NR Bank Holiday possessions handed back on time

A successful possession hand-back rate of 99% was recorded by Network Rail and its supply chain over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

NR says it delivered more than £90 million worth of engineering work between August 26-30, comprising 1,053 planned possessions for maintenance, asset protection or capital delivery-led projects. Of those possessions, only 11 resulted in ‘service-impacting’ overrun incidents.

A total of 1,101 overrun delay minutes was incurred, which according to NR is comparable to August Bank Holiday 2021.

Among the highlights from across the network was the resignalling and recontrol of Macclesfield signal box to Manchester Rail Operating Centre.

East Stour River Bridge, near Ashford in Kent, was renewed, while a further three bridges in the vicinity of Waterloo East were refurbished and re-waterproofed.

A bridge at Sharnford Close was also renewed to facilitate reopening of the Northumberland Line, while S&C renewals took place at Whifflet South Junction (near Glasgow), Drayton Green (near Ealing) and New Cross (Greater London).

The Hertford Branch Line blockade, led and delivered by Greater Anglia to facilitate the introduction of its new Class 720 rolling stock, was also completed.

No significant safety incidents were recorded over the Bank Holiday weekend, with only a single high-risk close call being registered.

This took place in the Crewe area, when a member of staff signed himself in at a site access cabin and then attempted to sign in with Controller of Safety using another individual’s identity.

No environmental incidents were recorded.