Thursday 8 Apr 2010
NETWORK RAIL ISSUES TENDER FOR CROSSRAIL WORKS
- Region & Route:
- National
Network Rail has issued an invitation to tender for a scheme at Acton in west London that will improve the reliability of passenger services and deliver increased freight capacity.
When Crossrail services start in 2017, even more trains will travel along the Great Western main line (GWML) so work is needed to improve capacity in the area. The work will involve building a dive under at the west end of Acton Freight Yard and modifications to Acton Yard. This will enable freight trains that head west along the GWML to leave the yard without affecting passenger trains and provide increased capacity for freight. The tender covers the design element of this work.
Robbie Burns, programme director, Network Rail, said: “Network Rail is transforming the railway to make Crossrail a success and this work at Acton will give passengers a more reliable service. It also supports our vision to increase the use of rail freight by taking lorries off the roads, reducing traffic congestion as well as carbon emissions.”
Network Rail is responsible for the design, development and delivery of the parts of Crossrail that are on the existing network, covering 70km of track and 28 stations from Maidenhead in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east.
Notes to editors
About Crossrail
Crossrail will run 118km from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 21km tunnels under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. It will bring an additional 1.5 million people within 60 minutes commuting distance of London's key business districts. When it opens in 2017, Crossrail will provide new transport links with the Tube, Thameslink, National Rail, DLR and London Overground.
Network Rail delivering Crossrail
Network Rail is a key partner in Crossrail and is making a multi-billion pound investment in upgrading our network around the Capital to deliver it. This complements Network Rail’s other work to increase capacity and improve performance across Britain.
Network Rail’s work will integrate Crossrail with the national rail network, delivering faster, more frequent trains into central London from the east and west. The work includes upgrading 70km of track, redeveloping 28 stations, and renewing 15 bridges, as well as removing around one million cubic metres of spoil from the tunnel excavation by rail, reducing the need for construction traffic on the roads.
Unlike the central tunnel, Network Rail will do all of this on an active operational railway, delivering vital upgrade works whilst minimising disruption to train services.
Network Rail has already made a start on Crossrail works at Paddington and Farringdon stations.
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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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