Live railway retaining wall
Uffington Embankment
Installing 11-metre H-beams for a precast retaining wall beside the live Great Western railway, while train services continued.
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The works required a precast retaining wall alongside the Great Western main line serving London, Bristol and the South West. The importance of this route ruled out daytime possessions, while weekend possessions were very limited and short. The solution therefore had to allow H-beam installation close to the track while trains continued to run.
A rigorous process of plant approval and methodology development was undertaken to allow the installation to take place beside the operational railway. The team installed 11-metre H-beams to form the steel supports for the precast wall, working within the arrangements developed for this constrained railway setting.
The H-beams were successfully installed and the precast wall constructed alongside the live line. The project demonstrates specialist plant selection and methodology development where railway access is severely restricted and construction must accommodate continuing train movements.