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Monday 3 Apr 2017

VIDEO: Network Rail completes first weekend of railway upgrades at Guildford

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

Passengers will soon benefit from a more reliable railway after Network Rail completed the first of several track upgrades at Guildford station, taking place in April and May.

Guildford is one of the busiest stations in the south of England with 8.2 million passengers in 2015/16, and the lines through Guildford are used heavily by services connecting Waterloo to the south coast, and services from Reading to Gatwick Airport. Over the weekend, Network Rail’s orange army worked around the clock to replace two sets of switches and crossings – which allow trains to move between tracks – as well as 45 metres of track.

The engineers will be returning next weekend (8/9 April) and on Sunday 30 April and Sunday 21 May to continue the £800,000 investment at Guildford station to make passengers’ journeys more reliable. Replacement bus services will be in operation during these times so passengers are advised to check their journeys in advance.

Becky Lumlock, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “I’d like to thank passengers for their patience this weekend while we completed an important part of our Railway Upgrade Plan for Guildford. This improvement work will help to make the railway more reliable for the 8.2 million passengers that use the station each year.

“We’ll be continuing our work next weekend (8/9 April), and on two further Sundays in April and May, so I’d like to remind passengers to check before your travel to avoid unnecessary delays.”

Cllr Paul Spooner, leader at Guildford Borough Council, had the opportunity over the weekend, along with Cllr Matt Furniss, deputy leader, of visiting the site and seeing first-hand the scale of work being undertaken. Cllr Spooner said: “It was fascinating to see the skill and level of work being undertaken and it certainly helps to understand the importance to the network of the Railway Upgrade Plan.”

Network Rail will also be undertaking follow-up work overnight on Monday to Thursday during the weeks commencing 3 April, 10 April, 1 May and 22 May, although this will not impact services.

Passengers can check how their journeys may be impacted by visiting nationalrail.co.uk

ENDS