Track drainage jetting powers ATC Joint Venture

Underground the Elizabeth Line

Water jetting power delivered by Lanes Group plc is supporting the completion of ATC Joint Venture’s fit-out programme for the tunnelled central section of the new Elizabeth line under London.

Teams from the company’s London area depots are working with ATC Joint Venture to jet clean and CCTV survey track drainage in the central section.

The Elizabeth line will be a new east-west route from Shenfield, Essex, and Abbey Wood, southeast London, through central London to Reading, in Berkshire, and Heathrow Airport, in West London.

ATC is a joint venture between Costain, Alstom and TSO that is fitting-out 21km of twin bored tunnel under central London.

In an eight-month programme of works, Lanes is carrying out pre-adoption cleaning and CCTV surveying of thousands of metres of track drainage on the route.

Lanes Group Development Director Richard Leigh said: “We had the expertise and capacity needed to resource the work at the level ATC Joint Venture required, and to the exemplary safety and quality standards it expects.

“Lanes has significant experience in working on rail drainage projects for both Transport for London and Network Rail. Client feedback from ATC Joint Venture has been positive, and we’re working hard to maintain the exacting productivity levels expected of us.”

Two Lanes depots, London East, in Rainham, and London West, in Slough, are each providing four-person teams working 12-hour shifts on the programme.

Wayne Glasgow, Area Development Manager for Lanes London West, said achieving the rigorous productivity targets, including completing 400m of jetting and CCTV camera surveying during each shift, has been central to progress.

He added: “We’ve been using compact trailer-mounted high-pressure water jetting units, which can be installed on an engineering train and taken to work sites along the route.

“Working in partnership with ATC Joint Venture colleagues, our teams have been using the jetting equipment to remove any cement, concrete and grout lines in the 225mm-diameter track drainage pipes and catch pits.

“We also use a mobile CCTV drainage survey camera to record HD-quality video of the drainage pipe once it has been cleaned, so ATC Joint Venture can demonstrate it is fit for purpose and ready for handover.”

The Elizabeth line will increase central London rail capacity by 10 per cent. The line will serve 41 stations, including 10 new ones.

Lanes Rail Division is also working with Rail for London Infrastructure Delivery and Network Rail to provide a range of station and track maintenance services along the eastern overground section of the Elizabeth line.

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