Due to the short construction period and the comprehensive logistics planning, the pavement renewal at the Kesswil train station presented the entire team with major challenges, all of which, however, were mastered excellently.
Tightly timed work steps
To meet the time challenge, the work steps had to be precisely interlocked. This required close coordination between the various service centers for transport and logistics, civil engineering, track construction and road construction. The coordination was handled by Raphael Reber, site manager for civil engineering.
Sophisticated logistics concept
In order to keep to the tight schedule, it was necessary to ensure that the trucks could deliver the material to the right place at the right time. At the same time, this was jeopardized by the increased traffic volume of around 1,000 trucks and the rail replacement buses. Raphael Reber therefore worked together with the municipality and the SBB to develop a logistics concept within a very short time, which on the one hand withstood the increased traffic volume and on the other hand ensured that the material reached the construction site on time.
A temporary bridge was used to further calm the traffic in the village of 1,000 inhabitants and to bring the trucks to the construction site by a shorter route. In addition, a 600 m long construction slope was built along the construction site. This made it possible to bring the material as well as the machines up to the track. Coordinating the many trucks on this narrow feeder road was another challenge.
Savings of around 65 t CO2
Once the construction slope had been built, work could begin on demolishing the track. First, the rails were removed and then the old ballast was excavated. This was transported directly to the Schuppis washing plant in Goldach, where it was washed and processed. Due to the washed material and the resulting shorter transport routes, WALO was able to guarantee the customer a saving of around 65 t of CO2.
Samples of the old ballast were sent directly to the WALO laboratory in Schlieren. There, the material was tested for grain gradation, sharpness and resistance using the Los Angeles test. The test results were immediately made available to SBB for testing.
High-quality foundation paving
Meanwhile, on the job site, the subgrade rehabilitation continued. For this purpose, the foundation including the drainage profile was excavated to a depth of 1.30 m and a new drainage system was installed. In order to ensure optimum foundation quality, Ivan Breitenmoser, road construction foreman, worked with various paving and compaction methods. The compaction was recorded in terms of area and could thus be handed over to the SBB for quality control.
At the beginning, the 50-centimeter-thick foundation layer was spread and compacted in a first step with the 3D-controlled Mecalac +-20mm and the feeder, so that a detailed rough grading +- 10mm could be achieved for the second layer. With the help of the Bomag combination roller, which is upgraded for recording the dynamic surface compaction
Would you like to learn more about our construction site? In the video, our construction foremen tell you more about their work on the Kesswil project.
