Tunnels and Shafts

At Vertex Rail and Road, our highly trained teams operate on a wide variety of structures throughout the UK’s rail network.  There’s almost 16,000km of rail track in the UK, serviced by over 2500 stations and countless bridges and viaducts – and Vertex provide a host of working at height solutions for their safe maintenance and repair.

Amongst the most interesting and challenging environments found on the network are the thousands of rails tunnels and the shafts that provide ventilation to them. Like any other structure environmental decay and structural deterioration occurs over time, and regular repair and maintenance needs to be undertaken to ensure continued safe and effective operation. However, the nature of these structures requires a specific approach to make them a safe place to work.

Vertex Rail and Road provide teams of confined spaces and IRATA trained rope access rail technicians, who specialise in working in these hazardous places.

All our jobs are fully risk assessed, meticulously planned and staffed only with fully trained and experienced operatives. And in order to provide our clients with the most cost- and time-effective access solutions, all our works are undertaken in adherence to the strictest safety and quality-assurance measures.

Wherever possible Vertex Rail and Road uses ‘rig to rescue’ methods ensuring that our IRATA qualified rope access rail technicians can be lowered to a position of safety, without putting another operative in an unsafe position. The use of 2-way radio devices allows for clear communication between team members, and gas detectors enable the environment to be constantly monitored for any dangerous gasses. Breathing Apparatus and Mechanical Ventilation is also employed wherever works carry the risk of producing airborne dust.  A combination of these methods, industrial rope access techniques and our highly experienced site operatives allows for the safest method of work in tunnels and shafts, where our teams are able to establish access and egress quickly and flexibly.

Working in tunnels and shafts, Vertex Rail and Road can complete a variety of works. Some of these include the following:

• Descaling calcite deposits

• Re-pointing, re-casing and re-building

• Structure Inspections

• Core drilling inspections

• Fitting of anti-vandalism guards

• Ring dam installation, maintenance and refurbishment

• Water outlet down pipes, installation, maintenance and refurbishment

Along with holding a variety of skills based qualifications, all of our rope access rail technicians also hold a PTS (Personal Track Safety) and ICI (Industry Common Induction) qualifications as a minimum, Vertex Rail and Road to the forefront of the industry for rail services including tunnel and shaft maintenance.

To discuss your tunnel and shaft requirements further, please call 01709 379 453 or email rail@vertexaccess.co.uk