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Thursday 5 Apr 2018

North Wales railway upgrade continues in Abergele

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Network Rail engineers will begin track upgrade work in Abergele this month as part of the £50m North Wales railway upgrade project.

Preparatory work began in March and the core track upgrade work will commence on Sunday 8 April. This work, all part of the Railway Upgrade Plan, involves cutting and removing old track, replacing old ballast and laying new track. The work is expected to be complete by June 2018.

Paul Armitage, project manager for Network Rail Wales and Borders, said: “The track upgrade work at Abergele is part of our plan to improve the reliability and resilience of the railway for passengers in North Wales.

 “We are committed to working with our partners Arriva Trains Wales to do all we can to keep disruption and noise to a minimum. I would like to thank residents and passengers for their patience during the work.”

The £50m project has already seen a state of the art signalling system installed between Shotton and Colwyn Bay, four miles of new track installed in Mostyn, as well as track upgrade work completed in Rhyl and Flint. Abergele and Pensarn station has also undergone enhancement work, and Tyn y Morfa level crossing has been upgraded to a manually controlled barrier with CCTV.

Bethan Jelfs, customer services director for Arriva Trains Wales, said: “Investment in the north Wales infrastructure will help us continue to deliver the best service possible for our customers now and in the future.

“Projects like this are vital and we work closely with our partners in Network Rail to ensure the disruption caused to our customers is minimal.

“It is very important for customers to plan ahead and use journey checking websites and apps to ensure they have the most up to date information for their journey with us.”

The core works for this project and other track works in the area are being carried out during weekends, with replacement bus services in operation between Llandudno Junction and Chester on Sundays between 8 April and 13 May. Passengers are advised to check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk

Track and recovery works will continue over the coming months along the North Wales coast including at Holywell, Talacre, Rockcliffe Hall and Llandudno. The upgrade project is set to be completed by the end of summer 2018.