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Wednesday 3 Sep 2003

NETWORK RAIL ANNOUNCES REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMME FOR CUMBRIAN STATIONS

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As part of its ongoing work to rebuild the railway, Network Rail is investing almost £3/4m on refurbishment work at several stations across Cumbria. Passengers using Flimby; Harrington; Burneside; St Bees; Arnside; Cark and Cartmel; and Windermere stations will all benefit from the projects. A footbridge at Flimby station on the Cumbria coast line will be refurbished at a cost of £160,000. Work on the project will begin in October and is expected to be completed by November.  New flights of stairs and spans (the part rail users walk across over the track) will be installed, and the entire bridge will be painted. Network Rail is hiring a special crane to make the refurbishment work possible, which will be installed near to the bridge. Another footbridge, this time over the platform at Harrington station, has been refurbished at a cost of £88,753. Work was carried out over a nine-week period and was completed two weeks ago. The existing stairs have been replaced, parts of the span have been renewed and new handrails have been installed. Structural repairs have also been made to the bridge and it has been repainted. The installation of a temporary footbridge and scaffold on the existing bridge meant that most of the work could be carried out during the day. - more -                                                                                                                                       Cumbrian - 2 Passengers using Burneside station had experienced problems getting on and off trains because of the low platform. Over a period of eight weeks, the entire platform has been reconstructed and the level has been raised by approximately 15cm. A ramp has also been installed at the Windermere end of the platform and it has been re-tarmaced, with paving for the partially sighted installed along its length. The cost of the project was £98,000 and it was completed last week. At Cark and Cartmel station £114,000 has been spent on reconstructing the Barrow bound platform. Some of the platform had to be rebuilt and the entire structure has been re-tarmaced, with paving for the partially sighted installed along its length. Part of the disused platform has also been removed and the embankment has been realigned. Network Rail also plans to carry out refurbishment work at Windermere; St Bees and Arnside stations. The platforms at Windermere will be rebuilt at a cost of £100,000, with work carried out between November and January. Footbridges at Arnside and St Bees will be refurbished between November and December, and November and January. The projects will cost £75,000 and £89,000. Richard Ainsworth, Scheme Project Manager for the North West, said: “Network Rail is committed to rebuilding the railway, and part of that initiative is refurbishing stations across the North West. This work forms an essential element of improving and maintaining stations in the rural parts of our railways.  “All the work will be carried out with minimum disruption to passengers.”