Railway Track & Structures - October 2008 - (Page 44)

CREDIT RIVER BRIDGE Four railcars spanning both tracks carried the assembled bridge to a site adjacent to its new location. From there, the bridge was slid into place, then lowered into final position by strand jacks. Strand jacks and strand jack trees are at the top of the towers to the left. The installation process provided a safer and more-cost-effective alternative to the more-common-practice of assembling the expansion over the bridge. As the bridge span was preassembled and slid into place overnight, GO Transit was able to complete the process without any interruption to its commuter service. “Investing in transit infrastructure is part of our plan for the economy and of our fight against climate change,” said Ontario Minister of Transportation Jim Bradley. “Better service for GO Transit riders makes it easier for commuters to leave their cars at home.” The work on the Credit River Bridge is part of the GO Transit Rail Improvement Program, which includes a larger expansion and improvement project under way on the Lakeshore West railway corridor from the Port Credit GO Station to Kerr Street in Oakville. Construction began on this section of the corridor in April 2007, and is expected to be completed by November 2009. Upon completion, the improvements will allow for the introduction of more GO train service and help reduce 44 Railway Track & Structures October 2008 delays during peak travel periods. “Because of its unique assembly process, the Credit River Bridge project has been of particular interest to GO Transit riders, and we are pleased to have this important piece of this corridor’s expansion complete,” said Greg Ashbee, Rail Expansion Program manager at GO Transit. The process used for the installation of the bridge for the third rail line over the Credit River was that the span was assembled on land and then slid into place. This process provided a safer and more-cost-effective alternative to assembling the expansion over the bridge and meant that GO Transit service along the corridor was not delayed or interrupted. Support beams and strand jacks were installed at either end of the preassembled bridge span. Once the support beams were installed, the preassembled span was placed on four rail cars to move it along the existing Credit River Bridge to the installation location. The 329-ton span was then slid over the new foundation using hydraulic technology. The support beams and strand jacks were removed after the span was set into place. The rail cars were then removed from the tracks, and the span was slowly lowered onto the bearings already in place on the existing bridge. The installation was completed in conjunction with Western Mechanical Electrical Millwright Services, an industrial equipment support company from Barrie, Ontario, that specializes in heavy rigging. The entire installation process took approximately six hours one evening and was, for the most part, controlled by an on-site computer. Starting the process “We started conversations with CN and gave proposals for the bridge project,” said Mark Carney, structural engineer for Western Mechanical. “It’s CN’s bridge and they contracted with us. CN’s crews built the actual bridge. To show CN how we would do it, we created a video that goes through the whole process step-by-step. “Western Mechanical does specialty projects, usually moving really big things, usually in different ways, as this bridge was done,” Carney said. “There’s www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - October 2008 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Railroads Building Solid Foundation for More Capacity with Crossties Safety in High Density Areas M/W Challenges: CN Places New Bridge in Only Six Hours Products and Literature People Calendar Website Directory Advertisers Index Sales Representatives Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - October 2008

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