Media centre

Monday 27 Apr 2009

FASTER TRAINS MEAN MORE CAR PARK SPACES

Region & Route:

A £3.5m Network Rail project to renew the railway junction and signalling in Lostock has resulted in faster trains – and freed up 140 spaces in the station car park.

The double junction allows trains from Bolton and Manchester to go towards either Chorley and Preston, or Westhoughton and Wigan, and the new layout has increased train speeds by up to 15 mph. It will also improve the reliability of train services because the new signals and points will be less likely to break down.

While the work was being carried out, Network Rail took over half of the newly laid station car park as a site compound and somewhere to build up the new equipment needed for the junction.

The car park had recently been renewed in a joint project between Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive and Bolton Council, which quadrupled the number of spaces available.

Previously, the car park had only 55 spaces but now boasts 226, 14 of which are for disabled users, and includes improved lighting and a new CCTV system.

To protect the new car park surface, Network Rail spent an additional £30,000 on specialist matting, which prevented any damage from lorries and contractor’s vehicles.

The matting has now been removed and the car park is fully opened again and free to rail users.

Jo Kaye, Network Rail route director, said: “Using part of the car park made the working arrangements for renewing the junction much simpler and helped to ensure the work was completed without a hitch.”

Paul Griffiths, GMPTE’s interim projects director, added: “I am delighted we’ve been able to work with Network Rail on these improvements.

“We completed our work to provide a total of 226 parking spaces at the car park nearly two months ahead of schedule and then handed it over to Network Rail in time for their important junction and signalling work.

“Now that everything’s complete, passengers have access to almost four times as many spaces as they did before and, thanks to Network Rail, they’ve got faster train services too.”