A Novel, Low Environmental Impact, Composite Railway Footbridge

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A Novel, Low Environmental Impact, Composite Railway Footbridge. In 2014, the House of Commons Transport Committee (House of Commons, 2014) investigated safety at level crossings, noting that in 2012-13 nine people had died on level crossings. The committee set Network Rail the target of reducing these fatalities to zero by 2020. The 2018/19 railway safety report (RSSB, 2019) noted that whilst pedestrian fatalities had reduced to two, there were still more than 1500 incidents of pedestrians crossing when it unsafe. In the UK there are approximately 3,400 pedestrian level crossings where members of the public are currently put at risk. To mitigate against this risk, Network Rail propose to install footbridges wherever this is practicable. Traditional steel footbridges with substantial concrete foundations have a high environmental impact due to the materials used and therefore clash with Network Rails target to become carbon neutral by 2030. In addition, using this traditional structure can cause disruption to the network during installation and significant, short term, local environmental damage, particularly in difficult to access locations. In the past, bridges formed from fibre reinforced polymers have been installed and these have reduced the environmental impact and disruption to a degree, as their light weight makes them easier to install. However, these bridges have not been price competitive with traditional bridges and due to the inclusion of some traditional materials, have still had long installation times and a significant environmental impact. In this project Associated Utility Supplies (AUS) Ltd will demonstrate a low environmental impact footbridge which will be the first railway footbridge made entirely from fibre reinforced polymer sections without the use of adhesives onsite or steel bolts. The bridge structure will be light enough to be supported on polymer cement piles rather than traditional cement foundations. The environmental impact of the bridge will be at least 50% lower than the equivalent steel bridge. The bridge will be significantly easier to install than the equivalent steel bridge, greatly reducing network disruption and local environmental damage. The bridge structure makes use of an innovative method of joining standard pultruded fibre reinforced sections. This selection of materials and joining methods will make the bridge price competitive with its steel equivalent and significantly cheaper than composite bridges formed from large moulded sections. The project is a collaboration between AUS Ltd as the lead partner and The University of Huddersfield, Network Rail, HS2, Fiberline A/S and the National Composites Centre.