Crossing Solutions · Rail
We install pipes and ducts beneath live railways without disturbing the track above. Under-track crossings (UTX) for Network Rail and rail contractors, designed to NR/L2/CIV/044 and delivered in possessions and nightshifts.
Rail crossings
Crossing a railway is one of the jobs trenchless drilling does best. The line stays live, the ballast and track are left alone, and the new drainage, duct or cable route is steered through the ground beneath it from a pit on each side. We have been doing under-track crossings for rail contractors and Network Rail for years, from single drainage UTXs to multi-bore duct routes.
We take care of the side that usually slows a rail crossing down. The crossing is designed and drawn in-house to NR/L2/CIV/044, the Network Rail standard for undertrack crossings, and taken through the NR/L2/CIV/003 engineering assurance process: the Approval in Principle and the design and check certificates, with the settlement and pipe-loading calculations behind them, so it is approved before anyone drills. A lot of railway sits on rock, which is no obstacle to us, and where the programme demands it we work in possessions and nightshifts to fit the railway rather than the other way round.
Selected projects
A selection of real under-track crossings. We've also installed four-way 180mm UTX bundles for BAM and Western Power, multiple rail crossings for HVMS, and 355mm Network Rail culvert relining.
6 × 4-way 180mm UTX · 24 ducts · tight-radius design
Six four-way under-track crossings, 24 ducts in total, installed for the Transport for Wales rail scheme. The design was a complicated one: the bores had to be steered on a very tight radius to fit a very small working area, then threaded beneath the railway without disturbing the line above.
2 × 4-way 160mm HDPE · 50m each · 7m apart · through rock
Two under-track crossings beneath the Network Rail line at Horsham, each carrying four 160mm HDPE ducts, eight in total, with the bores held 7m apart. Each 50m bore was steered on a curve through clay into mudstone and sandstone, with the full Network Rail approval: design to NR/L2/CIV/044 and the NR/L2/CIV/003 Approval in Principle and design and check certificates.
8 bores · 180mm to 500mm dia · within an overbridge easement
A run of eight trenchless installations from 180mm ducts up to 500mm drainage, all drilled under the line of an existing overbridge so every bore stayed within the bridge footprint for the land-ownership easement. Fitting eight bores into that width without them clashing made it one of our more involved rail jobs, delivered alongside Story Rail in the North East.
4 × 225mm electric + 1 × 250mm gas · 150–170m bores · through chalk
Five separate crossings at Green Street, Royston: four 225mm electric ducts (33kV, 11kV and pilot cable) and a 250mm gas main, each drilled through chalk on a 150m to 170m bore. Every bore had to stay within a tight easement under a proposed railway underpass, and sit below its dig level, so the services could be diverted before the underpass was excavated. We deliberately kept the bores small relative to the pipe, 225mm pipe in a 270mm bore, to hold the ground movement well under Network Rail's 5mm settlement limit, coming out under 1mm on every bore.
Glasgow Subway (SPT) · 3 × 3-way 160mm · 140m each · live rails + active subway
Three pipelines drilled across the live rails and the active Glasgow Subway at the SPT Broomloan depot, taken down to 10m below rig level to hold around 3m of cover beneath the running subway. Through shocking weather and a mud-bath site, all three were completed in three days, against the three weeks the contractor had allowed.
80m · 180mm drainage · through rock
An 80m, 180mm drainage under-track crossing at Ford Quarry, steered through rock, including the full Network Rail consultation and approval to NR/L2/CIV/044. Delivered for Esh as principal contractor, with Sunderland City Council the client.
180mm drainage · ~42m · across live Network Rail track
A 180mm drainage UTX drilled to a ~1% fall straight across live Network Rail tracks at the new airport terminal, through sand, gravel and clay, and completed inside a single nightshift.
Questions answered
Yes. That is exactly what an under-track crossing (UTX) is for. We launch from a pit clear of the railway, steer the bore beneath the track at the depth Network Rail require, and receive it in a second pit on the far side. The track above carries on running. At Broomloan in Glasgow we drilled across multiple live rails and an active subway this way, and at Southend we crossed live Network Rail track in a single nightshift. Where access is tight we work in possessions and nightshifts to suit the railway.
UTX stands for under-track crossing, the rail industry term for a pipe or duct installed beneath a railway. We install them by directional drilling or pipe ramming so the railway is never dug up or taken out of use. They are used for drainage, signalling and comms ducts, power cable ducts and water mains crossing under the line.
Yes. The crossing is designed to NR/L2/CIV/044, the Network Rail standard for undertrack crossings, and taken through Network Rail's engineering assurance process under NR/L2/CIV/003. That covers the Approval in Principle (AiP), the design and check certificates, and the settlement and pipe-loading calculations behind them, all agreed with Network Rail before any drilling starts. So the asset protection and approvals are handled, not left for the main contractor to chase.
Yes. A lot of railway is built on or cut into rock, so rock crossings come up often. We have drilled under-track crossings through rock at Ford Quarry in Sunderland and at Horsham, where the bores ran through clay into mudstone and sandstone, and through chalk at Royston. We steer through rock with an All Terrain dual-pipe system, or a down-the-hole air hammer in the hardest ground, rather than fluid-hungry mud motors. See our rock directional drilling page for how that works.
Settlement is designed out before we drill. The bore is set deep enough below the rails, the pilot and ream are kept tight to the design line, and the calculations are done as part of the NR/L2/CIV/044 package so the predicted movement at track level is within the agreed limits. Where required we set up a baseline survey and monitor the track surface before, during and after the crossing against agreed trigger levels.
Related services
The steered method behind most under-track crossings, installing ducts and pipes beneath the railway in one continuous length.
View service →Driving a steel casing under the track where a straight, large-diameter crossing in suitable ground is the better tool.
View service →In-house Network Rail NR/L2/CIV/044 packs, settlement and loading reports, ready for asset-protection approval.
View service →Send us your drawings, levels and the Network Rail constraints. We'll tell you honestly whether it can be drilled, design the NR/L2/CIV/044 pack, and give you a budget price.