As Infrarail 2018 opens its doors, leading bridge and engineering services specialist Mabey Hire is joining thousands of attendees to celebrate the exciting advancements in the UK’s railway infrastructure.
Exhibiting at Stand D19, Mabey Hire will showcase a series of railway infrastructure monitoring solutions and highlight its experience in the sector, including work on HS2, the development of a unique bridge lifting technique for Network Rail and in its new report which, when exploring the need to improve productivity in construction, calls out Mabey Hire’s real-time monitoring capabilities for a current project at Bank Station.
By using its structural and environmental monitoring expertise, which employ the latest sensor and digital communication technology, Mabey Hire is able to provide engineers in construction and infrastructure environments with real-time performance data to increase assurance. In the rail sector, Mabey Hire has helped customers keep railway lines and buildings open whilst tunnels are bored beneath, ensured that deep excavations are dug more quickly and safely and avoided unnecessary and expensive work being carried out on infrastructure.
Network Rail bridge-lifting technique
Last November, Mabey Hire unveiled a new bridge lifting technique – the first of its kind in the UK. Developed with Alun Griffiths Ltd, Cass Hayward and Network Rail IP Engineering, the innovative approach involves a combination of proprietary steel supports and jacking, designed to be built remotely and transported into position. Last winter, the system was successfully trialled in a live environment on a single pier which forms part of a 150-year-old timber viaduct over the River Artro in Gwynedd, saving time and minimising disruption to Network Rail’s Pensarn to Llanbedr line.
Productivity report
Exploring how productivity in the construction industry needs to be improved in order to drive sustainable growth, Mabey Hire has recently released a new report urging collaboration across the supply chain and the embracing of digital tools.
As part of this report, Mabey Hire cites examples of its work at Bank Station, where monitoring and planned mitigation has been critical in a current tunnelling project it is working on with Dragados. Dragados is carrying out three major operations at the station, however, directly beside one of the worksites sits a multi-storey building, with a full glass façade. Accurate real-time monitoring of building columns from Mabey Hire ensures that any movement resulting from tunnelling work never exceeds set parameters, as with the nearby building’s foundation sitting close to excavation work, even movement of one and a half millimetres could jeopardise its exterior. Smart monitoring technology is ensuring project safety.
Commenting on Mabey Hire’s presence at the show, Gordon MacDonald, CEO, Mabey Hire said; “Railway infrastructure in the UK is a busy, innovative and challenging market, and we’re excited to be part of it. As well as working on large-scale projects like the HS2 high-speed line, we’re seeing plenty of investments targeted at improving and modernising existing rail structures to ensure safety and prepare for an increase demand. Infrarail is the perfect platform to drive and celebrate these advancements, sharing our expertise and learning from other attendees about what we can expect from the future of rail.”
