Eastleigh Long Welding Depot - Site Visit

Last week was Network Rail's Everyone Week where the business focused on promoting their Diversity & Inclusion initiatives.

As part of the D&I Working Group I was invited to visit our Eastleigh Long Welding Depot to discuss what diversity and inclusion really means in the work place. The employees on site gave us a great insight into their perspective and how we can involve them more in such activities being ran from our head office in Milton Keynes.

Our staff on site were very welcoming and took time out of their work day to understand more about what we were doing. It was only fair that I did the same! Two of the supervisors on the site happily agreed to take me on a tour of the depot; once I was fully dressed in my PPE; my tour began and I found it extremely interesting to find out what really happens at this depot.

For example, did you know that this is one of two depots in the country where they have the facilities to weld the tracks? (The other being based in Scunthorpe).

I was lucky enough to visit on a sunny day, but this team of operators work outside in all weather conditions to ensure the production line continues throughout the year.

At the start of the process the tracks are lifted off the flatbeds onto the conveyor belt.

Inside the track gets cleaned.

Then the welding begins; this is done by a machine banging the two pieces of track together, creating heat for the two pieces to weld together. Each piece of track is 281 meters long!

The track is then moved down the conveyor belt to wait for the second stage of the process to begin.

Back inside the depot the track is grinded and buffed down to meet the specifications required.

The track is tested by a laser machine and its accuracy is within 0.01mm of the requirements. The final test is done by hand by the operators.

I had a great day experiencing the work done at our welding depot. I am looking forward to going back in a few months and having similar visits at our other depots across the UK.