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Thursday 23 Sep 2004

£9 MILLION INVESTED IN CROSS-CITY TRACK RENEWAL

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Passengers travelling on the railway line at Kings Norton, Barnt Green and Bromsgrove will enjoy smoother, more reliable train journeys following essential engineering work on the line by Network Rail. The company is investing over £9m to undertake track renewal work and relaying of the switches and crossings in the area. The project will take place over the next seven weekends at Kings Norton and Barnt Green and during the next four weekends at Bromsgrove, to minimise disruption to those travelling to work on this busy commuter route. Robbie Burns, Network Rail’s Route Director for London North Western explained: “Major investment into improving this part of the rail network takes us a step closer to providing the improved service that passengers using this cross city route rightly deserve. “We apologise to travellers for the inconvenience caused while the work takes place, but it will be short term pain for long term gain. This huge programme of work will secure long-term benefits for the route with increased performance and reliability.” Central Trains will be running replacement bus services while work is undertaken and passengers are advised to check before travelling with their local station or contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50. - more - Track Renewal - 2 During the work around Kings Norton alone, more than 75 railway employees will be on site each day working to remove old wooden sleepers and renewing them with around 530 concrete sleepers, as well as replacing 8,400 tonnes of track ballast and re-laying 640 metres of new rail track. Nearly 30 engineering trains will be used to bring in supplies for the project.