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Twins arrive on time. Everyone happy.
February 1st, 2010
Atlantic Civil Products is pleased to announce the recent arrival of twin heavy haul road arches to a happy Australian mine site. According to all involved, the twins are doing fine and are looking forward to a very long, low-maintenance service life in their new home.
Atlantic Civil Products was very excited to be a partner in an urgent heavy haul railway infrastructure project to replace a 60 m span steel girder bridge that had been destroyed during a severe “1 in 500 year” rainfall event. The bridge replacement needed to take place within a 12-month window and, thanks to the concerted efforts of all project partners, it was up and running within eight months (six months from awarding of contract). For our part, the building of the arch structures — from site preparation to first train — was completed in 120 days. Here’s how quickly it rolled out.
April 2009 — Scoping, Proposals
We were initially contacted by Consulting Engineers, BG&E, in early April, investigating the possibility of using Super•Cor® Arches for this project. We had worked with BG&E on several projects over the last four years. BG&E were, in-turn working for Calibre Rail , Project Managers of the bridge replacement for a large Australian mining company. Whatever design solution was to be chosen, it had to be completed by December 1. After various options were examined, twin Super•Cor® SC74 Arch Structures were chosen for the proposal due to very favourable cost, completion time and performance/maintenance factors. The 25.2 m long Arches had a span of 20 m, a rise of 10 m and were spaced 4 m apart.
Late June 2009 — Project Awarded
After commercial negotiations took place, an order was placed in late June. Delivery of Super•Cor® product was required by late August or early September — about eight weeks to get to site including trial erection. According to Tony Douglass, Project Manager, at Calibre Rail, we were awarded the project primarily due to our engineering and design ability, the professionalism of our team, and our local manufacturing expertise. These ‘ticks in the boxes’ gave Calibre and their customer added confidence that the project would be done on time and on budget. At this point, the Atlantic Wire Wall hadn’t been ordered as the final design was not complete.
July, August, 2009 — Manufacture Super•Cor®, Prepare Site
Detailed design and manufacturing of Super•Cor® components at our facility and site preparation by the contractor occurred during this window. To keep the rail line open, a temporary earth embankment, with five 2400 mm diameter pipes, was installed. The Principal Contractor NRW, encountered early excavation problems on site due to the presence of rock. This made footing locations more difficult and the project fell slightly behind schedule. With a very tight timeline, even one week behind was critical. Wall design and commercials went well into July and the order was placed on July 24 for a mid-September delivery. As an extra to the Wire Wall, Calibre required a steel face to be installed at the base of the wall for added scour protection. We designed a sturdy solution for both sides using Multi-Plate™.
September, 2009 — Construct Super•Cor® Arches
Super•Cor® plates and base channels were delivered to site on time. Fortunately for all concerned, Calibre followed Atlantic Civil Products’ recommendation and used a dedicated plate erection company, APE Erections. Andy Reilly, founder and co-owner of APE Erections, took the ‘bull by the horns’ and built both structures, including grouting the ribs, a week ahead of schedule. This time saving brought the project back on schedule. Wall components were delivered to site, mid September, on schedule.
October, November, 2009 — Walls, Engineered Backfill and Railway Construction
An Atlantic Civil Products Technical Representative was on site for the duration of the wall erection to ensure all went well. NRW, worked around the clock toward the end to ensure the wall was in place and the rail formation complete and on schedule to the day. Track laying crews connected the line on schedule and the first loaded train went across on time.
December 1, 2009 — Project Completed
If a conventional bridge had been chosen instead of the Super•Cor® structures, the estimated completion time was April, 2010.
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