d² GRP/Steel Hybrid Platform System

Engineered for the challenges of both today’s railway and tomorrow’s.

Across the railway, platform renewals are increasingly being evaluated on whole-life performance rather than initial construction cost alone. Reducing possessions, simplifying construction and lowering embodied carbon have become key drivers alongside safety, durability and long-term asset performance.

The d² GRP/Steel Hybrid Platform System has been engineered with these priorities in mind. By combining a lightweight steel substructure with Dura’s proven modular GRP platform technology, it delivers a permanent railway platform solution that is lighter, faster to install and easier to adapt throughout its life.

Designed for new stations, platform renewals and extensions, it helps contractors and infrastructure owners improve constructability, increase programme certainty and reduce whole-life cost without compromising engineering performance.

Better Engineering Through Hybrid Design

The most effective engineering solutions don’t rely on using more material. They rely on using the right material in the right place. Steel provides structural efficiency, long-span capability and precise load transfer. Glass Reinforced Polymer (GRP) provides exceptional durability, recyclability, corrosion resistance, low weight and a high-performance walking surface.

Together, they create a platform system that combines the structural confidence of steel with the long-term performance benefits of advanced composite materials.

Rather than relying on mass, the d² Hybrid Platform relies on intelligent engineering.

Designed to Simplify Construction

Every tonne removed from a platform structure has a positive effect throughout the construction programme.

Lighter structures reduce demands on foundations, transport, lifting operations and site logistics while creating greater flexibility during installation. That engineering efficiency delivers tangible project benefits, including:

• Reduced civil engineering works
• Fewer transport movements
• Smaller lifting requirements
• Shorter installation programmes
• Reduced possession requirements
• Lower embodied carbon
• Infrastructure designed for a 60+ year service life

The result is a platform that is easier to deliver from the very beginning of the project.

Designed to Maximise Every Possession

Possession time is one of the railway’s most valuable resources. The more work that can be completed before access is granted, the more efficiently projects can be delivered.

The d² GRP/Steel Hybrid Platform System has been developed using Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) principles, shifting significant elements of construction away from the operational railway and into controlled manufacturing environments.

Steelwork is precision fabricated before arriving on site.

Platform modules can be pre-manufactured so that components arrive ready for rapid assembly rather than traditional construction.

This approach provides:

• Greater programme certainty
• Consistent manufacturing quality
• Reduced on-site risk
• Faster commissioning
• More predictable project delivery

Instead of using valuable possession time to build a platform, contractors can focus on installing one.

Proven on Complex Railway Projects

The d² GRP/Steel Hybrid Platform System has been successfully deployed across station renewals, new-build stations and complex railway infrastructure projects throughout the UK. Each project presented different engineering challenges, but all benefited from the same lightweight hybrid construction methodology.

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