Wednesday 28 Jun 2006
NUNEATON UPGRADE GATHERS PACE WITH £16 MILLION CONTRACT AWARD
- Region & Route:
Work to upgrade the track layout and signalling in the Nuneaton area has entered its next stage with the award of a £16 million contract. Network Rail has appointed Grant Rail as principle contractor for the next stage in its £150 million project. The contract will involve the design and delivery of works to remodel track layouts and overhead lines. Network Rail’s project team have so far successfully installed additional track and a turnout facility at Attleborough to enable freight trains to leave the West Coast MAIN LINE at higher speed. The project will continue with the remodelling of track layouts to the Nuneaton South Junction, Attleborough North and Ashby Ladder, and the realignment of track on the Coventry and Leicester Lines. Once work has been completed in May 2008, train speed and line capacity will be increased. Additional benefits will come from segregating local, freight and high speed trains. Tom McCarthy, Programme Director, West Coast, said: “This is a significant milestone in the project in Nuneaton to upgrade the West Coast MAIN LINE. Passengers and freight operators will benefit from the improved performance and capacity once the project is complete.”
Notes to editors
During this project the signalling system between Brinklow and Polesworth will also be renewed and control will be transferred to the Rugby signalling centre The Nuneaton remodelling and resignalling project is a key part of Network Rail’s £8.6 billion programme to upgrade the West Coast main line. The first phase of the Nuneaton project was completed in the autumn of 2004 and installed a two-track flyover connection north of Nuneaton station connecting two new platforms to the Leicester line Built in the 1800’s, the West Coast Main Line has developed into the UK’s busiest mixed traffic railway (responsible for 43% of Britain’s UK freight traffic) and is recognised as a leading European rail artery. Responsible for over 2,000 train movements each day, the route also caters for over 75 million passenger journeys per year The West Coast Main Line comprises some 1,660 track miles, 2,800 signals including 13 major junctions and 10,000 bridge spans The modernisation project is costing £7.6 billion and in September 2004 a 125mph railway with tilting train operation was introduced, with additional line speed improvements further north this year. The project is scheduled for completion 2008/2009
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