Case Study

Severn Tunnel Electrification

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Background

The Severn Tunnel is a 134 year old tunnel, which is a four-mile-long connection between South Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire in South Wales.

An innovative electrification system, for the railway track through the Severn Tunnel, is being installed by the ABC Electrification joint venture that includes Costain, Alstom and Babcock.

The tunnel required electrification as part of the great western main line modernization strategy to help reduced journey times between south Wales and London by as much as 15 minutes and provide an additional 15,000 weekday seats.

Severn Tunnel Electrification - ProLight onsite

Challenge

The project was a fast-track, 6-week project in which the site needed to be active for 24 hours, 7 days a week to ensure it was completed on-schedule, otherwise it would cause significant disruption to rail users. As the project was taking place in Autumn, site lighting was needed for 12 hours due to the longer nights. Moreover, as the lights were needed to run for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the full 6 weeks, the carbon and financial cost would have been significant.

The Solution

ABC Electrification required 12 hours per night constant operation for the duration of the works. The requirement was for automatic switch on at dusk and automatic switch off at dawn. This requirement is simply accommodated within the ProLight Solar Tower Light, and can be achieved either through setup to automatically trigger via our Smart Remote Portal, manual program adjustment onsite or remote control via our Smart Remote Portal.

*ProLight is our alternative to the ProRXM.

The Result

The units operated successfully for the duration of their time on site with no human intervention, no maintenance and zero noise, which was required as it was in close proximity to the site cabins. Most crucially the lights required no diesel or refueling and emitted zero carbon emissions.

Carbon Savings

2.5 tons of CO₂e

Fuel Savings

218 gallons of fuel

Diesel Costs

$1,941

Downloads

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Severn Tunnel Electrification Case Study

What our clients
have to say

We have approximately 50 Prolectric Solar Tower Lighting Units in use. We have a high level of confidence in both Prolectric as a business and the products they produce as well as the after sales service and support they provide. As an Approved Vendor, the growing number of units across the business has had the added benefit of removing a large amount of Diesel powered equivalents from the site. I would recommend Prolectric as I have found them to be both amenable and professional to deal with and look forward to doing further business with them in the future.

Richard Thompson
Reliability Engineer – Infrastructure Utilities

Highways England’s environmental strategy seeks to help protect, manage and enhance the quality of the surrounding environment.

The use of Prolectric solar powered lights on the project is an excellent innovative approach by the A14 Integrated delivery team. The use of renewable power sources on the A14 scheme helps us to work in greater harmony with the environment.

David Bray
Project Director, National Highways