Stainless steel threaded rods produced in Sheffield are helping to keep the trains running on one of Britains most historic streches of main rail line.
The main Great Western line along the sea wall at Dawlish in Devon is on the trunk rail route between London and the West Country and is one of the masterpieces of the Victorian engineer Brunel.
It runs beneath a steep cliff and has been dogged by problems since it was built in the 1850's. Caught between a rock and a wet place, it has constantly thrown up engineering difficulties. But now it seems modern technology has succeeded where even Brunel failed.
Two years ago a serious landscape blocked thev line and Railtrack had to take urgent action to re-open the line and make sure there were no more problems.
Now the ground above the line is held in place by more than 600 Grip- Bar "soil nails" made by Sheffield company, Stainless UK Ltd.
Grip-Bar, high tensile stainless steel threaded bars, were chosen for this vital project because the stainless steel will resist corrosion from the salty sea air and Grip-Bars unique and versitile endless thread provides a very practical solution for the projects engineers.
Grip-Bar General Manager Tim Wells said " Grip-Bar is ideal for this type of major civil engineering project. We are world leaders in stainless steel anchor systems. Grip-Bar stainless steel is essential where maximum life life and corrosion resistance are needed. Also Grip-Bars thread profile provides a bond well in excess of that required. The Dawlish project places the highest demands on an anchor system and Grip-Bar is the obvious choice.
Phil Burke of Derbyshire based Rock Solutions Ltd who have been managing the project said " Grip-Bar is perfect for this type of marine enviroment, with its maximun resistance to corrosion. Its endless thread makes it very adaptable and user friendly. This is an ongoing project and the surface of the cliff is now held in place with over 600 Grip-Bar soil nails. There is restraining netting over the surface but the main work is done by the Grip-Bar rods.
