NEWS OF THE WORLD ALLEGATION

Monday 11 Aug 2003

NEWS OF THE WORLD ALLEGATION – 10 AUGUST 2003

Region & Route:: National

Safety is Network Rail’s first priority, without question and train services will not run on any section of track known to be unsafe. The site identified by The News of the World at Ilford, poses no safety risk. Gauge Corner Cracking (GCC) is now a well managed and well understood rail condition. From a height of some 1200 GCC speed restrictions post Hatfield, there are now a little more than a dozen across the UK rail network. Sophisticated inspection techniques allow us to identify GCC at a very early stage, when it poses no safety risk to the railway. Engineers then mark up the site, monitor it regularly and recommend appropriate action. Engineers regularly monitor the section of track at Ilford using ultra sound equipment and remedial action will be taken at the appropriate time.

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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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