Media centre

Thursday 24 Jan 2019

Repairs planned to stabilise railway embankment in Stoke-on-Trent

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: West Coast Mainline South

Work to stabilise a moving railway embankment on a section of the busy West Coast main line in Stoke-on-Trent will start in February.

Network Rail will build a new 70 metre long supporting wall and fencing across the railway cutting in Mount Pleasant to prevent further movement of earth. The shifting soil is caused by historic poor ground conditions and has caused cracking in the surface of nearby road, West Parade. 

The work will take place between 4 February and 5 April 2019 and once the wall is built, Network Rail will resurface the road.

There will be no disruption to rail services on the West Coast main line, but a six-week road closure of West Parade will be needed from 4 February to 15 March. A clearly signed diversion will be in place.

Theresa Nibloe, project manager at Network Rail, said: “As part of our Railway Upgrade Plan, we’re investing £700,000 to firm up and make safe a section of the railway embankment in Mount Pleasant that has shown gradual signs of movement. We will also improve the condition of West Parade for residents by resurfacing the road when we have finished. I’d like to thank the Mount Pleasant community for their patience and cooperation while this critical safety work takes place.”

As part of the improvement work, new drainage and fencing will be fitted along the railway embankment, along with some vegetation removal to make way for the new supporting wall.

There will be some night time working required to complete drainage works, and this will take place between 10pm on Saturday 9 February through to 8am on Sunday 10 February, and from 10pm on Saturday 16 February until 8am on Sunday 17 February.