Tuesday 28 Apr 2009
NETWORK RAIL - MAY RAIL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME
- Region & Route:
- National
Following the successful delivery of rail improvements across Britain at Easter, Network Rail will again work around the clock over the two bank holiday weekends (2-4 and 23-25) in May to invest a further £90m in Britain’s railway.
The improvements are just part of the £35bn that will be invested in the railways in the next five years and will see around 4,500 people work a total of more than 300,000 hours over the two long weekends.
Significant works will include:
- Platform extension work at Mill Hill, Elstree and West Hampstead, part of the £5.5bn Thameslink programme to enable more passengers to travel to and through the heart of London
- Improvements to the overhead power lines on the tracks out of London Liverpool Street station which will make services to Essex and East Anglia more reliable
- Construction of a third track between Kettering and Harrowden to remove a major bottle-neck on the midland main line
- Signalling, track and power supply work in the Milton Keynes area of the west coast main line
- Rebuilding and strengthening the historic Bridgewater Canal bridge in Manchester
- The installation of new track and points at Carmuirs East junction in Scotland which will mean smoother more reliable journeys for passengers
Iain Coucher, Network Rail’s chief executive said:
“Our investment of £35bn in Britain’s rail network means passengers will enjoy even more reliable, frequent and comfortable journeys in the future. To make this a reality our engineers will be working day and night across the country over the two bank holiday weekends this May.”
“Fewer people travel at bank holidays, so this is the least disruptive time to undertake the work. To reduce the impact on passengers, Network Rail has been working with rail industry partners to keep the vast majority of services running over the bank holiday weekends. There will be more than 2,000 extra trains running over the two bank holiday weekends this May than in 2008.”
Although most of the network is open as usual, Network Rail advises travellers to plan their journeys in advance. Passengers can check before they travel with National Rail enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or at www.nationalrail.co.uk/holidays .
Notes to editors
Overview of work: LONDON & SOUTH EAST Thameslink: The £5.5bn Thameslink programme will enable a 450% rise in the number of trains running through the heart of London so that more people can use the train than ever before. We will carry out work to extend platforms at Mill Hill, West Hampstead and Elstree stations during the bank holiday weekends. Great Eastern line into London Liverpool Street station: Part of the £209m project to renew the power lines between London Liverpool Street and Chelmsford and Southend Victoria. Improvements to the overhead power lines will help to improve the reliability of train services. Colchester – Clacton: Part of the Colchester-Clacton re-signalling project, work will see the renewal of life expired signalling equipment and the installation of a new control system. Once completed the works will help improve the reliability and increase the performance of train services. MIDLANDS Kettering – Harrowden 3rd Line: Work to construct a new 90mph bi-directional third line between Harrowden Junction and Kettering South Junction on the Midland Main Line commenced in January and will continue over the May bank holidays. Once completed a significant bottle-neck will be removed meaning more capacity and a more reliable railway for passengers. NORTH WEST Bridgewater Canal Bridge (Eccles): Strengthening works will take place on this historic bridge to improve the reliability of services in future. SCOTLAND Carmuirs East, Scotland: Renewing vital track and components to provide smoother, more reliable journeys for passengers and reduce the need for future maintenance at this key junction. WALES Severn Tunnel: Existing radio equipment will be replaced with new, state-of-the art equipment allowing improved communication with the emergency services.Contact information
Passengers / community members
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03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
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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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