Media centre

Monday 26 Mar 2018

North Wales passengers benefit from newly commissioned signalling system

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Passengers in North Wales are benefitting from a newly commissioned, state of the art signalling system between Shotton and Colwyn Bay which came in to use today (Monday 26 March), as part of £50m North Wales railway upgrade project.

Over the weekend, engineers carried out final testing and commissioning of the new signalling system. The work all forms part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan and will increase the resilience and reliability of the railway for passengers in North Wales.

Richard Evans, programme manager for Network Rail Wales and Borders, said: “I would like to thank residents and passengers for their patience during the installation of the new signalling system.

“The completion of this part of the project marks a major milestone in delivering a huge investment in the railway for passengers in North Wales.

“We have been working closely with Arriva Trains Wales and our industry partners to minimise disruption to passengers and residents during the upgrade, and we will continue to do so as we work to complete the North Wales railway upgrade project.”

Approximately 147,000 hours have been worked on the signalling element of the project, 106miles of new cable installed along with 54 new LED digital signals, replacing 96 existing signals. Tyn Y Morfa level crossing has also been upgraded to a manually controlled barrier with CCTV.

Bethan Jelfs, Customer Services Director for Arriva Trains Wales said: “Investments in our infrastructure is crucial for the long term reliability and efficiency of rail services for customers in North Wales.

“This project really is excellent news.

“As the North Wales railway upgrade project continues, we will be working closely with our partners in Network Rail to ensure this valuable work impacts as few of our customers as possible. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and ask passengers to check before they travel.”

As well as the new signalling system, the North Wales railway upgrade project also includes the installation of new track along the railway line in Flint, Rhyl, Mostyn and Abergele. The project is set to be completed by summer 2018.