Friday 17 Mar 2006
£100 MILLION INVESTMENT SIGNALS THE FUTURE IN PORTSMOUTH
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Southern: Wessex
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Southern
Rail travellers in the Portsmouth area are set to benefit from more reliable journeys thanks to a £100 million investment in signalling in the area by Network Rail.
The Portsmouth project is part of Network Rail’s £1.5bn nationwide investment in signalling over the next three years. It will mean a major overhaul of signalling and track equipment along a 50 mile section of the network, from Portsmouth to Petersfield and Bedhampton to Portchester, some of which dates back to the 1960s.
New equipment will be installed and a state-of-the-art signalling control centre will be built at Havant.
Network Rail Route Director, David Pape said: “This is an enormous project that will result in better, smoother and more reliable journeys for passengers. We finished the first part of this project on time and within budget and the £50m we’ll be spending in this phase will enable us to capitalise on those solid foundations with an entirely new signalling system for Portsmouth.”
Vince Lucas, Commercial Director for Southern said: “This important signalling work will allow Southern to provide a more reliable and efficient service for the people of Portsmouth. We welcome this investment in the rail infrastructure and recognise that Southern‘s passengers will benefit directly from this. When the work is taking place we would advise passengers to leave a little extra time for their journeys.”
James Burt, South West Trains’ Operations Director, said: “We are working together with Network Rail to provide a railway fit for the 21st century. We apologise for any disruption caused but rest assured we are doing everything in our power to get our passengers to their destinations.”
Work on the second phase of the project will continue until the end of April. The third phase of this major upgrade will take place during the Christmas break later this year. Network Rail is working with train operating companies to ensure that where there is disruption, passengers will be fully informed, and replacement transport will be provided.
For further travel advice, passengers are advised to consult the South West Trains and Southern Railway websites (
www.southwesttrains.co.uk and
www.southernrailway.com). Alternative travel arrangements are also available from National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or
www.nationalrail.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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