Etches Park Depot is one of three owned by East Midlands Railway (EMR) and is the strategic servicing location for the train operator’s intercity fleet, serving the Midland Main Line between Sheffield and London. The depot provides a base to fuel, clean, maintain and stable EMR’s trains. Our role in the Etches Park Infrastructure Upgrade (EPIU) programme was to help facilitate the arrival of the new Hitachi Class 810 fleet of trains (also known as the Aurora fleet) with infrastructure upgrades across the site.
£35m
upgrade to depot facilities
200m
of new electrical test track
2x5
cariage trains now able to access the fuel roads
Scope of work
Our works on the Derby site involved an extension to the north shed, which is approximately 150 metres long and features a heavy-duty maintenance pit, alongside jacks and cranes. We also upgraded the systems along the fuelling roads and built an overhead electrical test track of approximately 200 metres with a new generator and other associated infrastructure.
"The key to the success of this upgrade was the collaborative working with Kier and other partners, which allowed for seamless delivery across a working depot. Planning and staging of works were essential, as well as open communication for side by side working with depot operations, resulting in minimal disruption."
Steve Yates, Programme Manager, East Midlands Railway
A live operational environment
We worked closely with both our client and supply chain partners to ensure we had minimal disruption to the ongoing daily operations of the depot. A key example was our work on the fuel roads (an area where trains are fuelled and serviced overnight), which was completed in four quadrants. The split allowed trains to ready for service whilst we completed work on other quadrants, such as installing AdBlue pumps, a new rain canopy, lighting, fuelling stations and a fuel farm.
Track work
Our works also played a part in the existing track layouts and systems on-site. This included the breaking out and removal of existing slab track, the installation of new track drainage, an extension to the concrete apron, new track formation, new p-way and track alignment with points, and finally, amendments to the signalling and depot protection systems. All this involved meticulous planning and transfer of track possessions to ensure safety for all on-site.
