Thousands support Christmas shutdown engineering effort

MORE than 20,000 staff gave up their Christmas and new year holidays to deliver 386 separate infrastructure projects around the country between December 24 and January 1.

From minor interventions to improve drainage or extend platforms to major engineering projects, both planned and unplanned, Network Rail spent more than £111million during the Christmas shutdown.

On the biggest of NR’s new regions, North West and Central, projects included preparatory work in and around Euston for HS2, modifications to overhead wire stanchions at Bletchley to prepare for a new East West Rail flyover crossing the West Coast Main Line, track replacement at Tring, Crewe, Warrington and Haddenham & Thame Parkway, drainage improvements between Preston and Lancaster, and on-going preparation for the resignalling of Birmingham New Street in 2022.

December 27 saw the extension of platform 2 at Huddersfield, completed ready for the introduction of new, longer trains.

Platforms at seven stations on the Penistone Line will also be lengthened, with Honley and Shepley expected to be complete by the end of March.

Over on the East Coast Main

Line, construction of the new Werrington Junction diveunder continues apace. On December 24-27 and January 4-5, lines north of Peterborough were slewed to accommodate the redesigned junction as part of the £1.2billion ECML Upgrade.

The project also includes major work to simplify the track layout at London King’s Cross and build a new bay platform at Stevenage. Over the Christmas period, NR staff replaced track near platforms 5 and 6 and undertook signal testing work at the London terminus. Track dating from 1947 was also replaced in platform 6 at York, allowing LNER Class 80x trains to use it without restriction.

Timber beams

Further north on the ECML, long-term work to replace timber beams on the Grade-II listed

King Edward Bridge in Newcastle reached its ninth year, with 14 pairs of beams renewed between December 24 and 27.

The £46m renewal of overhead lines between Shenfield and Southend Victoria continued, with work focusing on the Wickford area in late-December.

Other projects on the Great Eastern lines included track and points replacement at Colchester, further preparations for Crossrail and the Barking Riverside extension in east London, bridge repairs in Rochford, Essex and at Prickwillow, near Ely, and track repairs at Liverpool Street and Bethnal Green.

In South Wales, electrification work was completed between Newport and Cardiff, and major track replacement was undertaken at the east end of Newport station (see separate story).

At Leeds, construction of the new platform 0 continued, plus work to fit new overhead wires, upgrade the track, install new track and points, and test signalling equipment.

In the south-east of England, the biggest single project took place at Ashford International, where drainage, six sets of points and all the track at one end of platforms 3-6 was replaced.

Work also continued on the £81m resignalling project through Hither Green and at Barnehurst on the Bexleyheath line, ahead of the planned nine-day closure of the line from February 15-23 to prevent landslips.

Stabilisation work

Smaller tasks included platform improvements at Charing, footbridge refurbishment at Dover Priory, canopy painting and platform upgrades at Nunhead, electrical upgrades at Dollands Moor, near Folkestone, cutting stabilisation work at Barming and Barnehurst, and signal testing and cable works between London Bridge and New Cross.

One major engineering task not on Network Rail’s Christmas plan was the repair of a landslip between Epsom and Ewell East in Surrey. Heavy rain caused the saturated embankment to slip on December 14, leaving track suspended in mid-air.

Around 2,000 tonnes of failed material was from the embankment and a 40m-long sheet pile wall, constructed of 71 sheet steel piles, was built to retain 2,400t of replacement material.

Track and signalling was replaced and reconnected on January 4-5, allowing train services to resume when commuters returned to work on January 6.

NETWORK RAIL Strengthening work for Arnside embankment: Network Rail is spending £500,000 to reinforce a steep embankment at Holmrock on the Furness Line to the south of the Kent Viaduct. The work will see the strengthening and reshaping of a slope and a new piled retaining wall to protect the formation of the Barrow to Carnforth line from future movement. Overnight work started on January 6 and is expected to last until March.

NETWORK RAIL One major engineering task not on Network Rail’s Christmas plan was the repair of a landslip between Epsom and Ewell East in Surrey. Contractors used heavy plant to remove around 2,000 tonnes of material prior to rebuilding and securing the embankment before trains restarted on January 6.