Engineering Focus

The Western Link HVDC ( High Voltage Direct Current ) project is a joint venture between National Grid and Scottish Power to create a High Voltage electricity transmission link between Scotland, England and Wales. The link is required in order to increase transmission capacity between Scotland, England and Wales. The link will transmit power from renewable sources in Scotland to Deeside in North Wales, from where it can be distributed via high voltage overhead wires. This £1bn project involves laying a 385km long High Voltage Direct Current cable under the sea between Scotland and the Wirral in the North West of England. Construction of the Western Link is being carried out by a consortium of Siemens and Prysmian In Scotland the subsea cable will be connected to a converter station under construction at Hunterston on the Western coast. This is where alternating current will be converted to direct current for transmission along the subsea cable. From Ardneil Bay in ...

Crossrail is currently the largest construction project in Europe, employing over 10,000 engineers working across 40 work sites. Construction began back in 2009 and is expected to be fully complete by 2019. The £15bn project will provide London with a new 100km East-West route linking Reading and Heathrow to the West, with Shenfield and Abbey Wood to the East. The route is being made possible with the construction of 42km of new tunnels through the centre of the city. 8, 1000 tonne tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have been busy tunnelling 24 hours a day underneath the streets of London since 2012 and now tunnelling is over 90% complete. There will be 40 stations on the Crossrail route including 10 new stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich and Abbey Wood. The new route will increase capacity by 10%, provide more connections with underground lines than any other route and reduce jou...

Second City Crossing or 2CC as it is known is a new Metrolink line which is currently under construction. The new line will as the name suggests provide a second crossing through the centre of the city, as well as a new city centre stop and upgraded stop at St Peter's Square. "The new line will begin in Lower Mosley Street and run through St Peter’s Square, before turning left down Princess Street and then heading along Cross Street and Corporation Street before re-joining the existing Metrolink line just outside Victoria" (1) .   A new stop will also be constructed at Exchange Square and a new larger stop at St Peter's Square. The new crossing will increase the capacity and flexibility of the network and will allow for further expansion of the Metrolink network. The current city centre section is working at capacity which means that trams arriving from the recently completed Airport line currently have to terminate at Cornbrook. When the Second City Crossing is...

Upon arriving into Manchester Victoria by tram it was difficult to believe that I had only recently visited the station in January this year ( 2015 ), the station concourse has been transformed and is now unrecognisable. The most noticeable change for Metro passengers is that you can now alight inside the station, which had not been possible for months prior whilst new Metro platforms were built. Perhaps the most noticeable difference though is how light the station now is, the concourse is now almost entirely covered by the new arched roof. The roof was constructed using massive steel ribs, in-between which transparent plastic panels were been placed. The new roof uses the same plastic roofing system which was used to cover the Eden Project in Cornwall. The ETFE* ( plastic ) panels used are lighter and cheaper than glass, they also have self cleaning properties. * Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene Another noticeable change to the concourse area is the installation of ticket gates, which i...