These tractor units are equipped with the latest equipment and technology and are geared in particular to our Heavy Haulage projects. We are a Client driven company and having our own fleet gives us the flexibility to deliver to our customer requirements.  Look out through our completed projects for pictures of the new artics.

Working with Steve and the Birse Rail Team an initial value engineering exercise was carried out by the Shay Murtagh Design Team and a substantial reduction in the number of prestressing strands required in the box beams was proposed. Shay Murtagh was subsequently granted detailed design responsibility for the bridge beams, deck slab, parapet upstands and  bearing schedule.  On design completion a Design Check was completed by consultants Roughan & O’Donovan wherein the reduction in prestressing strands was verified along with the full detailed design for the structural components mentioned above.

The project consisted of 26 no. 700mm deep x 750mm wide prestressed box beams used within two simply supported spans.  13 no. beams were 19.875m long and 13 no. beams were 18.95m long. The beams were tapered at the ends to a minimum depth of 600mm in order to accommodate the road profile.  A portion of the parapet upstands was batched with the edge beams to minimize formwork and eliminate falsework on site. The edge beam and parapet upstand batched assemblies weighed a maximum of 36.5t while the individual box beams weighed a maximum of 24t.

6 no. cill beams installed on the existing abutments and 3 no. cill beams installed on the existing pier were also manufactured as part of this contract.  The cill beams varied in weight from 9.7t to 20.2t.

The bridge has a skew angle of 3.7° and the completed deck had a clear width between parapets of 9.1m and spans between centre lines of bearings of 19.466m and 18.4m.

A trial erection was completed in house and an inspection team from Birse Rail and Network Rail attended.  Logistics worked closely with the on-site team and installation began on 2nd March under a strict rail possession.

“This was a challenging project but it showcases our design strength as we want to give our project partners the best possible solution both economically and structurally” – Steve Lowe Senior Design Engineer.  It was a pleasure to work with Steve Harper and the Birse Rail Team and we look forward to our next project together.

The bridge assembly consisted of TY3 beams with an insitu infill deck. There were 2 TYE3 edge beams and 82 interior TY3 beams manufactured under our strict quality procedures for this project.  The beams varied in length from 7.7m to 10.6m. The heaviest edge beam was 8.1T while the heaviest interior beam was 5.9T.

Delivery was completed to the project in mid-December 2011.

As a result we are delighted to announce that we are launching Edition 2 of the Technical Manual at Infrarail 2012.

The new technical manual is enhanced with new span tables for Box Beams and W Beams in addition to a new section on the use of Shay Murtagh Precast bridge beams in rail applications in our expanded version of our popular Designers Checklist. “This new edition builds on what we have published and is a result of requests made by those who use it.  We built as much information as possible into this new manual but are always at end of telephone or email to discuss your project” – Steve Lowe – Senior Design Engineer.

We invite you to The Infrarail exhibition which takes place at Stand K20, Hall 3, Birmingham NEC – 1st to 3rd May. Hard and soft copies of the manual will be available at the exhibition or you can email technical@shaymurtagh.co.uk

Make sure to pre-register at http://infrarail.com/

We look forward to seeing you there.

Note: To get your FREE interactive copy of the Manual – Click here

The award was for the N3 Interchange Structure 17 –M50 upgrade.  This superstructure was “a very innovative curved precast concrete viaduct bridge on the most difficult and complex interchange of the M50 and the M3 motorways” quoted the jury.  Shay Murtagh Precast manufactured all elements at our factory in Raharney, Mullingar and all details on the project can be found at http://www.shaymurtagh.co.uk/m50-structure-17

Client:              National Roads Authority / M50 Concessoion

Engineer:        Atkins

Contractor     M50 Design & Construction.

• 2 edge conarchs, 20.7t
• 3 internal conarchs, 13t
• 4 cill beams, 14t
• 2 brick clad parapet edge beams, 32t
• 12 brick clad approach wall units, 7t
• Small approach retaining wall units (50 linear metres) in 1m lengths varying in weight from 0.4t to 1.2t.

The scheme will comprise of the manufacture of 13 no. conarch bridge structures. When assembled each structure will comprise of precast concrete cill beam units, conarch units (both internal & external units), and parapet beams units – which comprise of attached masonry clad parapet – all of which will be constructed to finish, off-site at our factory in Raharney.

Both Carillion and Network Rail representatives visited our factory for the trial erection of the first structure for Lunn Bridge.  On the 8^th of August 2011 delivery was successfully undertaken by the Shay Murtagh Precast Logistics team and the project was installed within a narrow possession.   Since then we have delivered to further structures including Freefolk, Lee Drove and continue to work towards project completion.

This is a challenging project marrying design, production, off-site masonry cladding and transportation.   As always we thank the teams at Carillion PLC and Network Rail working on this project and will publish some of the structures on the Blog and Completed Projects pages on our website.

At this exhibition there will be ideas, innovations, seminars and products all connected to the rail industry in the UK. We will be on hand at Stand K50 to discuss any of our precast concrete product range or associated projects.

Furthermore over the three days Ciaran Murtagh Managing Director and Liam McGovern Contracts Director are available for one to one meetings. This is an ideal opportunity to meet and discuss design, production or value engineering solutions to your project. You can email us at technical@shaymurtagh.ie to book your preferred time.

REMEMBER to pre-register to avail of free entry at http://www.exporeg.co.uk/visit/sites/mackbrooks/Infrarail/12/vis/reg.asp

• 4 bespoke cill beam units each weighing 25t
• 8 ballast walls varying in weight from 1t to 2.75t
• 19 retaining wall units in heights ranging from 2.46m to 3.775m. Weights varied from 2.5t to 5.5t.

A trial erection was completed in-house and inspected by Network Rail and the Birse Rail Team. On 12^th December we began delivery offsite for Birse Rail preparation.  A Christmas possession of 103-hours and one old bridge was removed and successfully replaced with two new ones.   We look forward to working with Chris and the Birse Rail Team on their next project.

1340m of U-sections units with associated cover slabs were manufactured, transported and installed on the import gas pipeline on this project. The purpose of these units is to house the onshore section of umbilical tubes and service cables connecting the Shetland Gas plant to the deep sea Gas wells at Laggan and Tormore, 148 km off the west coast of Shetlands.

The design and purpose for installing these U Sections is to fulfil the client’s requirement to easily upgrade/repair the electrical/fibre optic cables or hydraulic tubes during the operation life, without disturbing the surrounding preserved blanket peat. An internal wall was cast into the U section dividing it into two separate compartments isolating the tubes from the cables. Uni-struts were cast into the floor of the U sections at 2m centres to enable cable trays and hydraulic brackets to be attached.

The U-sections have external dimensions of 1.41m wide and 0.7m high with a section thickness of 125mm. The cover slabs are 125mm thick and all units were manufactured in 6m module lengths. The U-section weighed 5.5T and the cover slabs weighed 2.5T.

A quantity of 34T load capacity units were also installed on a section of the umbilical duct route to enable the client to move heavy pre-assembled units required for the plants construction over the U Sections where required.

Working closely with the Roadbridge team, our logistics department delivered the manufactured units, on schedule to the requirements of the project.