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| 19 Oct 2006 | |
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Railway specialists at Corus have completed a £130,000 contract to design vital rail links at the Port of Blyth in the North East. The contract, completed to tight timescales, has played a key role in the Port of Blyth securing new business. An official ceremony to mark the opening of the new rail link was held at the port on 16 October 2006. Corus Railway Infrastructure Services won the rail link contract by competitive tender in October 2005. The contract called for the design of a new rail scheme, including a level crossing, to link the port to a local freight only line owned by Network Rail. The scheme was required to be complete by September 2006. Corus designers produced a cost-effective scheme including a manned level crossing at a public road, turnouts (both at the freight line connection and within the port compound), a loading bay, sidings and lighting. Provision was also made in the design for the positioning of weigh bridges. Railway operations experts at Corus supported the client in obtaining the necessary legal orders for the rail link. These have included a Connection Agreement with Network Rail, a Level Crossing Order, a Transport and Works Order and a Network Change Process agreement. Test and commissioning of the new rail link, which cost in excess of £1 million, took place at the end of August 2006, with the first freight trains leaving the port in the first half of September 2006. Technical Director at Port of Blyth, Alan Todd, said: “One of the critical reasons for choosing Corus was their expertise in level crossings. A high level of detail is involved in planning and securing permission for crossings and the work on the crossing has gone very smoothly. We’ve been impressed with the professional and efficient approach of Corus and the way in which they have managed the rail link scheme to ensure all the details have been completed on time. “It was important for us to complete the scheme quickly. We have secured new coal importation business and are currently using the rail link to make daily deliveries of coal to power stations across the UK.” Corus Project Manager, Nick Beckett, said: “It is virtually unknown for a scheme of this type to be completed in under a year. We’ve achieved the deadline by thorough initial planning and designing a scheme that minimises construction work and signalling. The range of expertise and experience that we have on our team has played an important part – especially in the advice and assistance that we were able to offer our client with regards to operations and obtaining the necessary permissions.” | |
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