With more than 40 years on the railways, he can definitely be called a veteran of the industry. Benni Wingerli has been involved in many advancements, including the introduction of the lining method.
Benni began working on the railways in 1979. After 20 years at Banverket Production (production unit of the former Swedish Rail Administration) in the vicinity of his home town of Lycksele, Sweden, he sought to see a bit more of the world and continued his career at Banverket Projecting (planning unit of the former Swedish Rail Administration).
“When construction of the marshalling yard in Umeå, Sweden, estate began in 2009, I felt I wanted something more, so I started my own business. I worked with most aspects of railways, including as a construction manager, surveyor and permit inspector.”
Today, with his company Wingerlis, he is part of the Progressu company cluster, which offers planning and construction management services and holds a framework agreement with Trafikverket.
New methods for culvert renovation
Benni has mostly worked with railway lines, tracks, and switches, but also extensively with groundwork and drainage and he tells us about the methods used to renovate culverts beneath the railway.
“Normally, concrete lining was used. A mould was built, the spaces filled with concrete and the mould then dismantled – and the culvert had been lined. It looked good and worked well, but it was not a great working environment to be crawling through narrow culverts and the method was relatively expensive.
In 2002, during a track replacement project outside Vännäs, Sweden, Benni, in his role as construction manager, met some workers from Vilhelmina, Sweden, who were digging out a culvert and about to make a concrete lining.
“They were not having fun with the job and asked me if I had heard that you could line culverts with fibreglass as they did in Vilhelmina.”
This aroused Benni’s curiosity and he took the idea to Per Lindmark at the project office, who was always interested in innovative, new methods.
Demonstration of Inpipe
Contact was established with Inpipe in Vilhelmina, whose CEO at the time, Olle Karlsson, also invited Ulf Marklund from Railcare. The study visit to Inpipe led to a sample lining project being carried out outside Vindeln, Sweden, in 2002 and everyone was impressed with the lining.
“Ulf Marklund stuck his chin out and said Railcare could do the same for half the price. We don’t need to stop trains, we don’t need periods of exclusive access to the line, we handle everything.” The rest is history.
Since then, the operations have progressed well, with more than a thousand railway linings being renovated. These have been larger culverts and Benni has not seen any disadvantages with the method.
“The colour of the first culverts may have turned out a little different, but you definitely don’t see anything that would be of concern. A major advantage with the lining method is that the culverts can easily be extended. You simply determine how much additional length you need each side to account for any future raising of the embankment. In the past, extending culverts was an extensive process and there was always a risk that the joins would cave in.
Using tracked vehicles for the installation is also an advantage. Tracked vehicles can manage the terrain safely, accessing sites without disrupting train services.”
Benni still monitors that first sample culvert carefully.
“When I drive past Vindeln, I often take a look as it’s so close to main road 363 and you can’t avoid seeing it.”
