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Monday 24 Mar 2014

Signal box moves home as part of £21m investment in Arun Valley line

Region & Route:

| Southern

A Victorian signal box took to the skies under a crane in the early hours of Sunday morning, marking the culmination of a £21m investment in the railway through the Arun Valley.

Billingshurst signalbox is one of three to have been taken out of use last week as signalling is upgraded on the line between Horsham and Arundel.

By replacing Victorian-era signalling systems with the most modern equivalent, Network Rail has been able to shorten the distances between signals, which means that trains can safely run closer together.

Network Rail’s route managing director for Sussex, Tim Robinson, said: "The work we have completed in the Arun Valley increases the capacity of the railway, giving us more room to run trains, and do that more reliably.

"It also replaces old, and in some cases, Victorian equipment with their modern equivalent, offering new standards of reliability and efficiency."

The railway through the Arun Valley is now controlled from the area signalling centre at Three Bridges and will shortly move into a state-of-the-art control centre which recently opened at Three Bridges.

Billingshurst signal box, which is thought to date from 1868, moved to the Amberley museum on the back of a lorry on Sunday. Pulborough and Amberley signal boxes have also been taken out of use but will stay where they are.