Friday 29 Oct 2004
UNIQUE ADJUSTABLE PLATFORM FOR LEVENSHULME
- Region & Route:
A £1 million project to improve two platforms at Levenshulme has introduced a UK construction first – an adjustable platform.
Network Rail scheme project manager Ian Lee said: “This platform has been specially designed so that if the railway track needs to be re-laid at a different height in the future, the platform can simply be screwed up or down. This means that the gap between the platform and trains won’t get any bigger.
“We have also installed light-coloured copingstones and tactile paving to help blind and visually impaired passengers.”
New lighting columns have been installed and the station signs have also been renewed.
Levenshulme station, which is three miles south of Manchester Piccadilly, had been closed since late June while engineers worked on upgrading the west coast main line in the Stockport area. Network Rail used the opportunity to rebuild the decaying concrete platforms.
The railway line through Levenshulme is at the top of an embankment with houses on either side. The platforms are virtually level with the bedrooms and the embankment drops steeply to the back of the properties. In fact, the southbound platform had to be specially constructed because the embankment would not support a conventional solid platform and this is what makes it unique as the only complete platform of its type in the country on the Network Rail system.
In simple terms, it is made from a galvanised steel framework on legs and has steel mesh to stop rubbish accumulating underneath. The 1.5m high back of the platform is also made of steel.
The northbound platform is a solid construction, built of brick and breezeblock, made possible because the embankment is not so steeply sloped as that on the opposite side. It is also finished in tarmac, with copingstones and tactile paving and has new lighting columns and signs. Both platforms incorporate First North Western’s company colours of magenta and blue and have been built to accommodate a six-carriage train.
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk
