Complex Kentish Town Rail works completed on time

10 Jan 2022

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As everyone enjoyed the festivities, Amey’s Rail team were working hard to complete the final phase of track stabilisation works at Kentish Town, as part of the trilogy of phases awarded to them by Network Rail’s Capital Delivery team in the Eastern region.

After eight months of planning for this third phase of works, teams started work in the early hours of Christmas Day up until last Tuesday (4^th January 2022), when the first service on the replaced track resumed. The projects civils, track, OLE and signalling teams worked hard throughout a 10-day period to remove and replace a section of slab track which was first installed in 1979.

The works involved replacing the concrete slab with a ballasted track system, inclusive of ballast, sleepers and new rails.  These stabilisation works started in 2017 and have now been completed.

Cliff Harvey, Amey’s Rail Principal Project Manager said: “This has been an incredibly complex job, which has involved a number of sub-contractors. I’m extremely proud of all disciplines involved, who worked tirelessly throughout the festive period to deliver the third and final phase of the works on time.

“These essential repair works now mean we have a more modern and reliable railway for passengers. These improvements will also help to reduce the amount of maintenance and future disruption required to keep the railway safe within the Kentish Town area.”

Phase one of the project took place in 2017/18 and focussed on the central section of the network.  In 2018/19 the second phase looked at the north section. Works during these phases included, strengthening the retaining wall, putting in new structures for the overhead power lines, installing a pumped drainage system and renewing the signalling and telecoms which control train movements.

The most recent works was the third and final phase of blockades and repair works to be carried out on this stretch of rail network. A key differentiator for this final phase and the key to its success, has been the use of previous lessons learnt to build the delivery plan.

Improvements were made to reduce plant and people interaction by undertaking a one-stage delivery method as opposed to two stages in previous phases. Focus was also directed at distributing material directly off engineering trains using conveyors, which not only improves worker safety but also has a positive impact on the carbon footprint of the project due to the requirement to reduce road-transported materials and use less plant and machinery during construction.

In regards to the environmental impact, the team worked on powering site lighting from mains electricity as opposed to generators. A total of approximately 100 bulkhead lights spanning over half a kilometre were powered from mains electricity, reducing the carbon footprint and having minimal impact on the local air quality.

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