Project Scope

NORWICH VICTORIA SIDINGS – DESIGN ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION

Keltbray was awarded the £8M multidisciplinary design-build contract for Norwich Victoria Sidings project in April 2019. The project was to upgrade and renew train sidings to enable stabling capacity for trains to accommodate the increased passenger service and to incorporate the renewal of adjacent structures and conductors on the Great Eastern Main Line.

The D&B project (GRIP stages 4-8) involved carrying out efficiency upgrades to railhead. Keltbray were responsible for design and construction of Civils, Track, OLE, M&E, Signalling and telecom. This included:

• Creation of 800m of an efficient railhead
• Extend 3 number rail tracks and rail yard from 400m to 800m – Construction of 4x 300m sidings from Greater Anglia mainline into sidings area (1380m New Track including 3 No. S&C turnouts)
• Divert 400m of existing perimeter road
• Provide additional storage capacity for containers
• Surfacing and drainage works – new carpark, welfare area and connection into the Norwich Council adoptable road. Installation of hardstanding area for signalling maintenance works • Installation of ACO drainage across compounds, carpark & highways tie in
• Upgrade lighting and data in the area – Installation of lighting across site – 300no. lighting bollards & 10 No. new lighting columns. Installation of 5 CCTV masts across project site

Key Challenges and Solutions

Space Constraints

• Challenge: Installation of several structure in close proximity (350m retaining wall adjacent to the Northwest siding construction, in addition to a number of cantilevered OLE structures over the sidings)
• Solution: Keltbray designed a bespoke solution whereby the foundations were incorporated into the retaining wall, providing sufficient space for a compliant walkway to be constructed.

Asset Adjustments

• Challenge: Established an issue associated with the installation of gantry columns between the sidings & main line.
• Solution: Redeveloped designs to extend the lengths of the gantries to span the sidings and the existing main line track, eliminating any issues with line of site between train drivers and the signal box. The extended gantries upgraded existing assets and removed redundant structures, decreasing maintenance requirements along the asset.

Collaborative Working with Adjacent Contractor

• Challenge: The project interfaced with works at Norwich Crown Point depot, a similar scheme being delivered by Taylor Woodrow (TW).
• Solution: Keltbray regularly engaged with TW to ensure effective possession management, logistics planning and materials procurement/ delivery. Our operational teams engaged with TW throughout the design and construction phases utilising two-way communication focused on programme requirements. All our works were carried out utilising the same possessions, minimising the impact to Abellio and the wider rail network. Keltbray accommodated the Network Rail Aspro team who accessed site for routine maintenance activities following a Keltbray site induction process.

Bespoke Design Configurations

• Challenge: The 350m bespoke OLE foundations and retaining wall required backfilling. The original design required virgin aggregates to backfill the structure. Furthermore, during inspection of the proposed area for perimeter fencing we determined that the existing topography of the site needed to be brought to level prior to installing the fencing.
• Solution: Designed a solution which utilised over 80% of the spoil derived from an earthworks cut, to construct the sidings, as material to backfill the retaining wall and level the site for fencing, rather than sending this site won material to landfill.

Walkway Constraints and Sustainable Procurement

• Challenge: Both cabling and a walkway were required between each siding, however the space between each siding was insufficient for the cable route to run adjacent to the walking route.
• Solution: Proposed the use of TroTred units which provide a system to incorporate the cabling route beneath the walking route. The product complies with Network Rail’s standards and provided significant programme benefits whilst reducing imported materials and use of mobile plant should we have installed the conventional concrete alternative. The integration of this solution allowed Keltbray to operate across all 4 sidings concurrently rather than sequentially if mobile plant was required.