Investment in bigger, better railway in the Thames Valley and south west continues over spring bank holiday weekend: Electrification work in the Thames Valley

Thursday 19 May 2016

Investment in bigger, better railway in the Thames Valley and south west continues over spring bank holiday weekend

Region & Route:
| Wales & Western: Western
| Wales & Western
| Southern

Rail passengers can look forward to better journeys as Network Rail’s work to improve and upgrade the railway in the Thames Valley and south west continues over the spring bank holiday weekend (28-30 May).

Members of Network Rail’s orange army will be working approximately 32,600 hours over the long weekend to deliver vital elements of the company’s Railway Upgrade Plan, to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers and businesses.

The £8.4m package of work is extensive and includes:

  • The penultimate phase of a major re-signalling programme in Filton, Bristol, to provide greater reliability for passengers. This work will also pave the way for electrification and the doubling of the tracks along the Filton bank, to improve capacity and help meet the demand of increasing number of passengers.
  • The installation of a new bridge at Easton Road in Bristol as part of the Great Western Electrification Programme. The new bridge will be higher, creating the additional space needed for the overhead lines that will power a new fleet of longer, faster, quieter and greener electric trains to run underneath.
  • Installing the overhead electrification equipment between Maidenhead and Hayes & Harlington, and the installation of the foundations for the overhead electrification equipment in Swindon, in preparation for the new fleet of electric trains.
  • Platform improvements at Maidenhead, Slough, West Drayton, Iver, Southall, Hayes & Harlington and Ealing Broadway in preparation for Elizabeth line services that will better connect the south east with London.
  • Track renewals at Charfield in South Gloucestershire to provide greater reliability for passengers.

This programme of improvement work will begin late on Friday, 27 May, once the last passenger train has run, and has been timed to minimise disruption as much as possible, as passenger numbers typically drop by more than half during a bank holiday.

As the majority of this work can only take place when trains aren’t running, some services in the Thames Valley and south west will be affected which is why a comprehensive advertising campaign is under way to make sure passengers are able to make informed decisions about their travel over the spring bank holiday.

Mark Langman, Network Rail’s managing director for the Western route, said: “This bank holiday, our army of rail workers will once again be working round-the-clock to deliver our Railway Upgrade Plan, paving the way for better, more reliable journeys for passengers and businesses across the Thames Valley, west and south west.

“Passengers have shown themselves to be incredibly understanding of planned improvement work and I’d like to thank them in advance for their support and understanding as we deliver the big improvements we know the travelling public want to see.

“These improvements will include faster, more comfortable journeys as a result of electrification; better connections from the west, south west and Thames Valley into London through the provision of Elizabeth line services; and fewer delays and smoother journeys through our work to replace ageing signalling equipment in Bristol with the latest technology.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Work on the Western route over the spring bank holiday in numbers:

  • 32,600 hours will be worked
  • 3,860 concrete sleepers will be installed
  • 9,880 tons of ballast (the stones under the track) will be laid
  • 25 engineering trains will be used to deliver the work

About the Railway Upgrade Plan

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s investment programme for Britain’s railways and is part of our £40bn spending programme for the five-year period up to 31 March 2019. The plan is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to tremendous growth the railways have seen – a doubling of passengers in the past twenty years. The plan will deliver a bigger, better railway with more trains, longer trains, faster trains with more infrastructure, more reliable infrastructure and better facilities for passengers, especially at stations.

Passengers are advised to check their journeys if travelling over the bank holiday through train operator, Great Western Railway or National Rail Enquiries.

Twitter #SpringBHWorks

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Victoria Bradley
Media relations manager (Western route)
Network Rail
01793 389749 / 07710 938470
victoria.bradley@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.

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