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Tuesday 28 Aug 2018

Major bank holiday engineering works completed on time in the South East

Region & Route:

| Southern

Rail staff worked around the clock over the bank holiday weekend to complete vital upgrades to give passengers a more reliable railway.

Network Rail South East took advantage of the long weekend – when the railway is 50% quieter than usual – to undertake essential maintenance and enhancements as part of a £10m programme of work to improve the routes connecting Kent and Sussex with the capital.

John Halsall, Network Rail south east’s managing director, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to complete work on 11 major projects and routine maintenance at dozens of other sites with no overrunning engineering works, which meant the lines were ready for the Tuesday morning rush hour.

"I’d like to thank passengers for their understanding and patience while we completed this work, which will make their journeys more reliable in the long run.

“The railway here is the busiest in Britain. Not only does it allow hundreds of thousands of people to travel to work and home every day, it helps drive the region’s economy.

“It’s therefore vital that we maintain and improve the railway to keep people and goods moving in the south east. Doing that work on bank holidays when the railway is quieter means we’re able to keep disruption to a minimum.”

The works completed include:

• More track replacement work inside Sevenoaks tunnel, which at two miles long is one of the longest railway tunnels in Britain. Over the past year, engineers have completed urgent repairs to stem leaks and improve drainage in the Victorian tunnel, which was built in the late 1800s, before beginning work to replace the track to further improve reliability. Engineers laid another half a mile of track over the bank holiday and are on track to complete the work by mid-October, having now laid more than two miles of new track.
  
  
• Vital track upgrades on the approach to London Victoria station, which is one of the busiest sections of railway in the country with more than 800 trains a day. Engineers replaced old switches and crossings – the moveable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another – with new kit. Further work is set to take place at Christmas.
  
  
• Works to replace all signalling equipment between Lewes and Seaford with new, more reliable technology continued over the weekend as part of a £20m upgrade. More improvements happening up until March will mean triple the number of trains will be able to use the line via Lewes as a diversionary route for services between Brighton and Haywards Heath when the main line is closed. The railway sidings at Newhaven Marine will also be upgraded to support a potential freight connection in the future. 
  
  
• The High Output Ballast Cleaner (video of machine in action here) was also working in Kent between Shortlands and Swanley. The state-of-the-art train helps prevent speed restrictions that would result from bumpy or uneven track.