Fan firm lands major train tunnel contract (From Gazette)

Fan firm lands major train tunnel contract

9:55am Monday 16th August 2010 in

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Flakt Woods signs deal to supply fans for rail project in Turkey STAFF at a Colchester firm are celebrating a new eight million euro deal, their largest single contract.

Leading air movement specialist Flakt Woods has signed up for one of the world’s biggest transportation infrastructure schemes, Turkey’s Marmaray Project.

It will be producing super-powerful fans for eight shafts ventilating the Bosphorus Crossing, a 13.5km tunnel joining the rail systems on the Asian and European sides of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

The tunnel forms part of a 76km upgrade, linking Halkali and Gebse, and includes three new underground stations and 37 upgraded and renovated surface stations.

Measuring up to 2.8 metres in diameter, the fans will be capable of providing emergency ventilation in the worst-case scenario – a fire on a freight train more than a kilometre long.

Work on securing the contract began in 2003 and, in value, it is matched only by a combined one for cooling the London Underground.

Paul Wenden, the company’s engineering and marketing director, said: “It demonstrates how these infrastructure projects have become a much more significant part of Colchester’s business than they were 15 years ago.”

The Axial Way firm is set to start supplying the fans from 2012 and although involvement in the Marmaray Project will not mean an increase in the 350-strong workforce, it will raise the company’s profile globally.

Exporting half of what Colchester produces, Flakt Woods has laid great store on its ability to diversify, sourcing business in both the building and infrastructure and industry markets, and helping to weather the economic storm.