Friday 19 Mar 2004
EASTER ENGINEERING WORK
- Region & Route:
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Wales & Western: Wales & Borders
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Wales & Western: Western
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Wales & Western
- THE REBUILDING OF THE RAILWAY GOES ON –
Major engineering works are due to be carried out by Network Rail over the Easter period as part of the strategic plan to improve services on the railway.
Although the engineering works mean lines will be closed during the holiday break, passengers will see the benefits in the long-term. While busy during the Easter weekend, twice as many people use the railways during peak commuter travel periods so engineering work is timetabled to affect as few passengers as possible.
Within the Great Western area there are significant areas of engineering work which will mean line closures over the Easter weekend (Friday April 9 to Monday April 12):
· From Saturday to Monday the line will be closed at Filton junction, near Bristol, where engineers are resignalling and creating a new platform and track at Filton Abbey Wood Station to remove this major bottleneck on the network
· Saturday to Monday two lines line will be closed between Paddington and Slough for track renewal
· Saturday to Sunday the Severn Tunnel will be closed for essential maintenance
· Saturday to Monday the line will be closed between Taunton and Exeter for track repairs
· Saturday to Sunday the line will be closed between Didcot North and Bicester for heavy maintenance.
“This Easter will be a busy time for Network Rail, its staff and contractors as our job to rebuild the railway continues,” said Network Rail Regional Director John Curley. “We offer our apologies to passengers inconvenienced by these engineering works but are confident they will appreciate the long-term benefits when it is perceived that the result is a better performing railway.”
Work has been planned well in advance to give train operating companies adequate time to plan alternative travel arrangements for passengers. Alternative travel arrangements can be made by either calling National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or visiting
www.nationalrail.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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