M O’Brien have just completed another successful earthworks operation supporting their valued client with their box pushing activity. Crackley Box was built in situ next to the existing railway in order to be pushed into position during a 10 day rail closure, this new construction method allows for the underpass to be built with minimal disruption to the existing rail service when compared to traditional construction methods.

M O’Brien were tasked with excavating the reception pit as well as the existing railway line, this was done to a high level of precision using GPS guided machinery to ensure formation to the smallest of tolerances made challenging by undulating layers of rock within the ground. Once excavated and the base formed, the time came to slide the box and M O’Brien set about backfilling and engineering the layers of material between the box and the existing railway with a strict compaction and testing regime carried out in layers of 250mm.

This project utilised some of the latest equipment available from the M O’Brien Plant Hire fleet including its Trimble earthworks GPS enabled excavators and Dozers. A team of over 70 people were involved in the successful planning and delivery of these works which took place 24 hours per day for a period of 10 days.