Major bank holiday railway upgrade work completed in Kent, Sussex and Wessex

Monday 11 May 2020

Major bank holiday railway upgrade work completed in Kent, Sussex and Wessex

Region & Route:: Southern

Network Rail engineers worked around the clock over the Early May bank holiday to deliver vital rail upgrades across Kent, Sussex and Wessex.

Supported by a large fleet of engineering trains, road-rail vehicles and specialist machinery, teams completed essential upgrades to track and improvements to stations.

This programme of work across the Network Rail Southern Region will deliver a more reliable and safer railway with improved facilities for people who have to travel by rail and for freight services.

John Halsall, managing director for Network Rail Southern region, said: John Halsall, managing director for Network Rail Southern region, said: “I would like to thank all of our staff who worked tirelessly over the bank holiday and I am sorry to anyone who was inconvenienced by our work.

“We need to continue with these upgrades as they are critical to keeping people and freight supplies moving as the country battles coronavirus.”

The work carried out between Friday 8 May and Sunday 10 May included:

Sussex route:

Almost 460 metres of track renewed in Clayton Tunnel near Hassocks on the Brighton Main Line and an upgrade of the Cooksbridge level crossing including replacing the sleepers, ballast and track

Kent route:

Track and drainage improvements between Tonbridge and Ashford International, and between Sevenoaks, Paddock Wood and Tunbridge Wells helping maintain track quality, prevent speed restrictions and delays.
Switches and crossings, the moveable sections of track that allow trains to switch lines, have been refurbished at Gillingham and Paddock Wood improving the reliability of the junctions
Station maintenance at Paddock Wood, Marden, Dover Priory, New Beckenham Shortlands and Lewisham stations including platform and canopy repairs.

Wessex route:

Refurbishing the track and points (which allows trains to move tracks) between Epsom, Leatherhead and Effingham Junction and between Staines and Whitton
Upgrades to signals between New Malden and Fulwell and between Staines, Weybridge and Ascot
Replaced ballast at Feltham to help improve track reliability and prepare for the development of SWR's new train-care depot.

In line with Government advice, Network Rail will continue with engineering work that is required to maintain a safe and operational railway. These upgrades and repairs will help keep passengers who must travel, moving on a safe and reliable railway.

Notes to Editors

The videos show the work to renew the track in the Claydon tunnel and Cooksbirge level crossing in Sussex

Safety is our priority so at a local level, we are prioritising inspections and patrols, and the work that comes up as a result of those patrols. Where we have to renew track because it is life-expired (too old to continue), we are doing that too. As kit gets older, it needs more work to keep it going, which will be harder to achieve with COVID-19.

The Government has classed Network Rail as a critical service so our engineers and suppliers will still be working and travelling to work. However, we are looking after our people - we’ve hired extra vans so people can be socially distant, and we’re asking teams on site to keep their distance too. We’re also following rules on social isolation and home working where possible.

There are jobs where it is not possible to keep two metres distance and we are working with our teams to see if we can either stop those jobs or come up with ways to do those jobs safely (including minimising time and proximity).

The most important thing is that we keep the railway running for critical workers and that when this crisis is over, it’s in good shape to play a massive role in rebuilding our economy.

We encourage everyone to play their part by not travelling unless it’s absolutely necessary and hope to welcome passengers back on our railway in future

Contact information

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Journalists
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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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