Sustainable flood alleviation solution benefits passengers and the local community

I’d like to give thanks to passengers and the local community for their patience over the last nine days as we worked around the clock to complete the installations as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan. The new flood resilience measures will mean we can provide a better, more reliable railway for passengers travelling through the south west. Rebecca Wells, Senior Project Manager for Network Rail

PROJECT River Axe Flood Alleviation

CUSTOMER Network Rail

LOCATION Wessex Route, Devon

CONTRACT Framework

COMPLETION 2018

VALUE £9m

www.osborne.co.uk • 0800 0258 008 • [email protected] Specifically we aimed to: restricted to 4 HGV’s per day outside of • Reduce environmental impact and protect school drop off/pick up. Issue the SSSI/SAC. • Arranged for 9000 tonnes of spoil to be • Provide economic benefits used for farm improvements. Significant flooding on the River Axe, near • Give back to the community in which we Axminster, in Devon ‘washed out’ a section of • Collaborated with the council to install a work. the railway embankment. The immediate temporary re-useable bridge for our work, impact to passengers and freight was several which benefit the farming community and What did we do? days of track closure for emergency repairs. diverted traffic from the local village. Selection of a pre-cast concrete culvert Network Rail sought a permanent flood embankment over a piped or bridge option Giving back to the community was important alleviation solution at two locations, Broom was an important decision. With installation and so was the health and wellbeing of our Lane and Axe Farm, to safeguard this part of scheduled for a 9 day rail closure and with people. To reduce travel time, improve the Salisbury to Exeter route. access restricted by rural roads through the wellbeing and input to the local economy our village of Hawkchurch, the culvert offered people stayed nearby in Hawkchurch. The The challenge for us was implementing a sustainable benefits: team became part of the community for 8 months, supporting the local fete and sustainable solution that met the diverse • Off-site fabrication with controlled delivery building a play area for the school. needs of the funders, the regulatory bodies of the 46 units totalling 550 tonnes, and local authorities, the train operators and reduced road disruption. users, and the local rural community. • There was no requirement for site pre- Outcome assembly in the SSI/SAC. Solution • It was the lowest embodied carbon. Adoption of sustainable objectives from the • The controlled factory quality reduced start has resulted in no environmental future maintenance risk. Under the ‘One Team Wessex’ collaboration incidents, input to the local economy and • Installation of the units was predictable on the Network Rail’s IP Southern Multi- improvements for the local school and the resulting in hand back 9 hours early. functional Framework, we were appointed to community of Hawkchurch. design and construct the scheme. From the During the 9 day closure, 9000 tonnes of The 9 day planned track closure was back in outset collaborative relationships were embankment spoil was removed and the operation 9 hours early which reduced the formed to understand the expectations and units, cranes and equipment delivered. The impact on train operators and passengers concerns of all impacted parties. This early narrow rural roads were a challenge and as a and saved cost. Overall the scheme has engagement smoothed the way for a result of early community consultation we: sustainable solution that reduced risk. alleviated local flooding to provide improved • Re-routed 50% of loads away from the rail service reliability between Salisbury and village combined with village movements Exeter.

www.osborne.co.uk • 0800 0258 008 • [email protected]