MORE than 330 engineering projects took place across Britain over the Christmas and New Year holidays in a £148million programme delivered by 25,000 Network Rail staff and contractors.
Projects ranged from major blockades running right through the holiday period to smaller interventions designed to repair or upgrade the railway at important locations.
Among the larger engineering tasks were the completion of the Weaver to Wavertree resignalling on Merseyside, including the transfer of control in the Allerton, Speke and Garston areas to Manchester Rail Operating Centre (ROC); track replacement at Holloway on the approaches to London King’s Cross; further replacement of overhead line equipment (OHLE), dating from the 1950s, on the Great Eastern Main Line; and track renewal at Battersea Pier Junction, close to London Victoria.
The latter replaces track from the 1970s at one of the country’s busiest locations, negotiated by more than 240,000 passengers on hundreds of trains every day.
Merseyside also saw work taking place to prepare numerous Merseyrail stations for the network’s new Class 777 trains.
Platforms across the third-rail system are being remodelled to provide step-free access for all passengers from 2020.
Read more in the February 2019 issue of The RM – on sale n
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