Media centre

Thursday 28 Feb 2008

BRIGG LINE UPGRADE - WORK BEGINS

Region & Route:

Work on a £10m project to boost rail freight along the Brigg line and cut road congestion in South Humberside/North Lincolnshire begins on 15 March. The investment by Network Rail forms part of a package of measures designed to increase the movement of goods into and out of Associated British Ports (ABP) Humber Ports without adding to road congestion. The freight traffic will be mostly coal to Cottam and West Burton, Ratcliffe and Rugeley Power stations and using this route will significantly improve productivity for coal trains as it is shorter distance and not slowed by the bottle neck at Doncaster. Dyan Crowther, Route Director for Network Rail said: "The Eddington report identified the importance of freight routes in supporting the ports as they expand to meet international demand. These improvements allow the increased use of a vital link between the south of the Humber and the Midlands." The main works begin on 15 March and are scheduled to be complete by 23rd June. This includes:

• Building a complete access road from the A18, Bridge Street to the railway embankment at Brigg. This is primarily to avoid disruption to residents of Mill Lane.
• Reconstruction of approximately 1km of railway embankment between the Old and New Ancholme rivers, involving the strengthening of the upper 2m of the structure. This work will require the removal of the railway track, and its subsequent replacement upon completion of the work.
• Refurbishing the railway bridge over the New Ancholme. The main river bridge structure will be strengthened, repaired and painted, whilst the three side spans will be replaced with modern structures.

Upon the completion of the work, the route will be able to support regular scheduled freight operations as well as the scheduled passenger services on Saturdays.