Rail tracks’ upgrade to cause nine days of disruption
WORK WILL IMPROVE RELIABILITY, SAY BOSSES
Reporter PASSENGERS are being warned of nine days of travel disruption from Saturday when work begins on an £8.6m upgrade of tracks on the approach to Newcastle Central Station.
Network Rail has called it the Great North Rail Project in which 19 sets of ‘points’ installed during the 1980s are being modernised.
When completed, Network Rail hopes the work will bring significant long-term reliability benefits for the eight million passengers who use the station every year.
The work will take place between Saturday, January 6 and Sunday, January 14, with train services returning to normal on Monday, January 15.
During that time there will be some short-term changes to services to and from Newcastle with almost 2,000 passenger trains and 260 freights which usually cross the city’s King Edward Bridge unable to run.
A revised timetable will be in operation with some services starting and/or terminating at York, Durham and the Gateshead Metrocentre.
Buses will also be used to help move passengers between some stations, but Network Rail warns trains to and from Newcastle will be extremely busy and passengers are advised to check before they travel.
Rob McIntosh, managing director for Network Rail’s London North Eastern and East Midlands route, said: “There is never a good time to carry out railway work which disrupts passengers but this upgrade is absolutely essential and we have worked extremely closely with our train operating partners to keep disruption to a minimum and make passenger information as clear as possible.
“Newcastle is a critical part of our network and by keeping the infrastructure safe and reliable we are meeting the needs of the economies and communities our railway serves for both the short and long term.”
Points – also known as switches and crossings – are moveable pieces of track that guide trains from one route to another and have a limited lifespan due to the immense wear they receive from heavy trains. The units at Newcastle were installed in the 1980s and, although regular maintenance has kept them in good working order for many years, they are now in need of replacing – having failed 15 times between January and October 2017. Virgin Trains, which manages Newcastle station, said it would provide extra staff and signage to help customers during the engineering works. It will run a full timetable on weekdays, although southbound services from Edinburgh will run 15 minutes earlier until they reach Newcastle. They will then run as scheduled. Rob McIntosh
Its northbound services will be extended by up to 15 minutes.
From 12.15pm on Saturday, January 13 to 1pm on Sunday, January 14, Virgin Trains will run an hourly service between London King’s Cross and Newcastle and Scotland.
It will take a diversionary route between York and Newcastle with journey times extended by approximately 60 minutes, while some services will terminate at Darlington.
The majority of TransPennine Express services on the Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle and Manchester Airport to Newcastle routes will not run between York and Newcastle.
As a result, Thirsk, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham and Chester-leStreet stations will have a greatly reduced service.
Passengers are advised to check