By Ashley Karen
The TRU East Alliance has constructed three new drainage tunnels under the line at Ulleskelf Mires in North Yorkshire. As part of the work, three TBMs (tunnel boring machines) operated simultaneously side by side under the four-track line nine miles south of York in the UK’s first operation of its kind.
The tunnels, each 17.8m long and 1.8m in diameter, substitute two 179-year-old brick arches, which were constructed in poor ground conditions and were life expired.
The mammoth task was carried out for more than just 54 hours by the East of Leeds Alliance (TRU East), which is in charge of work between York and Leeds on the multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade. It safely drilled beneath two lines to keep the operational railway commencing to trains and passengers for the maximum amount of time, keeping disruption to a minimum.
The team scheduled the installation to happen during the summer to guarantee a successful completion since the area is within a flood plain. The work will enhance drainage for the future and enable more frequent, faster, heavier trains going forward.
The three tunnel boring machines – named Katherine, Nicola, and Emma after three project managers on the plan – dragged 615t of earth. Tamper trains were on standby to ensure the tracks above were in perfect condition and the railway was thoroughly re-opened on time.
In October 2017, the contract for TRU East was granted to the TRU East Alliance of Network Rail, VolkerRail, J Murphy and Sons, and Siemens.
The TRU railway infrastructure project is being invested by the Department for Transport and provided by Network Rail. It is diverged into the West of Leeds, Leeds Central, and East of Leeds schedules.
Earlier this summer, the TRU West Alliance finished piling overhead line equipment on the section of the railway, being boosted between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge, moving it one step closer to complete electrification.
