Media centre

Tuesday 18 Oct 2016

Greater Anglia and Network Rail work together to put in place additional plans and actions for Autumn

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

| Southern

Greater Anglia and Network Rail are taking action and investing in new equipment in an effort to minimise disruption to rail passengers caused by slippery rails during the Autumn.

This year, Network Rail and Greater Anglia are implementing enhanced plans and preparations, using new track-cleaning equipment and targeting known problem areas, to try to keep delays and disruption to a minimum. Some timetables have also been changed so that services can run smoothly during the autumn and winter months.

Autumn is traditionally a difficult time for the railways, bringing wet weather and leaf fall which creates mulch that sticks to the track and gets compressed and hardened by train wheels into a Teflon-like layer. This makes the track as slippery as black ice, so train wheels lose grip and in some cases become damaged. The mulch can also cause the electrical circuits on the tracks to fail, which can also cause delays.

A number of measures have been put in place by Network Rail to combat the problem of slippery rails, with six specialist trains in circulation to clean the tracks and a programme of targeted vegetation removal.

Both companies have jointly invested in a specially-adapted Land Rover, known as a Sand Rover, which will clean and treat the track between Marks Tey and Sudbury, which specialist trains cannot reach. The ‘Sand Rover’ can be driven onto the railway where rail wheels are then lowered onto the rail, turning it into a rail vehicle.

Greater Anglia has also invested in a mobile wheel lathe at its Crown Depot in Norwich, to fix some of the train wheels damaged as a result of slippery rails without the need to send trains away to other locations.  As a result any damaged trains will be out of service for a shorter period, resulting in less disruption for passengers.

Other measures that have been put in place include:

• From Monday 17th October, Salhouse, Brundall Gardens and Roughton Road, on the Bittern Line between Norwich and Sheringham, will temporarily become ‘request stop only’. This helps to maintain the scheduled service and prevent wheel damage with reduced wear at sites known for poor adhesion in autumn.
• Trains for London depart five minutes earlier than usual during the morning peak from Monday 3^rd October to help maintain arrival times into London.
• Trains on the regional routes in Norfolk and Suffolk will undergo modifications to improve their automatic sanders (that deposit sand onto the rail when the brakes are applied), to prevent the train wheels slipping.
• All trains have been fitted with a monitoring system that reports when and where a train experiences slipping. The data will be used by Network Rail engineers to find and clean the affected track as quickly as possible.
• Network Rail will continue to clear lineside vegetation, especially at locations where vegetation might compromise signals and level crossings and in other known problematic areas.
• Network Rail has worked with land owners to arrange the removal of some of the trees that cause problems at Brundall Gardens Station in Norfolk, and replace them with more ‘railway friendly’ bushes and shrubs that do not shed leaves.
• Network Rail will run six rail head treatment trains each day and night during the autumn season, which clean the rails and apply a layer of sand-like substance to the rail to improve grip. Engineers will visit areas that can’t be accessed by the rail head treatment train.
• Additional slots have also been booked at other wheel lathe locations to fix trains quickly if a number of trains were to suffer wheel damage, despite the additional preventative measures

Richard Schofield, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “We have been working together with Greater Anglia on a package of works that aims to keep train services running as smoothly as possible this autumn and winter. We understand the inconvenience caused when problems occur, and our engineers will be doing everything they can to keep passengers moving.”

Greater Anglia’s Managing Director, Jamie Burles, commented, “We are acutely aware of the frustration and inconvenience felt by our passengers when things go wrong, so we are pleased to be taking action in partnership with Network Rail, making additional preparations to protect train services during what is traditionally a difficult period on the railway. We will be doing all we can, as ever, to get our passengers from a to b reliably, on time and in comfort.”

More information about why leaves cause problems for the railway can be found here: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/timetables-and-travel/delays-explained/leaves/

ends

Notes to Editors

• From Monday 17th October, Salhouse, Brundall Gardens and Roughton Road on the Bittern Line between Norwich and Sheringham Bittern will temporarily become ‘request stop only’. Passengers should notify the conductor on boarding the train if they wish to alight at these stations. Passengers waiting on the platforms should hold out their hand to indicate to the driver they wish to board.
• Trains for London depart five minutes earlier than usual during the morning peak from Monday 3^rd October to help maintain arrival times into London.