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Monday 2 Nov 2009

WRABNESS LANDSLIP: HARWICH BRANCH LINE REOPENS SIX DAYS EARLY AFTER HEROIC EFFORTS

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

The Harwich branch line will re-open to passenger services tomorrow (Tuesday), almost a week ahead of schedule.

The line has been closed to electric passenger trains since a landslip on 21 October left tracks and overhead power lines out of alignment. Network Rail engineers have worked around the clock since to strengthen the embankment, roughly one mile east of Wrabness station.

A 200m retaining wall, consisting of interlocking metal sheets driven almost 20m into the ground for maximum stability, has been fixed in place and several hundred tonnes of granite shingle is now being used to stabilise the embankment’s foundations. The track and overhead power lines have also been realigned, meaning Network Rail can now reopen the line to electric passenger trains on Tuesday morning, six days earlier than the date originally planned, Monday 9 November.

Andrew Munden, Network Rail’s Anglia route director, said: “Over the last ten days our people have worked flat out so we can get passenger services up and running as quickly as possible. A superhuman effort from everyone involved means the line is open almost a week early, which is no mean feat given the scale of the task.

“Running a safe, reliable railway is Network Rail’s top priority. We apologise to passengers for the disruption to their journeys and thank them for bearing with us while we carry out this important work.”

Andrew Chivers, managing director of National Express East Anglia, said: "I am pleased that Network Rail has made good progress with the railway embankment repairs at Wrabness to enable the resumption of train services between Harwich and Manningtree earlier than expected." 

Network Rail has been working on site since early October as part of a 20-week programme to improve the embankment. Work will continue over the coming months to complete the in-fill between the embankment and the newly-piled retaining wall. This will allow the temporary speed restriction which has been in place since earlier this year to be removed.