Media centre

Tuesday 29 Mar 2016

Better, more reliable train services for the south as Network Rail’s orange army work through Storm Katie to complete Easter upgrade works on time

Region & Route:

| Southern: Wessex

| Southern

Passengers travelling into London Waterloo will benefit from more reliable journeys as a result of Network Rail’s Easter investment, part of Network Rail’s £40billion Railway Upgrade Plan.

Despite winds of up to 106mph and heavy rain, Network Rail’s orange army completed £1.4m of complex track and points renewals outside of Waterloo station, one of the busiest sections of the railway network. This programme of work will provide much greater reliability for the millions of passengers who use London Waterloo each year.

Teams of Network Rail’s orange army were also out at Wandsworth Town station, renewing platforms to improve safety for passengers, waterproofing the station subway and repairing York Road bridge, while in the Southampton area teams worked around-the-clock to replace track, providing more reliable journeys for passengers.

Ivan Kimble, Area Director for Network Rail, said: “The fact that we have been able to complete our Easter upgrade works on time really is a testament to the phenomenal effort put in by our orange army this bank holiday weekend, working through some appalling weather. The work they have done will have a substantial impact on improving journeys for passengers. I also want to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this weekend’s upgrades.”

Across the country, over £60m was invested across a record 450 engineering projects this weekend by Network Rail, delivering the construction of new station facilities, longer platforms, extra tracks, new junctions and thousands of pieces of new, more reliable equipment.

Notes to Editors

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s £40bn spending plan for Britain’s railways for the five year period up to 31 March 2019. The plan is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to tremendous growth the railways have seen – a doubling of passengers in the past twenty years with more growth forecast. The plan will deliver a bigger, better railway with more trains, longer trains, faster trains with more infrastructure, more reliable infrastructure and better facilities for passengers, especially at stations.