A fast track project for Network Rail

Due to the specialist nature of this project, we collaborated with L&W Contractors to fabricate a rail driver that is used to stabilise the banks alongside railway lines.

Devised by Rail Plant Support Engineer Leslie Radcliffe, this innovative equipment recycles old track and maximises the speed and safety of work by eliminating the need for human intervention. The rail driver works by picking up a horizontal piece of rail track sitting on a trailer bed and allowing it to swing vertically downwards. The driver automatically locks the rail into position and then drives it into the ground using vibration.

We took Leslie’s original drawings and converted them into CAD cutting files before constructing the machinery. Incorporating as many weld preps as possible helped us ensure it was robust, with compliance to 1.5t safe working load by Stallion Lifting Equipment confirming this.

This ingenious rail driver is helping rail operators maintain the banks alongside railway lines at a lower cost and lower safety risk. This is something that will become increasingly important as ground subsidence on railway banks increases with continued extreme weather.