SAFETY BARRIER & FENCING PROJECT

A180 Railway Triangle Parapet

AGC combine capabilities to deliver ‘road over rail’ scheme

The AmcoGiffen and Carnell partnership, seamlessly integrated their road and rail capabilities to successfully deliver a complex scheme for National Highways in the Yorkshire North East region.

Full Steam Ahead for AGC

The A180 near Ulceby in Lincolnshire crosses above two railway lines along a 200m stretch. These lines form the railway triangle which connect Immingham and Grimsby docks with the rest of the country, and as such, have strategic importance in maintaining supplies of key commodities.

The essential work to replace the bridge parapets above these lines has presented a logistical and technical challenge to National Highways for the best part of a decade. This was due to complex safety and regulatory standards required by Network Rail to undertake structural improvements over their asset.

The collective skillsets of AmcoGiffen who have spent more than 50 years working in rail, and Carnell with three decades of experience on the strategic road network, successfully overcame the challenge created by the road-rail interface.

During the scheme four high-containment parapets, each 2.2m high and approximately 60m long were installed. These were accompanied by eight barrier transitions. Having identified that 800m of the surrounding corrugated steel barrier also required replacing, this was absorbed into the programme too. In total, almost 1,200m of vehicle restraint system (VRS) was upgraded.

Developing The Optimum Solution

AGC engaged with local small-medium enterprise (SME) Versco to develop the most appropriate solution. Their VC+EB-L2 parapet system was adopted, an arrangement tested with integral solid panel screening at the rear to N2 and H2 containment. Without going into technical detail, benefits of the system included its baseplate arrangement and anchorage, lightweight sections allowing manual handling and the strike-rail fixing arrangement. The solid cladding and steeple coping was added in accordance with the requirements of CD377 and BS6779-1:1998 and Network Rail requirements.

The temporary works were developed by Versco specifically to suit Network Rail requirements. The 1.8m high solid-clad edge protection system provided a temporary situation which aligned with the permanent parapet solution, ensuring no objects could fall onto the track. This required several detailed desktop exercises to be undertaken following initial ECI works including surveys of the existing parapet and stringcourse arrangement and ferro-scanning activities.

Overcoming Barriers Collaboratively

As a Scheme Delivery Framework (SDF) scheme, AGC worked closely with the client National Highways, Jacobs the Principal Designer and HW Martin Traffic Management.

AGC as principal contractor were responsible for managing the programme and safety during the construction phase. We self-delivered the bulk of the VRS activities, with additional support from our trusted specialist supply-chain when additional productivity was required.

Behind the scenes, the unified AGC team successfully negotiated several obstacles. This is how we did it:

Collaboration with Network Rail

Any activity which involved working directly over the tracks required an overnight rail possession. Each possession required 16-weeks of notice and thorough justification, due to the amount of freight trains using the lines. Once accepted it was set in stone. Excellent liaison to cultivate the relationship with Network Rail ensured the process went smoothly.

Optimisation of the programme

Due to the lead time and rigidity of the rail possessions, the programme had to be accurate and optimised. A lot of work needed to be done between possessions, but as they also acted as hold-points, safety, customer-impact and efficiency had to be balanced to give certainty of delivery without being unnecessarily cautious.

Insight into buildability

Network Rail have restrictions on mechanical lifting in the vicinity of rail lines and the load induced by hiab outriggers would have required a structural assessment of the bridge deck. The requirement for heavy-duty, high-containment parapet while prohibiting the use of lorry-mounted cranes meant that components needed to be designed to allow manual handling during installation.

Internal appointments of key roles

The Contractors Responsible Engineer (CRE) and Contractors Engineering Manager (CEM), and Delegated Responsible Person have to be approved by Network Rail. AGC have employees with the skills, experience and qualifications (including PTS), to fulfil these roles to oversee the site works and manage the nine rail possessions.

Providing design experience

During the construction phase, AGC engineers identified that the surrounding VRS was beyond serviceable repair. Our Project Manager has a design background in highways and was able to support the design and approval to replace 800m of barrier. This is something that the appointed Principal Designer couldn’t resource in such a short timescale.

Coordination of temporary works

Significant temporary works were coordinated by the delivery team, including edge protection installed over the tracks to meet the many regulations and standards for working at height. This ensured safe working conditions and eliminated the risk of falling debris during the dismantling of the redundant system and installation of the new solution.

Delivering engineering solutions

Two-thirds of the original post positions for the parapet foundations were reused, however the remainder required re-drilling. Steel reinforcement within the string course of the plinth restricted this, so AGC engineered a solution to provide an alternative anchoring system for the parapet foundations.

Building A Track-Record of Successful Delivery

In summary, AGC replaced four high-containment parapets which were beyond serviceable repair, despite numerous challenging factors. The combined expertise of our partnership successfully delivered a scheme that was historically seen as ‘too difficult to do’ due to the road-rail interface. Working collaboratively with National Highways, Network Rail and specialist supply chain, we safely completed the project with minimal impact on customers and stakeholders, incorporating additional activities, while bringing it in under budget.

Benefits

Safety

The AFR for both National Highways and supply chain staff was 0.0.
Zero RIDDOR or Lost Time Incidents.
Hemlock (poisonous invasive plant species) identified in verge – treated then removed.
25 near misses / positive interventions recorded to improve site safety.

Customer Service

Full closures carried out overnight at weekends.
Close liaison with stakeholders including Network Rail.
Nine rail possessions fully exploited.
Additional VRS improvement removes the need for future lane closures.

Delivery

Additional barrier works absorbed into the programme.
Specified works delivered £240k under budget.
Delivered an additional £210k through Compensation Events.
More benefits for less money!

“I have nothing but appreciation and commendation for the work that AGC completed on this particular scheme. A huge amount of planning in advance of the sitework in conjunction with Network Rail and the appointed Principal Designer was led by AGC to ensure a seamless and reduced risk of delivery. This level of organisation and commitment was echoed throughout the project lifecycle and resulted in an incident free and professional conclusion to the works and handover of all relevant close out information in a timely duration. A very successful and well received project all round.”

John StebbingNational Highways Project Manager, OPerations Yorkshire & North East

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