Monday 15 Jan 2018
Train services back to normal as major improvement work at Newcastle station completes
- Region & Route:
- | Eastern
Network Rail has completed work on an £8.6million project to upgrade the track at Newcastle station as part of the Great North Rail Project.
The nine day project saw 19 sets of points, the specialist pieces of railway which allow trains to move from one section of track to another, upgraded. The project will mean a more reliable railway for the 8 million passengers who use Newcastle station every year and benefits will be felt across the whole of the north east.
The project was meticulously planned and over 13,000 man-hours of work took place on the project to make sure trains could run as normal today.
Rob McIntosh, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “This upgrade was much needed and will create a more reliable railway for those travelling to, from and across the north east.
“We know this work impacted upon train services and we worked extremely closely with the train operators to keep passengers moving and disruption is a minimum. We’d like to thank passengers for their patience."
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 - Rachel Lowe
Network Rail
rachel.lowe@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