Tyne and Wear Metro wins national award for Spring rail work

The £3.4m renewal of Metro’s Prudhoe Street intersection has scooped Project of the Year at the Global Light Rail Awards.

The Prudhoe Street junction is located in the Metro tunnels between Monument and Haymarket. It carries 400 services per day and is the busiest junction on the Metro system.

The renewal project, which was packed into two weekends last Spring, was the most complex replacement of track Nexus has ever undertaken due to it being located in tunnels.

Stuart Clarke, Nexus’ Infrastructure Director, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to win project of the year alongside Smart Trax Rail for this major scheme of works that we carried out in the Metro tunnels beneath Newcastle.

“The award is recognition for the meticulous planning and execution of what was a very complicated project to replace Metro’s busiest junction between Haymarket and Monument.

“It was a challenging place to work, and the method was not one that we had attempted before, but it all worked brilliantly, and we were able to complete the works in just two weekends, ensuring that disruption was kept to a minimum.

“We’ve completed track refurbishment schemes on the Prudhoe Street crossover in recent years, but this was a full renewal, which involved much more work, particularly as we had to pump wet concrete down to the tunnel floor from the street level above.

“The works ensured that a key part of Metro’s infrastructure has been future proofed for many years to come. Well done to everyone who worked so hard on the project.”

The replacement of the Prudhoe Street crossing completed the renewal of rail in the tunnels under Newcastle, from Jesmond through to Gateshead.

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The renewal works were carried out over two weekend line closures, one in the middle of March and then the Easter weekend towords the end of March and the start of April.

It saw the concrete track bed completely replaced. The old track junction, which was made in 1974, was removed before fresh concrete was then pumped 150 metres down to the site. The new track junction was then taken into the tunnels in sections and carefully fitted into place.

It was the first renewal of this type attempted by Nexus within the tunnel environment.