Tuesday 14 Apr 2020
Network Rail worker from North East to feature in new BBC One documentary series
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
Rob Turnbull, a Network Rail worker from Morpeth, will feature in an upcoming episode of the new BBC One documentary series Night Force, which showcases the people working overnight to keep Britain running.
Rob works in Network Rail’s overhead line team and has worked on the railways for 33 years. Wednesday’s episode follows Rob and his colleagues as they work overnight on a major project to improve resilience on the East Coast Main Line, the key rail route which links Edinburgh and London, in and around Darlington station.
The episode, which was filmed late last year, shows work taking place to replace old and aging equipment with more modern components. The work creates a more modern, reliable and resilient railway for passengers, with fewer delays. The work is a proactive measure by Network Rail to replace aging equipment before it fails, which reduces the risk of disruption to passengers and helps keep them moving reliably. This type of work takes place overnight to reduce the impact on train services.
A resilient railway is absolutely vital during the Covid-19 crisis, as it means more reliable journeys for those who cannot work from home, as well as keeping important freight services, which transport medical supplies and essential household items, moving.
Rob said: “I wanted to take part in this documentary as I’m really proud of my team. Come rain or shine, we’re out every weekend when others are enjoying time off and relaxing with their friends and family.
“I hope the documentary will be a real eye-opener and show the scale of the work which goes on behind the scenes to upgrade the railway. The episode highlights the hard work of my team in often challenging conditions and shows how dedicated they are to improving the railway for both passengers and freight operators.
“The work we have carried out to improve resilience will mean a more reliable railway, which is even more important during these challenging times.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Night Force airs at 11:45 on BBC One on Mondays and Wednesdays
This episode was filmed late last year, before the coronavirus crisis which is why social distancing measures are not in place.
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Amy.Brenndorfer@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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