Monday 23 Oct 2023
Green-fingered volunteers spruce up award-winning station garden
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central
- | North West & Central: North West
Railway workers from the Wigan to Bolton electrification upgrades have swapped track for trowels to help out at a community garden in Hindley.
Thirteen workers from Network Rail, train operator Northern and contractors Murphy and Kier spent 6 hours on Wednesday 18 October helping the Friends of Hindley maintain the station’s award-winning flowerbeds.
The day involved weeding, strimming, cutting back overhanging branches, painting and tidying up the space ahead of the winter.
The rail companies volunteered their time to say thank you to local people impacted by the major railway upgrades this year.
Nearby road Ladies Lane was closed for several months over the summer for its bridge to be completely demolished and rebuilt, and improvements made at the station, as part of a £78m investment to upgrade a 6.5-mile stretch of railway* to enable electric trains to run between Wigan and Bolton in the future.
Sarah Bull, Network Rail sponsor, said: “It’s been great to get out and work together with members of the community as a way to thank them for their patience after all of our disruptive work in the area this year.
“Fortunately our work in Hindley is nearly finished with the station platform improvements and new bridge built to allow for newer, greener trains to one day run between Wigan and Bolton.”
Sheila Davidson, from the Friends of Hindley station, said: ”We really appreciate the days where Network Rail, Northern and the contractors are here to give us a hand. It’s a huge garden on both sides of the tracks, plus our allotment, so there’s lots of work to do, but the team did a great job."
While Ladies Lane reopened in September, some work to the sides of the bridge and embankments is still taking place.
For more information on the Wigan to Bolton electrification programme you can visit: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/north-west/wigan-to-bolton-electrification/
Notes to Editors
*The 6.5-mile route has two railway lines running in either direction which means a total of 13 miles of track will eventually have overhead electric lines installed above to power cleaner, greener trains in future.
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 - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@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