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Monday 19 Dec 2016

Network Rail’s ‘orange army’ will be working day and night in Cardiff and across the Valleys this festive season to deliver Railway Upgrade Plan

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Hundreds of Network Rail’s ‘orange army’ will be working day and night in Cardiff and across the Valleys over the festive period to deliver a bigger and better railway for passengers.

Work on the final phase of the Cardiff Area Signalling Renewals project will begin on Christmas Eve. The £300m renewal and enhancement scheme is the largest signalling project of its kind to be commissioned on the rail network and passengers are being advised to plan their journeys ahead over the Christmas and New Year period.

Amongst the team who will be working this Christmas is Zoe O’Brien who joined Network Rail Wales in 2013 as a project management graduate. The 25 year-old lives in Cardiff and is signalling scheme project manager for the project. Her role is to ensure the team consistently deliver to the programme of works.

Zoe said: “This is the final and most complex phase of the project to be commissioned and all the equipment that our teams and contractors have been working hard to install will be brought into use. The team has been working tirelessly in preparation for the final phase of this scheme which commences on Christmas Eve.

“Christmas Eve is like the start of a marathon for us but the feeling of achievement on completion of all the upgrade work will make it worthwhile. I have so much respect for the team I work with, especially all those who will give up time with their families over Christmas to ensure all the hard work pays off.”

James Eustace, senior project engineer at Network Rail Wales from Newport will also be working over the Christmas period to deliver this vital congestion-busting scheme.

James said: “I lead a dedicated team of track engineers and most of our time will be on the track with the delivery teams, ensuring engineering quality and compliance, helping solve any issues that may arise and feeding back to the duty management.”

“I have been working on this project since 2010 and it’s been an amazing journey to this point. Seeing that we are making such a difference to the railway gives real job satisfaction. This project will deliver major benefits for rail passengers and we would like to thank them for their patience while we carry out this essential work.”

TIMELAPSE: A brand new entrance, ticket office and platform were constructed on the south-side of Cardiff Central station between 2013 and 2015 all part of the £300m Cardiff area signalling renewals project and Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

There will be no train services late on Christmas Eve between Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Newport and the Valleys and there will be bus replacements in operation on some days as well as diversions in place between Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Newport and the Valleys from 27 December until 3 January.

Road users are also reminded that there will be temporary road closures at five level crossings west of Cardiff as part of this major project. Llantrisant West, St Fagans, St George’s, Pontsarn and Pencoed level crossings will all be closed for a short period to test all of the new signalling equipment.   Rhoose level crossing which had been expected to close during the works will now remain open over the festive period.

Passengers can find a breakdown of how their journey may be affected by visiting nationalrail.co.uk/Christmas and following #ChristmasWorks on Twitter.

Notes to Editor:

From Tuesday 3 January 2017, Penarth, Barry Island and Vale of Glamorgan line services will run from platform 8 at Cardiff Central station between the hours of 0600 and 2000 Monday-Saturday.

These services will continue to run from platform 7 at all other times with the exception of:

MONDAY TO FRIDAYS

06.36 Cardiff Central – Penarth Platform 4

06.56 Cardiff Central – Barry Island Platform 4

12.55 Cardiff Central – Barry Island Platform 4

SATURDAYS

06.36 Cardiff Central – Penarth Platform 4

06.56 Cardiff Central – Barry Island Platform 3

Temporary planned closures of six level crossings west of Cardiff will all begin on the evening of 24 December: 

Level Crossing:	Closed until:
St Fagans	8am on 27 December
St George’s	5am on 4 January
Pontsarn	8am on 29 December
Llantrisant West	6am on 26 December. There will then be traffic lights in place until 8am on Thursday 29 December
Pencoed	4.00am on 29 December

There will be a reduction in car park spaces at Bridgend, Cardiff Central , Newport , Radyr and Cogan stations to allow for the replacement bus services during the Christmas upgrade works.

Additional information on large-scale projects being delivered this Christmas:

Crossrail West

• Description: Work taking place at several sites on Crossrail’s western section with work beginning in the early hours of Christmas Eve through to the morning of Tuesday 3 January, including: between Paddington and Acton; Acton and Stockley; and Stockley and Ruscombe. London Underground will also be installing new equipment at Earls Court and carrying out upgrade work on parts of the line
• Impact: There will be disruption to services out of London Paddington from the early hours on Christmas Eve through to Tuesday 3 January which means that passengers travelling to and from London need to interchange at Ealing Broadway station up until Thursday 29 December. There will be no Heathrow Express services from the station and Great Western Railway services will be terminating at Ealing Broadway from Christmas Eve until Thursday 29 December. There will be reduced train services from Friday 30 December to Tuesday 3 January

Crossrail East

• Description: A number of major upgrades are being carried out by Network Rail on this section of the route in preparation for the arrival of the new Elizabeth line services from 2017. This includes signalling, track and overhead line work from Friday 23 December through to Wednesday 4 January. The Crossrail project will provide new trains, better stations and quicker, easier, more reliable journeys for passengers in east London and Essex
• Impact: Bus replacements and diversions will be in place across some parts of the route with travellers to and from London required to interchange at Newbury Park tube station

Northern Hub

• Description: Since October 2015 work has been taking place on the Ordsall Chord.  This will be 300 metres of new track which will create a link between Manchester city centre’s main train stations for the first time. However, for this vital piece of track to be fitted, a huge amount of work needs to take place beforehand.  This includes realigning existing track, building new bridges, removing disused arches and restoring Grade I listed structures. This is part of our plan to stimulate economic growth in the north of England through better connections between key towns and cities.
• Impact: Ordsall Chord work between Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly will mean bus replacements and diversions from Oxford Road station for 10 days from Sunday 18 December to early Wednesday 28 December 

Thameslink

• Description: From Christmas Eve until Wednesday 28 December, major work on the approaches to London Bridge as part of the Thameslink programme as well as track renewals at New Cross, will mean changes to services into London Bridge, London Cannon Street and London Charing Cross.
• Impact: There are no trains at Charing Cross, Waterloo East, St Johns and New Cross; Only Hastings trains will be going to and from London Bridge; There is a very limited service to and from London Cannon Street with only Greenwich Line trains running; Trains are diverted to Victoria or Blackfriars and will be busier than usual.