Media centre

Friday 15 Jul 2005

UPDATE ON TESCO TUNNEL COLLAPSE AT GERRARDS CROSS

Region & Route:

National

Following the collapse of the ‘Tesco tunnel’ at Gerrards Cross on 30 June, Network Rail and Chiltern Railways continue to work with Tesco and its contractor to reopen the railway as quickly as possible but we expect this to still be a number of weeks away.  An update from the site follows: ·         The tunnel has been completely cleared of debris with, in the end, around 10,000 tonnes of spoil removed ·         The track beneath the collapsed section has been completely destroyed, has been taken up, and will be relayed   ·         Around a dozen other concrete arch units, either side of the collapsed structure, have also been removed ·         An intensive,  full structural survey of the remaining tunnel structure and ‘in-fill’ is well  underway ·         Network Rail and the Health and Safety Executive will not allow trains to pass beneath the remaining structure until Tesco and its contractors have completed their survey and provided the necessary assurances and evidence that it is safe to reopen the line.

• At this point, we still believe it will be a number of weeks before the line reopens

• Chiltern Railways has made every effort to provide alternative services for its passengers and details can be found on its website (www.chilternrailways.co.uk) or by calling National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50.

Speaking about the efforts to restore services, Network Rail Director of Operations & Customer Services Robin Gisby, said: “We need to be absolutely satisfied that the remaining structure is safe before we reopen the route to train services.  “I appreciate that it is frustrating for passengers and can only apologise for the delay.  We are pushing Tesco and its contractors to work as quickly as possible but must always put passenger safety first.”