Media centre

Tuesday 29 Mar 2016

PICTURES: Railway passengers and neighbours thanked for their patience after Easter engineering work in London and Kent

Region & Route:

| Southern

After a long weekend of heavy engineering work and stormy weather across Kent and London, the railway network is up and running again.

As part of its £40bn Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers, engineers from Network Rail and its contractors were out at locations across the South East over all four days of the Bank Holiday, most notably between Swanley and Faversham, around London Bridge, and at Abbey Wood.

Major work to replace a 1950s-era signalling system took place on the line between Longfield and Sittingbourne, through the Medway Towns and out onto the Isle of Sheppey. The system, which was so old it started off its life controlling steam trains, has been replaced with a modern set-up, controlled from Gillingham.

Meanwhile, the Thameslink Programme continued to work on the track and signals at London Bridge and Crossrail continued its work to rebuild the railway around Abbey Wood.

Network Rail route managing director Alasdair Coates said: “I would like to thank passengers for their patience, and also our lineside neighbours after a massive weekend of work in Kent.

“The signalling system through the Medway Towns – which controls the movements of trains and keeps them safe – lasted a long time but it was no longer reliable and we have replaced it with a completely new model, which will be more reliable and need less day-to-day maintenance.

“In addition, the improvements that Thameslink and Crossrail are making closer into London will offer much greater connectivity for Kent’s passengers, not to mention a new London Bridge and new Abbey Wood station.

“We run more than 6,000 trains very weekday in Kent and Sussex and it is this constant cycle of improvements that will keep our very busy railway running reliably well into the future.”

David Statham, Southeastern's Managing Director, said: "We would like to thank our passengers for their patience while crucial and important improvement works was carried out over the Easter weekend.

"There is no ideal time to close sections of the railway, but while work goes in every night, Network Rail do need longer periods to carry out major work and this can only be done during holiday periods when fewer people travel."

Nationally, more than 15,000 people worked on 450 different projects, in some difficult weather conditions. On Monday, over 100 trees had to be removed from tracks as additional staff were called upon to reopen blocked lines and help project teams clear sites of debris blown onto the railway from adjacent land. 

NOTES:

As well as replacing the 1959 signalling system on the line from Longfield to Sittingbourne, staff from Network Rail and suppliers Atkins also brought a new platform into use at Rainham and took Rochester, Gillingham, Rainham and Sittingbourne signalboxes out of use. Rochester signal box will be demolished to allow the opening of a new platform at Rochester.

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s £40bn spending plan for Britain’s railways for the five year period up to 31 March 2019. The plan is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to tremendous growth the railways have seen – a doubling of passengers in the past twenty years. The plan will deliver a bigger, better railway with more trains, longer trains, faster trains with more infrastructure, more reliable infrastructure and better facilities for passengers, especially at stations.

About the Thameslink Programme

The Thameslink Programme will transform north-south travel through London.

When complete in 2018 it will give passengers:

• New spacious trains running every 2 to 3 minutes through central London in the peak
• Improved connections and better options to more destinations on an expanded Thameslink network
• Robust new track and signalling systems offer more reliable journeys
• A completely rebuilt London Bridge station with more space and great facilities

Find out more at www.ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk  Follow @TLProgramme

About Crossrail

About Crossrail and Network Rail:

Network Rail is a key partner in delivering Crossrail. It is responsible for the design, development and delivery of the parts of Crossrail that are on the existing rail network. Network Rail’s work, which will integrate the new Crossrail tunnels beneath London with the existing rail network, includes upgrades to track, major civil engineering projects, new overhead electrification equipment and improvements to stations and bridges.

Three quarters of the Crossrail route will run above ground in outer London, Berkshire and Essex, bringing 1.5 million more people to within 45 minutes of central London.

Crossrail will increase central London's rail transport capacity by 10 per cent, supporting regeneration and cutting journey times by providing new links with the Tube, Thameslink, National Rail, DLR and London Overground.

The total funding available to deliver Crossrail is £14.8bn. The Crossrail route will serve 40 stations and run more than 100km from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 21 km (13 miles) tunnels below central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

Crossrail is being delivered by Crossrail Limited (CRL). CRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London. Crossrail is jointly sponsored by the Department for Transport and Transport for London.