Wednesday 18 Jun 2014
Track renewals team complete record one kilometre in one night for Network Rail / South West Trains Alliance
- Region & Route:
- | Southern: Wessex
- | Southern
A team renewing the railway in Hampshire broke records when they improved more than a kilometre of ballast – the stone chippings the track sits on – in one night.
It was the first time that length of renewal had been achieved in under eight hours on the British railway network. The record, which was broken on Wednesday, June 11, was set thanks to excellent teamwork on the project and also the unique Network Rail / South West Trains Alliance.
Alliance chief executive Tim Shoveller said: “This is a perfect example of how work that would once have required a weekend closure can now be done overnight during the week – meaning fewer bus replacements for passengers. Because we work as an Alliance we were able to work with the high-output team to maximise the benefits of their skills, giving them longer on the track, while rerouting and retiming trains to keep disruption to passengers to a minimum. As a result, our customers are enjoying a more comfortable and quiet ride, and with less disruption in the long-term.”
Network Rail’s project director of high output, Ben Brooks, said: “It’s fantastic to see this team and equipment being used to its full capability and we were only able to do that thanks to the access we get from the Alliance. It’s a win-win for passengers as we are able to renew more of the railway more quickly, meaning we are actually less disruptive in the long run.”
The High Output Ballast Cleaner is one of the longest trains on the network, consisting of the cleaner itself and a string of conveyor ballast wagons. The cleaner scoops up the ballast the track sits on, before then sieving out any small, broken pieces and replacing them with the same weight in fresh stone. This provides a safe, well-drained and quiet bed for the track to sit on.
The work on June 11 took place between 9pm and 4.50am. More than 1,000 tonnes of new stone was laid from 21 wagons in just under three hours
Notes to editors
The system involved was BCS2, Network Rail's first High Output Ballast Cleaner (a Plasser and Theurer Austrian built RM900 which entered service 10 years ago in 2004).
The South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance was formed on 29 April 2012 with the aim of delivering an improved service for passengers with faster, more customer-focused decision-making. It is also a step towards delivering a more efficient and cost effective railway for the long term.
· A single joint management team now look after train services and infrastructure across the South West Trains / Wessex route.
· The Alliance is the first of its kind in the UK.
· Train services operated by the Alliance are some of the busiest commuter train services in the UK. Over 2,000 passenger and freight services run on the network every day and the route covers 643 miles of track, with 1375 sets of points and 4394 signals.
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 - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@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.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk