TPA Portable Roadways help renew West Coast Mainline track

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Portable access specialist, TPA Portable Roadways, recently worked with one of its Vp plc sister companies, Torrent Trackside, on a contract for Babcock Rail at Warrington in Lancashire.

As part of its agreement with the principle contractor, Torrent Trackside required access for 44 tonne articulated lorries as well as other equipment to enable Babcock to undertake rail renewal on the West Coast main line.

Access was only possible via a green field site so TPA set about installing 224 aluminium panels to create a roadway measuring 100 metres long x 3 metres wide which turned off at a 45 degree angle from the public highway and then followed the boundary fence for a further 130 metres at 9 metres wide. This allowed for the new track to be pre-assembled on the panels next to the boundary fence before being craned into position during the possession using a rail mounted crane. The possessions have occurred during weekend night shifts and will continue for sixteen weeks.

The whole installation took two TPA crews, with a third arriving separately, seven hours to complete under the supervision of Field Sales Engineer Paul Cameron.

Paul commented; “Being part of the same group of companies, Torrent naturally looked to TPA to sort out the access for this job. Without the use of panels to support the equipment that was needed to complete the job, access across the fields would have been impossible. It was a straightforward installation that didn’t cause our experienced crews any problems and provided the principle contractor with the solution they required.”

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