Network Rail Track Engineering Conference
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE AS PUBLISHED IN The Journal January 2019 Volume 137 Part 1 If you would like to reproduce this article, please contact: 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. 46 TECHNICAL 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. 47 TECHNICAL 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. 48 TECHNICAL 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.