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Wednesday 2 Jan 2019

Network Rail’s ‘team orange’ complete Christmas railway upgrades to benefit South Western Railway passengers

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

Network Rail’s ‘team orange’ have successfully carried out a number of upgrades over the festive period to provide a better, more reliable train service for passengers on the south western rail network.

Work to replace old switches and crossings, the movable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another, was completed at Waterloo station. Work was also completed as part of the £4 million project to strengthen and improve the Upper Kennington Lane bridge at Vauxhall.

Brick repairs and preparatory work for the refurbishing and strengthening of the railway bridge on Farnham Road in Guildford was also completed.

The second phase of work on this bridge, which will be completed over Christmas 2019, will improve safety of the running railway on a key route from the south coast to London. It will also allow Surrey County Council to increase the weight limit over the structure.

These upgrades have been completed as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan – a multi-billion-pound investment in the rail network which will improve passenger journeys in the months and years ahead.

Jason Bridges, chief operating officer for Network Rail’s Wessex route, said: 

“I’d like to say a big thank you to passengers for their patience as this work has taken place.

“With around half the number of people travelling at this time of the year, we have been able to carry out a lot of important work to improve journeys for our passengers while causing as little disruption as possible.

“I’d also like to give thanks to our fantastic ‘team orange’ engineers, who have worked incredibly hard throughout the Christmas period to complete this important work on time.”

ENDS