Christmas bridge slide at Blackfriars
Work is progressing well at Blackfriars station where Balfour Beatty Engineering Services is working on £60m of mechanical and electrical improvements to the stations and railway bridge for Network Rail.
Major milestones have recently been completed to allow the underground station to be closed and the main Network Rail station to continue operating at normal capacity while construction work piling sites have been created for stage two of the project.
From Christmas day, a railway bridge slide will take place to allow rolling stock to transfer from the two west tracks to the two east tracks at a later date. Balfour Beatty Engineering Services has been preparing the way to allow for demolition works to accommodate the new bridge.
Mechanical and electrical construction manager Stuart Campbell says the work is very varied: “We are undertaking existing installation site surveys and supportive enabling and temporary installation works for the civil construction elements. This has included work on Queen Victoria stairs, St Paul’s Walkway entrance and platforms four and five and most recently the mabey bridge, which are all now in full operation. Alterations to the current rail track layout and North station roof are planned for early 2010 following the bridge slide.”
Around 300 people are currently co-ordinating the project from a former office building in Puddle Dock, adjacent to the site. On the other side of the Thames, one floor of Sampson House, another office building, is being used for storage and to accommodate the staff welfare facilities required for the south bank area of the project.
“Planning for stage two is in place with the package teams now being allocated and preparation of the design review, procurement, installation programming and planning will start as soon as we have the final design details,” adds Stuart.
Posted: Wednesday 6 January 2010