NEW YEAR, NEW POINTS AT HAMPTON COURT

Tuesday 21 Dec 2004

NEW YEAR, NEW POINTS AT HAMPTON COURT

Region & Route:: | Southern: Wessex; | Southern

A huge project to renew 12 sets of points at Hampton Court railway junction gets underway on New Year’s Day. The £7m project will take six weekends to complete. During the work, mainline train services between Surbiton and Woking will be diverted and buses will replace local train services. David Pape, Network Rail Route Director, said: “This huge project will bring benefits to the thousands of passengers who use this line everyday in improved performance, reliability and a smoother and quieter ride.” Sets of points enable trains to cross from one track to another. They are essential for trains travelling north to Hampton Court, south to Claygate, while stopping and fast services continue on the four main lines. The sets of points are constructed beforehand and they are then brought to the work site as a large unit already attached to the sleepers. The old points are cut out, old ballast is removed, new points are welded into place and fresh ballast is poured over. Mr Pape continued: “This is the largest railway engineering job seen in this area for many years. Around 40 railway workers will be involved each weekend, operating large pieces of engineering machinery.” For weekend travel information during the engineering work, passengers are advised to contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or go to www.swtrains.co.uk.

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