Rubber Crossing Revelation
21 Jun 2005
More than 10 million tyres have been recycled into rubber level crossings, platforms and track access points used by Network Rail.
New technology, developed by HoldFast Level Crossings Ltd, recycles the rubber tyres right back into the railway. Network Rail chiefs are delighted.
Says Deputy Chief Executive, Iain Coucher, “Network Rail and the rail industry are committed to caring for and enhancing the environment and balancing this with the need to deliver a reliable and safe railway network. This recycling initiative underlines the efforts being made, to ensure the railway is an environmentally positive mode of transport.”
Network Rail Environment Award winners, HoldFast recently installed Bicester level crossing. Setting up a 50 metre rubber level crossing can take as little as three hours, meaning less disruption for passengers.
Motorists across Europe generate 300 million new tyres every year. When these reach the end of their life, most will either be buried or burned.
Benefits of using old tyres in this way include improved anti-skid values of the surface and the turning of potentially hazardous waste into an environmentally friendly product. If you put all Network Rail’s waste rubber crossings together, they would make over 10 miles of recycled rubber, in which not a single ounce of virgin rubber is used!
HoldFast Level Crossings, made of full depth rubber, are very durable and as such, can endure continuous traffic and heavy weights. It’s fast too. Traditionally, level crossing replacement has required road and rail closure of several days in order to lay the bed, pour concrete and resurface the road.
The HoldFast system, effectively comprising a series of rubber ‘domino’ panels, simply drops in to place. A 50 metre crossing - similar to that at Bicester - can be installed in three hours.