This video shows Delivery to installation of two Leaky Feeders for the ESN/PCN (Emergency Services Network/ Public Communications Network) trail site. The site is the tunnel section between Waterloo and Bank “The Drain” one of the most challenging tunnel sections in London Underground, driven deep under the River Thames, opened in 1898, built by John Mowlem & Co at a 2019 equivalent cost of £26 million pounds, it is 2,37km in length, to this day over 17 million passenger journey per year,

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Using the Greathead Shield innovational (at the time) method  to bore the tunnel. The walls are formed from cast Iron Rings of seven segments, at some stage in the past we suspect the 1940/50’s the tunnel walls were lined with concrete, making securing fixings into the side walls an “interesting and challenging” task to be overcome.

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Two Leakey Feeders and fiber optic links have been installed to achieve the toughest of test beds for the ESN/PCN. The project is currently in delivery.

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A link to the history of this fascinating piece of London Underground history -  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_%26_City_line

In 2006 Data Tech then Data Techniques were contracted to install the cabling and trackside assets for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly line signalling upgrades (Piccadilly de-scoped circa 2009), the project had a particular challenge to overcome, access to the track from the street level for cables, it was clear from the start that the cables could be “Walked In” from the ticket office with cable drums set up outside the station or in the ticket hall, however, the older sections of the Jubilee and most of the Northern line  primary access would be via spiral staircases, walking the cable down a spiral stair is no easy task, man power heavy and an unacceptable risk regarding Slips, Trips and Falls.

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The benefit of having a vast depth of experience in cabling, we designed and built the “Coiling Head” which can be seen in operation in the video attached, this video dates from 2006 when we first trailed the technology.

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The aim is simple, change a large drum of cable into 25kg coils that can be carried into the station and down to the platform using, spiral stairs without creating a hazard, once carried to platform level, the coils are re-assembled onto a turn table and “spun” off into the tunnel.

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This is highly successful and greatly commended by our clients and biggest advancement of traditional cable install in London Underground and Network Rail.