Alongside AMCO, our Technicians have worked on the Cardiff Intersection Bridge every Saturday night since January 2018.
GLS Coatings Ltd, in collaboration with Andromeda Engineering,Network Rail, and Siemens were awarded the prestigious 2018 Railway Industry Innovation Award at a ceremony held at London’s Paddington Hilton Hotel.
The Guest speaker was Network Rail’s Chief Engineer, Jon Shaw and our winning entry was for our GLS 100R® Electrically Insulating Coating on the Cardiff Intersection Bridge on Great Western’s main line.
Cardiff Intersection Bridge has very low clearances between the Overhead Line installation and the bridge, with the cost of bridge renewal in the region of £40 - £50 million as well as causing extensive rail disruption.
A collaboration with Network Rail Wales Infrastructure Projects (IP), Wales Route and Safety, Technical and Engineering (STE) and Andromeda Engineering led to a radical new solution at a combined design and installation cost of below £1 million.
Testing commissioned by Network Rail and carried out at Southampton University, proved that GLS 100R® Electrically Insulating Coating insulates up to 193,000 Volts. Siemens surge arrestors were also tested as a further mitigation measure.
Immediately following the successful Research Project, GLS Coatings Ltd Technicians began coating the underside of the bridge with
GLS 100R® in January 2018, ready for the electrification of the line.