Man with a plan
With military-style planning and a workforce of nearly 1,000 people, Carillion pulled off some epic feats over Christmas 2016. STEFANIE BROWNE talks to WAYNE BRIGDEN, the man who made it all come together
Carillion’s expert contribution to Crossrail’s most recent Christmas blockade.
Once upon a time (last April to be exact) a man described through these pages how his team was preparing to deliver the largest ever single programme of works Carillion had undertaken for Network Rail. That man was Crossrail Director Wayne Brigden - the man with the plan. A year on, he’s invited
RAIL back to find out whether his plan worked.
When we last met, Brigden was well under way, preparing for a major ten-day blockade for Christmas 2016 across two separate contracts of work: Old Oak Common to Paddington Approaches (OOCPA) and West Inner Track Infrastructure ( WITI).
Now, with Christmas long behind us, and the benefit of hindsight, how hard was that challenge?
Says Brigden: “We had the main lines up to Ealing Broadway for two days under possession, the airport lines and the main lines into Paddington from Old Oak Common blocked for six days and the relief lines blocked for ten days. It represented 14,500 shifts, which equates to 142,000 hours worked.”
That was the best part of 1,000 Carillion people working on the project, and those figures don’t include hours done by people working for the other contractors.
But where did Brigden draw all these people from? When RAIL met with him during his planning phase, he mentioned that one of Carillion’s key advantages was the firm’s ability to bring people in from across the business to ensure successful delivery of a major project. He said at the time: “At a very early stage, when I identify what are our very busy periods, Carillion’s rail business as a whole comes together to support us… Not only do we integrate and collaborate at contract level, but it’s common practice throughout Carillion too; from the managing director down, everyone supports the successful completion of Crossrail.”
So was that applied here? Did they come to the aid?
“We brought people in from all over the country to support the works. One of the most fabulous things about our business is that everybody stepped up to the challenge. I requested support from the wider business and, right from our managing director downwards, they were all on this project over Christmas, making sure that we were successful, which was a massive achievement. Lots of other project directors from other parts of the business came to assist me with the safe and professional delivery.”
A big tick for the first part of the plan then - getting the right people for the job. What did they achieve over that blockade?
“The Stockley flyover link into Heathrow was successfully commissioned, we remodelled the layout of the track up on the airport lines, fully commissioned the new ramp that has been built by the Stockley Main Civils team and we removed a temporary crossover. We also completed all the associated overhead line (OLE) works to facilitate that during the ten-day blockade over Christmas.”
Inside that was a six-day blockade of the airport lines, which was previously unheard of. It was their only chance to do the work and was only possible because of the support of Heathrow Express, which understood that the work needed to be completed all in one go. It was worth it - the full functionality of the new track layout into Heathrow Airport has now been realised. Before, there were just Up and Down airport lines. Now there is an Up relief line and two other routes off the relief and main lines as well.
At Hayes & Harlington, they finished the layout requirements to allow the new turnback facility to be used and it is now fully commissioned. By commissioning the crossover with all the associated OLE works, it means that the new Great Western Railway Class 387s can run into the bay platform at Hayes, giving passengers new trains and more capacity from Hayes into Paddington.
Brigden continues: “In conjunction with Network Rail, we commissioned the Acton dive-under. Carillion has been responsible for all the track and overhead lines there.”
This work was completed under a collaborative working arrangement with BAM Nuttall (who do the civils work) and Amey (who do the signalling). Brigden says this was a very successful joint effort and the dive-under is now fully operational. Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) trains will eventually use this when they come into service.
While much of the preparatory work was done for these projects in advance of the Christmas blockade, all the final connections and OLE adjustments were done over Christmas.
The plan worked. We made sure it was robust from the start and we stuck to it.
What did the Old Oak Common to Paddington Approaches works entail?
“We entered into service the Elizabeth Line depot lines as a secondary route into Old Oak Common, we installed switches and crossings at Westbourne Park and we did some unique headspan conversions, in which we removed the headspan wires and installed portal booms.”
Still under the same contract but relating to IEP (Intercity Express Programme) works, Brigden’s team also remodelled platforms 11 and 12 and installed a new footbridge on Platforms 1 and 2, while carrying out significant bridge strengthening works to Westbourne Terrace.
When you put the whole programme together, it suddenly becomes clear where those 142,000 man-hours went. Echoing the sentiments that Brigden made when we met last, he says the biggest achievement from all of that in his eyes is “there was no personal injury on site. We were accidentfree. Everybody went home safe, every day”. Sounds like it all worked then? “The plan worked. We made sure it was robust from the start and we stuck to it. And we had very robust contingency plans in place, should we have needed them.”
While that was a huge undertaking over Christmas, these contracts are still in play - West Inner Track Infrastructure is due to finish in May this year and Old Oak Common to Paddington Approaches in March 2018. So what challenges is Brigden planning for now?
“The WITI contract is coming to a on infrastructure performance for the paying public when the Elizabeth Line is running.
“We have a huge task ahead of us with some key milestones this year - to fully commission and electrify the Elizabeth Line depot lines into Old Oak Common (the new depot being built); electrify and complete the extension of Platform 12 at Paddington for the IEP trains; electrify Platforms 1 and 2 in Paddington; and do significant infrastructure work at Royal Oak sidings and on the final connections into the Elizabeth Line tunnel lines at Westbourne Park.”
Brigden says that the OOCPA contract is the true jewel in the crown for Carillion’s Crossrail works.
“It is the last piece of the jigsaw for Carillion finishing its successful programme for the Network Rail surface works for Crossrail.”
Are there any challenges Brigden is concerned by, or is he pretty confident?
“Access is definitely a challenge because of the sheer volume of services in and out of Paddington. But other than that, I’m confident. We’ve got the plan, the plan is on the wall, now it’s just all about the professional execution of that plan!”
Right from our managing director downwards, they were all on this project over Christmas.