The Western team are progressing well with a major drainage scheme at Bath Road Cutting, Wiltshire. Located in a Cotswold area of outstanding natural beauty, the site stretches nearly a kilometre and has slope lengths in excess of 70m in places. The main line from Paddington to Penzance is a twin track railway, consisting of Up and Down main lines, with the adjacent land spanning four different landowners.
Work includes 45,000 m2 of vegetation clearance, a 2m deep drainage run along the crest line, a mid-slope concrete canvas lined ditch for the full length and approx. 420nr Deep Hole Drains.
A number of shallow counterfort drains are also included to capture existing spring points. In order to provide value to Network Rail, we optimised the design by reducing the crest drain depth from 3m to 2m and switched out the cascade detail to a smart ditch creating efficiencies on both cost and programme.
Mark Howells, Network Rail, recently visited our site and the feedback received highlighted a well organised and managed site, delivering to a very high standard.