NORTON RAIL CROSSING UPGRADE WORK CONTINUES

Wednesday 22 Mar 2006

NORTON RAIL CROSSING UPGRADE WORK CONTINUES

Region & Route:

The £500,000 project to upgrade Norton level crossing on the main West Coast rail line in Runcorn will continue until the summer due to over running engineering work. Network Rail is currently upgrading the crossing and the £500,000 project will see a new crossing surface, an upgrade of the warning lights and new signs – all designed to make it easier and safer for pedestrians and horse riders to use the foot/bridle crossing. The wooden fence and picket gates will be replaced by a 1.4 metre metal fence and gates. The work is being done to allow the introduction of 125mph trains on the main line, resulting in shorter journey times for passengers. Bill West, Area Director West Coast, said: “I would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to all users of the crossing. I appreciate that the closure is inconvenient, and we will do the work as quickly as possible to enable us to open the crossing”. There is no alternative pedestrian route, but a local bus service (No. 200) runs from outside Runcorn East station and links up with Red Brow Lane at the other side of the crossing.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

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.

Media centre