Great Western Main Line Electrification
Great Western Main Line Electrification
The scheme to electrify the Great Western Main Line from Paddington to Cardiff between 2010 and 2019 was one of the UK’s biggest infrastructure projects. Electrification of this arterial route was of strategic importance to the country and involved one of our most important and famous historic transport systems - Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway of 1835-41.
We were appointed by Network Rail as their historic buildings advisor for the project. Through our work, we researched and wrote a gazetteer of over 600 structures - the first ever comprehensive assessment of the historic structural engineering on the route - in order to develop an overall understanding of the significance of the line and the relative contribution of individual bridges, stations, viaducts and tunnels, all of which were originally designed by Brunel himself.
This pioneering assessment underpinned the Environmental Impact Assessment of the scheme and a comprehensive listing review of the route undertaken by English Heritage with our support - another first of its kind. We then provided design advice to Network Rail, building on our experience of historic railway engineering to identify intelligent and sympathetic concepts for installing overhead electrification equipment on Brunel’s bridges, tunnels and viaducts, and along the stretch of the line that passed through the Bath World Heritage Site.
Read our guide for Railway Electrification, produced for Network Rail in 2015.
Click here to read more about our wide range of work on the UK’s historic rail network.
Clients: Network Rail
Lead consultant: Atkins