RAILWAY RENEWED IN £75M FACELIFT - DESPITE ATROCIOUS WEATHER

Tuesday 25 Mar 2008

RAILWAY RENEWED IN £75M FACELIFT - DESPITE ATROCIOUS WEATHER

Region & Route:: National

Train services on Britain’s key rail routes are returning to normal today after extensive improvement works were carried out by Network Rail over the Easter weekend. Despite heavy winds and wintry conditions, the major programme of works across the country was also completed on time.

During the four day Easter 'weekend' almost 20 miles of track was laid, new signalling and points installed and part of a viaduct on the Cumbria coast replaced. Over 6,000 people worked day and night to improve the railway, equating to nearly 300,000 man hours. This work included further investment in the West Coast Main Line as part of the £8.5bn project to help reduce journey times (e.g. London to Manchester in less than two hours) and increase the frequency of services.

Iain Coucher Network Rail Chief Executive said: “We’re investing more than ever before in improving Britain’s railway. We had an enormous amount of work to get done this Easter, and our job was to do this invisibly - to get in, rip up the old railway, put in a new better one - and then get out on time. As a result of the hard work of thousands of our own employees, and those of our contractors and train operators, this has been done successfully, and we must continue to be as successful in the future.

“Following the New Year our planning and preparation for major works is more robust than ever and the successful delivery of the work this Easter is how it should be – and how on the whole it is. We will not be complacent and continue to strive for better working across the industry to further improve how we deliver the enormous amount of works still to come as we build a bigger, better railway, serving freight users’ and passengers’ needs.”

In the run up to Easter Network Rail worked closely with train operating companies and National Rail Enquiries to provide information to passengers about the work being carried out and on how to plan their journey. Network Rail also launched its first 'direct to passenger' media advertising campaign about the Easter work programme.

Notes to editors

SUMMARY OF THE EASTER INVESTMENT PROGRAMME West Midlands: As part of the West Coast Main Line upgrade Network Rail is investing £350m in the Trent Valley, to help reduce journey times (e.g. London to Manchester in less than two hours) and increase the frequency of services. The work this Easter included upgrading the track, signalling and overhead head power lines. Network Rail carried out a large quantity of work in and around Rugby station, laying new track and signalling. In Nuneaton we invested £2.4m on new points and signalling. This will help to increase train speeds through a key junction on the West Coast Main Line to 125mph. East Anglia and South East: Network Rail is upgrading the track, power lines and carrying out platform works at Milton Keynes station. As well as being a key part of upgrading the West Coast Main Line, this scheme will help to support government plans for new homes in the area. Work continued on a £25m project in Barnham, Sussex, linked to the introduction of a modern signalling system that will increase train reliability. As part of a £5m scheme in Kent, this Easter Network Rail strengthened the Rochester River Bridge. This will reduce the long term effects of the weather and maintain the life of the structure. We are also investing £6m to modernise the track around Shenfield. The new design is less noisy and will reduce the need for maintenance closures. London: We invested £3m over four days to renew large sections of the track at Clapham Junction. The work will improve every day performance and make the line more reliable in the future. Some overhead line replacement work took place on the approaches to Liverpool Street and at Bethnal Green and Cambridge to improve the reliability of the railway. North East, Yorkshire and Humberside: We invested £750,000 to improve the reliability of trains on routes from Leeds to Huddersfield, York to Doncaster and Newcastle to Carlisle. North West: In partnership with Cheshire County Council, work took place to upgrade the Wistaston Road railway bridge in Crewe to bring it in line with EU regulations and to maintain vehicle access. Without this improvement, a permanent weight limit would be required, affecting access to the road. Network Rail replaced part of the deck on the 50m Calder Viaduct that carries a railway over the River Calder/River Ehen on the Cumbrian coast. The work is important for maintaining passenger services in the future and enabling the existing speed restriction for freight trains to be lifted. South West: We delivered the final phase of an £8.8million project in Swindon East to improve the condition of the railway and to increase line speeds. East Midlands: Work continued on a £18m station project to rebuild the canopies at Derby station. Passengers will benefit from a better station environment with improved access that is more appropriate for a modern city and the thousands of people using it every day. Wales: Engineers worked to remodel the track at Abercynon. This project is part of a wider enhancement scheme to increase the frequency of services on the Cardiff Valleys lines. Scotland: Track renewals have been carried out between Lochwinnoch and Glengarnock on the line to Ayrshire. The work will improve the quality of the track and mean smoother journeys for passengers. Track renewals at Larbert in Stirlingshire also took place. For more details on Network Rail's major Easter works visit http://www.networkrail.co.uk

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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.

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