6.6 C
London
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Balfour Beatty Rail celebrates opening of new Glasgow office

Listen to this article

In mid-August, Balfour Beatty Rail invited Network Rail, key rail consultants and members of both the Westminster and Holyrood parliaments to join them for their first Open Day in Scotland to celebrate the opening of their permanent office in Shettleston, Glasgow.

The full spectrum of rail disciplines were showcased, including representation from other parts of the Balfour Beatty Group including Plant and Fleet Services, Regional Civil Engineering and Engineering Services, giving delegates the opportunity to meet and discuss all of their rail life-cycle requirements from concept to delivery.

Several interesting pieces of equipment had been brought in especially for the day.

One of the new B41UE Matisa Tampers as part of Balfour Beatty Rail’s £20m investment in new plant was was brought over from Balfour Beatty Rail’s base in Offenbach, Germany.

There were a number of other items of plant on display as well. A Front Shovel Excavator, Base Ballast Bopper, Top Ballast Topper, Unimog, Doosan and an Ultrasonic Flaw Detection RRV all attracted interest.

Peter Anderson, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Rail UK, commented:

“The open day was about celebrating the opening of our permanent office in Shettleston, Glasgow, once again showing how committed we are to supporting Network Rail and Transport Scotland achieve their objectives in the Scottish rail market.”

As part of the open day, Balfour Beatty Rail also affirmed their commitment to supporting local communities by making a donation to the Shettleston Community Group Project (SCGP).

The SCGP is a resident-led initiative which has seen the transformation of a derelict site into a multi-use space for residents, community groups and local schools.

The aim of the project is to develop individual growing spaces for 30 local families, in addition to communal spaces for community growing and learning.

It will enable residents to grow food locally, reduce food miles and raise awareness of food waste, recycling and energy consumption.

Another important initiative launched at the open day was an overhead line training span for Scotland.

Balfour Beatty Rail has identified that, as the electrification work bank is set to increase, there will inevitably be a severe shortage of overhead line staff within the Scottish market.

The company already has an OLE training school at its Kirkby Depot in Liverpool and the good practice and knowledge from there will be shared with Shettleston.

A recruitment plan has already been devised to target local schools and colleges and the Training Span and facilities are due to open in March next year.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest Rail News

ORR review leads to 50% reduction in maximum fees for ticket refunds

New rules will mean that from 2 April the maximum fee that train operators and ticket retailers can charge...

More like this...