Rail Engineer • August 2016 Queen Street High Level station was closed for twenty weeks. During this time a comprehensive plan ensured passengers could get to Glasgow, albeit with extended journey times. Trains were diverted to the Low Level station or the city’s Central station, additional use was made of the line via Airdrie and Bathgate and extra local buses were provided for local stations. The main Edinburgh to Glasgow trains were diverted over a new junction at Anniesland to the west of the city, built at a cost of £20 million specifically for this purpose (issue 136, February 2016). This involved a 20 kilometre circular diversion through the North Clyde lines to the Low Level station.
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First concrete base poured.
This 141-day closure follows a 44-day blockade last year to install slab track in the 338-metre long Winchburgh tunnel (issue 130, August 2015). This was the first UK use of the STA (Slab Track Austria) slab track system, which is being installed in the 918-metre long Queen Street High Level tunnel as part of this blockade. This, and the associated station works, will require around half a million man-hours work and cost £60 million, with an approximately equal split between the tunnel and station work. It took two years to plan the complex interaction between all the work packages for which the main constraint was the need to keep one line through the tunnel operational at all times to deliver the work. Network Rail considers this to be the largest piece of engineering work on the EdinburghGlasgow railway since it was built. Principal contractor for this work is Morgan Sindall, which was awarded an alliance contract in 2014 for the core EGIP physical works. This is a riskshare agreement - intended to create a collaborative environment. Morgan Sindall has engaged CPR for platform extension work, Story Contracting for the removal of the existing slab and construction of the base slab, Siemens for signalling and Babcock for the trackwork which, in turn, procured the services of Rhomberg Sersa who are the licensed installers
TRACK
£60 million blockade
of the STA slab track system (manufactured by Porr AG). Rhomberg Sersa would also install the Sonneville LVT slab system for the S+C within the tunnel. Another EGIP alliance contractor, Costain, installed the station’s OLE and a Furrer+Frey conductor bar in the tunnel.
Work outside the tunnel Track renewals work undertaken by Amey Sersa north of the tunnel started as soon as the blockade possession had been taken. This involved the renewal of three kilometres of track and five point ends, and the refurbishment of four more. This restricted movements into the tunnel, so slab track work could not start in earnest until this phase was complete. Other work north of the tunnel was the demolition for electrification clearance of Gourlay Street and Fountainwell Place bridges at the end of May, during a three-day window when train movements were not required through the tunnel.
ing gineer rack n e g n i t Bring nce to slab excellenstallations i
Rhomberg Sersa - Slab Track The UK’s leading slab track design and build specialist
// Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group have introduced SLAB TRACK AUSTRIA (STA) to the UK infrastructure, Winchburgh Tunnel, Queen Street Tunnel, Gospel Oak to Barking Reduced Construction Times Cost effective Maintenance Free Low Construction Height Future oriented modular slab system Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group I T +44 300 3030230 I admin@rhomberg-sersa.co.uk I www.rhomberg-sersa.com