Track Monitoring – Banteer Train Station, Co. Cork, Ireland

Client
> Jons Civil Engineering

Sector/Market
> Infrastructure

Services
> Monitoring – Structural Health, Rail Surveys

Location
> Banteer, Co. Cork – Ireland

Project summary

Banteer Station accessibility works took place which included the provision of a new footbridge over the railway, featuring two 13-person lifts, remedial works to platform 2 and upgrades to the toilets.

The brief

To install, commission and maintain an autonomous structural monitoring system at Banteer Train station to ensure safety and certainty to the client and to the asset owner Irish Rail, during the construction programme. The potentially affected assets consisted of two running lines on the train network and the platform structures over a length of 130 metres.

The challenges

The main challenges were the ATS locations to comply with Irish Rail regulations while having the instruments powered and lines of sight clear of existing overbridge/site furniture. To ensure the overall construction programme was not affected, Murphy Geospatial mobilised to site and installed the system within 2 working shifts. After the 2 shifts, not only was the system fully installed, but the database was also set up and the monitoring baseline had begun.

Our work

Murphy Geospatial commissioned the following automated system to ensure the platform structures and rail infrastructure were monitored accordingly where mitigation actions could be taken if required, measuring highly accurate, absolute, and relative movement.

2 no. Total Stations and associated communication equipment.
+150 no. Geodetic track mounted survey prisms.
+50 no. Geodetic platform survey prisms.
+16 no. Geodetic reference survey prisms installed outside the zone of influence.

All data was collated and viewed through an online web portal via graphical and tabulated displays where trends could be analysed. From the measured movement, additional real-time calculations were set up to measure track geometry and platform clearance.

In addition, Murphy Geospatial completed a comprehensive control network, rail and platform geometry surveys. The solution provided geospatial certainty to our client and the asset owner during the lifecycle of the construction project.

Our team

One of our experienced project managers, oversaw the project from start to finish, including on site supervision, delivery of all data and direct liaison with all parties involved. The engineering team installed and commissioned the automated system, along with our surveyors implementing the control, network coordination and all required pre-install geometry surveys. This gave us the detailed information required, ensuring that we gave vital support to all involved during the project.

Results

The measured data was viewed via an online portal and summarised within daily reports where additional data calculations were setup within the database to comply with rail monitoring standards. The following outputs could be viewed within the portal, in real-time, and via the summary reports:

Track cross-fall calculations to determine track CANT displacements.
Track twist calculations.
Track gauge calculations between the running rails.
Platform 3D absolute coordinate changes determining corresponding movement from the initial baseline coordinate.

If a trigger was breached or a critical event occurred, all parties would be notified immediately via SMS and email, where an engineering review meeting could be setup immediately.

Contact

For more information on this project, please email our Monitoring Ireland team info@murphygs.ie or call us on +353 (0)1 690 9799