Hitachi Rail Manufacturing Facility

Rainton Construction’s work on this project was ‘Highly Commended’ in the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) North East Awards 2016.

The Hitachi Rail Europe Vehicle Manufacturing Facility at Newton Aycliffe is a prestigious, £82m construction project, which marked the triumphant return of rail manufacturing to the North East.

Rainton Construction was appointed as the subcontractor to undertake an extensive 60-week civil engineering package on the scheme.

Our full scope of works included floor slabs, various foundations for the structural steel frame, rail foundations and both internal and external traverser foundations. Construction of reinforced concrete structures included a water test facility, a bogie pit, various narrow and wide pits and test line walls.

Drainage activities were carried out with all surface water drainage flowing to an attenuation pond. Five pumping stations were installed to manage foul water drainage along with respective pipework. External works included reinforced concrete roads, car parks, hard and soft landscaping.

Surfacing was undertaken by our in house team and the material was provided by Tynedale Roadstone.

Setting out and execution of the works required extreme precision. With tolerances of just +/- 5mm the most technically challenging aspect was the construction of a 23m diameter concrete rail turntable and accompanying 4m wide concrete hardstanding around the perimeter. Our dedicated team carried out the works with zero defects.