During a nine-day closure of the Midland Main Line railway between Bedford and London St Pancras over Christmas, a 6,000-tonne pre-cast concrete structure was pulled into place to create a new underpass.
The line was being closed anyway for wider improvements during the festive period, so VolkerFitzpatrick coordinated its work for the logistics park to put in the new underpass.
The contractor had spent nine months constructing the concrete box alongside the railway line, with a complex cabling system built underneath it. The process involved cutting out a 60-metre section of track and removing approximately 12,000 cubic metres of soil from the 19th century rail embankment. The cabling system then pulled the concrete structure into place at approximately four metres per hour, then backfilling material around the concrete structure and reinstating the track.
The underbridge is needed not only to enable the construction of the logistics park but it will also allow for a two road-rail line feed into a new rail terminal area on the wider Radlett strategic rail freight interchange (SRFI) project. It will be one of 20 in the UK and the only one serving the London area.
Paul Lilley, VolkerFitzpatrick’s divisional director for rail and depots, said: “With an unprecedented tight schedule to deliver over a nine-day period, the successful installation of the underbridge is a testament to the teams meticulous planning, technical expertise, and the dedication.”
Segro director Charles Blake said: “The successful installation of the jack box is a critical first construction milestone in the development of the SRFI at Segro Logistics Park Radlett, and the result of months of meticulous planning, preparation and delivery to ensure it could be completed during the Christmas period when the railway was already scheduled to be closed.
“In the context of the wider development it is a relatively small component but it is vitally important to ensuring that the freight terminal will be capable of operating by the time the first building has been constructed and reinforces our commitment to rail freight being at the heart of this development.”
