For the past year and a half our machine has been assisting in the construction of the Hitachi Train Care Facility at Ashford Kent.

 Fitzpatrick Contractors Ltd have been building the Ashford Train Care Facility for the maintenance of the new Hitachi Javelin High Speed Trains.

This arial photo shows the steel frame of the new building, during erection (top right). To the left are the new stabling roads for South East trains, and to the right foreground the old stabling roads which have since been removed. 

Clearly visible running the length of the picture is the CTRL (Channel Tunnel) high speed rail link.            

This arial shot from the opposite end was taken in June 2007.

Top left in the distance is the new train wash building with the wheel lathe building middle left and new shunters control centre in the middle between the tracks.

 This is the building at ground level during steel erection.                                      

The concrete blocks in the foreground are part of the buffer structures.

     From the other end now finished

Once the old railway track had been removed.

 The overhead gantrys were dismantled.

While the main building was going up, new services were being installed.

Including new 11,000 volt power supply      cables                      

New water and gas pipes.     A new drainage system for both surface and foul water was built.

Installing new sewer.

Buried under the car park are storm water containment tanks.

The building in the distance is the new wheel lathe building.

updated 31/01/2009

This sequence of pictures show construction of one of the underpasses, and were taken from as near the same place as was practical looking along the building from the buffer stop end.

 Excavation for the pedestrian underpass, which will give access to the underside of the train.  

 Placing the reinforcement steel cage for the base.

 Placing the wall shutters either side of the reinforcing steel.  

 Pouring the concrete for the walls of the underpass.

 Backfilling the walls to get up to floor level.      

This picture shows the shape of the underpass and the view along the walkway under the train. The rails will be set on top of the two strips of concrete that disappear in the distance.

This is from the opposite end during the raised walkway installation with an underpass in the foreground and rail track behind the cherry picker.

This is the finished building with its first visitor.

The handrail in the foreground is the edge of the underpass.