Media centre

Thursday 7 Aug 2003

CHANGES TO YESTERDAY

Region & Route:

National

PRECAUTIONARY HEAT RELATED SPEED RESTRICTIONS - UPDATE Network Rail will again today impose precautionary heat related speed restrictions across some of its network to ensure the delivery of a safe railway. The speed restrictions to be imposed include:- Significant effect on services: 60 mph along the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Birmingham and Crewe (1200 till early evening) – extended journey times and service reductions. Minimal effect on services: 90 mph along the East Coast Main Line from King’s Cross to Potters Bar (1200 till early evening). 60 mph across Southern England (1300 till early evening) – minimal effect due to nature of services and relatively low line speeds across much of the southern network, although extended journey times on the Portsmouth / Southampton routes should be expected. 60 mph on routes from Liverpool Street to Chelmsford and Norwich (1400 till early evening) – minimal effect due to relatively slow speeds on these routes. Some 60 mph restrictions in and around Bristol. During the hot weather track temperatures increase, often to a much higher level than the air temperature (52 degrees recorded near Guildford in mid-July), and there is potential for rails to buckle when the steel expands. Peter Henderson, Projects and Engineering Director said: “Our first priority is always to run a safe railway.  We feel these precautionary speed restrictions are both sensible and necessary to guard against buckled rails. We expect similar restrictions to be in place for the next few days.”