CEMEX developed and supplied a record 10.7 metre length bearers for a project known as ‘Lewisham’ which was installed within the UK Rail Infrastructure on the approach into Lewisham railway station in South London.
The installation began on Christmas Eve and was a nine day around-the-clock railway upgrade and renewals programme.
CEMEX UK’s specialist bearer facility based in Somercotes, Derbyshire, were the sole supplier of all concrete elements in this project.
The concrete consisted of over 600 individual concrete crossing bearers ranging from lengths of 2.5 metres up to 10.7 metres with the total project having 2,185 linear metres of concrete. We supplied 18 of the 10.7 metre bearers, making these the longest bearers to be first used on the UK rail network.
Terence Clair, CEMEX’s Business Manager for bearers, gave us some insight to the complexity it offered his team at Somercotes:
“Firstly, I need to say a big thank you to all the team at Somercotes. They have shown that working together as one team makes projects of this magnitude possible.
The Lewisham project was always going to be challenging, not just for us as the concrete supplier but the whole project team and its supply chain. I was approached Network Rail’s Project team in early 2021 and was invited to a project design meeting. On seeing the first draft drawings I knew this would be a fantastic opportunity for CEMEX. I knew we would need to change a few processes due to the shear length of 10.7 metre bearers but as a whole, our proven manufacturing processes allow for such a challenge. In addition to the bearer length, the project included split modular bearers with both full size and reduced shear plates, a third rail and under bearer pads.
Our bearers are safety critical to the UK rail infrastructure and are the foundations that allow the UK trains to run safely. With this responsibility comes a lot of quality and complexity within our process.
The photos show the size and complexity of the project, which in addition to the concrete, included over 700 metres of new rail, 6,000 tons of ballast and 1,000 metres of conductor rail were part of the installation.”