The train, one of Virgin’s fleet of high speed tilting Pendolinos operating on the line from London to Glasgow, was derailed near Kendal in Cumbria, at 8:15 on the evening of February 23. It was travelling at 95mph, with 120 people on board. One passenger subsequently died as a result of her injuries, and 22 others injured, five of them seriously. The driver was praised for his skill in keeping the train on the track while it slowed down, potentially saving the lives of many of his passengers.
Ainscough, which has an ongoing contract with Network Rail, the company that manages Britain’s rail infrastructure, was called in to begin preparing a lift plan on the evening of the crash. Gary Bowler, an Ainscough heavy lift manager described the lift plan and progress for Cranes Today.
On the first night, Ainscough engineer Chris Turner visited the site to assess the cranage needed. Bowler says, “This was no ordinary lift. The items were located on the side of a railway embankment and randomly scattered over 300m. The darkness did not help the evaluation, but it was decided a 1,000t crane with derrick counterweight tray working from three locations was required. At daybreak our engineer, Chris Turner, was taken by helicopter to have an aerial view of the lift site: This confirmed the complexities involved in recovering the stricken carriages and the difficult access to the site area.”
Access was limited. The closest road was a 3m wide country lane half a mile away, with two bridges making travel on this route impossible. The next road, another mile away, was the A685: an access point was chosen from this route, and track-way laid across fields and marshes. Obstacles on the way included streams and humps formed by roads across the direction of travel, which needed to be pumped and levelled appropriately.
While access was being built, and the lifting site prepared, Ainscough decided that a second crane should be used to allow a continuous removal operation to take place. The main crane used for lifting the carriages was a Liebherr LTM 11000 DS, fitted with derrick superlift, with a 31.5m derrick counterweight tray. This crane was used in two boom configurations, with main boom extended to 38.4m and 56.4m. The LTM 11000 DS worked alongside a Demag AC 2000, with 160t of counterweight at 12.4m, with the main boom extended to 50.5m for most lifts, and up to 60m for some lifts.
In all, there were up to ten cranes working on the job, with two used three miles away to transship the carriages on to trailers for road transport, two more offloading the carriages, and another two moving carriages at the depot. About sixty Ainscough staff worked on the project, with teams of eight men per crane working double shifts to get the job done.
Access was by no means the only challenge Bowler’s team faced. “The existing lifting points [on the carriages] were unusable due to the attitude and precarious positions of the carriages, which were in danger of overturning and sliding down the embankment. Only the connection to its adjacent carriage was preventing this from happening, so the sequence of removal had to be correct.
“The 8t floating bogies of the new tilting carriages were in danger of coming away, and would have to be restrained prior to lifting to ensure no sudden separation during the lift.
There was only one safe way to remove carriages six through to nine and that was to restrain each of the carriages in turn, to allow the preceding carriage to be safely slung, weight taken and then coupling and associated cables released by the recovery team in a controlled manner, without causing further damage.
“We used 10t superlift slabs and positioned these on the rail level to secure carriage 6, which was the first carriage that needed to be overturned on the embankment. Two Tirfors and chains were then used to attach to the strength points of the carriage, around the doorframe.
“Carriages 7 and 8 were anchored back from these strength points using large cables from each end to two large excavators complete with winches in the adjacent field. These were then tensioned gradually so as not to disturb the precarious position of each carriage.”
Once the restraining system was in place, and a risk analysis completed, slinging was fitted to the first carriage. Bowler continues, “The existing lifting points were unusable, and the owner of the carriages did not want any further damage to them. It was unsafe to utilise nylon belt slings due to the location we were to sling. Collar chains had to be utilised. These were wrapped with webbing to prevent marking of the carriages and to protect any sharp edges against the cabins. Two collar chains were suspended from each spreader beam positioned across the width of the carriages to prevent crushing. The collar chain lengths were mismatched to allow all connection of chains to be carried out on the high side of the banking, to minimise the number of personnel on the downward side of the embankment, in the possible danger area.
“Carriages 6 through to 8 were tandem lifted in turn, giving far greater control than a single crane lift. This allowed us to manoeuvre the carriage and release tension on the coupling device prior to cutting. The cranes were taken up to a predetermined weight and held whilst the recovery team accessed the coupling device between the partially suspended carriage and the next carriage.
“The hydraulics and electrical connections were severed and the coupling between the two carriages cut. Tension was always maintained to ensure the gap between the carriages would increase, to alleviate the risk of crushing when the coupling was severed.
“Carriages were then lowered to grade in tandem and lifted to specialised transport. Due to site constraints previously mentioned only five vehicles were able to negotiate site, and therefore the first five carriages were to be moved to a special holding area and transhipped using two mobile cranes to more suitable road transport for onward transportation.”
Ainscough sets up next to crashed crane Ainscough sets up next to crashed crane Ainscough lifts the locomotive Ainscough lifts the locomotive
