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Wednesday 1 Apr 2020

Railway upgrade work in south London continues as coronavirus crisis brings change to engineering plans in South East

Region & Route:

Southern

• Network Rail engineers have completed heavy maintenance work and track renewals at New Cross station, Westcombe Park and Bickley
• Coronavirus Crisis brings new look at engineering work as essential projects are prioritised to keep railway running safely for key workers and freight carrying food and medical supplies

Trains are running more smoothly over new track through south London after Network Rail and its partners completed several weeks of weekend engineering work in Westcombe Park, near Greenwich, New Cross Gate and Bickley, near Bromley.

The impact of the Coronavirus and the need to protect staff through social distancing means that only work that is essential to the safety and operation of the railway is now taking place, including renewals of old track and signalling or enhancements that have other improvements, such as new timetables, relying on them.

For more details see Notes to Editors below.

Paul Harwood, investment director for Network Rail, said:

“These essential improvement works will mean better, more reliable journeys and will benefit freight services and key workers using the railway during the current crisis. The points we’re renewing are very heavily used and are at the end of their design life, so by replacing them, we’ll be ensuring the long-term reliability and resilience of the railway.

“I would like to thank passengers and lineside neighbours for their patience and understanding while we completed this essential upgrade work.”

These vital works at Westcombe Park included laying almost two kilometres of new track and lowering a section of track at an overbridge so more freight locomotives can run on the line. The work involved removing the old track by crane, excavating the track bed and then replacing the rail and components using a special track laying machine.

During the project, 26 engineering trains were used and over 8,000 tonnes of ballast, the stones which support the track, was dropped on site and smoothed over for trains.

Meanwhile at New Cross Gate, switches and crossings (movable sections of rail that guide trains from one track to another and allow them to cross paths) were upgraded.

As well as laying new components, this improvement work included:

• Improving the track bed to support track and trains better
• Reprofiling the top of the rails to improve safety, by getting rid of microscopic cracks that can cause broken rails

In Bickley, 527 yards of track renewal was also completed over the past two weekends, which will increase the reliability of the line for years to come.