TECHNICAL ARTICLE

AS PUBLISHED IN The Journal January 2019 Volume 137 Part 1

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Alison Stansfield MARKETING DIRECTOR Permanent Way Institution [email protected]

PLEASE NOTE THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS JOURNAL ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE EDITOR OR OF THE INSTITUTION AS A BODY. TECHNICAL

NETWORK RAIL TRACK ENGINEERING CONFERENCE

IMechE LONDON NOVEMBER 2018

This year’s Network Rail/PWI Track Croydon is not just East Croydon station, but a Engineering Conference took place at the network around Croydon. There is a collection IMechE in Westminster. Delegates were of stations, and eight key junctions that play welcomed by Pablo Forteza, Project Director, crucial roles in “sorting” train services in Engineering & Innovation, IP, Network Rail. and out of London. The present layout has a confused mix between pairing lines by use and PRESENTATION 1 pairing them by direction of traffic. Together with a lack of grade separation at junctions, this switching about wastes time and increases CROYDON the risks of disruption. Improving performance means attacking PROJECT primary delays by improving the assets (design and quality) and maintaining them better. In OVERVIEW addition, secondary delays must be reduced by having better planning rules and reducing PETER FAGG timetable interactions through grade separation SENIOR PROJECT ENGINEER at junctions. Peter Fagg NETWORK RAIL The BMUP (BM Upgrade Plan) involves more trains, more station capacity, grade separation, In a site only 4km from end to end there will Peter gave a detailed presentation about the optimised layouts, more stabling facilities and be approximately 25km of new track, 100 s&c huge project that he and his colleagues are higher line-speeds. At East Croydon there units, 100 signals (30 new ones), 1500m of developing to upgrade the rail network in the will be up to 44 trains per hour in the peak new viaduct or bridge and 2 new jacked box Croydon area. This is a key location on the direction. structures. There will be a maximum level Brighton Main Line (BML). difference of 17m between tracks. A minimum Peter took the meeting through the details overhead clearance of 4.9m will be provided The major problem of the BML is that it is full of the planning thus far for key locations throughout. to capacity. Consequently, performance on the within the area, East Croydon, the Selhurst route is consistently poor, there being no spare triangle, Norwood Junction and so on. East The investment decision framework will be space or time to recover from any perturbation Croydon involves significant plans for over- a 3-stage process, and the scheme will only in the service. In addition, the lack of capacity site development that will assist funding the become a CP6 project if the final business is limiting the introduction of desirable scheme. Most of the sites described will case is approved. Currently the scheme is at additional services, particularly the enhanced require Transport & Works Act Orders (TWAO). the GRIP3 stage. Thameslink services. This involves a significant legal process to gain the powers required to purchase The new East Croydon station will be huge, It is going to get worse too. The least optimistic land and to build, operate and maintain the with the two concourses together equaling growth forecasts suggest future growth in railway. Statutory and public consultation two football pitches in area. Each of eight custom will be 15% and the highest suggest will have to be extensive and public inquiries platforms will be equipped with four escalators. 40%. The usual means of increasing train will be required before formal application A significant amount of land will need to be capacity; longer trains, double-deck trains can be made. These processes will be time acquired to accommodate this and to provide and more standing room (i.e. fewer seats), consuming and challenging but have been the space for the staging of the reconstruction have been implemented or are unfeasible/not undertaken successfully before for many other works. acceptable. Capacity increases at stations schemes. have been implemented recently at London Bridge and Clapham Junction, which leaves Croydon as the next candidate.

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Presentations and videos from this seminar can be viewed in the PWI Technical Hub.

www.thepwi.org/technical_hub/presentations

PRESENTATION 2 THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

STEVE FEATHERSTONE PROGRAMME DIRECTOR IP TRACK NETWORK RAIL

Steve Featherstone

Steve gave his track delivery update next, Three British Safety Council “Swords of summarising the significant improvements Honour” have been won. Over-runs have been delivered by his colleagues in IP Track since cut by 76% in six years and post-installation So, things look good for the organisation, but the introduction of “Project Jedi”. asset failures are 75% lower in number. it must always be remembered that IP Track is Failures of road rail vehicles have been cut by competing in an open market, and work has to Over 750 cost improvements have been 60%. be won. implemented by some 450 colleagues. Lost time injuries have been cut by 69%, bringing IP Track is now winning work on enhancement “Quality is a race with no finishing line” David the business into line with the oil & gas delivery as well as renewals schemes, and T Kearns. industry. expanding into OLE, drainage, level crossings and more.

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Q&A

CHAIRED BY PABLO FORTEZA

The Q&A session featured Peter and Steve, but the vast majority of the questions concerned the Croydon project, which had clearly caught the attention of the audience.

Particular issues discussed included timetabling and the likely disruption during the implementation of the scheme.

PRESENTATION 3

Design issues were the appearance of the Materials were brought in by freight trains STRUCTURE HH finished works as well as their intended overnight from a Dublin freight yard, stone performance. The selected design used being bagged for this purpose. BRAY HEAD anchored gravity retaining walls constructed out of bespoke modular concrete units sat on A local civil engineering contractor was STEPHEN BATESON mass concrete footings. 40mm Titan Ishebeck employed to construct the concrete strip PRINCIPAL ENGINEER anchors were utilised. The units were textured footings for the wall working during the day. and coloured to blend into the surroundings, Once this was done, the installation of the wall STRUCTURES and the maximum unit size was determined units was undertaken over the October bank IRISH RAIL by the capacity of the crane expected to be holiday weekend in a 76-hour possession used on site. The wall was to be of tiered of the line. 61 piles/anchors were installed THOMAS CAROLAN construction, to reduce slope steepness, and together with the precast units. A remotely PROJECT ENGINEER to allow the provision of a widened cess to the controlled, caterpillar tracked “knuckle-boom” railway at the top. crane did the heavy lifting. Able to lift 1.6t at IRISH RAIL 21.6m radius or 600kg at 29m, this was able Tom described the construction process used to reach the most remote locations of the units Stephen took everyone through the history to implement the design. Site access was a successfully. of the railway, the layout, the problem and critical consideration, since the plant access the design of the solution. The site lies on was 2.2km south of the site and pedestrian Photographs showed that the finished job is electrified single line between Bray and access 2.4km to the north. Two tunnels lay a much neater looking construction than the Greystones on the Dublin to Wexford line. between the plant access point and site. The muddle of repair works that existed before. The line was designed by I K Brunel and the good news was that there was a sufficiently There is a walkway incorporated and this, plus site lies above the sea shore between two wide and extensive area of ground for a the handrails on the wall sections, should make tunnels. The line is above a sea wall that has site compound on the land side of the track future inspections and maintenance far easier given problems since it was constructed and opposite the worksite. A self-contained base and safer. has been the subject of numerous repairs. In for the workforce was created here with 2013, monitoring indicated that movement was canteen and welfare facilities as well as room occurring once more. for plant and materials.

Conventional surveys and aerial surveys using The decision was made to bring personnel to drones were employed as the basis for analysis site by train and return them at the end of each of the problem and to facilitate design. shift by the same means.

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PRESENTATION 4 DEVELOPMENTS AT BARKING RIVERSIDE

DAVID MANSFIELD PROGRAMME ENGINEERING MANAGER LONDON OVERGROUND PROJECTS

David Mansfield

Dave began by describing the historic The scheme will be delivered by London A blockade of the Up Tilbury and Up Goods background of the Barking Riverside area, one Overground under delegated authority. lines is planned for summer 2019 for these of change and inward migration from Saxon Construction will be contracted to cover GRIP works. times or earlier. Recently the major changes stages 6-8, and there will be some design have involved the running down of industries responsibility given to the contractor who will On the viaduct the trackform will be the OBB like the Ford motor factory. The area is said be expected to deliver to the same design PORR system; the use of slab track being to be the third most deprived local authority standard as the main designer. the only practical way to allow CWR on the area in the UK at present. It is also one of tight curves necessary. It is noteworthy that London’s most isolated areas in terms of The scope of the work includes 3km of new it is expected to take only 10 days to install public transport, requiring two connecting bus track, new and refurbished OLE, signalling the 1.5km of twin slab track using the PORR services to reach the nearest rail station. etc. and the required structures works. Four method. passenger trains and two electrically hauled The development proposals have been freight trains are to be allowed for each hour in In addition to tight horizontal curves, some very set out to change all this. A key element of the peak periods. GB2 gauge is to be cleared tight vertical curves are required. The viaduct the development proposals is the Barking into Ripple Lane sidings and throughout the needs to cross over Choats Road, then dip Riverside extension of the Gospel Oak to sidings for HS1 freight traffic. sharply back down to cross under some 400kV Barking overground line, with two proposed power lines immediately beyond. This means stations at Barking Riverside, the terminus The philosophy has been to keep things a worst gradient of 1 in 40 as well as the and an intermediate one at Castle Green. A simple, using standard designs & components minimum radius of 225m. The design has been TWAO, (as described earlier), was required for wherever possible. That said, there have been extensively modelled to assess the derailment this and it was obtained in September 2017. complexities. The ground conditions have been risk. It has been shown that the risk would be 10,800 new homes are proposed for Riverside a good example, with a significant geological low even without check rails, but these are to and a further 3,200 are planned for Beam Park fault, a high water table and very variable be fitted in any case. on the old Ford site. There are numerous key alluvial deposits under the site. These factors stakeholders as would be expected here. have meant the use of deep capping layers, Riverside station has now been designed. It geo cells and micro-piles inter alia. will have level access to trains and platforms It was decided to take the unusual step of and will take five car trains from day one, with requiring the designer to deliver a warranted A further complication has been the presence passive provision for six cars in the future. “fit for purpose” GRIP5 design. The usual of the HS1 running tunnels underneath the Castle Green station is not to be constructed requirement is for the designer to employ proposed site of the main viaduct. This has initially, but complete passive provision is to “reasonable care”. However, experience meant some complexities in the foundation be made for it so that when its construction is has shown this to be insufficient for such works, including the need to drive 10 x 1.5m agreed, it will only be necessary to construct demanding projects as this. Arcadia has been diameter piles between the two tunnels and in the platforms, access facilities and buildings employed for this stage of the project. close proximity to one of the cross tunnels. alongside the railway.

A further discussion followed, giving The response to this was that drawings were Q&A opportunity for questions to the presenters of not the required output. The entire rail project the preceding two talks. is being modelled in 3-D and the as-built output CHAIRED BY PABLO FORTEZA will itself be a 3-D model. Of particular interest was a question about the delivery of as-built drawings for the Barking Riverside project.

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PRESENTATION 5 PWI HIGHLIGHTS & REGISTRATION

BRIAN COUNTER TECHNICAL DIRECTOR PWI

Brian Counter

Brian gave a brief presentation beginning with Over 100 engineers have now been registered He suggested that the PWI offers a lot to a discussion of climate change and a number through the Institution. He mentioned the members, and that we should make good use of other issues that are challenges for rail new degree apprenticeships, spoke about the of it. engineers. various routes to registration and mentioned that the PWI’s fees are very competitive with Finally, he asked for our support with the He followed this with a quick resume of recent those of other institutions. Institution’s efforts. More mentors, sponsors PWI seminars and conferences and then gave and reviewers are always needed, so please his update on professional registration and help if you can. Contact [email protected] training.

RECOGNITION & REWARDS

STEVE FEATHERSTONE & PABLO FORTEZA

Steve presented certificates and awards to eight people; two IEng PWI, one CEng PWI, one Diploma in Track Engineering, PWI and four PWI Fellows.

Congratulations to all eight for their achievements (not able to attend: Gilles Moullec).

Sarah Boffey IEng Errol Maginley IEng (Dual) Roy Hickman CEng

Stuart Murphy Fellow Mandela Govera Fellow Tom Williams Fellow Paul McGill Diploma in Track Engineering

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PRESENTATION 6 CAST CROSSING COMPONENT IMPROVEMENTS

BLEDDYN DAVIES SENIOR ENGINEER, S&C NETWORK RAIL

IAN BOSTOCK PRINCIPAL ENGINEER, S&C NETWORK RAIL Bleddyn Davies

Bleddyn and Ian described the outputs of a adversely. To correct any such issue, crossings The presentation proceeded to consider data review conducted into the performance of should be checked after an appropriate interval several sites where particular problems had cast crossings on the network. This led them after first installation, and any plastic flow arisen and described these and the actions to conclude that better data was required to should be ground away to restore the correct being taken. NR is working with Huddersfield enable the issues to be resolved properly. shape and profile. University to look at options for improving They set up a virtual team to assist in obtaining matters, considering the wheel/rail interface this using members of the teams of the RAMs Bleddyn also described how they had made and not just the track. It is estimated that across the routes. use of knowledge gained from experienced crossing failures cost about £24m pa. One engineers like Andy Franklin. This identified a approach being worked on is the development A number of conclusions have been reached. number of additional important factors such as of an optimised “topping” design. 36% of defects occur at the tri-metal flash butt poor trackbed condition, lack of maintenance, welds on crossing legs. High dip angles are a casting flaws, access constraints, increased Future work will include the new specification concern, and there is evidence that crossings traffic, design deficiencies and competence & NR/TRK/012, outputs from the R&D, are not being re-dressed after a short period in confidence. agreed principles and a strategy for the service in the way that they should be. next generation NR56V and other initiatives It was concluded that the current single like remote alarms when exceptionally high The last issue is a factor of the material specification for cast crossings required re- dynamic inputs occur at crossings. behaviour of cast crossings. The cast steel writing. A new, three module specification is used is initially quite soft, and work hardens due to be published in March 2019, which will under traffic. Until that work hardening has cover these issues. occurred, some plastic flow of the material may occur, and this affects the wheel/rail interface

The next NETWORK RAIL TRACK ENGINEERING CONFERENCE is on 9th July 2019 at the IET.

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PRESENTATION 7 COURTHILL DERAILMENT

ANDREW DAVIES REDLINE PMC TEL AVIV

JON HAYES TRACK & ALIGNMENT PROJECT MANAGER WSP (BOTH FORMERLY OF S&C SOUTH ALLIANCE, NETWORK RAIL)

Andrew Davies

Andrew began the presentation, describing The derailment point was between a common Jon took over at this point to describe the the events that occurred at Courthill, between crossing and an obtuse one. A wagon of sand conclusions drawn and the outcomes. As is so Lewisham & Hither Green, in January 2017. was found to have been loaded asymmetrically often the case, the derailment was caused by Things began with a like for like renewal of the loaded, with its centre of gravity shifted to the a series of issues rather than a single cause double junction on 15th to 17th January. On the right by at least 100mm. There also appeared of failure. 24th of the month a freight train derailed on the to have been a broken spring in the wagon newly relaid junction. The rear three wagons of suspension before the derailment. The track A series of immediate improvements have an 18 car train were involved. Flange climb was condition had been affected by a late start to been put into place in respect of design and identified as the mechanism of derailment. the follow-up tamping possession, meaning construction, to ensure that similar deficiencies that only the main lines were tamped. The loop are not permitted in future. Network Rail is Adjacent lines were reopened to traffic within lines were manually packed instead of tamped. introducing new standards, incorporating 3 hours, but it took six days to reopen the full The track geometry meant a wider than modules for modular S&C, covering the whole layout. Initially a temporary arrangement standard 6ft, and consequently the modular life-cycle. A new working group has been set was needed, using a built-up crossing on S&C bearers had spine panels and were not up for modular S&C, and a possible new joint timber bearers for the first six weeks until the in accordance with the RE/PW drawing. There for modular bearers is under development. permanent cast crossing and concrete bearers was a twist in the track that was measured could be installed. as 1:307 at handback and 1:97 after the Jon ended with a moment of self-reflection. He derailment. Finally, there was a cant deficiency said that he had learned from the experience Investigations by ORR, RAIB and NR followed excess due to the transition into the geometry that one does get through such incidents and the incident, though the ORR deferred to of the adjacent S&C. emerge from the other side. The aim must be the RAIB almost at once. Key facts were to learn from them and improve. Finally, he established quickly. said, access must fit the design and not the other way about.

Q&A This session, understandably perhaps, focussed on the Courthill derailment presentation, and the CHAIRED BY PABLO FORTEZA issues raised around modular S&C.

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PRESENTATION 8 “COMPETENCE, WHY IT MATTERS...... ”

DAVID GODLEY HEAD OF ENGINEERING & ASSET MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY NETWORK RAIL

David Godley

David began with his team’s vision statement: Because, like most businesses, rail depends Within Track Engineering, seven areas of “Everyone competent according to their upon a multiplicity of people with a vast range competence have been identified: personal & corporate needs.” of different skills and abilities, it is all too easy to assume that other members of a team 1. Inspection & risk management Competence matters in a business where we know what we know. This is where the loss 2. Geometry analysis are managing heavy engineering and large of corporate memory begins to bite. I may 3. 3-D positioning numbers of people in intimate association with have been in the industry when Clapham and 4. S&C management each other. The people numbers are growing Hatfield happened, and I may have learned 5. Rail management all the time in the UK at present and the speed from the inquiry reports, but I must not assume 6. Asset management and complexity of rail technology is also that the rest of the industry knows unless I’ve 7. Planning increasing in parallel. checked that they have been informed, and that they understand. Relying upon corporate Within each area of competence there are There is reason to worry about the industry’s memory leads to self deception and the cycle different levels, ranging from the most basic, ability to cope with this situation. David referred of incompetence kicks in again. awareness, to the top level where one is able to the derailment at Waterloo on August 15th, to lead new developments in the field and 2017 and the RAIB report on it that was issued To combat this, David and his team have a teach others. NR has identified 13 different the day before this conference. In Clause 15, strategy to ensure that the competence of NR competence frameworks, and is now in the the report states “some of the lessons from the engineering people is assured, company wide. process of reviewing all engineering job 1988 Clapham Junction accident are fading There is a single competence framework for descriptions in the company, aiming to ensure from the railway industry’s collective memory.” the whole company, into which everyone can, that competences specified within them are Whilst that crash was caused by signalling and should, enter their personal competences. appropriate, sufficient and consistent. failures, the Hatfield derailment on 17th These might be Engineering Council October 2000 was down to track failures. So registration, professional body registration, David’s key messages were: we track engineers are “in the frame” as much academic qualifications and more. NR is as anyone else in the industry. moving towards requiring all engineers in the NR has to be able to demonstrate the company to be registered with the Engineering competence of its people. David referred to the well known cycle of Council as EngTech, IEng or CEng. incompetence, wherein ignorance of one’s own You will need an Engineering Council incompetence leads one to false confidence registration. in one’s own abilities, the rehearsal of false learning and eventually leads to catastrophe. This will help you as an engineer to plan, to The rail industry has to be aware of its own be more professional, to respond to change, weaknesses and strengths, and must build on to recognise and reflect the true value of the latter and rectify the former. engineering to our country.

To be proud.

Pablo briefly concluded the day with thanks to He reminded the audience of the next PWI CLOSING REMARKS all the participants, the organising team and all events in the first half of 2019, the details of those who attended. which are available on the Institution website. PABLO FORTEZA

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