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Friday 17 Nov 2017

Crucial flood partnership scheme finished in North Yorkshire

Region & Route:

| Eastern

Network Rail has completed the installation of a new drainage pipeline under railway line in Malton that will play a crucial part in the area’s emergency flood plan.

The new pipeline allows Yorkshire Water to deploy their emergency pumps during flood events. Previously when the pumps were deployed the pumping had to stop whenever a train went past as the pipe from the pumps needed to be placed across the track to get to the river.

After close collaboration and careful planning between Network Rail and Yorkshire Water, the pipe from the pump has been buried beneath the track on the Yorkshire - Malton - Scarborough line and will now continuously run during flooding.

The emergency pump plan was developed in partnership with Yorkshire Water, North Yorkshire County Council, Ryedale Council and the Environment Agency. When certain triggers are met, engineers from Yorkshire Water deploy the pumps and this is just one of the projects the company has been working on in the Malton and Norton area. 

This morning Network Rail's route managing director Rob McIntosh met with the engineers who installed the pipe as well as representatives from Yorkshire Water and Cllr Di Keal. 

Rob McIntosh, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “Flooding can have a devastating impact on both communities and the railway and I’m pleased that we’ve been able to work alongside Yorkshire Water to get a drainage pipe buried beneath the track to help alleviate the risk of flooding in the future.”

Eve Pierrepont, Flood Risk Engineer for Yorkshire Water said: “It was great to show Cllr Di Keal the work we’ve done in partnership with Network Rail and explain why this scheme is so integral to the area’s emergency flood plan.

“This is just a small part of the work we’re doing to reduce flood risk in Malton and Norton. As well as having our emergency pump plan, we’ve gifted Ryedale Council with a pump they can deploy themselves and we’re creating a model of the catchment in the area so we can understand how water flows through our sewers to better understand the flooding issues in the area.”