Severn Tunnel reopens to passengers as iconic milestone to prepare South Wales Mainline for electrification is completed: Severn Tunnel upgrade 1

Sunday 23 Oct 2016

Severn Tunnel reopens to passengers as iconic milestone to prepare South Wales Mainline for electrification is completed

Region & Route:
| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders
| Wales & Western

The Severn Tunnel reopened to rail passengers yesterday (Saturday, 22 October) following the completion of six weeks of upgrade work to prepare it for electrification, which will result in more seats and faster, more reliable journeys for passengers.

Network Rail’s ‘orange army’ worked day and night to install over eight miles of conductor rail which will eventually power a new fleet of electric trains through the 130 year-old tunnel. An extensive amount of work to prepare neighbouring Patchway Tunnels was also completed during the closure, which took place between 12 September and 21 October as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger and better railway for passengers.

Andy Thomas, Network Rail Wales route managing director said: “We are delighted to have delivered this vital milestone in the project to electrify the South Wales Mainline as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan to give passengers a bigger and better railway. We would like to thank passengers for their patience – without this six week closure it would have taken engineers up to five years to complete this vital upgrade, delaying electrification to South Wales.

“Electrification of the South Wales Mainline will transform the railway, bringing significant long-term benefits for passengers including faster, more frequent trains as well as a boost to economic growth for towns and cities across South Wales thanks to better connectivity to and from London.”

Dan Tipper, project director at Network Rail Wales said: “It has been a phenomenal team effort, involving over 250 engineers and close working with our principal contractors ABC Electrification and Babcock as well as numerous suppliers, designers and sub-contractors including Amco, Keltbray and Arup, to deliver this essential stage of the electrification project. I would like to thank every single member of the team that has worked on this iconic project for their hard work and dedication to deliver this upgrade successfully and on time.”

During the tunnel closure GWR high-speed train services were diverted between Swindon and Newport which increased journey times by approximately 35 minutes.

GWR development manager for Wales, Mark Youngman said: "This work is a vital part of the modernisation of the railway between South Wales and London; which, once complete, will enable us to deliver more frequent services, more seats, and to reduce journey times.

“We would like to thank all of our passengers for their patience during the last six weeks. We worked closely with Network Rail and local government to make sure we kept customers on trains wherever possible and provided the quickest, most convenient journey to their destination, minimising disruption as best we could.”

John Skentelbery, tunnels operations director for ABC Electrification said: “This part of the electrification scheme was a huge challenge and we have all worked extremely hard to complete the work safely and on time. I am very proud of this team and what we have achieved in the last six weeks.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Seven Severn Tunnel facts:

  • Engineers worked day and night in the tunnel with 18,000 person-days worked during the six week closure
  • More than 20 conductor rail anchors and 240 metres of conductor rail were installed in the Severn Tunnel per ten hour shift
  • 7,000 anchors were installed to support the new electric equipment
  • 14kms of overhead conductor rail installed and supported by 1648 drop tubes that are suspended from the tunnel crown
  • Over 3,500 people-hours of preparatory work was completed ahead of the six week upgrade project
  • Over 40 tonnes of soot was removed from the tunnel during the preparatory work carried out prior to the six week project
  • The Severn Tunnel is 4 miles long, with water sitting on top of a 2.25 mile stretch

 

The main base for the six-week Severn Tunnel upgrade project was at a large site compound established at Filton Airfield.

Filton Compound Statistics:

  • Filton is a 4.5 hectare site situated on the historic Filton runway in south Gloucestershire
  • Providing Network Rail’s ‘orange army’ with minibus transport from the compound to work sites saved over 500,000 miles and 260 tonnes of CO2 during the six week project
  • The compound was run on 70% renewable energy; 117 solar panels and 10 wind turbines and as a result it has saved 160 tonnes of CO2

 

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - Wales route
0771 094 0248
mediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

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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