Swift action gets trains running again

A team from across May Gurney pulled together to reinstate a railway embankment damaged by flooding - and managed to get trains running again much earlier than was thought possible.

The floods in June 2007 washed away the 240m,and 18m high embankment at Waleswood near Sheffield in South Yorkshire, leaving the track in mid air and the 'slip' in a nearby stream.

May Gurney's York-based Rail Services team headed up the project as main contractor, with support from May Gurney Signalling and May Gurney Site Investigation.



The works included: construction of a 500m long and 7m wide access road; removing vegetation from approximately 400m of the embankment; cutting and removing 240m of twin-track; excavation of approximately 36,000 tonnes of spoil from the embankment; importing and placing approximately 48,000 tonnes of Class 6F2 fill; installation of an overflow relief drain system; re-instatement of the two tracks, including all signalling and track circuits; installation of erosion protection and rock armour to the embankment slope; and landscaping the embankment slope.

At the end of the project Richard Bell, Territory Civil Engineer, Network Rail London North Eastern, said: “I was delighted to see that the railway reopened at Waleswood just seven weeks after it closed due to the severe weather.

“When I saw in person the devastation at the end of June I thought that even a September reopening date was quite optimistic, but your efforts have produced an excellent result and one that the train operating companies greatly appreciate.”

Footnote: At Waleswood, May Gurney's environmental team worked closely with Network Rail and the Environment Agency (EA) to avoid a potential £3m cost and enable 36,000 tonnes of slip material to be recycled. Click below to read the full story.

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