10
STATIONS
Three is the
magic number
Three stations, three platforms, three months NIGEL WORDSWORTH
P
roving that not all railway projects take an age to be completed, Network Rail recently designed, planned and delivered platform extensions at three stations in Sussex in a little over three months. The works undertaken during three 52-hour possessions at Goring-by-Sea, Lancing and Cooksbridge provide a perfect example of the benefits of close collaboration, involving Network Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), principal contractor Dyer & Butler and platform specialist MegaTech Projects. The investment will enable the stations to comfortably accommodate longer, eight-car trains and resolve a long-standing issue of trains blocking the adjacent level crossings at all three stations. Network Rail contracted Dyer & Butler in January 2020 with the design only at GRIP 1 (Early Feasibility). With the first of the platforms needed by May, a timescale of just over three months, it was clear collaborative planning would be pivotal to the project’s success, and this began from the project launch. The project saw Dyer & Butler (a part of M Group Services, and currently at number 17 on Network Rail’s list of top 20 infrastructure suppliers) joining forces with MegaTech Projects, its partner on previous platform extension programmes including; 11 platform extensions at seven stations in the North Cotswolds; eight platform extensions at four stations in the West Midlands and another platform extension in Cambridge.
Rail Engineer | Issue 188 | Jan-Feb 2021
