Media centre

Wednesday 2 Dec 2009

£100M CHRISTMAS MAKEOVER FOR EAST MIDLANDS RAILWAY

Region & Route:

Network Rail is investing £100m in the line between Nottingham and Derby. While families are putting up stockings, pulling crackers and laying in front of the TV dedicated engineers will be putting up new signals, pulling up old railway line and laying new track to create an improved railway for the East Midlands in the New Year.

Dyan Crowther, Network Rail route director, said: “This massive investment will make a real difference for passengers with improved journey times, smoother, more reliable journeys, and a reduced need for future maintenance."

This project is the only piece of disruptive work taking place on the railway in the whole of the Midlands over the Christmas period. The signalling work between Nottingham and Derby will take 10 days of 24hour working and has thus been planned for the quietest time of year on the trains to cause the least amount of disruption. For the rest of the region it is business as usual.

The £100m South Erewash re-signalling project will renew and modernise existing signalling and move the control of trains from Trent power signal box to the new East Midlands control centre at Derby. The first part of the South Erewash project was successfully completed in October 2009 and the second part will take place over the Christmas and New Year bank holiday period. The signalling equipment is at the end of its life and a this new modern system will deliver many benefits into the future.

The £2.6m rebuilding and untangling of the Trent East junction will see 1.5km of track and signalling replaced and will add an extra track on a vital curve to provide smoother, more reliable journeys for passengers and reduce the need for future maintenance at this key location.

Buses will replace trains between Nottingham and Derby from 27 December to 3 January. Buses will also run between Nottingham and East Midlands Parkway. Passengers should check their journey details with www.nationalrail.co.uk or call 08457 48 49 50.