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Rail Engineer • May 2015
Finding space for stabling facilities
O
n the 12 March 2012, Network Rail awarded Carillion two contracts to upgrade depots and stabling sites as part of the £6.5 billion Thameslink programme. Carillion had already been involved with this type of work, when in 2011 they carried out similar work at Bedford Jowett, which was the first stabling site for the running of 12car trains on the Thameslink route. The Thameslink project is already having a huge impact on our railway infrastructure with a new station at Blackfriars and an expanded station at Farringdon. By 2016, London Bridge station will have been totally redeveloped and the track layout completely remodelled in order to remove one of the most significant bottlenecks on the UK rail network. Eventually, this will allow 24 trains to run per hour through central London. Additional stabling capacity is now required to support the fleet of new Siemens Class 700 Desiro City 8 and 12-car units. The Department for Transport (DfT), which is paying for the sidings and stabling work, issued a stabling strategy in January 2011. In this strategy the DfT instructed that work should be carried out to provide new stabling capacity at Brighton, Horsham, Cricklewood, Peterborough, Cambridge and Bedford Cauldwell. This proposed work supports the construction of two full maintenance depots situated south and north of the core Thameslink route through central London. The first depot is at Three Bridges on the DC-powered Brighton main line and the second is at Hornsey on the 25kV AC East Coast main line. Both depots are being constructed by Volker Fitzpatrick, with Carillion providing the track, signalling and power connections from the depots to the mainline network.
Class compatibility Ben Bolt is the Carillion engineering manager for this Thameslink work, and he explained that all the sites have to be designed not only for the new Siemens Class 700 but also for the current Class 377, 319 and 387 train units. Outline design for all the locations was carried out in 2012, for Network Rail by Parsons Brinckerhoff, prior to the letting of the contracts for the detailed design and construction. However, the detail design work for all aspects of the work, including signalling, is being carried out by Carillion and its design partners. As you would expect, all the sites are different. Each new siding is designed to stable a 12-car unit so its length has to cater for a minimum standage of 243 metres. At Cambridge, for example, some existing sidings were brought back into use whereas, at other locations, three to six new sidings were required. In all cases Carillion is acquiring serviceable sleepers and rail with new ballast and components. As Ben pointed out, this is not the easy option as significant lead times have to be taken into account while Network Rail’s National Supply Chain source these serviceable materials from other track relaying works that are happening elsewhere on the network.