The £10m-worth of essential repairs to the Victorian tunnel, carried out with Network Rail’s works delivery team, included a specialist industrial vacuum to clean away old soot, fitting over 10,000 new bricks, and carrying out detailed structural and ground surveys ahead of further work next year.
The work was needed as the 1.6km-long tunnel, which opened in 1849, is prone to leaks and water damage because of brickwork damage caused by the freezing and thawing of rainwater that filters through the ground into the tunnel. While the structure is safe, in the last year faults in the tunnel led to around 1,000 minutes of delay for Southeastern customers.
Mike Sheridan, VolkerFitzpatrick’s operations director – buildings and civils, said the team had done a fantastic job in challenging circumstances.
“Our buildings and civils and works delivery team have worked collaboratively and as a result have conducted maintenance on five times more of the structure than planned and have been able to repair 50% more of the brickwork than originally planned. It’s a real example of the SRE model working in practice to deliver real, tangible efficiencies for passengers and freight users. Congratulations to the project team and everyone involved,” he said.
David Davidson, Network Rail’s route director for Kent, said everything in the tunnel was to be renewed, including the track.
“That means we’ll need to return to Blackheath to complete this work over the next few years so that we can keep this Victorian-era structure in the best possible condition. We will now assess the further repair work needed for next year and will keep passengers and stakeholders informed on next steps,” he said.
VolkerFitzpatrick is the building and civils partner for the Southern Renewals Enterprise (SRE), working in partnership with AtkinsRéalis, Octavius, VolkerRail and Network Rail, to deliver the southern region’s £9bn renewals portfolio over the next 10 years.
