Gosforth fleet depot

The work formed part of the staged demolition of an existing depot and stabling facility, followed by the construction of a new depot, stabling sidings and external ancillary buildings by VolkerFitzpatrick. All works were phased to ensure that Stadler – the owner of the depot – was still able to stable up to 35 trains within the site boundaries. 

The new depot was built on a 12-acre site, close to Regent Centre station. As well as being adapted to optimise train movements, to help keep noise to a minimum for the benefit of local residents, it was also fully electrified, in readiness for the new fleet of electric trains, built by Stadler. The depot was also designed to allow preventative and corrective maintenance of the trains, and features four inspection roads and pits, a separate wheel lathe building and a wash-plant to clean train exteriors. 

Piling

As part of early OLE stage works, we installed 31 circular hollow section steel piles and foundations at the east and west ends of the depot. During the second stage of works our team installed 23 piles, with a further 90 piles installed in the final stages.

Electrification

During stage one, the team removed 27 redundant headspans and 55 overhead line masts, as well as installing four wire runs and 16 new overhead line masts. This was followed by the main OLE steelwork erection and wire runs, before the redundant equipment, including headspans, cantilevers and switches were removed in Summer 2022. 

The testing and commissioning of the remaining overhead line equipment was completed in Autumn 2024.