Track and assets renewed at Newcastle Central station
PASSENGERS have been promised a legacy of “smoother and more reliable journeys” through Newcastle, as Network Rail embarks on a ten-day programme of major renewals at the city’s Central station.
Engineers were making their final preparations as this issue of RAIL went to press, before taking an all-line possession at the eastern end of the station in the early hours of October 1. Some 750 metres of track will be renewed, as well as five sets of switches and crossings (S&C).
While the £4.5 million worth of work will not affect services arriving and departing to the south, the worksite’s location will significantly affect Anglo-Scottish and other trains heading north.
Most CrossCountry and TransPennine Express services from the south will therefore terminate at Newcastle between October 1-10. LNER will run a reduced hourly service between Newcastle and Edinburgh diverted via Carlisle, with increased journey times.
Meanwhile, buses will replace Northern services between Morpeth and Chathill, while Newcastle-Hexham services will run to a reduced timetable.
“We have life-expired assets that were last renewed in 1990,” explained NR Route Asset Engineer Seb Smith.
“We’ve done various bits of holding and mid-life work to keep it going, but after 30 years the old timber layout has done its job.”
In an exclusive interview with RAIL, Smith described the renewal as “fairly complex”, owing to the existence of three Double Slips (see track plan).
While these are useful for saving space on station approaches by avoiding the need for long crossover ladders, they are “more fiddly and time consuming” to replace, test and commission than conventional diamond crossings.
The new S&C and track panels also have a design life of 30 years, although the use of concrete sleepers instead of timber will make the assets less prone to failure and easier to maintain.
Added complexities faced by NR include the logistical difficulties of getting some items of machinery into position on an elevated worksite above a viaduct. There is also a limited amount of storage space, as well as a need for excavators to “dig at caution” to ensure that operations at the western end of Newcastle Central remain open and are not disrupted.
The announcement by rail unions of industrial action on October 1 and 5 had also threatened to create some last-minute difficulties.
Andy Zobel, project manager at NR’s track renewals arm the Central Rail Systems Alliance, explained: “We need to make sure we can get our engineering trains in before RMT members knock off in the early hours of Saturday [October 1] morning. Some of these movements cannot happen without any resource at the signalling centre, so we are working on ways around that. None of this is unsurmountable.”
According to Smith, completing the work in one go will ultimately lead to less disruption for passengers and significantly lower
cost than if NR had taken a series of weekend possessions instead.
He added that NR was also using the opportunity to complete other works packages, further maximising the efficiency gains offered by the ten-day blockade.
“If we’d tried to do this at weekends, it would drive the cost up, we wouldn’t get such a high-quality installation, and it would lead to more disruption,” he said.
“While we have the railway blocked for a significant amount of time, we are flooding it with work to be as efficient as possible. This includes overhead line equipment renewals, further S&C renewals at Heaton North, and track renewal and track lowering at Red Barns Tunnel.”
To further minimise disruption, a temporary facility has been created adjacent to the former site of Gateshead depot, for Northern trains to refuel while Heaton depot remains inaccessible.
TPE, CrossCountry and LNER trains were to be serviced and/or refuelled at either Darlington or York for the duration of the project.