RIGHT SOLUTIONS | RIGHT PARTNER

Fast Effective Technical Support for our Railways Regional Rail Link is Australia’s largest public transport infrastructure project and Melbourne’s first new major rail line in 80 years. It will expand Victoria’s rail network to move more Victorians to more places, more often.

Regional Rail Link is a new rail line designed to remove major bottlenecks in Victoria’s train network. This will be done by untangling metropolitan and regional tracks as they travel through Melbourne’s West, into the heart of Melbourne.

The City to Maribyrnong River (CMR) works running between Southern Cross Station and Hopkins Street, Footscray are being delivered by an alliance consisting of V/Line, Metro Trains Melbourne, AECOM, AbiGroup, Coleman Rail, GHD, John Holland and the Regional Rail Link Authority.

The CMR works include the widening of the Dudley Street Bridge, in West Melbourne to accommodate two additional new tracks. ALS worked with the CMR team to assist in preparations.

Studs for the mounting of new railway tracks on a bridge were designed as post-installed chemical anchors. The designers required proof load testing of a sample of these anchors. ALS regularly performs this work using a dedicated “Hilti” hollow load cell.

One of these anchors failed during prototype proof loading. At the time, the client attributed this to an isolated case of poor hole preparation. Later, when several hundred anchors had been installed, ALS was requested to perform routine sample testing. Two of

these tests failed. A further 20 anchors were then examined in which there was another failure.

Concerned with this trend, the client’s engineers decided to test all the installed anchors. Since such testing was an unscheduled project delay, ALS was consulted on methods to expedite the testing to minimise further delay.

Within 2 hours, ALS devised an alternative system using ram jacks and procured, calibrated and delivered this system to site. Over 160 studs were tested during the next two days. Productivity was tripled by having three crews, working simultaneously. Testing equipment and procedures were again reviewed to expedite the final stages of testing. ALS Load Tester “Mark II” was developed, which not only further facilitated testing but also provided a reliable way of removing failed studs.

After only five days, 672 studs were tested. Results showed a reduction in failure rate and thus an improved reliability of the embedding process.

Engineers try to avoid unplanned failures and delays however, despite best efforts, they do occasionally occur. When they do construction needs reliable support services to facilitate a fast diagnosis and solution. ALS provides these services.

In this case study, ALS gave a fast effective problem resolution through innovative testing techniques. ALS and the client worked effectively and efficiently to address the situation with professionalism and ingenuity.

Asset Care Counts #23 November 2013

RIGHT SOLUTIONS | RIGHT PARTNER

Figure 1: Anchor studs on the Dudley St Bridge Figure 2: Hilti Hollow Load Cell during a test

Figure 3: ALS Load Tester Mark II

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