Double-Crossing, Network Rail, Newark (United Kigdom)

Application: Special Projects
Length of track: 1 double-crossing
Material used: 8 Beams 16 m long, 710 mm wide and 350 mm high.
Country: United Kigdom
Project location: Newark
Owner: Network Rail

Replacement of a critical flat crossing on Network Rail’s East Coast Main Line required the development of the longest ever FFU synthetic bearers. These bearers are 16 m long, 710 mm wide and 350 mm high.

Situated just north of Newark Northgate station, the flat crossing is located where the east-west Nottingham – Lincoln line crosses the ECML. It is one of the most complex structures on the route, with no fewer than 16 crossing noses. Carrying 160 km/h inter-city trains running north-south and heavy freight traffic on the east-west line, the trackwork on the crossing has had to be replaced every 15 years.

Various teams from Network Rail including Infrastructure Projects, Safety Technical & Engineering and Route Asset Management, worked with Progress Rail, Sekisui Chemical, the Central Rail Systems Alliance and the S&C North Alliance to develop, manufacture and install Sekisui’s new Fibre Reinforced Form Urethane (FFU) bearers. These have all the workable properties of hardwood and an expected life of 50 years.