Media centre

Friday 1 Jul 2005

STRANGE NOISES IN THE NIGHT

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

People living near the railway line in the St Budeaux area may hear strange noises in the early hours of 5 July.  Network Rail is transporting a 300-foot rail as part of its improvements to the local railway. The abnormally long piece of track will replace worn railway near St Budeaux.  Usually this would be transported using a special train, but due to the urgent nature of the track repair, it will be dragged along by a road rail machine. It is too large too lift and carry via usual rail means, and it will take almost four hours to travel three miles. Andy Hancock, General Manager for the area, said: “For the safety of the travelling public and those working on the track, maintenance of this type must be carried out while passenger trains are not running.  We also have to do our work, wherever possible at times that cause the least disruption to passenger train services.  Unfortunately, this means carrying out a lot of our maintenance during the night. “While some noise and disturbance is unavoidable, we will make every effort to keep them to a minimum.”