Advanced track laying machinery has been put to good use in Hampshire to relay 1.5km of single line between Fareham and Eastleigh. The ‘new track construction’ train can install up to 10 concrete sleepers in a minute, as well as align and secure rails into place.
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Network Rail project director Craig Lightheart describes the train as a “conveyor belt of sleepers” that relays the track ahead of itself and adds that “the speed at which it goes is phenomenal”.
He also says that renewing a single track can be more of a challenge than a two track railway, where there would otherwise be room on the adjacent line for construction trains and associated equipment.
The new track construction train is owned by Balfour Beatty and has previously been used to install track at the Bermondsey dive under to the south of London Bridge, as part of an upgrade to the Thameslink network. It is said that the machine can relay track up to three times faster than traditional means.
To view footage of the machine in action in Hampshire, click here.
In other rail news, the development of four new stations is being championed by Welsh Transport Minister Ken Skates to improve connectivity and help with the country’s recovery from Coronavirus. In a letter to the UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps he sets out a plan for opening stations at Deeside Parkway in north Wales, at Carno in mid Wales, at St Clears in west Wales and at Ely Mill in Cardiff.
(Photograph: Network Rail)
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