Wednesday 12 Dec 2018
Network Rail workers put passengers first this Christmas as they carry out major project on railway in Northamptonshire
- Region & Route:
- | Eastern
This Christmas and New Year, 100 Network Rail workers will forego time at home with their families to carry out vital improvements to the railway near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, as part of the Midland Main Line Upgrade.
Engineers will carry out an upgrade to the track layout north of Wellingborough railway station. This will replace 10 switches and crossings - the equipment that allows trains to move from one piece of track to another.
The project will create the capability for six trains to London St Pancras per hour, up from the current five by the end of 2020.
One person who is putting passengers before family this over the festive period is Katie Tingle, Network Rail Scheme Project Manager.
She said: “Planning this work has been a real team effort for over a year now. My role has been to support the coordination of all aspects of the construction activities including the delivery of materials. We have planned the work in a way that will minimise any disruption to our passengers and freight operators in this area.
“I am proud to play a part in reaching this major milestone for the Bedford to Kettering upgrade, which will make rail journeys better for passengers going forward.”
Passengers planning on travelling on the Midland Main Line this Christmas are advised to check before they travel as the work takes place. There are changes to services between Sunday, 23 December and Tuesday, 1 January. Passengers can visit National Rail Enquiries or check with their train operator.
A breakdown of how journeys will be affected can be found by visiting nationalrail.co.uk/Christmas and by following #XmasRailWorks on Twitter.
Elsewhere in Wellingborough, work will be carried out over the Christmas period to demolish Irthlingborough Road bridge. The bridge needs to be demolished and reconstructed to allow a safe distance between overhead line equipment and the structure in anticipation of electrifying the line between Bedford and Kettering.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Joanne Parker
joanne.parker@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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