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Thursday 21 Nov 2019

Newport residents invited to drop-in event to find out more about station track replacement work

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

Passengers and residents in Newport are invited to a drop-in event to find out more about work taking place at the station over Christmas which will maintain a safe and reliable railway.

Network Rail will be working around the clock from 24 December to 2 January 2020 at the east end of Newport station to replace a significant amount of track, renew the switches and crossings which allows trains to go from one track to another, replace the surface edges of platforms two, three and four and make some adjustments to the overhead line equipment.

This work will improve the resilience and reliability of the railway for passengers and enable trains to move between tracks in and out of the station more easily.

The drop-in event will be held on Tuesday 26 November, between 3.30pm and 6.30pm, in the rear entrance of Newport station (Godfrey Road side, near platform 4).

Members of the project team, as well as representatives from Transport for Wales and Great Western Railway, will be on hand to answer any questions - no appointment is necessary.

Throughout the work, there will be a rail replacement bus service in operation and all passengers are advised to check before travelling via www.nationalrail.co.uk

Andrew Hayward, Project Manager for Network Rail said: “We are pleased to be carrying out this essential work at Newport station which will significantly improve the resilience and reliability of the railway for passengers, for years to come.

“We would like to thank the local community for bearing with us throughout this work and urge anyone with any questions to come along to our drop-in event to find out more about our plans.”

 

Bethan Jelfs, customer delivery director for Transport for Wales, said: “It’s great news that we’re seeing this investment in Newport by Network Rail which will improve the reliability of the railway for passengers in the future.

“We’re working closely with our partners in Network Rail to keep disruption to passengers to a minimum, but those travelling over Christmas and New Year should make sure they check journey details in advance.

“We really want our customers and people in the local community to be fully informed of how this will impact them, so I’d urge anyone who can make it to get along to the drop in session.”

 

Steve Bale, Project Manager for Great Western Railway, said: “This track upgrade at Newport, along with the energisation of overhead lines to electrify the route to Cardiff Central, will support the introduction of our new timetable in four weeks’ time.

“From Sunday 15 December, we’re making big changes to our timetable to further improve services, providing more trains, faster journeys and additional seats on train services in South Wales.”

There is further information available about this work at www.networkrail.co.uk/newport.