http://www.modern-railways.com April 2019 Modern Railways 21
Infrastructure News
Balfour Beatty
for tube track
renewals
TRANSPORT FOR London has
awarded a £220 million contract
for London Underground track
renewals to Balfour Beatty. The
deal encompasses all aspects
of track renewals, including
track, points and crossings,
and trackside drainage.
The contract starts in April 2019
and runs for four years, with an
option to extend for a further
six years. It replaces a previous
eight-year agreement with BB
which TfL says contributed to
modernising around 75% of
the tube network. The network
comprises 1,047km of track, 17%
of which is in non-customer areas
such as depots and sidings.
TfL says the procurement
process evaluated key
criteria focused on safety,
behaviours, delivery expertise
and value for money.Access for All: the new lift-equipped overbridge and extra platform at
Tottenham Hale are seen nearing completion in this 6 March view. The additional
platform is for the coming Lee Valley shuttle, with a half-hourly service to
Stratford expected in September (p23, last month). Jamie SquibbsTOTTENHAM HALE EXPANSION
SECOND PLPR FACILITY OPENED IN DERBY
NETWORK RAIL is aiming to
boost the number of inspections it
carries out using Plain Line Pattern
Recognition (PLPR) technology
and has opened a second PLPR
facility in Derby. PLPR forms part of
NR’s ‘predict and prevent’ strategy,which aims to identify and fix faults.
The company says during the five
years of Control Period 6 PLPR
will cover 975,000 miles of track.
A fleet of five monitoring trains,
including the New Measurement
Train, use cameras to take imagesof the track and identify potential
defects. These are sent to a facility
in Derby for examination by NR’s
inspectors. The PLPR-equipped
trains have replaced manual
inspections on 8,500 miles of
track, and NR aims to increasethese live inspections, boosted
by the opening of the second
facility in January. The company
estimates the use of PLPR has
saved the taxpayer £2.2 million
so far, with further savings
anticipated in CP6 and beyond.Highland main line upgrade: No 170412 arrives at recently-extended platforms at Pitlochry with an Inverness to Edinburgh
Waverley service. The bagged off colour lights will be controlled from a panel in the box at Stanley, after which the
semaphores will be removed and the listed signal box on the left of this photo made available for alternative uses. Work is
being undertaken by Siemens in a £20 million contract that also encompasses new signalling at Aviemore. Ian LothianPITLOCHRY PROGRESS
020-021_MR_Apr 2019_infrastructure.indd 21 12/03/2019 15:00