Media centre

Tuesday 13 Jul 2004

£7.5 MILLION INVESTED IN TRACK RENEWALS BETWEEN WIMBLEDON AND SUTTON

Region & Route:

| Southern: Wessex

| Southern

Essential railway engineering work will be carried out on the Wimbledon to Sutton line between Saturday 7 August and Monday 30 August, with the line reopening to passenger services on Tuesday 31 August. The four-week closure of the line will almost ten miles of track, 17,000 sleepers and 38,500 tonnes of ballast replaced.  This huge programme of work will secure long-term benefits for the route with increased performance and reliability. More than 300 railway employees will be on site each day working to remove old wooden sleepers, digging out spent ballast and replacing them with concrete sleepers and new ballast before the new rail is laid. In total around 110 engineering trains will be bringing in supplies. As well as working on the track, Network Rail will also be managing lineside vegetation, removing graffiti and clearing out culverts. Andrew Munden, Network Rail Route Director said:  “Closing the railway to passenger services gives us a fantastic opportunity to get on track and get as many jobs carried out as possible.  It will be a challenging four weeks, but we are committed to investing in our assets to improve the railway and in turn improve passenger journeys.” - more - Wimbledon – 2 Chris Hudson, Communications Manager, Thameslink said: “Thameslink has consulted widely over the line closure and is about to undertake an extensive communications programme aimed at giving our Customers plenty of notice of the event and details of the alternative transport options available to them.”             Network Rail and Thameslink have been in contact with local organisations to highlight the importance of this work and also to ensure that passengers are made aware of the alternative travel arrangements. Alternative arrangements: ·        A half-hourly replacement bus service will run between Wimbledon and Sutton. ·        Southern Railway will accept Thameslink tickets for passengers from Carshalton, Hackbridge and Mitcham Junction. Amended timetables will be available from stations along the route and will also be on www.thameslink.co.uk or contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50.