Monday 3 Mar 2014

Sleaford and Metheringham residents invited to hear more about railway investment

Region & Route:

People living and working in Sleaford and Metheringham are invited to two public events to find out more about plans for investment in the railway in their area.

Network Rail’s Great Northern Great Eastern (GNGE) project is a £280m scheme to transform the 86-mile former ‘Joint Line’ into a twenty-first century railway. The line runs between Peterborough, Spalding, Sleaford, Lincoln, Gainsborough and Doncaster.

As part of the programme the project will be carrying out extensive renewals of the railway around Sleaford and Metheringham.

Staff from Network Rail will be available to discuss the plans and hear views at the following locations and dates:

Sleaford – 10.00 to 14.00 Saturday 8 March at The Source, Riverside Church, Southgate, NG34 7RY

Metheringham – 10.00 – 14.00 Saturday 15 March at Metheringham Village Hall, Fen Road, LN4 3AA

Key elements of the GNGE project include:

  • a new signalling system leading to increased capacity and faster trains;
  • continuous welded rail, reducing noise and vibration
  • replacement of 34 bridges to allow modern freight trains to use the line
  • the largest ever programme of level crossing modernisation, helping to minimise barrier down times and improve road layouts
  • replacements of barrow crossings at stations to enhance safety and improve access for all users

Notes to editors

The GNGE project is being delivered by an alliance of companies comprising Network Rail, Babcock International, Carillion and Siemens.

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 -London North Eastern & East Midlands route
01904 383180
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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