East Kent Phase 2
Spencer Rail Engineering were awarded the contract to undertake all civils works on this £150m track remodelling project alongside Network Rail, Atkins and Balfour Beatty. East Kent Phase 2 was completed and accessible to passengers in spring 2016, delivering operational savings within the project area and improved network integration with other modes of transport.
This project was part of a £150m BS11000 collaborative alliance between Spencer Rail Engineering, Atkins, Balfour Beatty and Network Rail. Spencer Rail Engineering were awarded the contract to undertake all civils works on this track remodelling project. This included the creation of a new station, subway and multi-storey car park at Rochester, new 12 car platforms at Strood and a new 12 car bay platform at Rainham, embankment widening including new contiguous piled retaining walls at Rochester and embankment and track monitoring. We also established a new project village for the project team, where we co-located with our collaborative partners for the duration of the project delivery.
One of the biggest challenges on this project was the installation of the new subway at Rochester. The 850T, 28m long, 7.6m wide and 4.0m high subway was slid 36m into place on a bed of nitrogen gas during a 96 hour Easter blockade, This method (building the subway off line and adjacent to the embankment before sliding it into place) was used to minimise interruption to the network, and it was the first time this specialist technique was employed in the UK.
This project was described as an industry model for collaborative working and won two industry awards: Best Collaboration at the 2014 Network Rail Partnership Awards and Engineering Innovation from the Institute of Civil Engineers in 2015.
