Case study: BoxBolt expansion bolt used for commuter train line
In 2014, the Oxford-Bicester railway line was renovated and turned into a line capable of accommodating track speeds of up to 100 mph. The renovations also addressed the overall safety of passengers and employees by adding a guardrail system along the track. BoxBolt expansion bolts were used throughout this project.
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The article is used with permission from Simplified Building UK
https://simplifiedbuilding.co.uk/projects/boxbolt-expansion-bolt-for-trainline
Attaching 5 miles of guardrail using BoxBolt
The guardrail installed along the track is made of Kee Klamp fittings and tube. Due to time restraints and resources it was decided a modular system was the simplest and most cost-effective solution.
Option 1: Using regular bolts to fix the guardrail into steel?
While it is easy to install a Kee Klamp system onto concrete or most other materials, on this occasion the guardrail needed to be attached to an existing steel structure. The workers did not have access to the underside of the steel, and cutting into it would have created unnecessary issues. This meant that using traditional bolts to fix the guardrail into steel was not an option.
Option 2: Why not welding?
Welding the guardrail onto the structural steel was also considered, however, this would have required specialised labour and would have been very costly and time-consuming. Welded structures are also prone to corrosion, which means the longevity of the system would have been automatically diminished.
Option 3: BoxBolt blind bolts did the trick
Box Bolts are bolts that can be used when access is restricted to one side of structural steel, which was the case here. With the help of our BoxSok tool, each BoxBolt can be installed in seconds. BoxSok connects to a common drive, just set your torque and zip the Box Bolts into place.
Here’s a demo of how BoxBolt works:
The finished project
The entire guardrail was installed by the end of 2015, and around 10,000 BoxBolts were used. Whilst this sounds like a daunting task, the installation was simple and straightforward thanks to the use of Kee Klamp and BoxBolts.
