Thursday 19 May 2016

Bristol railway upgrade means passengers should check before travelling over spring bank holiday

Region & Route:
| Wales & Western: Western
| Wales & Western

Passengers travelling through South Wales and the south west over the spring bank holiday are being advised to check before they travel as Network Rail carries out essential work to install and test part of a new signalling system for the Bristol area.

The new system is an important element of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers and will replace equipment installed in the 1960s and 70s with the latest technology, paving the way for smoother journeys and fewer delays for passengers.

This essential re-signalling work will also prepare the Great Western Main Line for the arrival of electrification and the new fleet of longer, faster, quieter and greener electric trains. This is in addition to paving the way for the doubling of the tracks, from two to four along the Filton bank, helping to improve capacity on this part of the rail network and meet the demand of increasing numbers of passengers.

Andy Haynes, Network Rail’s project director for the west of England, said: “This project forms part of our programme to re-signal the whole of the Great Western route, providing passengers with greater reliability, fewer delays and smoother journeys.

“Our work to increase reliability and capacity on the network, together with the ability of the new electric trains to reduce journey times and accommodate more passengers, will also help to drive economic growth across South Wales, the west and south west, and the Thames Valley.”

The upgrade work taking place over the bank holiday weekend of 28 to 30 May is the penultimate stage of the project known as the ‘Filton Diamond re-signalling programme’, which has already seen the installation of more than 250km of new signalling and power cables. This latest phase of the work will involve around 175 members of the ‘orange army’ working along 50 miles of railway line.

This extensive work will require a temporary closure of the lines in both directions between Bristol Parkway and Swindon, Newport, Bristol Temple Meads, Gloucester and Severn Beach. During this temporary closure, trains will be diverted and in some cases replacement bus services will be in operation.

Andy continued: “Replacing and upgrading 40-year-old signalling equipment is complex and for safety reasons must be carried out when trains aren’t running. While we have tried to minimise disruption as much as possible by carrying out the work over a bank holiday, when fewer people use the railway, I would like to thank passengers in advance for their patience and understanding while we complete this essential upgrade that will lead to the improvements we know they want to see.”

The final stage of the Filton Diamond re-signalling project is due to take place over the August bank holiday, when control of the signalling system in this area will move to the state-of-the-art Thames Valley signalling centre in Didcot. Further details about this final stage of the work will be provided in due course.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Further travel information can be found by visiting Great Western Railway’s website. Alternatively, National Rail Enquiries also has up-to-date travel advice on their website.

Members of the public who have questions about the work can call Network Rail’s 24-hour National Helpline on 03457 11 41 41.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Victoria Bradley
Media relations manager (Western route)
Network Rail
01793 389749 / 07710 938470
victoria.bradley@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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