VolkerRail has started overhead line electrification (OLE) works at Hitachi Rail Europe’s new train maintenance facility in Doncaster.
The new facility is one of three selected by Hitachi Rail Europe to house its new fleet of long-distance InterCity Express trains that will operate on the Great Western and East Coast Mainlines. Once in operation, the train maintenance centre will accommodate a minimum of 10, five-car trains, which will be serviced there every night.
Over the next five months, VolkerRail will install over 8,000m of overhead line and 140 OLE structures.
VolkerRail has been appointed, to complete the works, by its sister company VolkerFitzpatrick, which is currently building the new facility for Hitachi. Construction of the new facility started in April 2014 and saw VolkerFitzpatrick demolish the existing buildings before constructing a brand new 11,000m2, 5 road maintenance and storage centre. VolkerFitzpatrick are currently constructing a two-storey office, workshop and welfare accommodation, as well as equipping the new facility with a raised maintenance road, platform level access and monorail hoists.
The new facility will be opened by Hitachi Rail Europe and its partners this summer and is expected to be fully commissioned in October 2016.