01.01.15
Preparing for the IEP fleets
Source: Rail Technology Magazine Dec/Jan 2015
VolkerFitzpatrick is building four depots for the Agility Trains consortium for the maintenance of the new Class 800 Super Express fleets for the East Coast and Great Western main lines. RTM got a progress update from contracts manager Paul Lilley.
The first of the new Hitachi-built IEP trains is on a cargo ship making its way over to the UK for delivery in March (see page 12), so we thought it a good time for a progress check on the new depots at Doncaster and elsewhere that will maintain the trains.
VolkerFitzpatrick, specialists with widespread experience in rail depot projects, including the award-winning Reading train care depot and the Thameslink depots for Siemens, is the principal contractor for Hitachi to build the four depots.
The North Pole depot in west London, a former Eurostar depot built in the early 1990s that had not been used for a number of years, is already complete and has been handed over to the client as a working depot. It will house the first of the IEP trains when it arrives from Japan soon.
The Swansea Maliphant depot, on the site of existing sidings, is a smaller scheme due for completion by June 2015, while Stoke Gifford near Bristol is about 50% complete and due for handover towards the end of this year.
The £70m Doncaster Carr depot site was taken possession of by Hitachi and VolkerFitzpatrick in May 2014. The site has been used as a railway depot for more than 100 years. It will eventually be home to at least 10 five-car trains.
VolkerFitzpatrick contracts manager Paul Lilley told us: “At the moment we’re in a design stage and we’re carrying out the demolition works of some existing buildings in the area. We’re looking to complete the design by June 2015.”
Timeline and partners
Piling work will just be starting as you receive this magazine, while remediation of the existing ground begins in February.
Steel erection for the maintenance shed starts in March, while May sees work on the CET (controlled emission toilets) related facilities, wheel lathes and train wash.
Overall completion is scheduled for August 2016.
Subcontractors on the Doncaster project include Mechan (see page 73), Wilcomatic and Airquick (who also provided the fuelling, CET and other systems on the Reading depot), while the other depots are working with Garrandale. The wheel lathes at all depots are by Hegenscheidt-MFD.
Location and relationships
Access for the depot works is down Ten Pound Walk, where there is temporary widening to cater for construction traffic. A new access system will be used on site for monitoring hours and training and induction. Everyone entering the site uses an access card system and biometrics.
We asked Lilley how much of the technology and processes being used at the depot are tried-and-tested, and how much is innovative.
He said: “Most of it is very similar to what has come before. However, whereas on previous depots we’ve gone for in-situ concrete for the pits within the maintenance building, we are going to try a precast system at Doncaster.
“On the access gantries, we’re going to increase the steel work from the access gantries coming down the sides of these pits onto the roof to support the roof. That means you can slim down the steelwork in the roof.”
Doncaster has a bespoke train weighing system by Schenk Process, while the other depots have had a simpler bolt-on train weighing system, Lilley said.
“Our relationship has been brilliant with the clients, they’re very much hands-on and it is safe to say that we’re working hand-in-hand with our clients – both Hitachi and their project managers EC Harris.”
Skills
VolkerFitzpatrick has been running a skills academy with the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) at Swansea and Stoke Gifford, and Lilley said through collaboration with Hitachi, that principle is being carried on at Doncaster Carr.
He said: “We’ve already started speaking to some local colleges to get some apprentices on board.
“We’ll be doing visits to schools, we’ll be getting some day-release schemes set up, and we’re going to work with the Prince’s Trust in the area as well – they have a 12-week programme.
“We’re going to continue it throughout. What some people look on as ‘excellence’, we’re trying to set as ‘standard’. We want to make sure we’re leaving a legacy behind, not just building a scheme and moving on.”
Gill Fry, VolkerFitzpatrick’s workplace coordinator, said of the Stoke Gifford partnership: “The National Skills Academy for Construction provides amazing opportunities locally. We are passionate about making a difference to lives by involving them in our construction projects. We have already made obvious, positive steps at Stoke Gifford and this shows that the National Skills Academy is making a real difference in delivering high-quality training for students which meets employer-defined standards.”
Lilley suggested that, as happened with the Ramsgate depot, construction apprentices could stay on and become part of the team at Hitachi far into the future.
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