I will continue my theme about multi-disciplinary rail system interfaces as 2023 becomes the year of integrated rail infrastructure! I will mention track and S&C which will always be a key focus, however it is the other fixed stuff I want to consider in this article.

The railway has its internal and external customers and it was good to see the credit given to the Norwich team led by Asa Sibley, Track Maintenance Engineer at Ipswich. His team and other supporting staff delivered a much needed upgraded footpath crossing and access point at Golden Square on the Sudbury line. After a site inspection, Asa deemed this access unsafe due the gradient of the approaches, worn steps and handrails and was shut immediately. The local Off-Track Team reinforced the banks, installed new steps and landing points and upgraded the handrails decks. The access point was reopened much to the delight of the local council and is safe for use for the public and staff.

Earthwork protection and control from slope slippage is vital to the management of our legacy infrastructure and problems can occur both above and below the railway. We have some great multi-disciplinary engineering teams in the UK to help find practical and cost-efficient solutions such as Patrycja Grzesik, Scheme Project Manager from Capital Delivery Kent & Sussex at Network Rail.

She is very proud of the teams involved in the installation works at Telham which is located on the Tonbridge to Hastings line, between Battle and Crowhurst. Contractor Bam Nuttall delivered 408 sheet piles at Telham Embankment and 76 soil nails at Telham Cutting.

These works were delivered during a 9 day blockade in October 2022. Patrycja said, “It’s much more efficient to work in a much larger period than over several weekends. This is the most time and cost effective way with minimum impact to passengers.”

Bridgeway Consulting Ltd. are sometimes known as the unsung heroes. They know all about site investigation and trying to help engineers understand what causes problems and offer up solutions.

When this OLE mast started to lean Mark Lindahl’s team were asked to investigate. Windowless sample rig drilling was used to facilitate ground investigation works to assist in the redesign and replacement of three existing OLE structures and foundations. Rigs were mobilised during weekend possessions with isolation. The technical scope included boreholes to a depth of 7.45m with Standard Penetration Tests at 1.00m intervals and a Dynamic Probe Super-Heavy follow-on to 10.00m. I was very impressed by the cost-effective way the problems were trackled.

TECHNICAL

I hope you continue to appreciate our range of technical articles, carefully collated by Mike Barlow, the PWI Technical Manager and any suggestions will be warmly received for any new areas.

We have been involved in a seminar on Sustainable Infrastructure Design and Maintenance held at Bristol in November which was very well attended. There was an amazing buzz as people talked about ranges of sustainable solutions within our sector. The venue was a great location just by Bristol Parkway station and a big thanks must go to all our presenters, sponsors and exhibitors.

REFLECTION

As usual, I have no problem in identifying my favourite two PWI days since I last wrote. The first was at Derby Conference centre in November. We held a Track Engineering Diploma Module 1 course with 24 attendees all face to face. This was the largest number since Covid and it was great to get that networking buzz – they got to know each other very quickly even though they were from many different companies and areas – I had to call for quiet! What an amazing bunch of people, we had two females! There was a great discussion in the bar about engineering and also their personal progression.

The second had to be the PWI annual celebration event at the Burlington Hotel close to Birmingham New Street. A very well organised event which involved a great speech from Mona Sihota, the Network Rail Head of Drainage about her career and life story. There were presentations to Eng Tech, IEng and CEng registrants, Track and Electrification Diplomas, Journal awards and special awards such as the Barbro award for the first time. This was in memory of Alison Stansfield (pictured left) who worked with me for many years and for the first time this was awarded to Tony Morgani for his personal journey towards career development. In summary, the event was a great time for people to catch up and celebrate!

AND FINALLY…

It’s great to hear that the PWI is now recognised for responding rapidly to industry issues. My enthusiastic team rose to the challenge following Carmont and other incidents and have created a brand new course. It is called Earthworks Drainage and Off Track Engineering and is taking place in February and May in Derby and London. We have had lots of interest so far, thanks to the support of our members. My hope is that our training assists the industry to prove to the public, who depend on us, that we are gearing up all ages and levels of rail engineers to tackle all the challenges thrown at us including unpredictable weather!