IMPROVED SIGNALLING BOOSTS EFFICIENCY AT DARLINGTON

Monday 15 Oct 2007

IMPROVED SIGNALLING BOOSTS EFFICIENCY AT DARLINGTON

Region & Route:

Passengers in Darlington are benefiting from even more punctual services after Network Rail invested in signalling at the station. Around 1,800 minutes delay occured to rail services each year in Darlington because of previous restrictions on train movements caused by the signalling layout. With an investment £1m from Network Rail's enhancements budget, engineers have been able to come up with a signalling solution which removes the delay without any impact on the smooth running of the station. This work has been completed and was brought into operation on the weekend of 13/14 October 2007. Network Rail's Route Director, Dyan Crowther, said: "We are determined to do all we can to improve services for our customers in the North East. This scheme will bring real improvements to the performance of trains around Darlington and will enable us to deliver services of a standard which our customers expect. "The enhancements team will continue to target bottlenecks on the network in order to ensure that we are delivering a safe, reliable rail network which makes the optimal use of the resources available to us."

Notes to editors

Alan Milburn MP will join representatives from Network Rail, GNER and Passenger Focus at a photocall at the station at 10.45am on Thursday 18 October.

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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.

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