Monday 26 Sep 2011

WIRRAL RAIL TRACKS TO BE RENEWED

Region & Route:

Network Rail is to renew approximately six and half miles of railway tracks on the West Kirby and New Brighton lines next month. Virtually all of it will be with track that gives a smoother, quieter ride and is less prone to defects, so train service reliability on the key commuter routes will improve.

Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s route director, said: “Merseyrail is one of the best performing train companies in the country and we aim to keep it at the top. The tracks on these two lines are life expired and need to be replaced otherwise the reliability of train services will be affected.”

The West Kirby line will be renewed first, with work starting on Friday 7 October and taking nine days to complete. There are a number of pedestrian and road crossings on the line and their surfaces will be renewed as part of the project. Consequently, they will close for some or all of the time. Network Rail has spoken to the authorised users of the pedestrian crossings, and diversions will be put in place where necessary for road vehicles.

Work on the New Brighton line will start on Saturday 15 October and will be finished on Sunday 23 October.

While the work is on-going replacement buses will operate between Birkenhead North and West Kirby/New Brighton stations and passengers are asked to check with Merseyrail or national rail enquiries to see what effect the work will have on their journeys.

Passengers can call national rail enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or visit www.nationalrail.co.uk


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 - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

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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.

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