Successful Final Commissioning at Hinton Admiral

Last week, at newly renewed Hinton Admiral substation, Lowery celebrated final commissioning for Network Rail's Package 5 HV Switchgear contract. Managing Director, Mark Gubbins, conducted a night-time Leadership Tour to congratulate the team.

Initially one of three HV Switchgear sites, Hinton Admiral substation was originally remitted as a renewal of the existing HV switchgear. However, the rapid deterioration of the associated assets at the site during the post contract award design phase drove a business need to extend the scope to a full substation renewal including 1x HV module, 2x Auxiliary Transformers on staged platforms, 2x Transformer rectifier units and a new DC Powerbond Module.

The substation is positioned on a line of route that is important for both for commuters and leisure with the Poole-Waterloo and Poole-Winchester lines passing directly through and being an important interchange for Southampton Airport and the popular Weymouth holiday resort. The renewal of the power distribution assets which are over 40 years old with modern day equivalents will improve network performance and power resilience by removing known failure mechanisms which can be catastrophic to train performance.

The DC Powerbond module is one of the first of its kind to be installed. It is a combined DC Circuit breaker and Negative Short Circuiting Device (NSCD) combined into one. It bonds the track down as part of an isolation within a possession; increasing safety through technology as it removes the requirement of someone going on-track and installing a short circuiting strap between the conductor and running rails – eliminating a higher-risk boots-on-ballast task.

Lowery Managing Director, Mark Gubbins, offered his praise: “Congratulations to our team, and partners in Network Rail, for the delivery of these location-constrained high-risk works with an excellent safety record. The overall framework has come in under-budget for our client, thanks to Lowery’s innovation, and I’m pleased to confirm we’ve beaten social value targets and helped support biodiversity in local fish populations too. Well done to all for such a high-quality end result.”

Project Manager, Ricky Clitherow, commended the delivery team: “A massive thanks to everyone for all the hard work that has gone into the completion of the final commissioning at Hinton last week. With the site constraints it was always going to be a challenge to fit everything in and you have not only done that but the standard of work and finished site is something everyone should be proud of, I know from speaking to NR they are extremely pleased with the outcome and another reporting milestone successfully achieved on the project.”