TPA Temporary Access Solutions, a specialist hire company that provides access solutions for land, rail, and water were recently contracted to supply their VersaDock modular pontoons to Network Rail’s Trans Pennine (east) route upgrade.
Versadock supporting rail infrastructure upgrades
TPA Temporary Access Solutions, a specialist hire company who provide access solutions for land, rail and water were recently contracted to supply their VersaDock modular pontoons to Network Rail’s Trans Pennine (east) route upgrade.
As part of the modernisations, engineers needed access to the underneath of a rail bridge to fit electronic monitoring sensors. Situated above a strong flowing river, fixing any platform in place here was going to prove challenging.
TPA Pontoons have a long working history with Versadock, market leaders in modular pontoons and drive-on docks. The solution to this anchorage issue was to produce a “Spud Leg” bracket. This bracket bolted to each corner of the raft allows a leg to be raised and lowered using a winch system to give pinpoint accuracy and secure holding. Although the concept of a “Spud Leg” is not a new one, no such fitting existed for a modular pontoon of this nature. Versadock were quick to design a viable bracket and within a few weeks, prototypes were produced. These were tested at Versadock’s facility in Berthon Lymington Marina before being deployed by TPA Pontoons in a real-world environment.
James Myatt, Business Development Manager for TPA Pontoons said: “Chris and his team at Versadock have really helped us with this bracket and our customers will reap the benefits of more complicated installation sites being completed quickly and efficiently.”
“TPA really are experts at what they do and when they called, we were only too happy to help develop something for them,” said Chris Davison of Versadock.
TPA Pontoons provided a 6m scaffold tower, a safety boat, two operators and the 6m x 6m pontoon raft. The four leg anchoring system performed admirably, holding the raft securely in place while the engineers carried out the bridge works. The ease of deployment and recovery of the anchor legs means that the raft can be easily moved and re-positioned as the engineers dictate. The upgrades to the bridge will take up to three weeks to complete and the raft with access tower will be in place throughout.
