Barking Riverside Extension project

The track system installation through to the new Barking Riverside station is complete and all Porr STA slabs have been concreted into place. For the S&C, the baseplates for the rails and fastening are being grouted in place. The project is also now in the final weeks of snagging, handover and demobilisation. Areas of interest on this high-profile project have included:

• Working on a viaduct has created technical challenges, particularly the section consisting of a steel construction, as it is challenging to monitor and maintain the track position on a warm summer’s day, the bridges expand with increased temperature and steel is particularly prone to solar gain when the sun hits it.
• Precast S&C is a new development in the UK and this example uses Schwihag baseplates and fastenings, and voestalpine Unistar points operating equipment, we have therefore been collaborating with other industry partners to undertake this first of type application.
• The rail free setting out of the slabs, where the continuously welded rail is not present at the point of concreting, is new to the UK and will have a significant benefit in the future for installation of the PORR system, in particular on bridges or viaducts.
• Our bespoke development of the slab installation gantry system using our specially trained operatives proved invaluable when working on such a constrained footprint that was elevated.
• There are 711 PORR slabs in total, 91 different types, 32 bespoke S&C slabs, the tightest radius and the highest cant (difference in vertical rail levels) that the PORR slab has been installed on in the UK.