East Coast upgrade

Prime Minister announces a £780m upgrade for the East Coast Main Line… but DfT offers little in the way of project details.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced a £780 million upgrade of the East Coast Main Line on July 23… but the Department for Transport was unable to explain exactly what the project involves.

A day later, however, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling approved plans for construction of a grade-separated junction at Werrington, north of Peterborough.

While holding a Cabinet meeting in the North East, May said the upgrade would start in 2019 with completion in the “early 2020s”.

The Government said the work will feature “significant improvements to platforms, tracks, signals and junctions across the route”, although further details were not provided either about the project or whether third-party funding would be involved.

Asked what specific works would be undertaken in the upgrade, a DfT spokesman told RAIL: “Further details will be announced in due course.”

Network Rail’s London North Eastern and East Midlands Route was unable to help either, merely saying in a statement: “The transformation of the East Coast Main Line is well under way, with the completion of the first phase of the power supply upgrade and several other key projects to enable new trains to run, and work on other elements of the programme progressing well.

“We welcome the Prime Minister’s recognition of the importance of this work as we work with our partners across the industry to provide faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys for passengers as part of our railway upgrade plan.”

In the decision to approve the works at Werrington, Grayling concluded that changes to signalling and timetabling would not address capacity constraints in the area, where the route to Sleaford and Lincoln diverges from the East Coast Main Line (ECML).

A 3km-long (1.8-mile) doubletrack route would enable ECML trains to pass over the Great Northern/Great Eastern line, with the Stamford lines widened to four tracks to enable a central pair to dive into a new underpass below the ECML.

In his 2015 review, NR Chairman Sir Peter Hendy confirmed that parts of the ECML would be upgraded in Control Periods 5 and 6 (covering 2014-24). And in its London North Eastern and East Midlands Route strategic plan published in January this year, Network Rail said the following works could take place:

King’s Cross station throat enhancement

Werrington grade-separated junction

Huntingdon-Woodwalton fourtracking

Peterborough Down slow line upgrade

Doncaster station area enhancements, including additional platform

Additional freight loops between Northallerton and Newcastle

Power supply upgrade. Whether all of those works will be part of the upgrade remains unclear.