Steelwork on track for Doncaster train depot

More than 1,000t of structural steelwork has been erected by Caunton Engineering for a train maintenance depot at Doncaster.

Working on behalf of contractor Volker Fitzpatrick and client Hitachi Rail Europe, the steelwork has formed three large buildings; a 300m-long by 55m wide maintenance shed, a wheel lathe building and a carriage wash.

The large maintenance shed is 10m high to the eaves and will accommodate a number of overhead cranes and five railway lines.

The site is to be a maintenance depot for trains procured under the Intercity Express Programme. Work started on site in the summer 2014 and by 2016 the depot will be operational.

Doncaster has traditionally been associated with the railways and this current project is on the site of the historic Victorian Doncaster Locomotive Depot. This was a major 12 road steam locomotive maintenance shed built by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) in 1876.

This shed remained in use under the successor companies London & North Eastern Railway and British Railways. It was modified after steam trains became obsolete and in the latter part of the 20th century the facility was used for diesel locomotive maintenance.