Building works threatening rail safety?

[matacaster]

Went to King's Cross yesterday and noticed building work alongside track near approach to station. The building was maybe 6 stories high with 2 large gantry cranes. The crane booms if moved incorrectly would traverse whole track and any load would threaten the tracks beneath. What sort of risk assessment is carried out and is it a rail risk assessment or a construction site risk assessment? Who is in overall control?

 

[pdeaves]

Went to King's Cross yesterday and noticed building work alongside track near approach to station. The building was maybe 6 stories high with 2 large gantry cranes. The crane booms if moved incorrectly would traverse whole track and any load would threaten the tracks beneath. What sort of risk assessment is carried out and is it a rail risk assessment or a construction site risk assessment? Who is in overall control?

There is usually (if all protocols are followed correctly) engagement with NR and suitable controls put in place (e.g. stops on cranes to stop them moving too far i.e. to foul the line).

 

[Dunnideer]

Network Rail has Asset Protection teams (Aspro) who look after the interface with external parties for stuff like this. The designers and clients of a project all have legal duties under the CDM regs to manage it safely.

 

[swt_passenger]

Network Rail has Asset Protection teams (Aspro) who look after the interface with external parties for stuff like this. The designers and clients of a project all have legal duties under the CDM regs to manage it safely.

Will modern cranes use software controlled operating limits? Is that “geo-fencing”? Having massive developments right next to rail corridors seems pretty common, so what’s going on outside Kings Cross can’t be unusual nowadays.

 

[snowball]

At least the builders know the railway is there, unlike those who put a giant auger through the roof of the Northern City Line tunnel a few years ago.

(Edit: turns out it was March 2013.)

 

[swt_passenger]

At least the builders know the railway is there, unlike those who put a giant auger through the roof of the Northern City Line tunnel a few years ago.

Didn’t they use a publically available OS map that didn’t show any tunnels (apparently they don’t usually do that in built up areas). But the ground investigation contractor had found “something” but reckoned it couldn’t be a rail tunnel because it wasn’t on the tube map…

 

[Dunnideer]

Will modern cranes use software controlled operating limits? Is that “geo-fencing”? Having massive developments right next to rail corridors seems pretty common, so what’s going on outside Kings Cross can’t be unusual nowadays.

Yes these days they usually do. I remember a few years ago a train driver reporting a tower crane lifting a load over the railway and a colleague had to go to the site to see what was going on. NR had been consulted and the crane had been limited to stop it slueing over the railway but it turned out its control computer had been rebooted and lost the limitation data.

 

[pdeaves]

Didn’t they use a publically available OS map that didn’t show any tunnels (apparently they don’t usually do that in built up areas). But the ground investigation contractor had found “something” but reckoned it couldn’t be a rail tunnel because it wasn’t on the tube map…

Yes, if not exactly that it was something very similar. If I remember correctly a 313 hit the auger, though fortunately it had not protruded through the tunnel roof that far so it didn't cause any injuries.

 

[snowball]

If I remember correctly a 313 hit the auger, though fortunately it had not protruded through the tunnel roof that far so it didn't cause any injuries.

Memory adds colour. No train actually hit the auger.

Report 03/2014: Penetration of a tunnel at Old Street

Penetration and obstruction of a tunnel between Old Street and Essex Road stations, London, 8 March 2013.

www.gov.uk

During the morning of 8 March 2013, a train driver reported that flood water was flowing from the roof of a railway tunnel north of Old Street station near central London. The driver of an out-of-service passenger train was asked to examine the tunnel at low speed and check for damage. The driver stopped short of the water flow and reported that two large drills (augers) had come through the tunnel wall and were fouling the line ahead of his train.

Near the beginning of the report it says no stock was damaged.

 

[matacaster]

Thanks to all.

 

[Ediswan]

At least the builders know the railway is there, unlike those who put a giant auger through the roof of the Northern City Line tunnel a few years ago.

Two augers. I can't find the write-up at present. If I recall correctly, the second auger was sent down to try and recover the first (not knowing its actual situation). Also, if I recall correctly, the investigation found that the tunnel was mapped, but that set of maps was not on the checklist of anybody involved with the building project.
Edit: I see @snowball found the report.

 

[furnessvale]

Didn’t they use a publically available OS map that didn’t show any tunnels (apparently they don’t usually do that in built up areas). But the ground investigation contractor had found “something” but reckoned it couldn’t be a rail tunnel because it wasn’t on the tube map…

I once drove sheet piling into the roof of the Victoria Line in the same area and stopped the job. The drawings supplied to me had the line shown in the wrong place.

 

[Bald Rick]

Went to King's Cross yesterday and noticed building work alongside track near approach to station. The building was maybe 6 stories high with 2 large gantry cranes. The crane booms if moved incorrectly would traverse whole track and any load would threaten the tracks beneath. What sort of risk assessment is carried out and is it a rail risk assessment or a construction site risk assessment? Who is in overall control?

To flesh out other details, the construction site is required to do comprehensive risk assessments of any of their works that could affect the railway, including production of detailed method statements. These will have to be approved by NR.

 

[matacaster]

To flesh out other details, the construction site is required to do comprehensive risk assessments of any of their works that could affect the railway, including production of detailed method statements. These will have to be approved by NR.

Ta!