Thursday 30 Apr 2020
Major track and drainage upgrades on West Coast main line
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central
Major improvements are taking place on the West Coast main line between Rugby and Milton Keynes over the next two weeks.
The work will improve future journeys on Europe’s busiest mixed-use passenger and freight railway line.
Between Saturday 2 and Saturday 16 May the railway will be closed between Milton Keynes and Rugby so up to 150 essential maintenance jobs can be carried out.
They include track being replaced and major drainage improvements in the Victorian-built Kilsby tunnel near Daventry.
This will stop tracks in the tunnel flooding during bad weather, making this key section of the West Coast main line more reliable for passengers and freight.
When complete a temporary speed restriction imposed because of poor track quality can be lifted, ending delays experienced by thousands of passengers on the route in recent years.
James Dean, Network Rail’s West Coast Mainline South route director, said: “The West Coast main line is the backbone of Britain and keeping it maintained and running safely is a top priority. With fewer trains running because of the country’s continued effort to stop the spread of coronavirus, we have been able to prioritise and bring forward this critical work on this economically important section of railway.
“This can only be done by our dedicated railway engineers, signallers, maintenance, control room and operations staff bravely working to keep people who do need to travel by rail, and critical freight goods, moving throughout the crisis. In carrying out this work they are making sure the railway is at its best when Britain emerges from this coronavirus pandemic.”
Trains will be diverted on different routes while the work is taking place meaning some journeys may take longer.
Passengers should continue following Government guidelines around the use of public transport, and only travel if they have to.
People making such journeys should visit www.nationalrail.co.uk for the latest information.
Essential upgrade work is taking place on other sections of the West Coast main line on several weekends throughout May.
For more information on that work visit www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk.
Notes to Editors
- Kilsby Tunnel is around 1.5 miles long and is situated on the West Coast main line in Northamptonshire
- The tunnel was built in the 1830s using an estimated 30 million bricks
- On a normal weekday around 400 trains run through the tunnel on one of Europe's busiest mixed use (passenger and freight trains) stretches of railway
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.
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