The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) Project was managed on behalf of Union Railways Network (URN) by Rail Link Engineering (RLE) a JV comprising Bechtel, Systra, Ove Arup partners, and Halcrows. The consortium entrusted Drake & Scull with the task of providing complete MEP engineering solutions for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) which provides a high speed rail link between St. Pancras Station in London and the Channel Tunnel portal near Folkestone in Kent.

The CTRL has been split into two major sections by design. Section 2 of the CTRL consists of a new double track railway, which connects onto Section 1 of the CTRL at Southfleet Junction and runs to St. Pancras Station in London.

The railway runs in the open from the Southfleet Junction up to Swanscombe, where it passes under the river Thames in single track tunnels (Thames Tunnel), emerging just to the east of the Queen Elizabeth II road bridge. From there it runs in the open to Barking, then in single-track tunnels (London Tunnels) to St. Pancras. The tunnels are located between Barking and Stratford (London Tunnel 2) and between Stratford and St. Pancras (London Tunnel 1). The London Tunnels West portal is located approximately 1.5 km outside St. Pancras Station.

Overall there are 44 km of tunnel bore and 11 km of open route. There are 7 shafts and portal buildings equipped with tunnel ventilation fans and an additional 14 remote technical buildings. The engineering systems are essential to the operation of the railway including life safety in respect fire, communications and tunnel ventilation, which provides a safe haven and smoke control in the event of a tunnel fire incident, communications and fire systems.

Drake & Scull’s contract involved the design, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning of all engineering systems required for Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Included within the scope was the installation of the signaling and C&C equipment together with building works associated with the shaft, portals and technical buildings.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure participated in the Redevelopment of the St. Pancras Railways station as a member of the CORBER integrated joint venture, for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link London Terminus.

The station was built in 1869 and is a Grade 1 listed building rated as extremely important to the UK's historic heritage. The existing train Shed, which was retained, was the largest enclosed volume and largest unsupported structural span in its time and formed the basis for many station buildings in the United States.

In addition to the existing train shed, the station had 250 m flat roof extension with 13 platforms to cater for 400 meter-long Eurostar trains.

The Redevelopment Construction was completed in 2 phases.

During Phase 1 the East Deck Extension, which formed the Interim Station of up to 6 platforms, was developed and made operational.

Once the Interim Station was operational, Phase 2 works proceeded in order to excavate and build a ‘Box’ for a new Thameslink underground station and to complete the West Deck Extension whilst refurbishing the existing train shed. Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure’s pioneering work on the project was greatly appreciated by the clients and widely lauded in the industry.

The Jubilee Line Extension Project (JLEP) was one of the largest construction projects in Europe and comprised over 16 route kilometers serving 11 new stations, 3 overland and 8 underground. Of the 11 stations 5 were interchange stations linking the service to the existing London Underground system and 3 inter connect with Railtrack Stations providing easy access to the South East, South and North East of London to the expanding Docklands development area. The project also incorporated 10 ventilation/emergency access shafts and 2 traction/intake sub stations. The line connects with the existing Jubilee Line at Green Park, passing under the River Thames four times before terminating at Stratford.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure were the mechanical and electrical services contractor for Contracts 205 (Station and Tunnel Ventilation), and Contract 206 (Station and Tunnel Services).

Contract 205 comprised the design, supply, installation and commissioning of Tunnel Ventilation, which involved the provision of 46 large diameter fans, each having a minimum duty of 70 m³/sec. Heavy duty Public Area ventilation was provided which incorporated 12 fans providing both fresh air and smoke control in the stations at platform, concourse and connecting tunnel areas. In addition to the public area ventilation, air-conditioning systems were provided to vital equipment rooms and additional ventilation to all underground spaces within the station box.

Contract 206 comprised of the design, supply, installation and commissioning of normal and emergency lighting, low voltage power supplies, fire detection and alarm systems, fire protection systems, compressed air and public health services. The contract award was made in November 1993 and DSR completed the design phase of the project late in 1995. Installation drawings for each of the 30 work locations were completed 12 months later in late 1996.

An essential part of the design process was a review of the design of the critical life safety systems provided under the contract.

DSR's in-house design team worked closely with London Underground’s engineers using “System Assurance” techniques to eliminate unnecessary complexities and enhance overall safety and reliability standards.

The use of “System Assurance” techniques on ventilation and service installations was a first for the rail industry, the process normally being used in automotive, military and rolling stock industries.

In order to ensure that the critical ventilation systems were designed to optimum levels, Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure were responsible for undertaking a computer modeling of the system’s performance, known as a Subway Environmental Simulation process.

Extensive testing of proposed equipment was carried out during the design phase of the project and ventilation fans were tested to destruction at temperatures in excess of 250ºc.

Fire rated ductwork formed a large part of the ventilation systems and after extensive deliberation and evaluation Durasteel was selected as the preferred ductwork of choice. The major deciding factor in the selection was the engineer’s requirement that all services installed in the JLEP should have a 40 year life.

The installation phase of the project commenced in January 1995 with the fit out of the grade stations at West Ham and Canning Town North London Line Platforms. These were handed over to Railtrack in August 1995. These successes were followed by the completion of Blue Ball Yard and West Ham Intake Stations.

The company achieved the “Power On” milestone in line with the construction programme. The remaining installations, including all the major stations commenced generally in line with agreed construction schedules and were commissioned and handed over on a progressive basis.

Installation work then started on North Greenwich (the largest of the 11 stations) and was successfully commissioned and accepted by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Railways in time for the 1st phase passenger operation on 14 May 1999. The installation works within the tunnels called for a specialist approach and the positioning of 22 kilometers of fire hydrant main was a particular challenge. Specialist pipe handling equipment was mounted on works train flatbed wagons with demountable pipe magazines, an installation rate averaging 120 meters per shift was achieved within the tunnels from Canning Town Portal to Green Park Station, including the location of hydrants every 60 meters and tunnel isolation valves every 180 meters, while ensuring that connections were made to systems at every station.

The lighting system within the tunnels also posed a challenge and a pre-assembled system was selected with plug in sockets every ten meters which enabled the light fitting assemblies to be pre-wired and required only a plug to connect the light. The commissioning of the completed installation was an enormous task and required to be undertaken in phases, each of the systems was pre-tested, tested and commissioned, and then proved to Her Majesty’s Inspector of Railways. Smoke testing of each station was undertaken to prove the effectiveness of the installed systems.

London Underground Ltd, as the final Client, was keen to have their staff trained in the operation of the unique systems within the London Underground environment. Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure coordinated with the client to provide this in-depth training to their satisfaction.

The completed Jubilee Line was opened in time for the millennium celebrations at theNorth Greenwich Dome and accommodated 10,000 passengers per hour, peaking at 17,000 per hour for special events.

The Jubilee Extension was yet another fine showcase of Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure’s extensive Rail project capabilities and a major milestone in its history of achievements.

Drake & Scull Rail were involved in the development of a Traincare Facility in Southampton for Siemens Transportation Systems. This was designed to maintain the new trains built by Siemens and being introduced by Southwest Trains onto their network. The facility involved construction of a new depot and comprised a main maintenance shed, train wash building, Wheel lathe building and enabling works for connection to the railway infrastructure.

Drake & Scull Rail were responsible for the design and installation of the Electrical, Mechanical, Public Health and Telecommunication Systems.

The depot was the first to be built in partnership with Siemens Transportation Systems and Fitzpatrick Contractors. Drake & Scull Rail’s performance on the project surpassed the client’s expectations, who subsequently invited Drake & Scull Rail to carry out other Rail works in the future.

The Brixton Congestion Relief Project was launched to address the congestion points that had been witnessed on the busy Rail line.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure were selected to carry out the complete MEP and Health & Communication works for the Brixton project, over a period of more than 2 years.

The project works were carried out in two different sections.

In the First section, Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure undertook the design development, installation, testing and commissioning of the mechanical, public health, lighting, power and fire alarm systems within a new office building for the station staff which had to be built on top of the existing building. The office space had been built to current commercial standards and had to be capable of round the clock service.

For the second section, Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure had to revamp the works within the Brixton station area where it was assigned the responsibility for design development, installation and commissioning of the new lighting, power, telecommunications, security and fire detection systems within the modernised public areas of the underground station.

The revamping operations also installed new lifts and escalators as part of the modernisation package.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure’s stellar project execution capabilities allowed them to complete the project on time, and the installed works were compliant with the London Underground Section 12 standards of the day.

The Bedford Rail depot was a 6 month fast track project that was launched to support Thameslink rail passenger services during the period of the blockade whilst St. Pancras station was being redeveloped.

The depot works enabled the South Central rail network operator to maintain a fully functional service during the main works blockade and also provided a depot for the next 20 years, while ensuring that there was no disruption of the critical rail service for its numerous passengers.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure worked in partnership with Fitzpatrick Contractors Ltd, for a contract framework funded by HSBC Rail (UK) Ltd to design and build services for the Main Train Care Area and External Services at Bedford Cauldwell Depot.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure were responsible for the complete design and build of all mechanical, electrical and telecommunications systems. Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure’s meticulous planning and strong engineering skills enabled it to meet the stiff deadline to the client’s satisfaction.

Drake & Scull carried out the mechanical and electrical services for British Rail’s Channel Tunnel rail depot located at Ladbroke Grove, London.

The North Pole Depot posed a few unique challenges that Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure’s engineering teams were able to resolve in a professional manner.

One of the major challenges faced during the execution of the North Pole depot was the installation of high level M & E works. To overcome this challenge, Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure adopted an innovative design and construction of a high level rolling platform, mounted on specially procured flatbed railway bogies which solved the problem efficiently and swiftly.

The other challenge was to ensure that the installed systems were fully compliant with the strict ISO standards, a non-negotiable requirement for the client. Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure successfully installed all systems installed which have been managed in accordance with ISO 9001 Quality Accreditation ever since.

Destined as a benchmark depot for future rolling stock maintenance, North Pole Depot benefited from Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure’s integrated quality and design capabilities and became a good example of Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure’s project capabilities.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure undertook the design, procurement, installation, testing, systems integration, handover and bringing into use of all Engineering Systems for the CTRL interchange stations at Stratford and Ebbsfleet in the South- East of London, on "Section 2" of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL).

‘Section 2’ completed the new lines from Ebbsfleet into St. Pancras stations.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure worked closely again with the Architectural design team to incorporate the latest International rail systems engineering standards. The design-build contract included all interconnection and systems integration works with the North Kent line at Ebbsfleet.

The award of this contract represented a further milestone in the ongoing successful relationship developed between Drake & Scull and RLE following the successful works at St Pancras and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Line Infrastructure Contract.

The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority commissioned the construction of Concourse 4 at the Dubai International Airport which was connected to Terminal 1 via an automated passenger mover system (APM). This facility comprised of a 1.6km elevated dual track guide way, a maintenance and storage facility, alighting and boarding stations in both the Concourse 4 and Terminal 1 buildings, operational and control facilities and all associated HV/LV & DC substations.

Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure successfully tendered and won two separate packages of work from Bombardier, a smaller package labelled as the “MEP package” covered the installation of typical MEP building services such as the HVAC, Plumbing & lighting and small power systems and a second larger package labelled as the “EI Package” covered the installations of the APM systems specifically for the Airport People Mover system that Bombardier were providing.

Under this package Drake & Scull Rail & Infrastructure provided the cable management systems, all cabling and terminations, substation equipment, traction power system including the DC power rails, signaling equipment, fiber optic cabling and connections and the entire control and signaling cabling network and terminations. All of which were to be installed within the new three story Concourse 4 APM building and the associated APM rooms within the Terminal 1 building. The scope of work includes the production and submission of shop/fabrication drawings, supply and installation of MEP services throughout the APM-associated locations, and provision of railway-specific services such as signals, traction power, maintenance of area power, compressed air and communication systems as well as minor construction works.

ALEC (Al Jaber LEGT Engineering & Contracting), were the main contractor for development of the Concourse 4 at the Dubai International Airport while Bombardier Transportation Holdings USA Inc, were the prime entity responsible for rolling stock and rail technologies at the airport.