It’s been more than 2 years since it started but the Milton Keynes project is finally finished and on time at that.

So what have we actually been doing for the last couple of years? Well let’s look at what we had to start with. Milton Keynes Central Station with its 5 platforms and steep embankments and very narrow necks at each end. What we needed to do was to open out those necks, install one new through line and platform and one new bay platform. This, together with associated points and crossovers would help make the station more accessible from all points and allow the future traffic growth that was expected.

To make the station and track layout what it is today, Network Rail initially had to move almost 150,000 cubic meters of spoil away from the west side of the station taking the old embankment down and back to allow for the new track and platform 6. That’s more than 13,000 truck loads and out of that the vast majority went to other building sites for fill and only the worst contaminated spoil was taken to landfill sites.

A very clever man once decided that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s why we had to then bring in more than 8,000 truck loads of ballast to build the new track bed.

While the spoil was taken away, three huge retailing walls were constructed both east and west sides of the tracks. On the west side the smallest of the three retaining walls was built using piles ranging from 8.1 metres to 12 metres in length and totalling 585 square meters. The other 2 retaining walls on the east side were considerably bigger and together totalled 8143 square metres and used piles ranging from  8.1 metres to 14.9 meters in length. A huge undertaking and a long muddy job doing it.

The Pway guys count included eight crossovers installed, 4 turnouts, 116 hollow bearers fitted, 2 sets of permanent buffer stops installed at the end of the project, 25,000 yards of new ballast laid, 5,200 yards of new sleepers laid, 2,500 yards of new rail laid. Six cross drains and 73 drainage catchpits installed.

On the OLE  (Overhead Line Equipment) side they have installed:- 43 Portals, 56 Cantilevers, 143 Masts, 10 Booster Transformers, 15 Switches, 14 Wire Runs, 17 Overlaps and have recovered 53 structures.

The signalling team have not been idle with 23 Signal post foundations installed, 21 SPT ladder bases and 23 SPT’s installed. They have also installed nine 4 track signal gantries, 4 signal structure cantilevers, 23 signal gantry cages, 22 signal gantry ladders (plus bases). They have also installed 169 axle counters and over 217,000 meters of cabling. (The cables are now buried, concealed or secured so don’t even think about it!)

Telecoms have installed 110 phones in many different locations ranging from Signal Post Telephones to TRTS (Train ready To Start) phones.

E&P (Equipment & Plant) have been busy laying 82,000 meters of cable, installing 6 DNO’s, 248 points heating strips, and 4 big PSP’s at Castlethorpe, Wolverton, Milton Keynes and Denbigh.
    
As you can see, there has been a lot going on and this is by no means an exhaustive list!

Along side all of this we have dealt with various environmental and community issues such as great crested newts and chickens. The newts were found all along side the path of the new platform six and had to be dealt with under the strict supervision of an independent environmental expert. Network Rail had several of its own staff trained as newt wranglers so that delays were kept to the minimum when working nights and weekends.

What about the chickens? Network Rail’s Milton Keynes project team were approached by gardeners from the Washfield allotment group who, inspired recent TV programmes about the treatment of chickens in battery farms, wanted to rescue some birds and look after them themselves. The group rescued 25 pretty sorry looking chickens and they are now being cared for on their allotment. The chickens, with some good food, care and attention were soon looking much better and producing nice free range eggs which were to be sold to pay for their keep. Network Rail and its contractors provided all the materials needed to build the housing and the runs for the chickens. All materials were no longer needed on the project, thereby utilising them instead of scrapping them and sending them to waste.

Environment and the community was also at the forefront of the project just a couple of weeks ago when on Wednesday 17th December, Milton Keynes Station hosted the award ceremony for the Children’s Environmental Painting Competition.  This competition had been organised by Colin Mitchell from Signalling Solutions (SSL) who have played a big part in the MK project for many months. The competition was introduced to help enlighten the changing environment, which the children of today will have to manage during their lifetime.

Children ages 6 to 11 were asked to present a painting or collage based upon protected and endangered species living in railway embankments and cuttings such as Bats, Badgers and Great Crested Newts.

The 11 to 16 year old age group was asked to present a painting or collage based on the Carbon Footprint.

The competition was a great success with many entries from children and schools in the local area.