The Octavius E&P feeders team working with Network Rail’s Southern Renewals Enterprise successfully delivered five consecutive weekends of high-volume cable installation works across six locations — a major achievement in the ongoing programme to replace life-expired feeder cables on key Southern routes.
Working across the Bournemouth Mainline, Redhill to Tonbridge, Pirbright Junction to Farnham Junction (including Woking to Havant), and the West London lines, the team is replacing ageing oil-filled and XLPE cables that currently pose a higher risk of failure.
To maximise output during engineering access, cable trains have been deployed to enable efficient installation. Over the five-week period, 5 cable trains had been deployed, one train being over 400 metres long. The team successfully installed:
- High Voltage cable: approximately 74,000 metres
- Pilot cable: approximately 20,400 metres
- Fibre cable (installed via RRV behind train): approximately 24,500 metres
The new cables will improve the reliability and resilience of the DC traction power supply and help reduce delays for passengers.
The team continue to make great progress across the programme of works and have so far commissioned one feeder site within the 24/25 package of works, with more expected to be commissioned over the coming months.
