Gdansk SKM Line

The historical Polish city of Gdansk, situated on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay in the Baltic Sea, has a population of half a million citizens and is the centre of a densely populated area with more than 1,5 million inhabitants.

While the city keeps expanding, the Pomorskie Region, including Gdańsk, is also a major tourist destination. Millions of tourists, both Polish and European, visit the beaches of the Baltic coastline and many of them include Gdansk in their travel plans. 

An essential transport hub is the Gdańsk Śródmieście railway station, an extension of the SKM Tricity train service from Gdansk main station that serves as an interchange between train, tram and bus. The SKM line, essentially a commuter line but increasingly used by tourists, is getting busier every year.

From 2014 an extensive renovation project was started to prepare the lines and stations to meet the challenges of the rapidly increasing rail traffic.

The modernization and refurbishment of the Śródmieście railway station – a vital element in the passengers’ flow – was one of the major components of the whole endeavour. A new tunnel with underground platform was built.  

The new platform section is constructed in the direct vicinity of the old station infrastructure that could be affected by ground-borne vibration.

The tracks are used by the SKM trains as well as by the regular PKP PLK Polish Railways trains. These generate their own frequencies causing ground-borne vibration in different ranges.

The refurbished track system must attenuate the vibration so the train passengers and the people working in the station still enjoy an agreeable environment, despite the intensive train traffic.

Heavy rains and extreme cold weather are not uncommon in the region, but working with a very strict time schedule the project management could not tolerate delay caused by weather conditions.

The construction site was located next to the old city architecture and a very busy road so strict planning was of the utmost importance. The heavy traffic in the area brought about logistic challenges. It was important that construction materials could be stored outside, close to the installation site and without need for weather protection.

The choice for the resilient Rockdelta anti vibration mats in this project in combination with the Rheda 2000 slab track system developed by Rail One proved the optimal solution.

The prediction models were calculated to advice on the type of mats to realize the demanded attenuation of vibration with minimal deflection of the rail geometry.

Rockdelta mats at the base of the system guarantee that the calculated vibration attenuation is effectively realized.

The fact that Rockdelta mats can be installed quickly and easily without special tools was a great advantage in this case. No welding gluing or taping is needed, the lightweight mats are easily put together.

The mats, made from stone wool, can be stored and installed independent of weather conditions.

The installation of the mats can be done under the sub-zero temperatures that may occur during the process of installation.

These properties of the Rockdelta stone wool mats supported the feasibility of the strict project schedule.  

The Rockdelta mats will maintain their protective performance for the Gdanks people and buildings during the entire guaranteed operational life time of 40+ year, virtually without need of any maintenance.