CCTV survey safeguards track drainage after signal work

Drainage engineers from Lanes Group plc have supported railway upgrade work by carrying out a CCTV drainage survey after the installation of signaling equipment.

The survey was needed to check the condition of a track drainage pipe after engineers working for Amey on behalf of South Western Railways had installed a new signal post.

Drainage engineers from the Lanes Eastleigh depot carried out the survey along a 29-metre length of 225mm track drainage pipe at Botley Railway Station near Southampton, Hampshire.

Robotic CCTV camera

Lanes Eastleigh Area Development Manager Keith Oldbury said: “The signal post has to be installed close to the buried track drainage pipe so our survey was part of the post-works procedures.

“Amey’s team used a hand piling rig so the risk to the clay drainage pipe was minimal. Our survey found there were no signs of displaced joints or cracks at the point of works, so confirmed that the pipe had not been affected.”

A jet vac tanker and a mainline CCTV drainage survey unit were deployed to carry out the work. The jet vac tanker was first used to clean silt and debris from the pipe.

A wheeled robotic CCTV drainage camera was then sent along the pipe. The camera recorded high definition video footage of the inside of the pipe along its entire length.

The footage was reviewed by the CCTV drainage engineer who marked up anything of interest using the WINCAN drainage survey software operated by Lanes.

This data was then sent directly from the worksite via the cloud to Lanes’ national CCTV data processing centre in Manchester, where it was analysed further and a survey report was compiled for Amey.

Sustainable surveying

Keith Oldbury said: “The quality of our drainage surveying process, from data capture through to reporting, gives our clients confidence that they are getting the best information about their assets.

“It is also highly sustainable, with no paper reports compiled and no additional transport mileage generated to deliver drainage data, so the carbon footprint of our survey services is minimised.”

Lanes is the UK’s largest independent drainage and wastewater service specialist and works on rail asset maintenance and upgrade projects across the country.

Through its network of 20 depots and more than 15 specialist service hubs, it can provide tier one rail contractors with a wide range of services, including track drainage cleaning, lining and replacement, as a well as new rail drainage system design and installation.

Find out more

Talk to Lanes experts about drainage services for rail systems, including national rail, tram networks and commercial rail assets. Email: sales@lanesgroup.co.uk