Precast
Cambridge Guided Busway
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway needed a concrete track precise enough for buses to run on guide wheels rather than a steering wheel, over a route stretching more than 45 kilometres between Huntingdon, St Ives and Cambridge. BAM Nuttall brought TAG in to cast the precast concrete that would carry it.
That precision started with the beams. TAG cast the 15m concrete precast beams that form the guideway to a tolerance of just ±1.5mm, tight enough that a bus's guide wheels can run against the kerb edge at speed without a driver touching the wheel. Getting that tolerance right, beam after beam, is what makes a guided busway work at all.
The beams were only part of the output. TAG's casting yard produced 21,000 units across the full range the scheme needed, 10m and 15m guideway beams, footing pads, pile caps, bridge deck units, parapet units, culverts, gas protection slabs and spacers, each one manufactured to the same standard before being trucked out to site.
Across the life of the project, TAG used over 70,000m³ of concrete to cast that run of units, feeding a route that now carries buses guided the full 45.75km of busway constructed. It's precast production at a scale and a precision that turned a fixed concrete track into a working public transport route.
Key Facts
Client
BAM Nuttall
Location
Cambridge
Beam tolerance
±1.5mm
Busway constructed
45.75km
Units cast
21,000
Concrete used
70,000m³+
