The eagerly anticipated Wessex Package 7 project is on track to be completed by the end of June.
Spencer Rail has made great strides towards its anticipated completion date over the last two weekends with the installation of the Kingston Bridge spans – a major part of the project – and the completion of a LOC move at both Epsom Up Sidings and Ewell West.
The completion of the LOC move and commissioning at Epsom Up Sidings will allow Spencer Rail’s Civils team to begin the completion of the driver’s walkway on the sidings.
Other infrastructure works completed over the weekend included the installation and welding of two, 30ft closure rails at Chessington South, cable installation at Strawberry Hill and fitting of trunking lids at Epsom.
Earlsfield, Vauxhall, Berrylands and Hampton Court have all also undergone extensive snagging works in preparation for planned hand back walkouts in weeks five and six.
Week five will see internal and Network Rail walkouts at Clapham Junction, Earlsfield, Vauxhall, Berrylands, New Malden, Hampton Court and Thames Ditton.
Other civils works saw litter screens being installed at various stations in line with planned access, ongoing re-profiling of the embankments to the rear of platforms one and four at New Malden and the removal of all spoil accumulated at Vauxhall.
Resurfacing works were also carried out at Vauxhall and is ongoing at Earlsfield further to re-coping and raising of Platform 3.
Sam Wadsworth, programme director at Spencer, said: “This weekend saw another busy weekend for the Wessex Package 7 team, with the focus continuing on ensuring that all works are completed and all platforms are handed back by the end of June, to allow the running of ten car trains.
“Thanks to the determination of the team we have made fantastic progress of the last two weekends and have overcome some very challenging obstacles.
“Two weekends ago we successfully installed the Kingston Bridge spans, which presented us with one of the most challenging worksites we have encountered. We had to manage 10-minute long road closures as well as our crane having to be parked up next to a busy pub, all on a Saturday night.
“This weekend, on Saturday night, we have made some adjustments to the installation and prepared the platform to allow the remaining works to be completed.
“Last week we also conducted a lessons learnt exercise to evaluate not only the success of the installation, but also the circumstances that saw the possession overrun by 48 minutes.”
The Wessex Package 7 Platform Extension programme forms part of a wider plan which aims to allow the operation of longer trains on key routes within the south east of England to deliver a higher passenger capacity into major London terminus stations.
Delivered in four-station batches, with more than 2,500m of platform being constructed, Spencer Rail is responsible for the renewal of more than 1,400m of plain line, the installation of seven point ends (three crossovers and one turnout) as well as the fitting of new and transposed conductor rails to a length of more than 2,600m.
Along the way, 39 new signals will be installed as well as 49 new location cabinets with all associated fit out and cabling, together with 11 DNO upgrades.
