It’s been a busy and rewarding festive period for the SPL Powerlines UK team who successfully completed planned works in the South of Bedford OLE 125 Compatibility Project during a nine-day blockade between St Pancras and Luton. The works during the blockade included 53 Mark 3b Headspan transfers and retensioning of 20 wire runs.
As delivery partners to Network Rail, SPL Powerlines completed the project ensuring all operators were able to gain access to the Midland Main Line and resume running their services for passengers and freight on December 30 as per the agreed plan.
Lee Farmer, SPL Powerlines UK Project Delivery Director England and Wales, said: “A nine-day blockade is a major project which takes months of meticulous planning, with multiple peer reviews. It draws on multiple departments within the SPL Powerlines UK business and our supply chain. I am extremely proud of every member of our team who played their part in the safe and successful delivery of this project.
“It goes without saying that the most important thing we delivered over the nine-day blockade was everyone home safe every day.”
As part of the nine-day blockade the team:
- Worked 24 hours a day replacing 53 headspans and re-tensioning 20 wire runs
- Replaced head spans to improve the infrastructure’s resilience
- Re-tensioned wire runs to facilitate the introduction of the EMR Class 810 bi-mode fleet running in electric mode up to a maximum permissible line speed of 125mph between London and Bedford.
- Relocated the incoming feeder cables at the Borehamwood ATFS Triple Pole Disconnector (TPD) from the National Grid to the new TPD and entering them into service.
Robbie Oswald, Project Manager, Network Rail, said: “As many in the railway industry can appreciate, a huge amount of planning and preparation was required to deliver this project, and then for the teams to go out and deliver this quantity of work over the nine-days blockade is a massive achievement.
“Our supplier SPL Powerlines UK has led on the success of this project to date, and I thank them and their team for giving up their time with family and friends over the festive period.”
Due to the area between Cricklewood and Radlett being difficult to gain an all-line isolation, the teams worked in collaboration with the route/maintainer, to undertake Asset Management Plan walkouts, identifying and closing out any snagging activities to ensure no need for any future disruptive access in that area.
Helen Butcher, Senior Project Manager at SPL Powerlines, said: “The teams on the ground worked tirelessly to deliver the works successfully and it’s such an achievement for all involved. This is something that takes all year to plan and nine days to deliver, everyone involved should feel very proud of what has been achieved.”
