Rail Engineer • August 2015
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awarded to Siemens in January. This included replacing 3-aspect with 4-aspect signals between Dalmeny and Edinburgh and the installation of six new signals on the Forth Bridge. As a result, diverted trains could reverse at Dalmeny without disruption to the train service.
Winchburgh’s problems Winchburgh tunnel lies at the eastern end of a fivekilometre long cutting. It is 338 metres long and was opened in 1842, having taken two years to complete. When digging the cuttings and tunnel, the contractor, Gibb and Sons, removed 200,000 tons more rock than expected and consequently made a loss. The tunnel was cut through dolerite rock, mudstone and shale. In the middle on the nineteenth century, these oil shale deposits once made West Lothian one of the world’s biggest oil producers. This shale was also a factor in an unfortunate accident during tunnel construction in 1839 when a man was severely burnt by firedamp. The cutting is crossed by two streams, west of the tunnel. A twin four-foot diameter cast-iron inverted syphon was provided to carry Myers Burn under the railway. Swine Burn crosses the cutting on an aqueduct that had to be re-decked as part of the EGIP electrification works. Downstream of the aqueduct is a pumping station, which drains the cutting west of the tunnel. This is an area with significant drainage issues, some of which are addressed by the tunnel works. The tunnel has a pointed roof profile and had a narrow six foot (1571 mm) which the tunnel works marginally increased to 1605 mm. Lowering the track by up to
Slab track system ÖBB-PORR - cross section and top view. 200 mm, together with the use of a Furrer+Frey Rigid Overhead Conductor Rail System (ROCS), was just sufficient to provide the required electrification clearance. To ensure this clearance is maintained the track has to be fixed in position requiring the installation of slab track. This will significantly reduce track maintenance in the tunnel and increase speed through the tunnel from 80 to 90 mph.
The Austrian Solution The principal contractor Morgan Sindall chose the ÖBBPORR Austrian slab track system for the Winchburgh project. This is its first use on the UK rail network although it had been trialled on the Old Dalby test track in Asfordby tunnel (Rail Engineer June 2014). The system was jointly developed by Austrian Railways (ÖBB) and Allgemeine
Expertise across rail infrastructure, construction and design Morgan Sindall is a major provider of multidisciplined projects to the rail industry collaboratively bringing together the strengths of the customer, community, supply chain and ourselves to successfully deliver a sustainable rail infrastructure through:
Delivery
• • • • • • •
Civil engineering Building and construction Tunnelling - TBM and SCL Stations Fit-out and M&E services Overhead line electrification Rail systems.
Morgan Sindall Euston Station 10th Floor 1 Eversholt Street London NW1 2DN T 0207 383 5730
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