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Tuesday 13 Dec 2016

Network Rail workers miss Christmas with families to deliver vital upgrades in Peterborough

Region & Route:

| Eastern

Over 80 Network Rail workers will be giving up Christmas with their families to carry out vital upgrades to the railway in Peterborough.

The improvements, part of the Railway Upgrade Plan, begin after the last service on Christmas Eve and will be completed before the first service on Tuesday, 27 December. The upgrade will see the waybeams of the Nene Viaduct renewed and will cost £700,000.

This upgrade is the final piece of a three year maintenance programme to make the Grade II listed bridge more reliable for railway users and keep this 166-year-old historic structure in good condition.

This improvement programme is being carried out over Christmas, in order to minimise disruption to passengers. The work here is just one piece of a programme of over 200 upgrade projects, which are being delivered across Britain this holiday period.

This essential programme of investment is part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan that provides more and faster services to help relieve over-crowding and responds to the tremendous growth encountered on Britain's railways.

Ian Lattimore, works delivery manager for Network Rail, will be working on the project over Christmas.

He said: “I started working on the railway when I was 16 and I’ve been at Network Rail for ten years. I’ve worked on this project since it started, so it will be great to see it completed this Christmas.

“My role is to oversee the work which is going on and make sure everything’s on track. My team are giving up Christmas with their family, so it’s only fair that I do too. I’m managing the project, so it’s important that I’m out on site supporting them.

“The upgrades we are carrying out over Christmas will benefit passengers by making the railway more reliable and reduce delays. I’ve spent the last three Christmas periods working on this programme, so it will be great when passengers can see the benefit.”

Passengers are advised to check before they travel and can find a breakdown of how their journey may be affected by visiting nationalrail.co.uk/Christmas and following #ChristmasWorks on Twitter.