Reliability boost for Cheltenham residents and passengers as Network Rail to carry out full renewal of level crossing: Alstone Lane level crossing

Tuesday 3 May 2016

Reliability boost for Cheltenham residents and passengers as Network Rail to carry out full renewal of level crossing

Region & Route:
| Wales & Western: Western
| Wales & Western

Passengers and residents in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, will soon benefit from a more reliable level crossing on Alstone Lane as Network Rail prepares to carry out a full renewal of the crossing’s equipment.

The equipment that makes up this crossing has come to the end of its natural life and as part of the company’s Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway, will be replaced in its entirety to improve reliability and increase the safety of passengers and the public.

The work is extensive and will involve renewing the barrier, the machine that operates the barrier and the warning lights, more commonly known as ‘wig wags’. The orange army will also be renewing the devices that emit the warning sounds, creating suitable housing for the machine that operates the barrier, and installing new cabling, signage and road markings.

Due to the nature of this work, two temporary road closures are required. The first will take place between Saturday 14 May and Sunday 15 May and the second will take place over ten days, starting on Friday 10 June. During this time, a diversion route, agreed with Gloucestershire County Council, will be in place.

To minimise disruption as much as possible, pedestrian access will be maintained at all times and a drop-in event is being held to enable residents to find out more about the work and ask any questions.

John Aderele, Network Rail’s project manager for the scheme, said: “I’d like to thank residents in advance for their patience and understanding while we carry out this essential upgrade that will improve the reliability of the crossing for its users.

“We will be working hard to deliver this improvement work as soon as possible and I’d encourage anyone who wants to know more about the work or has a question to come along to our drop-in event; everyone is welcome.”

Details of the drop-in event are as follows:

Date: Tuesday 10 May

Time: Between 4pm and 7.30pm

Location: Hesters Way Community Resource Centre, Cassin Drive, Hesters Way, Cheltenham, GL51 7SU.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Details of the temporary road closures are as follows:

10am on Saturday 14 May until 4pm on Sunday 15 May

10pm on Friday 10 June until 6am on Monday 20 June

The diversion route during these temporary closures is as follows:

Alstone Lane - Brooklyn Road - Arle Road - Gloucester Road - Alstone Lane

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Victoria Bradley
Media relations manager (Western route)
Network Rail
01793 389749 / 07710 938470
victoria.bradley@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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