivets. To ensure there was no corrosion staining as a result of water leakage from these areas, they were sealed up using a variety of sealants such as polysulphide sealant, epoxy filler and expandable foam after the barrier coat was applied. Inspection of the blast cleaning operations involved visual inspection to ensure the standard of the blast conformed to ISO 8501-1 Sa2.5. Testing of the surface roughness to ISO 8503-5 used a replica tape method to ensure the profile was between 70 and 100 microns. The soluble salt level was also tested to ISO 8502-6 using the Brestle patch method to ensure the level was below 4.0µm/cm2. This test was particularly important because of the high salinity in the environment due to the coastal river running underneath the structure. Inspection of the painting system included monitoring of the climatic conditions while the coating was applied, and testing the relative humidity, ambient temperature, surface temperature and dewpoint temperature to specification tolerances. Dry film thickness (DFT) testing was also carried out using non-destructive electromagnetic gauges to ensure coating thickness met specification requirements. Finally, visual inspection checked that the surface was free from defects such as paint runs, inclusions and misses. As a result of the project team working with Paint Inspection Ltd, the final paint finish was sound, to specification, and looked good too.

the rail engineer â&#x20AC;˘ February 2015

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the rail engineer â&#x20AC;˘ February 2015 PHOTO: EUROTUNNEL

Fire in the tunnel! O

ne thing that all infrastructure owners fear is fire in a tunnel. Restricted access, the distance from emergency services, and the problems caused by trapped smoke and fumes are all the stuff of nightmares for the tunnel owner. As a result, they plan for it, practice dealing with it, and have all sorts of detection, fire-suppressant equipment and procedures in place to handle it.

NIGEL WORDSWORTH

The channel tunnel is no exception. At 31.4 miles long, it has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. It also has plans in place to handle fire. It has a full-tunnel simulator in which its staff practice dealing with fires and, once a year, the tunnel itself is closed entirely overnight so that a full-scale practice can take place, complete with actors playing the part of hysterical or injured passengers. While the last thing that tunnel operators like Eurotunnel want is a real fire, they are well-prepared for one. Which is just as well, as they have just had their third. On 17 January, a smouldering load on a lorry aboard one of the heavy goods vehicle shuttles filled the tunnel with smoke and brought operations to a standstill. No-one was hurt and Eurotunnelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safety precautions worked perfectly.

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the rail engineer • February 2015 PHOTO: EUROTUNNEL

engine’ pods on the service vehicles include the equipment and chemicals for producing foam if it is required, and they also carry drypowder fire extinguishers, so most types of fire can be handled. While the fire is being extinguished, the response teams also check the entire train for other problems. If any further people are encountered, for example illegal stowaways, they are gathered up and moved safely into the service tunnel. None were discovered during any of the incidents that have happened so far.

Inspection and rectification

Exit via the service tunnel The first indication that something was wrong came as a CO2 sensor triggered an alarm. While that is serious, a major incident is only confirmed if a second CO2 sensor also activates, which it did. Once the alarm is raised, what follows is largely automatic. If the train is close to the end of a tunnel it either continues onwards to the outside world or, if it has only just entered the tunnel, it stops and reverses out. However, in this case the train was too far from a portal to do that, so it was brought to a halt inside the tunnel. The freight shuttles are 773 metres long (840 including locomotives). However, all drivers and crew are forbidden to ride in their vehicles and instead travel in a club car immediately behind the leading locomotive. So they are all in one place. It is necessary, at this stage, to understand the layout of the tunnel. The two bores of the railway tunnel are 25 feet (7.6 metres) in diameter and approximately 98 feet (30 metres) apart. Between them runs the 16 feet (4.8 metre) diameter service tunnel. Cross-passages (11 feet / 3.3 metres in diameter) run between the service tunnel and the running tunnels every 375 meters with sealed doors on their outer ends. The service tunnel contains a roadway which is used by rubbertyred service vehicles. These have

interchangeable payload ‘pods’ and are used for maintenance, people transport, communications and fire fighting/rescue. The larger type of vehicle can even utilise a buried wire guidance system at which time it is limited to 50mph. So once a fire is detected on board a freight shuttle, the train is brought to a halt with the door of its club car in line with one of the access doors to the service tunnel. Each access door is appropriately marked by a signal board and the train driver parks alongside this marker, automatically placing the club car door in the correct place. All passengers are issued with smoke hoods to protect them from the effects of smoke inhalation and from getting particles in their eyes. They are then guided off the train onto the walkway that runs the full length of the tunnel, and then through the door into a crosstunnel and thence into the service tunnel. The service tunnel is maintained at a higher air pressure than the running tunnels. Hence, once a connecting door is opened, the air blows out of the service tunnel creating a smoke-free ‘bubble’ around the door. The locomotive has a connecting gangway through to the club car, so the drivers can also exit the train that way. In the recent incident, 38 passengers and four Eurotunnel staff were safely evacuated from the train.

First and Second Lines of Response Once the train is stationary, more sensors detect how far down the train the fire is. A high-pressure water ‘mist’ is spayed from the tunnel’s fire mains to both damp down the fire and also prevent oxygen being sucked into the fire down the tunnel (pictured above). If the fire happens to be adjacent to the club car, the hoods will also protect the disembarking passengers from the highpressure spray. However, in this recent incident, the site of the fire was part-way along the train, well away from the club car. Fire officers from the First Line of Response teams constantly patrol the service tunnel, checking equipment and monitoring operations. They can therefore quickly be on the scene of an incident - they don’t have to come into the tunnel from one end. These first responders are backed up by a Second Line of Response team. The tunnel is divided into English and French sections halfway across. There is even a line painted on the wall to show the notional border. As the latest fire occurred south of that line, the incident was handled by French fire service personnel and paramedics. The response teams extinguish any remaining fire using hoses plugged into the fire main using hydrants located at the crosstunnel access doors. The ‘fire

Once the fire is out, and the rescued passengers and crew have been taken to the terminal for medical checks, the train and tunnel is inspected by the accident investigation team. Again, in this case it was a French team. As access is limited, and it is difficult to get a good look at the tunnel lining with the train in the way, it won’t be long before the train is removed. Eurotunnel has several diesel-powered shunters fitted with exhaust filters which it uses for train recoveries. With the train out of the way, engineers can inspect the tunnel lining properly. On this occasion, a few pieces of equipment, including elements of the catenary, had to be replaced due to smoke damage and then the whole tunnel needed a good wash down using high pressure hoses. Twenty-four hours later the tunnel reopened. Compare this with the situation in September 2008. Once again no-one was injured (although a few people were treated for smoke inhalation) but that fire caused €60 million of damage and closed the north tunnel bore for four months. Almost everything in the tunnel - communications, signalling, sensors, track, overhead wiring, water mains, drainage, access doors and even the concrete lining - had to be replaced. So, even though Eurotunnel is well prepared for another fire if one should break out, it won’t stop management praying that it will never happen again.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

NIGEL WORDSWORTH

the rail engineer • February 2015

A very busy Christmas T

he railway was very busy over Christmas. Not with passenger trains - the network was closed to passengers on Christmas Day and Boxing Day - nor with scheduled freight trains for the same reason. But there were quite a few freight trains out and about nevertheless. Mostly hauling long rakes of yellow wagons full of ballast, or sleepers, or rail, or scrap. And these freight trains moved between groups of people all dressed in orange, and collected near clumps of yellow excavators, bulldozers and other interesting pieces of kit. It was the time of the annual Christmas Works. Over the whole holiday period, between 19 December and 5 January, Network Rail Infrastructure Projects (IP) alone mobilised 11,000 people on 2,000 work sites as part of 800 possessions taken for 322 projects. This is more work than has ever been done over Christmas before as engineers took advantage of the closedown and slow-down of the network over the holiday period. When the various maintenance works are added in, the figures jump to 7,000 worksites across nearly 2,500 possessions over the full Christmas period - 19 December to 5 January. And then, of course, there is London Underground and various smaller networks. Months, even years, of meticulous planning went into all of these projects. In the main they went to plan. There were a few notable failures, which you will read more about elsewhere in this issue, but only eight possessions out of the IP projects incurred an overrun – which is just 1%. And one of those was by only 11 minutes. Some of the projects were massive. London Bridge saw major works in track and signalling, both the West Coast and East Coast main lines (WCML/ECML) were closed due to substantial work at Watford and Holloway, and the new flyover at Stockley was commissioned near Heathrow. But that’s only four of the 322 projects. In the next few pages, Rail Engineer will also look at a few of the less-well-known ones.

programme with the possession handed back on time. Final installation of the remaining conarch units will be completed during non-disruptive possessions following the Christmas works.

Central Region

Scotland and the North East

468 work sites across the centre of the country meant a very busy time for the men and women of the Midlands. The Stafford area improvement team commissioned new signals to replace life-expired ones at Stafford station in addition to some major overhead line remodelling just south of Stafford and the installation of a new four track under-track crossing. On the Norton Bridge worksite, track formation renewals took place in preparation for the installation of points in May 2015, which will facilitate the new railhead. A new freight loop was commissioned at Bromsgrove with new signalling and telecoms equipment. This includes an operational plunger facility allowing freight trains to be ‘banked’ up the Lickey Incline (a 1 in 37 gradient). The work included the sensitive recovery of a decommissioned piece of equipment to enable the construction of two island-platforms for the new Bromsgrove Station. A three-span underbridge carrying the SKN line over Montpellier Street, Birmingham, was replaced. The original structure was showing signs of distress including fracturing and bulging to the abutments, corrosion of the trough ends over the piers and obvious signs of water seepage. Electrification structure clearance works continued on the Midland main line with the demolition and partial reconstruction of two twin arch overbridges in Sharnbrook and Milton Earnest just north of Bedford on the line to Kettering. The two structures were completely demolished to the precut lines and the precast cill beams and conarch units were lifted in to

A neutral section was installed at Wymondley (Corey’s Mill) and four signals converted from auto to controlled, affecting Langley Junction Interlocking and Hitchin Interlocking, as part of the East Coast Main Line Power Supply Upgrade Project. Structural surveys of the Fall Lane Bridge, which carries two lines on the Leeds to Dewsbury route Thornhill Road, had highlighted corrosion to the web of all main girders and minor strengthening works have been undertaken in the past. Due to the level of corrosion, a complete bridge superstructure reconstruction was carried out and handed back just over an hour and a half late due to issues with landing the new bridge on its bearings. As part of the remodelling of Hornsey depot for Thameslink, a new crossover was installed and an existing one renewed. Other track work, along with OLE (overhead line equipment) and signalling modification, was also carried out. To improve clearances for W12 gauge freight, track was slewed at Pontefract Road Bridge on the ECML between Doncaster and Leeds and the OLE returned to its correct position. On the same route, two OLE runs were renewed by Morgan Sindall at Finsbury Park. The twin tunnels at Carmuirs have to be electrified as part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Project (EGIP). As there is no clearance, the tunnels were dug out and the site converted into a cutting. A canal which crossed over the tunnel was blocked and removed and will be replaced by an aqueduct in March. The work involved excavating more

Pitstone.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Reading. than 10,000 tonnes of soil and demolition material and installing the new precast concrete portal structure using the largest mobile crane in Europe.

Southern Region The Great Eastern overhead line renewals continued with 20 wire runs replaced over Christmas. The entire project is to replace 345 runs (168 have been completed to date) of 1940s wiring which now has very poor reliability. The new equipment installed is lighter, easier to maintain and provides a far more reliable overhead line infrastructure that also enables higher line speeds. Two bridges were replaced as part of a programme to replace or paint 100 bridges across the Anglia route. The bridge deck of Tottenham High Road Bridge was replaced using a multi wheeled vehicle (SPMT) and the track was reinstated all within a 67hr possession, while the deck of Bridge 35 on the Gospel Oak to Barking line was replaced using a 1000 tonne crane and the track reinstated within a 100hr possession. An under track crossing, 2.4 metres wide and 2 metres deep, was installed at Grove Park to take power cables from the nearby substation - part of the upgrade necessary to run 12-car trains on the North and Mid Kent line. Fall Lane.

Tennison Road bridge was replaced by Graham Construction, replacing the existing life-expired road-over-rail bridge spanning the tracks running between London Bridge and East Croydon Stations. The 53.5m long by 13m wide structure was assembled off-line on the western approach embankment during November 2014. Over Christmas, the new bridge was launched and then pushed across the live railway with successful ‘touch down’ of the launch nose on the eastern pier. Platforms at Purley had already been extended in 2013. However, the final stage, to install new LED signal heads along with associated cabling and testing, was carried out by Spencer Rail over Christmas 2014.

Thameslink 30 S&C units were recovered, over 3 km of plain line track removed, dug and re-ballasted and 20 new S&C units installed along with 3.5 km of plain line plus conductor rail as part of the works at London Bridge. At the same time, a complete new signalling control system, interlocking, sub-station and three new principal supply points, along with a new data communications network and all associated sub-systems were installed. The first signalling commissioning stage of the Cricklewood Depot project was successfully completed with the testing and commissioning of two new signals, two sets of points and a banner repeater. Three signals were replaced with low maintenance LED signal heads and a fourth signal was repositioned. The new stabling facility at Peterborough Spital Sidings will allow the new Class 700 Thameslink rolling stock to be berthed, washed, cleaned and have toilet tanks emptied at a convenient location close to Peterborough station, the North-Eastern terminus of the Thameslink route. In the weeks approaching Christmas, OLE lines were erected on new gantries and stanchions. During the Christmas 2014 blockade, these overhead lines were connected to the existing OLE that serves the ECML north of Peterborough station. Work was undertaken at Belle Isle and inside the Canal Tunnels as part of the continuing project to connect the Midland main line and ECML to allow Thameslink trains to reach Peterborough. Two wire runs were completed along with the commissioning of the Structure Mounted Outdoor Switchgear (SMOS) on the fast lines. Enabling works were also carried out in preparation for conductor beam installation in the tunnels which commences early in February.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Harringay.

Western and Wales In one of the largest schemes of the holiday period, the Reading project delivered track remodelling works at Westbury Line Junction to connect the New Main lines with the new elevated railway into Platforms 9 and 10, track slews at Whitehouse Junction and plain line between Platforms 8 and 9. The team also commissioned the new elevated railway and reopened Platform 3. All fifteen platforms are now operational for the first time. At the same time, the Thames Valley Area (TVA) project undertook the regeneration of the new relief lines footprint and removal of 450 metres of the old main lines at Reading station, 13 OLE boom installations between Tilehurst and Pangbourne, and route clearance works at Uffington Road bridge. The Old Oak Common and Paddington Approaches (OOCPA) project enables Crossrail services to connect to existing railway infrastructure and provides two dedicated lines into the new Crossrail depot at Old Oak Common. A 53-hour all line block, followed by an additional 98 hours on the E&C line, was secured to undertake multidisciplinary works including UTXs, OLE works, bridge strengthening, gantry removal, p-way relay works and associated signalling works. Difficulties with certificating signalling work severely delayed handback by 374 minutes, prohibiting running of all services out of and into Paddington. The new Stockley viaduct was brought into use to remove the conflict between the main lines and Heathrow airport lines by introducing grade separation. The P-way and OLE connections to the new flyover and viaduct were completed, including associated points-heating works encompassing four sets of points. The flyover was commissioned into service. The Up Airport line was cut back and removed, releasing space to start sheet piling to enable installation of the Section E flyover and ramp works in 2015. The Crossrail West Outer Track Infrastructure (WOTI) project is responsible for all P-way works between Maidenhead and West Drayton, from throughalignment design to major junction remodelling, bridge reconstructions and major civils work in the area. Over Christmas, the project replaced points on

the Up and Down Reliefs west of West Drayton station and 750 yards of plain line renewal. The station subway under Platform 5 was replaced with three new deck slabs to allow lifting and realigning of the track above for line speed increase to 40mph following the next stage of works in the area. Chadwell Heath Turnback will allow stabling of a Crossrail train at the signal-controlled turnback which will be commissioned in May 2015. The Crossrail Anglia On-Network Works project installed four point ends and plain line on the turnback. The Victorian cast-iron bridge across the River Teme at Ludlow consisted of four cast iron arches supporting wrought iron cross girders, a steel deck, and steel rail-bearers. There was substantial loss of load-bearing capability and structural stability, brittle fractures in the cast iron members, loss of connection elements, and damaged brickwork. The old bridge was removed and a new deck successfully installed, although handback was delayed from 17:30 on 30 December to start of service the following day.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Two bridges over the South Wales main line were removed as part of route clearance for electrification. At Cardiff Road, a halfthrough structure with a steel trough deck carrying a redundant trackbed of a dismantled section of the Western Valley line was demolished by removing the bridge deck and the central pier, leaving the abutments in position. Another halfthrough steel structure which carried Trowbridge Road (now a footpath only) over the main line, was also demolished. Stafford.

Signalling programme East Kent Re-signalling Phase 2 (EKR2) involves the resignalling of the section of the Chatham main line between Longfield and Sittingbourne together with the Maidstone West control area on the Medway Valley line. Five point end conversions and follow up welding and stressing works were successfully completed over the Christmas period along with LOC deliveries, signal civil works and cable pulling. The £220m Cardiff Area Signalling Renewals (CASR) project aims to renew more than 300 signals, 12 miles (19km) of track, and 59 sets of points to ease congestion in South Wales. A new ‘G’ 33.5 turnout was installed as part of the Long Dyke scheme which involves re-modelling the existing track layout between Cardiff Central and Pengam junction including removal of points and installing new crossovers. The CASR project team integrated the work from Atkins for signal testing and installation in conjunction with permanent way enhancements by Balfour Beatty Rail and new drainage. The main signalling commissioning for the Watford Remodelling project was carried out during a 100-hour possession of the West Coast Mainline. This included installing a new Westcad workstation at Wembley Mainline SCC, 11 new signal gantries, 49 new signals  and 20km of new cable. Control was transferred to Wembley Mainline SCC (signal control centre) from the old Wembley Junction power signal box, which was then abolished.

Track Programme Renewal of Haymarket West Junction was split over two disruptive access windows over both Christmas and New Year to facilitate renewal of four ends of points and several hundred yards of plain line on the East Coast North lines, which feed traffic from the north to Edinburgh Haymarket and Waverley. As part of the LNE switches & crossings renewals programme, one turnout and a trap plus associated plain line panels were replaced at Doncaster Decoy. The turnout is a split bearer concrete modular layout with shallow depth switches and In-Bearer POE. The trap is full depth switches with RPCL POE. Formation treatment includes 300mm min new ballast depth with sand blanket and geogrid. All S&C panels were delivered via tilting wagons and installed using two Kirow 250 cranes, and the lines were handed back at linespeed. Like for like renewal of seven point ends at Holloway Jn on the Up Fast, Up Slow and Up Slow no.2 lines of the ECML, comprising 2 crossovers and a turnout, were undertaken over Christmas and Boxing Day. These were renewed in modern equivalent form with concrete bearers and in-bearer clamplock points operating equipment. Additionally 300yds of plain line were

renewed to remove non-compliant baseplates and fastenings. The project used 16 engineering trains, two Kirow cranes and had 29 S&C panels delivered by road to site. Intermediate hand back of the Down lines was achieved on Sunday 28 December as opposed to Saturday 27 December, primarily due to plant issues arising during the scrapping out and excavation phase and ballast wagon failures during the re-ballast phase. Three points units were renewed at Worle, between Bristol and Taunton, along with 216 metres of plain line. The track panels were delivered to site using a part of the new fleet of tilting wagons recently purchased by NSC and a Balfour Beatty Rail Kirow 1200. Due to issues at the beginning of the possession (last minute road delivered panel unable to be lifted onto track by Kirow, poor scrapping out methodology and signalling issues near Westbury yard trapping an engineering train) the decision was taken to skim dig the entire layout. The possession overran by 142 minutes. Carillion carried out a plain line track renewal at Carlisle Station over the Christmas Period due to life expired track components. 540 yards were replaced on the bi-drection Main through Platform 4. Unforeseen ground conditions slowed the excavation which resulted in the rail stressing works being cancelled. The same contractor replaced 410 yards of formation renewal at Thrimby Grange. The work took place over two weekends, and was completed on time although the haulage contractor did not supply train drivers for all locos for the full duration of the works, as had been agreed. The works at Pitstone were an accelerated track renewal brought forward at the request of LNW Route to reduce the risk of a pending temporary speed restriction (TSR). Renewal of 440 yards of formation treatment and 353 yards of associated drainage works took place during a 54-hour possession which began on Christmas Eve. 410 yards of life expired rail, sleepers and ballast were renewed on the Up Fast line at Harringay (North London) on the East Coast main line. The work included the installation of new UIC60 continuously welded rail on new G44 concrete sleepers, the replacement of existing ballast to a depth of 300mm below sleeper bottom plus the installation of a geotextile separator and completion of site welding and re-stressing works. Life-expired track was also replaced through Platform 5 at Stratford on the Up Electric. The site is complex, with the London Underground (LUL) Central Lines running either side of the Up Electric. There are also Victorian era station subways and LUL Central Line tunnels, with numerous units of S&C around Stratford station, limited site access points and multiple cables/ buried obstructions. During the possession, previously unknown LUL cables were uncovered which were not able to be disconnected and a concrete plinth beneath a dividing fence slowed excavation progress. A mitigation plan was implemented and a reduction of yardage agreed to ensure LUL Central Line was handed back on time. Two high-output track renewals teams were in action over Christmas. The Crewe-based Track Renewal System 4 (TRS4) was deployed between Dallam Junction and Winwick Junction on the West Coast main line and the Bletchleybased team deployed High Output Ballast Cleaner 4 (BCS4) south of Rugby Station between Nortoft and Hillmorton. TRS4 achieved 1.3 miles (2135 metres) of continuous welded rail while BCS4 completed 1.7 miles (2700 metres). So that was Christmas 2014. It wasn’t faultless, as well as the eight overruns there were 2 RIDDOR accidents - one involving a fractured hand on site at Cardiff and the other at Stockley where a trainee OLE linesmen lost sight in his left eye. There was one dangerous occurrence reported - at Stockley where a trolley was struck by a passenger train travelling to Paddington from Heathrow - and two significant events - one at Reading where possession limit boards were incorrectly placed preventing the running of an engineering train and the other at Stockley where a MEWP ran through a set of points derailing a trailer. However, a lot of good work was done. Thanks to Nick Greer, programme manager at Network Rail Infrastructure Projects, and his team for compiling this information.

the rail engineer â&#x20AC;˘ February 2015

Christmas Day at London Bridge: Andrew Modica and Brent Farmer get into the Chrismas Spirit!

Black Saturday

the rail engineer • February 2015

NIGEL WORDSWORTH

he popular press loves bad news. So, when Network Rail deployed 11,000 people over Christmas to work on 2,000 sites around the country, the story wasn’t about the 314 projects that were handed back on time, it was about the eight (2.5%) that weren’t. Or, more exactly, it was about two of the eight that weren’t.

That seems like a very small number, but those two delays did shut two of London’s main termini for a day. Oops! Unsurprisingly, everyone took this very seriously. Network Rail certainly did, with apologies from Mark Carne, chief executive, who said: “While we have completed a huge amount of work across the country which will improve millions of journeys, the last few days for many passengers have been miserable and again I apologise for the disruption this caused.” Mr Carne also pledged that an internal report on what went wrong would be prepared - and published. That duly happened. Written by Dr Francis Paonesssa, the managing director of Network Rail Infrastructure Projects, it was published on Monday 12 January. Mark Carne and Robin Gisby, managing director of Network Operations and the duty director over the Christmas holiday, then met with the Commons Select Committee on Wednesday 14 January. And to cap it all, Rail Engineer was in Francis Paonessa’s office on Thursday 15 January to find out for itself what had happened. It was a tough week for Network Rail’s board. It must be noted that, although there were two major problems, each of which closed a London terminus (King’s Cross and Paddington), both the projects and the problems were entirely different. There was no connection or even similarity between the two. Secondly, Dr Paonessa’ published report is remarkably frank. It goes into detail on the problems that occurred, the timescales involved, and the steps that were taken at the time to try and get the projects back on track. There was no attempt at a cover up - everything was laid out for public inspection.

Advance planning All of the projects that Network Rail and its contractors undertook over Christmas, and there were 322 of them spread across 800 possessions and around 2,000 worksites, were meticulously planned. Every one was also assessed to estimate the likelihood of delays occurring and completion being delayed. Every one had to have at least a 90% chance of being completed on time. The 59 most critical projects were assessed again, and the most important of those had to pass a 95% threshold. Both of the projects in question were assessed to the 95% level, and both passed. As it happened, just eight were delayed out of 322 that’s 97.5%. So, in that respect, Network Rail’s planning worked. It was just Murphy’s Law that two of the ones that overran affected so many people.

King’s Cross / Holloway Junction Holloway Junction is approximately 1.5 miles north of King’s Cross station on the East Coast main line (ECML). There are four railway lines at Holloway, interconnected by four junctions to allow trains to pass from one line to another. Two of the junctions and 500 metres of the two railway lines between them were being replaced between Christmas Day and Monday 29 December 2014. Although this type of renewal is a relatively routine operation on the network, it was large in scale, involving the replacement of 6,000 tonnes of ballast and so was a significant logistics operation. Two other adjacent railway lines were needed for the engineering trains which supported the work.

the rail engineer • February 2015

In parallel, there were a significant number of other engineering works being undertaken between King’s Cross and Peterborough which closed the ECML in multiple locations. As a result, it was not possible to bring the engineering trains straight to site from their depots. In total, 14 engineering trains were required to support the project at Holloway and they had to be delivered to site ahead of the work and parked up. The large number and size of these trains made the total worksite around nine miles long in order to accommodate them safely and to allow them the space to move in and out of the construction area in a carefully choreographed sequence. The optimum engineering plan would have required the closure of all four railway lines at Holloway in a seven day blockade and to renew all four junctions and all four stretches of track at one time. This would have been cheaper and would have had inherently more flexibility in the engineering plan, lowering the risk of an overrun. However, because of the significant disruption to passengers resulting from a seven-day blockade, this strategy was not supported. The next best plan was to have two four-day blockades and to undertake the renewal in two halves, one at Christmas 2014 and one at Christmas 2015. However, the main junction at Watford on the West Coast main line was also being renewed over Christmas 2014. This would have left two of the key North/South routes closed at the same time, which would again cause significant disruption to passengers. In discussion with the train operators (TOCs), it was agreed to keep one Anglo-Scottish route open to a London terminus and therefore the plan at Holloway was staged in such a way that two of the four lines could be re-opened on Saturday 27 December, enabling a reduced passenger services to run. To be able to execute this plan, various parts of the project had to be undertaken in parallel rather than in series, reducing flexibility. Whilst the risk of an overrun on Saturday 27 December was now higher, the project was risk assessed using the standard industry tools and still passed with a 95% likelihood of completing on time. To minimize this risk, various steps were taken. Seven road-rail vehicles (RRVs) were sourced from an approved supplier to ensure that there was minimal risk of mechanical failure. The supplier of the plant also provided eight new log grabs to reduce the risk of key plant failures - one for each machine and a spare - and provided an on-site fitter so that any equipment problems could be fixed quickly. A contingency allowance was built into the plan so that any unforeseen slight delays would not affect the overall timetable. The plan was therefore as robust as Network Rail could make it.

Cumulative delays However, delays occurred right from the start of the works. Approximately one hour was lost during the process of isolating the 25 kV overhead lines and then issuing the required permits to work before the site work could start. “We recognize that taking possessions generates quite a high workload on our electrical control centres, so we had already taken the measure to make sure that Holloway

was number two in the queue so that risk was minimised,” Francis Paonessa commented. However, it seemed that didn’t help. Approximately three hours were then lost during the process of ‘scrapping out’ during which 500 metres of old track and sleepers were flame cut, dismantled and loaded onto engineering trains marshalled on the adjacent track. There were a number of reasons why time was lost, including some due to machine operator inexperience, but the primary reason was that the fittings between the RRVs and the brand-new log grabs kept leaking hydraulic fluid, losing pressure and not working correctly. The onsite fitter was constantly working to fix these problems and delays mounted. The plant supplier had provided new log grabs to specifically reduce the delivery risk. However, the unintended consequence was to introduce a delivery risk because the grabs had never been operated with these specific RRVs. On top of that, one of the seven RRVs failed and was beyond the capability of the on-site fitter to mend, so an off-site specialist was called to site. It was 3 hours 35 minutes before that machine returned to service. Network Rail is getting very hot on plant reliability, so it was unfortunate that this particular machine failed at such a critical time. “We’ve been doing a large piece of work on RRV reliability over the last couple of years,” Francis admitted. “They still fail, but we are in the middle of a scheme of work to drive that reliability up.” All this meant that, at the end of scrapping out at approximately 09:00 on Christmas Day, the project had lost four hours. Less the 45 minutes of contingency built into the final plan up to this point, and the work was 3 hours 15 minutes behind plan.

the rail engineer • February 2015

The project had now reached the ‘point of no return’. A key decision had to be made on how deep to excavate the ballast. The contingency plan allowed for the project to be up to four hours behind at this point and still deliver the full 300mm deep ballast excavation (around 6,000 tonnes of stone). Significant time could have been saved at this point if the ballast was purely ‘skimmed’ rather than fully excavated. However, that would have significantly reduced the expected life of the new crossings and track, from a typical 25 years to perhaps only 10 years or less. “The whole point of doing this job was to fully renew the track and the S&T so the plan was always to maximise the amount of ballast we could take,” Dr Paonessa commented. “The contingency plan said if you’re up to four hours behind at that point you carry on with the full dig, because we think we’ve got enough time left. So the site team made exactly the right decision based on the contingency plan that they had and they carried on with the full dig. We’d already used up three and a quarter hours of the overall contingency but we had other slots of contingency built in.” Once that decision had been taken, to go for the full 300mm deep excavation, the die was cast. It had to be completed to that depth along the entire length of the track otherwise it could introduce serious track quality issues.

Shortage of drivers Shortly after the decision was made to proceed to the excavation phase, two engineering trains, which were loaded with scrap rails and sleepers, were due to leave site. Some of the scrap was not correctly positioned to safely travel on the open railway and had to be adjusted. By the time that this was completed, the drivers of these trains had reached the end of the limit for the length of a shift and were unable to take the trains to New Barnet, approximately seven miles away. This seemingly minor problem proved to be the catalyst for a major issue, though this did not materialise for a further 12 hours.

The drivers of two of the spoil wagon trains (used to transport the old ballast) were cascaded forward to drive the scrap trains away. Moving drivers from one train to another is not unusual; however, the engineering trains were spread out over the nine-mile worksite so time was lost with each driver move. The site was now two train drivers short and continuing to gradually lose time. By 14:00 on Christmas Day, the project was approximately six hours behind the plan. The programme delay had now been escalated to senior management, but it was still felt that the Saturday handback of two railway lines was possible, although tight, because of the contingencies built into Boxing Day. However, the project had been cascading train drivers throughout the day and, shortly after midnight, the supply of new drivers to support this cascade ran out. There was one remaining driver and five engineering trains still on-site and this was the point at which the project started to rapidly lose time. Whilst all the drivers involved were cooperative and committed to completing the project, they had reached their maximum shift duration limits, which for safety reasons cannot be exceeded. The huge amount of construction activity around the country over Christmas required the support of over 200 engineering trains. This demand exhausted the national supply of freight train drivers and some planned work had already been cancelled in the run up to Christmas because it could not be supported by train crew. The train plan for each worksite was carefully constructed but, due to the constraints of driver hours and shift patterns, could only cope with a finite amount of project delay. After this point, the work activities and the engineering trains to support them become out of sync and this is what happened at Holloway during the early hours of Boxing Day. “When it got to about 1am, we hadn’t finished the heavy dig and we only had one driver left on-site to move the five trains around. Then we were really in difficulties,” Francis Paonessa admitted. “We’d made assumptions that we would be digging out at a certain rate, but we were not achieving it. The train wasn’t where it’s supposed to be and you can imagine the difference between just scooping up a bucket of material to tip into the train and having to trundle backwards and forwards to where the train was. It was in that period overnight and into the morning, when that logistics plan and the work on the ground was completely out of sync, that we made virtually no progress.” This was compounded by a mechanical failure of one of the ballast wagons which failed in such a way that it could not be moved for a number of hours. On the morning of Boxing Day, senior staff sought to identify a solution but, by 11:00, the project was around 15 hours behind the original plan. Network Rail IP Tactical Control and LNE Route Control were made aware that an overrun would occur on Saturday 27 December. The overrun was also escalated to Network Rail’s managing director Infrastructure Projects and chief executive. By 13:00 on Boxing Day, a revised plan had been put together which showed that the railway through Holloway to King’s Cross could not be safely handed back until Saturday night. This was after the time when any passenger trains were planned to be operating so a

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the rail engineer • February 2015

24-hour overrun was therefore declared. This revised plan had two through lines being opened for passenger service on Sunday 28 December at 05:30 and all four lines as originally planned at 05:30 on Monday morning.

Don’t forget the passengers So what to do about the 36,714 tickets that had been booked in advance for 85 trains planned to run into and out of King’s Cross on Saturday? “We have a number of standing plans that sit there in any case of major problems,” Francis Paonessa said. “As you can imagine, our teams are dealing with service incidents on a daily basis across the country. All sorts of things are happening from animals on the track to a tree coming down to a points failure or signal failure; so the route teams are very familiar with generating service recovery plans quickly. “Alpha 1 plan is the one for King’s Cross so, if for any reason King’s Cross is out of action, whether it be a fire or a bomb alert or something, the standing plan that we have, and the one that we adapted on Boxing Day, utilises Finsbury Park.” Finsbury Park is two tube stops north of King’s Cross. London-bound trains would arrive at Platform 4 to allow passengers to disembark onto an empty platform, and then be shunted across to Platform 5 to pick up passengers before departing for destinations north of London. The decision to run trains had to balance the disruption that would be caused by running services terminating at Finsbury Park against the even-greater disruption that would have been caused by cancelling services altogether or directing them to other destinations more remote from King’s Cross. At the start of services on 27 December, local trains began to arrive (southbound) and depart (northbound) with some using Platform 4 in both directions. Around 100 had arrived, departed or passed through by 10.00 with average delays of around 10 minutes. At this stage, it was agreed locally between the station staff and the King’s Cross signal box that long-distance services would also arrive and depart from Platform 4, whereas the plan agreed by all parties the previous night

was that they would arrive at Platform 4 but depart from Platform 5. As a result, passengers were unable to get off London-bound trains onto Platform 4 due to the platform already being occupied by northbound passengers. This error contributed to overcrowding in the rest of the station and understandable passenger confusion. This was corrected after the third London-bound train arrived at Finsbury Park around midday following the implementation of a passenger flow system at the station. A further 106 trains were operated between 10:00 and 17:00 with average delays of around 37 minutes, although a number of trains experienced delays of up to two hours. While the vast majority of passengers were able to board a train to their destination, a reduced service meant that trains were cramped with many passengers forced to stand for all or part of their journey. Passenger services to and from King’s Cross were resumed on Sunday 28 December on two lines and all four lines were opened, as originally planned, for services on Monday 29 December. A number of immediate lessons have been learned. These include a requirement for plant operators to test all new equipment before it will be allowed to be used on the railway and that engineering train crew and contingency at times of peak work will be treated with the same level of nationwide cross-project scrutiny and planning as other resources in short supply, such as signal testers and overhead line engineers. No doubt more changes will be implemented after a thorough examination of everything that occurred.

Paddington / Old Oak Common In contrast to the catalogue of problems at Holloway, the overrun that closed Paddington was much simpler. Between 24 December 2014 and 2 January 2015, Network Rail undertook major engineering works across the 25-mile stretch of railway between Paddington and Maidenhead to replace ageing infrastructure and to upgrade the railway for future services. The work to deliver this huge level of activity peaked on Christmas Day and Boxing Day when, as planned, all of the railway lines into Paddington were closed with over 1,200

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the rail engineer • February 2015

construction and test staff, split into two 12-hour shifts, working on the infrastructure. Over the following days, between 27 and 30 December, around 350 to 400 people were employed per shift.   The work required the support of 18 engineering trains and over 200 construction machines such as 500-tonne mobile cranes, RRVs and piling machines. 10,000 tonnes of track ballast was removed and a similar amount of new ballast brought in. During this period around 2km of track work was completed and a further 2km of new track brought into use. 23 sets of points were commissioned and multiple new signalling systems were brought into service.   There were detailed contingency plans for all elements of the planned construction and signalling testing activities and these were enacted a number of times to bring the construction and signal testing activities back on schedule. This was achieved by a combination of providing additional resources or de-scoping non-critical activities and these works finished on time. The contractor responsible for signal testing, one of the last stages of the project to be completed before the lines were returned to service, reported that its signal testing work was complete on the main lines at 03:30. At this point, the project appeared to be on time to hand back the planned railway lines at 07:00 to allow passenger services to commence. As it turned out, this report was inaccurate.

Incomplete validation “The signalling testing and evaluation process is a huge job and it happens all the way through the commissioning,” Dr Paonessa explained. “It’s not something that happens right at the very end, there’s a massive programme of work all the way through that is the only thing that absolutely guarantees that the railway is safe to hand

back on time. That process is led by the tester-in-charge of our framework contractor and it’s a difficult job, there’s no doubt about that. “At that point, when that validation process was coming to an end, they believed that they had a couple of hours work to do to finish it off. In the process of doing that validation, they found that they had some additional work to do, some additional checks that they needed to redo. So we took back possession of the railway to go out and do those activities and they took a lot longer than we had originally thought and longer than they originally thought.” At approximately 08:30, the Network Rail project team asked the tester-in-charge for a candid view of the issues and confirmation of what the revised timescales would be. The response was that the document for Old Oak Common would be issued at 11:15. Route control and the operations teams therefore planned on that basis.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Subsequently, the tester-in-charge found that the amount of work that still needed to be done was greater than initially expected. This came to light as safety validation checks on the paperwork were completed. The cause of this was a combination of physical testing work needing to be redone or rechecked and inconsistencies in the paperwork needing to be resolved. Ultimately, the documentation was finally issued to enable the signalling and thus the railway lines to be handed back into use at 13:14. An investigation is underway to ascertain exactly what went wrong with the testing process. Consideration will also be given to providing additional contingency time for the validation process where major signalling works or multi-disciplined works are being undertaken.

The effects on services As soon as it was recognised that the overrunning engineering would affect train services, action was taken to implement the agreed passenger contingency plans. Reading station was running with only three through platforms on 27 December so many London-bound trains were turned at Swindon and Didcot to keep them away from Reading and avoid congestion. Passengers had to change trains to continue their journeys but, overall, this delivered more punctual/reliable journeys. Passengers to/from London Paddington were generally diverted from Reading to London and vice versa using services to/from London Waterloo. However, a rugby match at Twickenham meant that neither additional services nor longer trains were available, which led to overcrowding. Oxford to London passengers were diverted via Banbury and Chiltern services and this generally worked well, although the services were very busy with displaced passengers from the West Coast main line in addition to the normal levels of Chiltern passengers.

Because of these two problematic projects, passengers had been badly affected both at King’s Cross and Paddington, and that reflected badly on Network Rail. “At the end of the day, the railway is here for passengers. It’s not here to be a railway,” Francis Paonessa affirmed. “It’s here to transport people around and we must put their needs and requirements first. It shouldn’t matter to the passenger how we’re making sure that they’re not disrupted, whether it’s through guaranteed delivery plans or excellent service, all that matters is that the trains run on time. We need to do what we say we will do which is to deliver an effective railway and make sure that it is there when the passengers need it. That’s our mission, that’s the mission we set out to do. It’s one that Mark Carne has said quite clearly that we’re not doing well enough. “We need to do better and we will do better.”

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Not breaking news… I

s there anyone out there? Once an engineer’s train has passed the marker boards and the protection, this is an interesting question. On a ‘normal’ day there are many people out there. Passengers and freight, all being carried in diverse directions over what we would call an open railway.

But Christmas is different. The media says that the railways are closed over the Christmas period, missing the little appreciated fact that the railway is never closed - unless someone has actually shut it. In normal times this will be the engineer who takes possession of a stretch of railway - hence the term possession.

Stafford Christmas blockade OK, as readers of Rail Engineer, you knew all this already, but once a year there really are trains emerging from a possession onto a completely deserted railway - a railway that appears to be closed - but isn’t. This is what happened on the Stafford Blockade. As Ian Jones, manager of the Staffordshire Alliance who delivered the works recalls, the nine engineers’ trains involved in the Stafford Christmas blockade all had to be fed into the possession and then dispatched into the great void so that they could get back to their depot at Crewe or Bescot. When it comes to running such trains over the holiday period nothing can be taken for granted. There are no quick backups, no ready contacts to ring. Everyone’s on holiday - ‘at home with their families’ is the current euphemism. So Ian and his team had to make sure that at every step of the way from the trains coming in to going out there would be crews - and someone to instruct the crews.

Non-headlines This was a blockade scheduled to last 81 hours. It was given back two hours early with everything completed and so nobody heard about it. “Blocked railway given back without disruption” isn’t much of a media headline. “Nobody inconvenienced”. That’ll not sell a lot either. But it’s these sorts of non-headlines that the Alliance was after when it embarked on its programme of works to build a new flyover at Norton Bridge junction and resignal Stafford station and the surrounding area. There were worksites near Norton Bridge itself. One at Yarnfield, which is on the Stone Branch, and one at Chebsey at the southern tie-in point for the new railway. S&C was installed at Yarnfield and bridgeworks and track slues were carried out at Chebsey. Two ‘A’ frame OLE structures were removed and the overhead wiring configurations changed. At Stafford, five new signals were installed and commissioned at the north end of the station. This work had been brought forward in order to reduce the pressure on subsequent operations later in the year in the main August commissioning. While this was going on, an under-track crossing was installed in preparation for the future resignalling.

GRAHAME TAYLOR

Removing life-expired signals at Stafford.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Meanwhile… Just a word on the overall progress of the grand scheme - the construction of a flyover with its extensive new railway. The main site was, of course, shut down for the holiday period, but up to now the works are on schedule. Muck shifting started in July, all the haul roads are in and bridge 1 is complete one of the eleven to be built. Drainage works and embankment strengthening is ongoing and the construction of the other bridges is under way. In May, the S&C units at the southern end of the Norton Bridge site will be installed which will allow the construction of a railhead to receive all the materials for the new railway. The alliance - that’s Network Rail, Atkins, Laing O’Rourke and VolkerRail - is keen to explore innovative construction methods and, by adopting a modular approach to bridge construction, is able to erect a bridge from piling upwards in about two weeks. The flyover structure should be ready for a short possession in May 2015 when the bridge beams will be lifted into place. The next major milestone for the resignalling scheme is the grand commissioning of the alliance’s Stafford project in the late August bank holiday. At this point, signalboxes 4 and 5 at Stafford will be closed and control will be moved to the Rugby ROC. This will be an intense period of activity with about 1,500 bonds to change. So, as to whether there’s anyone out there, by the time you read this of course there is a blindingly obvious answer, but at Christmas it didn’t seem such a daft question.

The Watford saga But, of course, further down south on the WCML there was somebody there. At Watford, two major milestones in the long running saga of ‘what to do with Watford’ were taking place. As we covered in

the March 2014 edition of Rail Engineer (issue 113), the infrastructure at Watford has been a problem for many years. At times seemingly too difficult, the solution at first involved a series of long blockades of the WCML. These caused howls of protest. The result was a reappraisal of the whole strategy and a change to more-manageable and lessdisruptive shorter possessions. These were completed successfully in readiness for Christmas 2014 with the work for this long possession remaining almost as originally planned. These were the elements of the project that couldn’t be done at any other time. The prime objective of the possession was the commissioning of the signalling between Bushey and Kings Langley along with the St. Albans Abbey line, transferring control to the Wembley main line control centre.

Conventional kit The possession kicked in at 23:00 on Christmas Eve with work starting at the southern end of Watford station. Alterations were made to the connections to the Abbey branch along with parallel changes to overhead line structures and wiring combined with alterations to sidings in the area. The works themselves didn’t involve any spectacular equipment. The emphasis was on conventional track relaying and wiring equipment to reduce any risk of overrun. All the works on the access to the Abbey branch needed to be completed on time to avoid any disruption to the complex commissioning. Old equipment was taken down and three new signals erected. In such a congested area, complications with signals being obscured by redundant equipment was a significant issue. As these physical works came to a completion, the transfer of signalling control was started with a squad of specialist staff

from Siemens and Network Rail testing lineside equipment and feeding results to the tester-in-charge who correlated all the emerging information.

Contingency arrangements As John Nixon, the senior programme manager was keen to emphasise, this was a collaborative achievement through the efforts of Colas and Siemens staff who were directed from a central control centre involving all parties. Along the way there were a number of snags, but contingency arrangements with Network Rail’s maintainers ensured that additional resources were available when needed, turning up as planned despite the holiday period. The team used as much of the time available to try and close down as many of the arising snagging items as possible while the opportunity existed. After all, the chance of a four track wheels-free possession comes around…….. only once every Christmas Day. So, without any fanfares, the lines were given back to traffic at 03.39hrs.

What’s still to do at Watford? There will be two extended weekends in February focussing on the north junction which has yet to be re-laid. This will involve extensive trackwork and overhead line realignment as well. And then there’s the Easter blockade. Easter will see both the completion of the north junction along with the final signalling commissioning and also the renewal of Bridge 64 at Orphanage Road. This is a four-track railover-road bridge, so there are two significant sites in one very complicated possession. Then that’s it. Apart from snagging, Watford - the ultimate snag - will have been sorted out. And despite there being two major items of work on the WCML this Christmas, nobody heard about it.

the rail engineer • February 2015

l e Earls Courte sequ th

ositioned on the boundary of Zones 1 and 2, Earls Court is one of the busiest stations on the London Underground network. For the second Christmas running it played host to an army of orange workers delivering essential works to replace life expired assets through this busy station. Following a successful delivery programme over Christmas 2013 (issue 112, February 2014), Track Partnership, a strategic alliance between London Underground and Balfour Beatty Rail, returned to the station to deliver a six-day closure to replace the track and ballast through one platform (Platform 3), install four points and crossing (P&C) units and 474 metres of plain line track (including areas of slab track), and renew two subways. The planned closure of the District line, which started at close of traffic Christmas Eve, ran all the way though to start of traffic on New Year’s Eve when the line re-opened to run a 24-hour service to carry revellers in and out of London. Delivered accident-free, with no major incidents, the possession was handed back two hours and fifty-five minutes early, clocking up a 155% increase in track renewals delivered versus the previous year’s closure over the same timescale.

this buffer would absorb any potential delays should they arise. In essence, this process of continued review ensured the entire project stayed on-track for completion.

Delivering more

Keeping London moving

Track Partnership’s Andy Titterton-Fox, project manager for points and crossings, puts the success of the project and the increase in output down to the level of planning and detail now being put into every single project - a move which has clearly paid off. Planning started just after Easter 2014. A dedicated team held weekly meetings with all key stakeholders - signalling, power, plant and contractors. This ensured that design, engineering, assurance and construction milestones were instilled into the team at the earliest stage to ensure readiness and preparation continued right up until the works were underway and beyond. As part of the programming of the works, a daily two-hour ‘float’ was built into the schedule to continually re-baseline delivery -

One of the key challenges the Track Partnership team faced was keeping London moving through the works. To keep disruption to a minimum, the Piccadilly Line remained open throughout the closure with only Platforms three and four out of commission. In order for the Piccadilly line to remain open, a physical barrier was erected to separate the general public from works. Six feet high, and running the length of Platform two, it provided a safe, soundproofed method of segregation, allowing passengers to move freely and safely around the station. There was no greater demonstration of the success of this than on Boxing Day when a horde of Chelsea and West Ham football supporters swamped the station on their way to and from the local derby match.

An invisible workforce

Works planned and completed while the station was kept open.

Importantly, there were no complaints from residents living in the nearby vicinity. Indeed, the overall station public / workforce segregation was commended by the general station manager. Praising the Track Partnership team, he pointed out that there had been no complaints from passengers, that the passenger / workforce interface ran as smoothly as it could have done, and that no-one in the station was really aware of any works going on, such was the lack of intrusion or disturbance. Conveniently, this ‘invisible workforce’ accessed and egressed the site via a substation adjacent to Earl’s Court Underground, so there was no need for them to even enter the station complex itself. This was just as well, given that

the rail engineer • February 2015

some 150 Track Partnership staff were on-site during any one shift, three shifts a day, around the clock for the six days. To aid staff welfare throughout the project, a ‘pop-up site village’ was erected with a fully-staffed canteen providing much needed hot food and drink for the duration, including a hearty meal on Christmas Day - roast turkey with all the trimmings, of course - and a Christmas tree to bring a bit of festive cheer.

Focus on innovation With so many people on-site at any given time, accurate, high quality and consistent briefings were essential. For the first time for Track Partnership, site access briefings were introduced via a video system at each of the three site entry points, which proved highly successful. Another innovative planning detail was manifest in the works manmachine interface, where exclusion zones were clearly defined and lollipopfashion ‘DO NOT ENTER’ signs positioned around each road-rail vehicle at a distance determined by the machine controller at his discretion. When the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) visited during the works, this method was deemed ‘a step in the right direction’ and a great improvement on the traditional method of marking exclusion zones to a set distance, site-wide. Another first for Track Partnership was the installation of 36 time-saving and practical hollow, cable-protection sleepers across the site. Signalling and power cabling are now housed inside the sleepers as opposed to being installed in the ballast or running alongside the line, where the risk of potential damage is much greater. One of the project milestones was ensuring ‘Wheels Free’ was achieved on time to allow for the signalling team to re-commission and test, a major contributing factor to the almost three-hours early hand over.

Working in a shoe box… Andy Titterton-Fox compared working on the LUL infrastructure to “working in a shoe box”: the complex confines of the site such as tight spaces and steep gradients presented particular challenges to the replacement of the four P&C units. There was no space for large rail cranes so the units were delivered as loose bearers and rails by engineering train and installed using road rail excavators. One of the P&C units that had to be replaced (number 27) presented its own unique challenge. Due to the Victorian design of the alignment and geometry, the soffit level of the location meant that the rear of the switch panel (over an equivalent length of 4 bearers) was fixed directly onto a high pressure Thames Water sewage main. Track Partnership keeps London moving.

400 meters of drainage installed using a Unimog. This challenge impacted upon the setting out and installation of the works which were completed with the use of 3D GPS controlled dozing of the track either side of the culvert to ensure tolerances were achieved. Over the culvert, direct-fix Delkor Egg base plates were used to secure the iron work. These are highly-resilient rail fasteners consisting of a top plate and base frame which are durably vulcanised together by means of a natural rubber collar, resulting in a low static stiffness while ensuring a high degree of rail stability and high vibration and noise attenuation. The track was installed to the required alignment and position and will enable smooth running for generations to come.

Co-operation and integration The Track Partnership’s Ruislip Depot in West London - manned 24/7 - was responsible for the continual loading and unloading of the 33 TransPlant trains required throughout the project. Eleven physical trains, recycled three times, delivered ballast and other materials to site, returning to the depot to offload spoil. Recycling TransPlant trains on Christmas Day involving multi-discipline co-operation and this integration was another first for the team. The assistance of the various sub-contractors was critical to the success of these projects. Engineering train support was supplied by TransPlant, large plant by Balfour Beatty Rail Plant and temporary power, lighting and small tools by Torrent Trackside. Kilnbridge undertook the subway major civils works. Running in parallel to the Earls Court project were drainage projects at Sloane Square and West Brompton stations, carried out by Track Partnership’s drainage team, as well as in excess of 400 metres of deep tube re-railing works involving the London Underground Track Delivery Unit. The Victoria Station Upgrade Team was also busy, installing a new boxsection subway and sewer. Key members from these teams attended the four-hourly meetings and conference calls, so that they were always kept informed and updated. Andy described all of the disciplines coming together was “like a well-oiled machine”. Indeed, there were no real unforeseen issues or challenges - the team was even able to carry out an additional 74-metres of re-rail originally scheduled for a January mid-week renewal. John Hardy, head of track programme for London Underground, summed up the Earls Court project: “This has been our most operationally successful closure to date. During the six days on site we delivered the full scope of the project, more than ever before, with no accidents or damage incidents and no complaints from the public.” As Andy Titterton-Fox added: “We are transforming a Victorian infrastructure that keeps four million people moving every day. Delivering this scale of work in the constraints of the LUL network continually provides new challenges and opportunities. It’s a credit to the team that we overcame each one and delivered great infrastructure for London to keep on moving for generations to come.”

the rail engineer • February 2015

Application of BIM on infrastructure projects

to be built of the existing structures before the new works can be digitally constructed alongside. This can be a significant and fundamental part of the ‘new’ design process.

MUNGO STACY

he virtual world may appear far removed from the harsh reality of railway operations – brake dust, wheel squeal, night shifts. But the clean digital world of 0s and 1s is increasingly becoming a normal part of project delivery because of the benefits it offers for safety, efficiency and accuracy.

BIM and BIMwash The current hot term is BIM: Building Information Modelling. The concept is that an asset has a digital life in addition to its physical life, and that information about the asset can accompany it from cradle to grave. In theory this should reduce rework by removing the paper interface: no more re-drawing based on old scanned copies. The government has mandated that publicly procured projects must adopt the so-called BIM Level 2 by 2016. This has generated an industry in its own right looking at delivery of BIM and a consequent multiplication of jargon on the subject, to the extent that it risks becoming incomprehensible to an outsider. The term ‘BIMwash’ is not some new and advanced kind of screencleaning fluid; rather, it relates to the inflated, deceptive or uninformed claims made about the use or performance of BIM.

Digital life, digital legacy Parsons Brinckerhoff has been using BIM and similar processes for many years in the United States, on infrastructure projects such as the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct. In the US, alternative terms including Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) and Civil Integrated Management (CIM) are in general use. In this country, Parsons Brinckerhoff has worked with digital modelling techniques for many years in the buildings sector and has been one of the leaders of transferring this expertise into the rail sector, on projects including Crossrail South-East section and Northern Hub. Partly in response to the overuse of the BIM term and associated BIMwash claims, Parsons Brinckerhoff has developed a lexicon of digital life, digital legacy and digital toolsets. The focus is on the digital outcomes which will be most useful to a client on a particular project, and which digital tools can be used most effectively.

Asset life A further key factor with infrastructure projects is the interface with existing infrastructure. Much railway infrastructure dates from the 19th century. This interface is a critical one for the 3D model, and models need

One of the aims of BIM is to provide a digital life to ensure continuity of asset records. In the longer term, if this aim is fulfilled, then the need for modelling existing assets could reduce. However, the extent and maturity of the existing infrastructure in the UK are likely to make this challenging in practice. Many of these existing structures have an extensive pre-digital life including modifications, maintenance and change of use; there are many examples of viaduct structures which have already been widened two or three times. A point cloud of Water Street bridge, Manchester.

Information about existing assets can be gathered from various sources, ranging from traditional archive drawings and intrusive investigations to modern laser surveys. The former remain invaluable for verifying hidden details that are unobtainable by laser surveys, such as arch ring thickness, waterproofing details or abutment construction. In some cases the record drawings can also reveal what can never be revealed by laser-scanning: the thought process and rationale of the original designer. A key benefit of using digital techniques is the reduction in trackside access required for design surveys; this provides obvious safety benefits. Likewise, linking the digital model to a schedule, adding the time dimension and moving to 4D, allows the construction sequence to be rehearsed digitally and potential risks identified. Efficiencies can be gained by adding cost information, 5D, to allow costed bills of quantities to be produced from the model and updated rapidly.

Culture and technology The successful adoption of BIM is more about cultural change than technological enablers. Much of the technology has existed for some time, such as information servers which provide a common data environment. However, shared data is just one part of a wider collaboration and Parsons Brinckerhoff sees a trend towards co-located working and alliances as part of successful project delivery.

the rail engineer • February 2015

The BIM model is a useful tool in visualising solutions, but the key input is engagement of key stakeholders at critical design stages. Here again, technology can play a part; Parsons Brinckerhoff has equipped rooms as ‘Design Caves’ and the use of a wall-sized smartboard is now a normal feature of the design review culture. The smartboard allows interactive viewing and manipulation of the 3D model by the whole team and markups of key points and issues on-screen.

Simplicity in complexity One of the challenges of BIM is the sheer volume of information that can be contained in the common data environment. Ultimately, this digital data needs to be understood by people - so simplicity and clarity are paramount. In this context, 2D representations still have a useful role alongside the 3D model. The advantage of the traditional drawing format is that it focuses attention on a selected sub-set of information, typically including critical interfaces. Indeed, the procedural task of arranging and marking up a drawing is often a key step in the thought-process of the designer, since it forces a rationalisation and communication of the important aspects of the design. Drawings traditionally contain their own ‘metadata’ about the design including, among other things, the basis of the design, such as input survey information, specification notes and residual risk information to satisfy a designer’s responsibilities under CDM. Drawings undergo well established checking procedures, invariably involving coloured pens, to give assurance of a quality output.

Inside the Design Cave. Previous experience on large multi-disciplinary projects has already embedded some necessary cultural behaviours within Parsons Brinckerhoff. In particular, many projects have been completed working with drawing and 2D model files within a document management system. This enables information sharing across disciplines, the ability to include references produced by other disciplines (to provide a complete set of information on a drawing) and ownership of the design by the relevant discipline. Parsons Brinckerhoff is also a fully multi-disciplinary company and has a strong existing culture of cross-discipline collaboration. While BIM builds on these methods, a significant change in design culture for the BIM approach employed on a project has been the transition to working directly with the 3D model. Previous practice in bridge design, for example, had been to commence with 2D plans, sections and elevations, and develop a 3D model, if required, based on these. The BIM way of working has required new modelling skills to be learnt - to work directly with the 3D model and produce all the drawings from the model.

Model refinement and level of detail Care is needed with communicating the degree of refinement of the model and the level of detail it contains. A significant culture change is required to realise that a 3D model is not necessarily any more accurate or detailed than a 2D equivalent, and indeed can even contain a range of refinements within the same model. Early conceptual design work is often carried out using Ordnance Survey mapping data, due to the unavailability of detailed survey data. Whilst the mapping data has well-understood limits of accuracy, it is still capable of surprise when, for example, an offset of around a metre between point cloud survey data overlaid with an earlier 3D representation derived from OS mapping is evidenced. A further example of this is the simplification to horizontal platform surfaces at early design stages to minimise modelling effort during development of alternative designs, but recognising that, in due course, the true vertical alignment of the platform will need to be incorporated. It is therefore essential to understand and communicate what the model represents. This issue of reliability of modelled data can be managed through level of detail (LOD) schedules and layer-naming conventions. Visual techniques and symbology borrowed from architectural practice are also successful, for example using transparency or clearly ‘blocky’ models to represent lower levels of design refinement, or using false colours.

At present, Network Rail’s engineering assurance procedures require submission of 2D drawings to their prescribed CAD standards. These procedures and standards have been developed over many years to minimise the risk to the operational rail network of works to the infrastructure. There remains a challenge to determine how best the 3D model can operate in conjunction with formal review procedures. Parsons Brinckerhoff has used techniques to produce 2D drawings based directly on information extracted from the model. Review of these drawings, using traditional methods, combined with the involvement of the responsible engineer in the modelling process, provides confidence in the model necessary to allow each discipline’s input to the model to be ‘approved’.

Concept for a station platform canopy.

Moving up the wedge Parsons Brinckerhoff takes care to employ a range of digital tools and software appropriate to the design stage. Although there are sophisticated, discipline-specific BIM modelling tools available, particularly at early design stages a simpler approach can focus attention better on key design issues.

the rail engineer â&#x20AC;˘ February 2015

OLE line string. This approach allows a design team to focus on the challenges of coordinating a large, complex design concept between multiple disciplines. It is often the case with rail design that the optimum solution is only achieved after several carefully-considered iterations. Software tools aimed at streamlining the design process with built-in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;auto-generateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; functions are not always appropriate in this situation. A further advantage consideration is the size of the model files. Technology moves on, but even so there remains a need to avoid placing excessively heavy demands on the hardware and allowing reliable manipulation of the geographically large models. For example, a client and its design team must be able to hold day- long coordination sessions, regularly flicking between 2D and 3D views of a model, without the screen freezing or interrupting the flow of discussion.

Different geometries, different solutions The application of BIM to projects within the building sector has been common for nearly a decade. This position is supported by the availability of effective software that provides much of the functionality to support the BIM process. In contrast, the use of BIM on infrastructure projects is less widespread. This is due, in no small part, to the differences in geometry involved and the types of software which can deal with these. The contrasts between applying BIM to different sectors are illustrated by a crude classification into different geometries. Buildings generally take a vertical form of construction; horizontal floor plates are stacked vertically and the interfaces tend to be internal rather than external. In contrast, infrastructure projects tend to take a horizontal form. Transportation projects typically extend along a linear corridor governed by cross-sectional and alignment rules. Other forms of infrastructure project such as energy installations could be considered as surface-based.

This distinction is useful since techniques, modelling tools and data schemas may not be equally effective across different forms of geometry. Thus, a modelling tool that can readily generate repetitious floor plates may not be the most suitable for a linear project. These considerations can assist the expert practitioner - the designer - to select the most appropriate digital toolset for the job. This recognises that different tools may be needed among and even within sectors. Rail projects can be challenging since they combine features of these different geometries. The rail environment itself is linear but also intersects other linear features at different levels including roads and rivers, and includes vertical construction at the stations. At key locations such as elevated stations, there can be four or more levels to coordinate: utilities and watercourse culverts below ground; highways, urban realm and substructure at street level; railway and platforms on a viaduct; pedestrian footbridges providing platform access; station roof-space and building services above.

The vertical features of Manchester Piccadilly station. Additionally, there is a difference in scale between building and infrastructure projects. Track models may include whole sections of route covering many kilometres, and these may need to be broken down into sections of 1.0km to 1.5km of track length. Surrounding buildings and streets may be modelled to provide context and illustrate the relationship between the new works and the urban realm. In this respect, the BIM process can generate some additional workload over and above what would normally be required in 2D, where a simple overlay on an Ordnance Survey tile would suffice. However, this can provide the key benefit of enabling easy understanding and visualisation of the proposals.

Aerial view of Ordsall.

the rail engineer • February 2015

Overall model view of Ordsall.

Conclusions BIM, particularly for infrastructure projects, is difficult to define precisely; Parsons Brinckerhoff has instead focused on the outcomes required from BIM and acknowledged that different sectors may approach BIM from different angles. The challenge that BIM addresses is the fragmented and inefficient manner in which digital data is used in the construction industry. Tackling this has and will require innovation, the use of appropriate digital tools and a huge cultural change, building on existing design processes. The successful implementation of BIM methods and processes can deliver benefits in producing efficient, coordinated designs; allowing clear presentation of complex interfaces to a variety of stakeholders, while

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reducing trackside safety risks during the design period. BIM has been used as a tool to bring diverse technical disciplines together in a common understanding at the early, critical stages of design, requiring technological investment but also cultural changes. One of the challenges for implementing BIM for infrastructure projects in the UK is to look forwards as well as backwards, making best use of the latest tools available without erasing the legacy from previous generations. Using the same yardstick, perhaps the challenge for a successful application of BIM is to ensure that our twenty-first century models prove useful to our successors in the twenty-third century. Mungo Stacy is an associate at Parsons Brinckerhoff

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the rail engineer • February 2015

Modelling

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nnovative track monitoring technology and the information it provides can help to save cost, predict asset life cycles and be incorporated into the Building Information Modelling (BIM) framework.

There has been much debate in the rail industry and beyond around Building Information Modelling (BIM). However, BIM is a reality and its adoption across the UK in major infrastructure projects is acting as a catalyst for change in the way projects are procured, delivered and managed. In the rail industry, BIM has been adopted by two very high profile infrastructure projects, Crossrail and HS2, which will provide a key reference point for the rest of the industry. Crossrail, which aims to be the first major infrastructure project to fully realise the BIM concept, defines BIM as “the process of

generating, building and managing data through the life of the project by using model-based technologies, linked to a database of project information”. Impressively, BIM incorporates physical, environmental and commercial data on every element designed for Crossrail.

The move to Level 2 Information management and the use of data for operational and maintenance purposes becomes crucial as projects move into their final, and most costly, phase of BIM Level 2 (Level 2 becomes mandatory for all public sector projects in 2016). It’s fair to say that, as

Track information overlayed on a route map.

JUSTIN SOUTHCOMBE

BIM is increasingly adopted on more projects, companies or suppliers that are unable to prove they can fully facilitate the collection and analysis of data in these latter Level 2 stages of a BIM project risk losing a significant competitive edge - just as we have seen with the construction elements so far. PAS 1192-3:2014 (the specification for information management in the operational phase of assets), to which Network Rail made a significant contribution, lists the following capabilities as a prerequisite to delivering BIM Level 2 effectively: »» Better awareness of the operational and maintenance needs of assets; »» Better decisions regarding operation and maintenance expenditure based on actual asset performance and status; »» Dynamic measurement and condition-sensing enabling poor energy performance, faults and impending failure to be identified; »» Better organisational and strategic planning from more complete and accurate asset information; »» Better information quality as a result of automation enabling an increased amount of verification.

the rail engineer • February 2015

What PAS 1192-3 is saying is that asset managers are going to have to ensure that the quality of their asset information, as well as the means of obtaining them, is significantly better to drive through these improvements. The development of real-time remote condition monitoring systems and condition monitored maintenance analytical tools can therefore expect to play a major part in this step change in closing the loop in any infrastructure system information cycle.

operators, Southeastern Railways. In Kent alone, the company monitors over 1.8 million data points per day, taking over 11,000 data samples per track section. That’s a total of over 250 million service miles from over 5,000 sensors on over 600 cars. This data is used to produce significant statistical models upon which to build and create powerful life cycle management processes, enabling asset managers across the rail industry to save cost, increase safety and plan more efficiently. Furthermore, nearly 160 cars are now being Track conditions deployed with the Perpetuum system on the Of course, an asset that is crucial to any rail adjacent Sussex network with the respective infrastructure project, and one that needs train operator, Southern. constant, accurate monitoring and management, As the sensors are located on the rolling stock is the track itself. Thanks to innovative (see left), the data provides constant monitoring electromagnetic vibration harvesting technology, not just of the condition of those vehicles, but which Perpetuum engineered, patented and of the track itself. By collecting track condition produced in 2004, daily real-time track condition data directly from trains that are in service and data collection, information management and earning revenue, Perpetuum provides a much analysis are achievable within the BIM framework. more frequent, reliable, extensive and therefore Perpetuum technology delivers the power valuable real-time information management required to transmit large amounts of system than traditional track monitoring autonomous wireless sensor data reliably systems, such as conventional measurement from remotely monitored assets and is already trains or manual inspections. operationally deployed and collecting substantial Indeed, real time snapshots, accessible 24/7, as analytical data on the UK and European rail well as trending data on degradation and failure network today. rates in track condition, can be analysed and For example, Perpetuum products and predicted. The interface between the wheel and information services have been fully deployed the track can be analysed too, so wheel flats can Dura 190x133mm ad_v1.qxd:Layout 1 25/06/2014 16:47 Page 1 on the trains of one of the UK’s largest train be identified and questionable ‘rough ride’ calls can

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be instantly checked and if necessary, eliminated, thanks to the use of the data as a decision support tool. Unnecessary and costly track maintenance based upon unreliable information can be eradicated, with all the improvements to service and revenue that can bring. Therefore the major service benefit is in ensuring that the rich analytics which are produced are assimilated into future planning, maintenance and buying decisions, dramatically reducing operational and maintenance costs as well as increasing track safety by reducing manual inspections. Perpetuum is not just a technology provider, its expertise actually provides a huge knowledge and information base upon which process change and improvements can be built, adding significant value to a project. As track and other infrastructure sub-systems become more and more integrated, Perpetuum’s services, knowledge and information management can provide railway systems projects with the key benefits targeted by PAS 1192:3. These include reduced costs; better awareness of the operational and maintenance needs of assets, including better identification of poor performance, faults and impending failure; better decisions regarding operation and maintenance expenditure based on actual asset performance and status.

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Unlocking the rail engineer • February 2015

Innovation I

n World War 2, RAF bomber crews were formed by directing pilots, navigators, wireless operators, bomb aimers and gunners into a hanger. They then milled around until they arranged themselves into complete crews.

Forming teams by getting the right people in a room is also one of the aims of the Railway Industry Association’s (RIA) unlocking innovation workshops. Though in this case the process is a little more guided and involves different coloured hats, elevator pitches, bespoke software and networking stands. To inspire creative thinking those attending were asked to wear colourful clothes. The most recent of these events was held at the Transport Systems Catapult (issue 111, January 2014) in Milton Keynes that has a 36,000 square feet centre which encompasses demonstration and visualisation studios, development labs, presentation areas and workspaces. This new centre offers a collaboration space for innovators, entrepreneurs, research organisations and businesses. Opening the thirteenth such workshop, RIA’s deputy technical director, Jim Lupton explained how this event is part of the association’s Unlocking Innovation scheme, which seeks to help the UK supply chain overcome obstacles to innovation. The workshop did this by encouraging networking and helping those present to understand the opportunities for funding and collaboration. To help with this there were Innovations Angels in the room who were clearly identified by their yellow caps.

Elevator Pitches The idea of an ‘elevator pitch’, effectively to communicate an idea to a senior executive in a lift in around a minute, has been around since the 1980s. For this workshop, a slow-moving

DAVID SHIRRES

lift was envisaged with two minutes allowed for a pitch to get across an idea and seek partners. The fourteen pitches at this workshop covered customer focus, security, applications for specific technologies and support for innovators. A large logistics company offered funds and expertise to support those with innovations whilst another organisation offered advice on advanced manufacturing technology. One pitch concerned RIA’s own Value Improvement Programme, which aims to improve supply chain efficiency through improved culture and behaviours with a focus on innovation. The specific technologies for which rail applications were sought included passive cooling of large enclosures, the use of polyurethane, mobile surveying, free piston linear power systems, hydrogen fuel cells and

additive manufacturing. Security solutions were offered by two companies, including cyber security and electronic counter measures. Customer focus pitches concerned projects to enhance the customer experience by enabling passengers to optimise their end-to-end travel options and to understand connectivity demands for security, train operators, retail and passengers. This last project recently won the Rail Exec Club’s ‘Most Interesting approach to train operations’ award. Two of the pitches concerned light rail, one presenter offered the low cost light rail solutions needed if there is to be a significant expansion of light rail in the UK. Another asked for involvement in a proposed Very Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley which would have a 2.5 km test track. To add further colour to the workshop, green hats were given to the elevator pitchers to identify them during the breaks when 200 people were milling around.

Funding the future Presentations from FutureRailway and Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board) made it clear that there is a lot of money available. Indeed funding available over the next seven years for the EU’s Horizon 2020 research an innovation programme amounts to no less than €80 billion, of which €6 billion is ring fenced for transport funding. Part of this is the Shift2Rail initiative which is a legal undertaking between Ec and rail sector companies (including Network Rail) who are jointly funding a one billion euros programme to boost five areas of rail innovation: rolling stock, control and signalling, infrastructure, customer service and freight. This can fully fund the development of innovations by its members and their sub-contractors.

the rail engineer • February 2015

David Clarke of FutureRailway used a four-quadrant graph of benefit and implementation difficulty to illustrate how innovations were encouraged. For the low benefit side, the support offered essentially concerned guidance whereas funding is needed to support ‘high benefit / hard to implement’ innovations. Competitions to address industry-defined challenges are a key activity in this regard. FutureRailway has two on-going competitions: ‘Reliable and Predicable Braking’ (closed 18 December 2014) and ‘Power Train’ (closed 2 February 2015). It is soon to launch competitions on degraded mode signalling and the digital customer experience. In addition, the Rail Innovation Support Engine (RISE) has £1.8 million each year available to fund promising rail innovations that do not have to fall in a particular category. FutureRailway can also provide testing vouchers giving up to five days subsidised access to test facilities at Long Marston and Network Rail’s Rail Innovation and Development Centres (RIDC). Nick Jones explained the role of Innovate UK, which is investing £400 million per annum in innovation of which £70 million is allocated to the transport sector. Innovate UK also sponsors competitions such as a cross-industry initiative to introduce aerospace materials to rail. Its ‘Small Business Research Initiative’ is intended to help the public sector access novel ideas which cannot be obtained through normal procurement challenge.

Advice to access funding for innovations from FutureRailway, Innovate UK, Shift2Rail was readily available. To test participants knowledge of funding sources Jim Lupton ran a ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ competition immediately before the networking session. One stand demonstrated Bridgelight, the network match-making software that RIA encouraged workshop participants to use to facilitate collaboration by matching capabilities and requirements. During the networking sessions delegates were also able to sign up for advice sessions on product acceptance and intellectual property issues that could be a barrier to innovation. An unusual aspect of the workshop was that, to aid networking, delegates were asked to ensure that their mobile phones were switched ON during the networking sessions.

Breaking Out The workshop devoted a large part of the afternoon to a wide range of breakout sessions: »» Passive solutions to control risk from London Underground’s curved platforms; »» Guidance for SMEs on Horizon 2020 opportunities; »» How companies can improve their ability to innovate; »» Mapping underground utilities;

Hats and stands The workshop had a generous amount of time for networking with the opportunity to speak to the innovation angels and elevator pitchers with their yellow and green hats. A dozen or so stands also provided a focus for networking. These stands included client organisations such as Network Rail and London Underground, organisations that promote innovation including FutureRailway and the Transport Systems Catapult, and those demonstrating specific technologies.

»» Handheld devices to help blind and partially sighted users find their way around stations; »» Prevention of ballast fouling from highway run off at level crossings; »» Improved fault reporting on London Underground disparate data channels; »» Developing Network Rail’s Rail Innovation and Development Centres (RIDC); »» FutureRailway’s powertrain challenge;

A look at the last two topics will give an idea of the level of detail discussed.

the rail engineer • February 2015

RIA technical director Jim Lupton speaks to an attentive audience. Network Rail has two RIDCs. The Tuxford site (formerly known as High Marnham) is 10.5 miles of track, speed limited to 75 mph, is non-electrified and non-signalled and has a purpose built OTP/OTM (on-track plant/ontrack machine) test site. The Melton (formerly known as Old Dalby) site has 14.5 miles of track for use up to 125 mph and is electrified with both OLE and third/fourth rail. At both sites, track infrastructure can be modified as required and there are suitable workshops and offices. Network Rail made it clear that the RIDCs must both meet the current needs of potential users and be developed to satisfy future requirements. FutureRailway’s Powertrain challenge concerns the 3,000 self-powered vehicles, some of which date from the mid-1980s, for which there is significant scope for innovation to improve energy and cost efficiency as well as increasing reliability and reducing maintenance costs. The competition seeks powertrain solutions and sub-system innovations (for example energy generation and storage, power electronics and distribution systems) which must be fitted below the solebar and meet the required acceleration and duty cycles. The competition is in two stages, feasibility and a demonstrator stage, for which respectively £750,000 and £3.65 million have been allocated. The competition closes on 2 February 2015 and it is expected that feasibility contracts will be let in March and a start will be made on the demonstrator stage at the end of the year.

End of the afternoon By the end of the afternoon there was no let up in the wide range of topics covered by the workshop with presentations on innovation in procurement and how FutureRailway is ensuring that the future will be delivered. A joint presentation by Simon Addyman of London Underground and Danny Duggan of Dragados UK on their ‘Reconstructing Bank’ project demonstrated that innovation is not just about technology. This project faces significant constraints to reconstruct a very busy underground station which potentially affects 67 buildings, many of which are listed. At an early stage, it was recognised that the contractor’s contribution to the project’s business objectives outweighed the variance in construction cost between different contractors. For this reason, an innovative procurement process was used that involved structured and protected dialogue with bids evaluated against business outputs which included capacity enhancement, journey time reduction, reducing construction disruption. The ideas adopted from the successful contractor included increasing journey time benefits by £148 million. This approach also enabled the main contractor to be appointed early in the project. As a result, instead of the client, the contractor undertook the design required for the Transport and Works Act application. Early contractor involvement and extensive early 3D modelling to detect construction clashes is also reducing the time of the construction phase. As a result, both during construction and when the project is complete in 2021, Londoners will benefit from this innovative approach to procurement.

In a contrasting presentation, FutureRailway’s James Hardy explained how the future, as represented by the Rail Technical Strategy (RTS), was going to be delivered. After a quick rattle through the RTS he explained that the RTS was intended to be a “single version of the truth” to give the industry a definitive idea of the technologies that need to be developed to meet its future needs. This would be maintained using the web-based Sharpcloud visualisation tool which was being used to deal with the complexity of the RTS, present the underlying detail, and support cross portfolio programmes. He then used the RTS’s Control, Command and Communication (CCC) theme to illustrate how significant programmes have been developed. A preliminary evaluation shows that, over 30 years, the CCC portfolio is expected to deliver benefits of the order of £7.1 billion for an investment of £1.5 billion. The development of the RTS portfolios in this way is being used to determine how best to progress the required projects as well as influencing innovation in franchising, European and academic activity. The unlocking innovation workshop at the IMechE on 30 June will have a fuller session on the RTS.

Next steps For anyone with an interest in railway engineering, RIA’s Unlocking Innovation Workshop is a fascinating event although its wide-ranging nature makes it difficult to immediately grasp all the topics covered. For a client with a specific problem or a supplier with particular solution or idea it is certainly the place to be. The next Unlocking Innovation Workshop takes place on 22 April. Prior to that RIA members have the opportunity to attend the annual RIA Technology and Innovation Conference on 25 and 26 March. The theme for this conference is ‘Transferring Technology’ and it will include the 2015 RIA/Future Railway innovation awards of a total of £300,000 to develop railway innovations. The need for railway innovation is clear and is reflected in the high level of funding available to support new technologies. RIA’s unlocking innovation workshops play a valuable role in this respect by ensuring all concerned are aware of the opportunities and getting the right people together. Who knows how many future innovations will result from connections made at these workshops. Some helpful websites connect: home page of RIA’s Unlocking Innovation Scheme https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/unlocking-innovation-in-rail iHelp: Innovation in the GB Rail Industry http://www.webdoc.org.uk/ihelp/home.html Shift2Rail: European rail joint technology initiative http://www.shift2rail.org/ Bridgelight: network match-making software for workshop participants http://bridgelight.co.uk

the rail engineer • February 2015

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The Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre The very light rail sector offers potential growth of a new UK industry supplying domestic and international rail schemes, providing companies with a significant opportunity to develop new very light rail solutions. To support & stimulate the growth of the UK very light rail sector, a VLR National Innovation Centre has been proposed by the WMG with a preferred location at Castle Hill, Dudley. The Innovation Centre will serve as a hub for industry and academia, and will include:

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

A neutral location for precompetitive research Co-ordination of strategic initiatives Management of collaborative projects Conference & exhibition facilities

▪ ▪ ▪

Master’s level courses for next generation light rail technical specialists A resident R&D team, with research labs and offices Training courses in maintenance and operation of light rail systems

Preliminary designs for the centre plus projects costs and an economic benefit report have now been completed. The next phase is to seek the necessary funding for the centre. Additional stakeholders are welcome to join the project team. Please contact the WMG centre HVM Catapult Programme Manager, Dr Nick Mallinson, for further information:

W www.wmghvmcatapult.org T +44 (0)24 7657 4521 E wmghvmcatapult@warwick.ac.uk

▪ ▪

Incubator units for SME companies engaged in very light rail A dedicated test track for vehicle, track and infrastructure trials between Castle Hill & Dudley Port

The steering group for the project comprises: Dudley and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Councils WMG/University of Warwick Network Rail Centro

Department for Transport Future Railway Knowledge Transfer Network West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority

Listen to the station! 78

the rail engineer • February 2015

PAUL DARLINGTON

magine using a train and a strange, busy station on your own if you are unable to read the signs and unsure of where you need to go. Network Rail has been involved with the trial of a possible solution to help customers who are partially-sighted or blind to make endto-end journeys involving rail. As part of the Reading station redevelopment, Network Rail was keen to make sure the station was as user friendly and as accessible as possible for all customers. Part of this work involved working with Guide Dogs on the design of the station. Formally called The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Guide Dogs provides mobility for people who are blind and partially-sighted and also supports research into technology to assist such people. The work at Reading involved signage, tactile paving, audio announcements and braille maps. As part of its consultation work, Guide Dogs also introduced Network Rail to the Microsoft Directional Audio trial.

The system A team from Guide Dogs, Microsoft and Future Cities Catapult was testing a system on a sample journey from Reading to

London encompassing walking routes, shopping, bus and train travel. A small headset is paired with a Windows Phone application and uses cloud-based location and navigation data. This works with a network of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi beacons to create a personalised Microsoft soundscape transmitted through the wearer’s jawbone. The application helps both orientation and navigation and also provides enhanced contextual information, such as points of interest and additional journey details, to help the user build up an understanding of their surroundings. This information is transmitted through bone-conducting technology, which means that sounds appear to come from outside of the user’s head. For example, if there is a coffee shop on the user’s right, ‘coffee shop’ will be read out from their right, allowing them to build up a mental image of their surroundings.

The headset is a modified pair of AfterShokz headphones that hooks over the wearer’s ears and rests on their jawbone, transmitting sound to their inner ear using vibrations. This means that the wearer can hear sound from the headphones and from their environment simultaneously as the headset does not cover their ears. As a result, users are very aware of their surroundings giving them the confidence to make their own decisions rather than just be guided by a pre-recorded script. On the back of the headset there is a small 3D-printed box containing a Bluetooth receiver and transmitter, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a compass, and a GPS chip so that the user’s position can be tracked. The user selects a destination using their smartphone and the headset provides audio cues - it emits a continuous pinging sound when the user is following the correct route and a swishing noise

the rail engineer • February 2015

Reading station and Network Rail

if they wander off-course. It can also inform them when they reach junctions and issue verbal directions. Buttons on the headset allow access to more-detailed or historical information about specific points of interest. So, for example, on passing a town hall, a press of the button will find out when it was built and what is happening there. All information is sourced from Microsoft Bing. Microsoft’s audio technology means that the sound is directional, so if the attraction in question is several metres ahead to the right, the sound will appear to come from that direction. Each headset is tailored to the user’s unique specification, to create a model of their head. This helps to enhance the quality of sound placement.

The Bluetooth beacons are matchbox-sized and for the trial were battery operated. For accuracy within buildings both Wi-Fi (802.11) and Bluetooth (802.15) devices are used. The Wi-Fi communicates directly with the smartphone, with the blue tooth beacons communicating via the headset and then to the smartphone. Supporting information, such as on those points of interest, is pulled through a combination of Bing and/ or processed on the Azure cloud platform as necessary. Bing is the Microsoft web search engine and Azure is a cloudcomputing platform created by Microsoft for digital applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centres.

Network Rail started to work with this new technology in September 2013. It quickly became clear that there was synergy with the trial and the Reading station development as the technology could easily be installed as part of the station programme. Network Rail enabled the station part of the end-to-end journey by providing a Bluetooth route through the station from the ticket barrier to the platform. This involved installing hard-wired Wi-Fi devices and Bluetooth beacons along the route. For the trial at Reading, eight Wi-Fi devices and twelve Bluetooth beacons were installed. Network Rail worked with Microsoft closely on a daily basis to move the devices and beacons around the station to get the best positional location and communication links possible. The system was subject to extensive testing and set-up by Microsoft over a three-week period to understand the signal strength and triangulation. The application developers, located in Seattle, USA, were involved in refining and modifying the system for a station environment. Once it was confirmed a success, the system was announced in November 2014. All of the journeys made by blind and partially-sighted people during the trial were made with the back-up of a sighted person being present.

powered beacons, can be installed throughout the station, not just for wayfinding but also for beneficial supplementary contextual information regarding retail outlets, waiting rooms, refreshments and additional journey details. Even retail staff may be provided with Bluetooth beacons so that partiallysighted people know where to obtain assistance to help them through a station.

Looking to the future.

Phase 2

The long-term ambition for this audio technology is to bring other organisations and local authorities across the UK on board. Then more people living with sight loss, or anyone living in a city, can benefit from its services. With two million people in the UK already living with impaired vision, the potential impact of this kind of project is great. The ability to travel independently can significantly affect a person’s ability to have a social life and their ability to get a job. It is possible that the technology could be used to enhance the usability of stations for all customers and not just the blind or partially-sighted. Complex, busy stations are not the easiest places to find one’s way around and can be very off putting and intimidating places, in particular for the occasional user of rail transport. Anything that can be done to make rail travel easier and more attractive is welcome.

Feedback from users was very positive, and the evidence from phase 1 will be used to make a safety argument and validation for a standalone phase 2. This will look at how the technology, and a large number of mains-

We would like to thank Matthew Jackson, senior programme manager, Thames Valley Area Infrastructure Projects, Stations and Civils, Network Rail, for his assistance with this article.

the rail engineer â&#x20AC;˘ February 2015

VICKY STOCKLEY

Newt

detection

efore starting any project on the railways, however small, it is a requirement that steps must be taken to protect any wildlife that could be effected by the work. This is doubly important if any protected species are present.

As regular readers of this magazine will know, one of the most frequent complications is caused by the presence of great crested newts (GCN) - a species which is protected throughout Europe although, paradoxically, it is not all that rare in the UK.

Reducing cost and delays To identify if great crested newts are present, there is usually a requirement to survey all ponds within 250 metres (and potentially up to 500 metres) of the proposed works area - thereby adding significant cost and potentially time delays to a project. Some ponds can be ruled out due to being unsuitable but, where there is doubt, ponds must be surveyed at least four times in order to demonstrate the likely absence of GCN; more if they are found to be present. However, in 2014, a new technique was approved in England and Wales which has the potential to save companies considerable time and money. This involves taking a one-off water sample from a pond and testing it in a specialist laboratory for GCN-specific environmental DNA (eDNA) - the DNA that is released from an organism into the environment, for example from faeces and shed skin. eDNA remains in the water for seven to twenty-one days; therefore if the result is positive it means that GCN have been in the pond very recently, making the test highly specific. Samples must be taken by a licensed ecologist between 15 April and 30 June and, if the analysis demonstrates GCN is absent, no further surveys will be required (provided works are undertaken before the start of the next GCN season starting in mid-March). Survey results are possible within a matter of days, although in the GCN season they are likely to take around two weeks to be processed.

In comparison to conventional GCN surveys, this can save up to three visits per pond since at least four survey visits would be needed to demonstrate absence using the traditional method (six visits are needed to support development licence applications if GCN are found to be present whether using eDNA testing or not). Comparison between the traditional and eDNA methods has shown some startling potential savings. If the eDNA method had been used on two sample schemes which form part of the Great Western electrification programme, the cost saving would have been 41%. In an unrelated housing scheme in 2014, the saving was as high as 70%

Early classification One additional benefit of using eDNA testing is that ponds can be quickly and cheaply scoped in or out in terms of needing further surveys in advance of detailed design. This allows more accurate forward planning in terms of budget,

project risk and time to completion. The new technique therefore has the potential to save a considerable amount of money, as well as enabling engineers to rule out the need for GCN mitigation far earlier than they would otherwise have been able to. Even where GCNs have been found but surveys not yet completed, early indication of presence (as shown by eDNA testing) will enable engineers to incorporate GCN mitigation (particularly crucial with respect to finding suitable locations for new ponds) into plans far earlier than they would otherwise have been able to. The development of a robust, easy method for determining presence or absence of GCN in ponds is a considerable step forward for ecologists and engineers alike and demonstrates the benefits of embracing new technologies as they come along. Further developments in this field are expected, with the potential to test for the presence/absence of species other than GCN, including other protected species and invasive non-natives. Vicky Stockley is Senior Land Management Consulant at ADAS UK Ltd.

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the rail engineer • February 2015

RECRUITMENT

GROUP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Flexible location base

PROFESSIONAL HEAD – ROLLING STOCK LONDON | £ Attractive remuneration package

• Strategic planning in the context of rolling stock Wabtec Rail Group is a leader in UK rolling stock engineering and management, across the and European rail industry’ technology with a number of strong businesses serving the rail industry. technology developments andUK innovations, including capital It forms a key part of the global Wabtec Corporation. expenditure implications RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board) Key areas of accountability will includegroup to: sales opportunities, • Respondnew to enquiries members businessfrom proposals • Co-ordinating supports the GB rail industry in its continual and across the industry, ensuring their and relationship management growth and by acquisition. It supplies products and services including • Set strategic rolling stock priorities to work to improve performance and deliver requirements are met from a rolling stock components, technology upgrades and complete vehicle overhauls balancetothe needs all parties and RSSBcompanies point • ofWorking with group on business value for money to its customers. It helps the of viewgrowth strategies and rail businesses across the UK. Turnover is over £200m with approximately objectives supporting their sales activities industry to understand risk, guide standards, 2,000 employees. • Lead, develop and support a team of manage research, development and innovation • Provide support, guidance and advice for professional engineers and manage the Due to facilitates retirement,collaboration. a Group Business Development Director isall sought and RSSB departments and decision Candidates should makers have a senior level rail business background supply of appropriate resources to deliver to lead rail business development activities and to co-ordinate sales supported byStock a graduate/professional level education gained in technical RSSB has strong technical engineering and standards, research and other • Play a key role on the Rolling opportunities in the UK. Key areas of contribution will include: engineering, or other relevant discipline. Interpersonal skills project management expertise covering outputs Standards Committee and EU business groups and • infrastructure Representing and group interests across the industry and leading rolling stock activities. should atRolling a high level. mirror groups that shapebeEU Stock Candidates will be Chartered Engineers with marketing and business development standards Due to retirement, a Professional Head of broad experience in rolling stock engineering • Developing and managing collaborative relationships with partners Rolling Stock is required to provide leadership including seniorthe management level. Candidates should ideally be able to easilyataccess groups’ key sites • Achieve safety and performance across the industry of the rolling stock engineering team and to and customers in an area ranging from, say, South Yorkshire to North • head Maintenance of a comprehensive of the railway rolling opportunities, up all rolling stock activities.knowledge The role will London. awareness of technical UK rolling stock developments in the context stock future developments of UK developments and of be partmarket of theand wider leadership team ofincluding RSSB. the impact of technical of wider rail systems, requiring skills in and European legislation and policies international practice communications, collaborative working and strategic management.

Please contact Rod Shaw at RGS Executive on 0115 959 9687 with any queries or forward your cv and covering letter to him via enquiries@rgsexecutive.co.uk

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RECRUITMENT

the rail engineer • February 2015

Recruitment Open Evening

3rd February 2015 4pm – 8pm

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11th February 2015 4pm – 8pm

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VolkerFitzpatrick is one of the UK’s leading engineering and construction companies, providing specialist civil engineering, rail, highways, building and industry focussed skills to a range of market sectors including industrial, rail, aviation, waste and energy. We are looking to recruit a range of professional people from operational and commercial disciplines including Project Directors, Project Managers, Project Surveyors, Agents, Quantity Surveyors, Engineers, Foremen and Works Managers across both the civil engineering and rail environment. Come and meet our management team at one of our Recruitment Open Evenings to find out why there has never been a better time to join us. No preregistration is required. Contact recruitmentfair@volkerfitzpatrick.co.uk if you would like to organise a confidential discussion on the evening or if you are unable to attend but want to find out more. Read about all our opportunities at: www.volkerfitzpatrick.co.uk/recruitmentfair

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22/12/2014 13:34

MD - ROLLING STOCK ENGINEERING East Midlands

PROFESSIONAL HEAD – ROLLING STOCK LONDON | £ Attractive remuneration package

‘An outstanding business leadership opportunity in a strong across the UK and European rail industry’ engineering business’

Our client is a well-established subsidiary of a substantial engineering group with extensive interests in the rail sector. The business has a strong reputation for high quality professional engineering services and rolling stock technology development and has an expert engineering RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board) Key areas of accountability will include to: • Respond to enquiries from members workforce ofthe overGB 300 supports railpeople. industry in its continual and across the industry, ensuring their • inSet strategic rolling stock priorities to levels. track recordperformance of deliverytoand a the A Managing Director is sought take business forward a strong workAto improve and deliver requirements are met from a rolling stock balance the needs of all parties and RSSB commercial willcustomers. alsogroup be necessary market andtoexcellent support. valuesituation for orientation money its It helps the point of view objectives and the roleto will provide opportunities for the industry understand risk, guide standards, Key aspects of the role include: Candidates should be experienced leaders in engineering/ • Lead, develop and support a team of manage research, development and innovation • Provide support, guidance and advice for use of initiative. manufacturing at senior management levels, seeking to progress further the professional engineers and manage • and Strategic and operational business leadership facilitates collaboration. all RSSB departments and decision makers The Wabtec Corporation has a track record for or already at MD level. shouldofbeappropriate graduate/professional, supply resources to deliver • Develop and implement business improvements to meet further career at all levels. in engineering discipline. RSSBadvancement has strong technical engineering and standards, research and other technical • Play a key role onideally the Rolling Stock or other relevant growth and maximise operating performance project management expertise covering outputs Standards Committee and EU groups and This is an outstanding opportunity to join Wabtec • infrastructure Lead key customer relationship management and negotiations for and rolling stock activities. mirror groups that shape EU Rolling Stock Rail in a key role and to make valuable will be Chartered The requirements of the role areCandidates such that candidates must beEngineers able to with larger sales contracts standards contributions. The company has a strong Due to retirement, a Professional Head of broad experience in rolling stock engineering live within reasonable commuting distance of central East Midlands. •development Maintain the businessthat can across industry sector, extending programme lead to its other Rolling Stock is required to provide leadership including at senior management level. Relocation assistance will be available if required. • Achieve safety and performance the reputation for strong operational and oriented role at Doncaster or elsewhere incustomer ofopportunities the rolling stock engineering team and to performance head up all rolling stock activities. The role will accordance with ambition. of technical opportunities, awareness UK rolling stock developments in the context •Candidates Work group companies on team widerof corporate and developments and of be partwith ofshould the wider leadership RSSB. development of technical live or be able to relocate to of wider rail systems, requiring skills in other executive entitlements. shared initiatives international practice within reasonable commuting distance of communications, collaborative working and Doncaster. strategic management. Please contact Rod Shaw at RGS Executive on 0115 959 9687 with any queries or forward your cv and covering letter to him via enquiries@rgsexecutive.co.uk Please forward your cv and covering letter to Rod Shaw at RGS Executive via

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