Friday 20 Mar 2009
WIMBLEDON ENHANCEMENTS TARGET RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENTS
- Region & Route:
- Southern: Wessex
- | Southern
Essential upgrades being made to the railway track at Wimbledon over Easter weekend will help improve reliability for passengers using routes between London Waterloo and the south coast.
Network Rail is investing £3m in renewing the track and other parts of the rail infrastructure on this important section of track, used by over 1,000 trains and an estimated 300,000 passengers per day. Replacing the rails will not only make them more reliable, it will reduce the need for future maintenance on this part of the route and will make the journey smoother, resulting in a more comfortable ride for passengers. Work to minimise the risk of flooding on the track and station maintenance will also be carried out.
Richard O'Brien, Network Rail's Wessex route director, said: "A lot of trains pass through this part of the route, so any problems we have with the infrastructure can cause disruption to a lot of people's journeys. This important project is designed to enhance the railway, reducing the risk of problems occurring, and making services more reliable.
"This is a significant project, and the Easter weekend provides a suitable window within which it can be completed. Rail demand on this busy commuter route is significantly less at weekends and on public holidays than during the week, so by carrying out the work over Easter, we can minimise disruption to passengers."
South West Trains will be operating rail replacement bus services between Surbiton and Clapham Junction from on Friday 10 April until Monday 13 April. First Capital Connect services to Blackfriars and Kings Cross St Pancras via the Wimbledon loop line will continue to operate from platforms 9 and 10. Services on the London Underground District Line will be suspended between Wimbledon and Wimbledon Park.
Ian Johnston, customer service director at South West Trains, said: “We ask passengers to bear with us while Network Rail carries out this essential engineering work at Wimbledon. We will be running bus replacement services during this time so please check before you plan your journey.”
Passengers are advised to check with National Rail Enquiries (www.nationalrail.co.uk or 08457 48 49 50) before they travel.
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