Kentish Express Ashford & District
Rail line repair firm praised
An Ashford firm has been praised by rail chiefs for the work it did on repairing the storm-damaged Dover-Folkestone rail line.
Civil and geotechnical engineers Tony Gee & Partners – which has offices in International House, Ashford – has previously worked on major projects such as the London Eye, Hong Kong International Airport and the Dubai Mall.
After the line near Samphire Hoe was badly damaged by a storm in December 2015, the company worked with Costain, on behalf of Network Rail, to design the repairs, incorporating a new 235m-long concrete viaduct, rock armour revetment, a sea spray protection wall, a new culvert and a fibre reinforced polymer footbridge.
Regional director Justin Ryan said: “Our 30-strong Ashford team has particular strength in the rail and marine sectors. We had the expertise to help get the Dover to London high-speed rail route back up and running.”
With the work needing to be completed as quickly as possible, the Ashford team rose to the challenge and a delivered a design to reopen the railway in just nine months, three months ahead of schedule, for which they received a special award of appreciation from Network Rail and Southeastern trains.
Tony Gee & Partners were uniquely placed to deliver the Dover project, having won construction industry awards and been personally congratulated by the then prime minister David Cameron for their work on the reopening of the Dawlish to Teignmouth railway line and sea cliffs also following major storm damage in 2014.
Mr Ryan said: “After the success of the Dawlish project, we were able to bring our expertise to this challenge in Dover.
“Our design team worked alongside Costain and Network Rail to understand the problem and cause of the failure and then develop the right solution.”
For more information about the company visit www.tonygee. com