United Kingdom
Platform extension “West Hampstead Station”
Year: 2009
Location: West Hampstead
Country: United Kingdom
Volume: 940 m³ expanded clay 10-20 mm
Owner Builder: Network Rail
Contractor: Walker Construction / Carillion, UK
Designer: Hyder Consulting, UK
Problem / Solution
Three high-traffic railway platforms were to be lengthened and widened at West Hampstead rail station in London. Avoiding passenger disruption through speed of installation and limited line closures was paramount. A 100 mm diameter steel pipeline was installed beneath the rail tracks to allow some 940 m3 expanded clay to be blown in to position.
Experience
In all, the work was carried out with ease and completed in 6-7 days, a fraction of the time that it would have taken in traditional fill methods had been used.
Why expanded clay?
The expanded clay was blown some 100 metres through a hose beneath the tracks and directly in to the central platform where it was installed in 600 mm layers and compacted by vibrating plate compactor. Some 16 x 60 m3 deliveries were made to this difficult to access location compared with almost 80 deliveries of traditional hardcore which would have had to have been installed during track closure and carried across the track.
