The Gravesend Railway Enthusiasts Society
Singlewell Maintenance Infrastructure Depot
I like many others no doubt, have watched with interest the construction of the CTRL lineside buildings at Singlewell, south of the present and planned A2 route.
The object of these structures is to provide am integrated maintenance facility (IMD) for the whole of CTRL (or HS1 as Union Railways now wish to call it) It will provide the base for maintenance of the HS1 route, of the following departments:
Track, and signalling,
Control and communications systems
Power supply system
Civil Engineering
When completed It will consist of
- Maintenance shed for track maintenance vehicles – 41m x 13.5m x 10.5m high
- Accommodation building 91m x 21m x 9m high for offices and a workshop
- Berthing sidings off the eastern end of the down Singlewell freight loop for loading /unloading/ refuelling etc
- 150 car park spaces
- Training area for staff
- Access road from Henhurst Road
About 145 staff will be employed (about half of whom in 2003 were already employed at Ashford) and the facility will operate 24 hours a day.
It replaces a proposal at the time of the CTRL Bill for a Maintenance Infrastructure Depot on Swanscombe Peninsular. This became the temporary construction site east of the Thames tunnel portal.
The requirement for a seperate maintenance depot was deleted when Railtrack got involved,
but the requirement was re-
It will not be used for ballast or rail laying, this will continue to be dealt with from Hoo Junction, although there is to be an area for laying out new points.
The depot is planned to be operational prior to the opening of the route via Ebbsfleet to St Pancras November 14th 2007.
Many thanks to Tony Chadwick @ Gravesham Council for the background information.
