The rail network is a vital part of the nation’s economic, social and cultural lifeblood. It’s also part of our history and heritage. Britain, after all, was in the vanguard of the age of rail.
While we upgrade stations and other assets to make them fit for the next hundred years and accessible to more people, we don’t want to lose the connection to the past. Character and convenience can be perfectly compatible. It just throws up a few engineering and logistical challenges.
So here’s a quick walk through a few of the schemes Octavius has delivered that involve parts of our rail heritage. This includes the problems we faced, and how we overcame them to deliver time and cost-efficient solutions while keeping trains and passengers moving during the works.
Improving Access While Maintaining Character
Although not Victorian, Godalming station has listed status. The AfA scheme involved installing lifts to platform level and a new footbridge. While modern offsite construction methods were used extensively to minimise disruption, the finished results had to be in-keeping with the existing architecture and materials.
Ventilation louvres between the top structural cord and footbridge roof eliminated the need for tilt window ventilation, which was a cheaper solution that blended with existing buildings. We installed cantilevered scaffolding so that the brick cladding for the lift shafts required by the listed status could be laid with minimal encroachment on the platform.
A similar approach was deployed at the listed Ewell West Station – a charming, challenging and highly constrained location for a major AfA scheme to introduce step-free access to platforms.
Heritage Infrastructure Fit For The Future
While AfA is a major focus for our current work and expertise, Octavius also delivers substantial refurbishment and modernisation projects to heritage stations. These don’t come much bigger than replacing the glazed roof of Waterloo Station. The size of two football pitches, the roof contained 10,000 glass panels that were installed when the station opened in 1848 – all of which needed replacing.
The scheme demanded some innovative temporary works including a temporary roof structure. The work is being completed in phases, so the working platform and protective roof structure are moved across the station concourse as each stage is completed. The new panels are 50% lighter than the originals to help maintain the structural integrity of the station for many years to come.
Similarly, ‘the most elegant viaduct in Britain’ is surely an asset worth protecting. Our teams completed a year-long project to restore defective stone and brickwork on eight arches across the Ouse Valley Viaduct. This involved replacing 2,600 bricks and 40 tonnes of stone repairs across the 180-year old viaduct.
‘Lewis pins’ were used to securely anchor into stones to enable stable and safe lifting of the large (up to 480 kg) limestone blocks. A soil stabilisation solution developed by Soil Science enabled us to create a temporary haul road that could be ploughed back into the soil post-completion, leaving the environment undisturbed.
Another major heritage project was Ryde railway pier , which extends into the Solent and provides a link to the Isle of Wight ferries. The 143-year-old, 686-metre-long structure underwent a programme of heavy maintenance and renewal to extend its life for another 60 years.
Boats were frequently used to bring people and materials to the pier to keep the project moving. Despite extreme weather and storms over the winter the pier head reopened successfully.
Working In Live Environments
As well as heritage concerns, projects to existing infrastructure typically have to be carried out in live environments. Creating minimal disruption during project delivery is one of our most important success factors.
This creates challenges for design, construction methods and scheduling. Offsite construction is used on many projects but calls for precise 3D modelling and attention to detail to ensure installation is completed within a tight time window.
Prototypes, mock-ups and trials are essential on many schemes to minimise the need for closures and ensure there are no overruns or hitches.
Small Upgrades With A Big Impact
In addition to AfA main programme projects to create step-free access to trains, there are many smaller scale projects. These are designed to make stations a friendlier environment for people with reduced mobility.
Again, many of these involve stations built in the Victorian age that also happen to be used extensively by today’s rail travellers. Clapham Junction is the busiest interchange station in the UK. The project to install accessible toilets clearly had the potential to inconvenience a lot of people.
Features of the project included unforeseen structural issues, a constrained worksite and complex logistical co-ordination. Thanks to innovation and hard work this key milestone was completed on time for Network Rail, allowing passengers to enjoy the new facilities as soon as possible.
Steaming Ahead
You can’t get much more heritage-focused than a steam railway. As part of our commitment to community projects the Octavius Rail Electrification and Plant team supported Hollycombe Steam in Hampshire. Hollycombe is one of Britain’s largest collections of steam-based machinery.
With our supply chain partners, Coombes, Sonic Rail Services, Ubique Engineering, and Chaffin Works, the Octavius team removed vegetation and upgraded the narrow-gauge steam Quarry Railway.
Over 30 metres of track were renewed including the replacement of 40 sleepers. The team also adjusted a bend in the track to allow smoother journeys and installed ballast to stabilise the area.
The team built a new training room, installed a test track to support PTS training for future railway workers and constructed a children’s play area. An old Liphook signal box believed to be more than 100 years old was also restored.
Heritage rail infrastructure is part of our national DNA. Preserving its character while making it accessible to all and fit for the future is something Octavius is proud to be a part of.
To discover more about practical solutions presented by AfA projects take a look at our resource centre or contact Lloyd Jefferson-Smith, Head of Rail Pre-Delivery at AfA@octavius.co.uk
