Monday 11 Jan 2016
Communities and passengers thanked as £100m railway upgrade in Greater Lincolnshire completed
- Region & Route:
Passenger train services have resumed after Network Rail successfully completed a £100m railway upgrade in Greater Lincolnshire.
The first service was the 05.49 East Midlands Trains service from Cleethorpes to Newark Northgate, with all other passenger services also resuming today.
The investment project saw engineers work over the Christmas period and into the new year to upgrade 16 level crossings, re-signal 60 miles of track, replace two bridges and carry out structural inspections of bridges and stations. The extensive upgrade work took place during a 17-day closure of the rail network between Scunthorpe and Cleethorpes during which time buses replaced train services.
As well as improved reliability of train services for passengers, work carried out around the Port of Immingham, where a quarter of all rail freight enters the country, means more services are able to run helping to boost economic growth in the region.
Rob McIntosh, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “We would like to thank passengers and communities for their patience while this huge upgrade, which has seen us replace 100-year-old equipment with the most up-to-date signalling technology, has taken place. This is the biggest railway upgrades in the region for decades and one which will benefit both passengers and industry alike and I am delighted that the work has been completed on time and on budget.”
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - Toby Higgins
Head of Communications
Network Rail
0330 333 1800
toby.higgins@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.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk