Network Rail doubles hub storage

This meant the transport firm could move into the facility a month early. 

The design also achieved savings for Network Rail and doubled the organisation’s storage capacity.

NDS Rail Components & Systems Project Manager Teresa Beadle, said. “The racking installation has doubled our capacity and realised a cost benefit.

“Link 51 fully exceeded our expectations, enabling us to open the warehouse and move product across a month in advance. The installation teams in particular were superb; I cannot praise them highly enough – brilliant!” 

Link 51 was awarded the contract to fit out the 300,000 sq ft centre after competitive tender. It was called upon to design a robust and efficient storage system that would enable workers to access quickly the 120,000 railway components, including rail clips, cables and light bulbs that are stored there.

Using about two thirds of the space available and making full use of the height of the building, which reaches 12.5 metres to the eaves, Link 51 installed its super heavy duty racking with rack protection, floor-fixed steel uprights and heavy duty end barriers and provided more than 37,000 pallet locations.

Some racking bays had fitted coil cradles to store drums of electrical cable, which range in size from 450 to 2000mm diameter, while a separate 19 lane drive-in racking installation was added for bulk products – providing an additional 1,800 pallet locations for Network Rail’s slow-moving items.

As experts in bespoke design, Link 51 also created and manufactured a racking solution for a range of irregular and outsized items, such as pallets of spares parts, engine components, rail bogies and long electrical items.