collaboration and joint
accountability by developing
innovative solutions, adopting
engineering excellence, sharing
best practice and common
policy on key strategies, all
while successfully tackling the
most complex projects.
In Scotland, that means
working closely with Transport
Scotland’s strategy to deliver
a safe, efficient, effective and
sustainable transport system,
for both passengers and
freight, supporting sustainable
economic growth and by
transporting products and
materials in a greener way.
Buckingham Group
Contracting continued its
excellent record for the night
by being highly commended
for extending the Up Relief
Sidings at Buxton, allowing
525-metre-long freight trains
to undertake the run around
manoeuvre required to egress
to the Peak Forest Line. This
required extending the sidings
through a disused unlicensed
council tip, which dates back
to the 1970s, and into privately
owned farmland.
Skanska’s Sustainability
Performance Tracker, which
it is using on its ONW (on-
network works) contractfor HS2 enabling works
at Euston, was also highly
commended. Skanska is
working with Network Rail and
other stakeholders to ensure
Euston station is ready for the
arrival of HS2. To ensure that
sustainability excellence has
been considered and achieved
across all of the work packages
from the design through
to construction, a team of
engineers and sustainability
professionals produced a
tracker which, to date, has
identified over 41 sustainable
initiatives.Standards Challenge
This year’s new award, for
entries into Network Rail’s
Standards Challenge, was
judged by Jon Shaw and HS2
technical director Andrew
McNaughton.
The winner was British Steel,
a company which has had
its problems recently, for its
challenge to the standards
for OLE mast design. This
identified that some current
overhead line mast standard
designs are fabrication
intensive, may use higher
cost products and may
require structural steel that
is not produced / stocked
domestically within the UK.
An industry workshop was
held in December 2018,
with British Steel and other
suppliers, to discuss potential
changes to standard designs
resulting in the identification
of short, medium and long-
term proposals. The short-
term proposals have been
progressed into new standard
designs. In the case of Twin
Track Cantilever masts the new
design will reduce the cost by
around seven per cent.
Two other challenges were
highly commended. Kwik-Step
submitted three challenges,
all relating to the standard
for Lineside Facilities for
Personnel Safety, which dates
back to 2005, and the needWinner of the
Standards Challenge
was British Steel.44 RAIL PARTNERSHIP AWARDS