Tuesday 4 Jan 2005
CHRISTMAS ENGINEERING WORKS COMPLETED ON TIME
- Region & Route:
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National
Network Rail took another major step towards rebuilding Britain’s railway over the Christmas period as the company took advantage of the traditional two-day closure of the railway to carry out an extensive programme of engineering work.
Work was carried out in locations across the country with every worksite handed back for normal train operation on or before the planned time with all work completed successfully.
To make this possible thousands of staff gave up their Christmas dinner to deliver the numerous maintenance, renewal and upgrade projects that will help produce a safe, reliable and efficient railway. Disruption to passengers was kept to a minimum with carefully planned alternative arrangements.
Network Rail Chief Executive, John Armitt, said “I would like to say thank you to all the railway staff who worked over Christmas and also to their families. Whilst the festive break gave us an unprecedented opportunity to get access to the tracks I realise it is also an important time for families and appreciate the sacrifices made. I am confident that this dedication will continue throughout the next year as we continue to improve our railway.”
Mr Armitt continued “It is railway tradition at Christmas to take advantage of the two-day break, to carry out essential work whilst causing very little disruption to train services. This year we have been very successful and delivered large quantities of quality engineering work on time and within budget. We have a long way to go but successes like this will deliver tangible improvements for passengers.”
Some of the major works carried out throughout the festive period were:
East Coast Mainline closed (Engineering work Sandy 30miles south of Peterborough to Grantham), 27/12/04
- Engineering work took place at Peterborough Signal Centre
East Coast Main Line closed (Engineering work Edinburgh to Newcastle), 24/12/04 to the morning of 28/12/04 (inc):
West Coast Main Line closed (Engineering work Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly) 27/12/04 to 31/12/04 (inc):
· Work was being done as part of the West Coast Modernisation Project
Great Western Main Line closed (Engineering work at Bristol Parkway), 27/12/04 to 31/12/04 (inc):
· A new junctions and sets of points were installed at a junction near Bristol Parkway over the holiday period
Birmingham New Street, 27/12/04 to 31/12/04 (inc):
Significant work took place at Birmingham New Street over Christmas
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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