Stepsafe

Tring railway station on the West Coast Main LineStepsafe – the fast, economic and inventive method of building railway station platforms which we've developed with Laing Rail Projects and RMC Rail Products and are now marketing together as the Stepsafe Alliance – is making its mark on the UK rail industry.

The Stepsafe Modular Platform System evolved from the platform construction at award-winning Warwick Parkway station in the UK. It allows platform foundations and stub columns to be built without disrupting train services, after which factory-made precast concrete cantilever beams are added to support the platform surface which arrives ready finished. Once the main structure is in place it's only the tactile paving and edging, fencing, services and platform furnishings that have to be installed.

Rising demands for extra rail passenger capacity calls for more stations and longer platforms to serve longer trains. Stepsafe – for which a patent is pending – offers major benefits by simplifying construction, saving time, minimising track possessions and reducing costs of new build or extensions. The standard modular designs – all embracing the same principles of foundation construction in 'green zone' and the avoidance of wet trades during superstructure erection – are now available for a range of platform widths. Several standard modifications are also available to accommodate unusual lengths, construction around obstructions, avoiding cable ducts and building island platforms.

Stepsafe is now in operation at five stations on the Chiltern Line between London and Birmingham and is under construction as a major element of the platform extension and realignment works at Tring station on the West Coast Main Line.