Our teams finished 500 projects over the August bank holiday worth £71m – all to improve your journeys.
Read on for five stories from the planned works …
Staying on track …
We installed 7,560 metres of new rail in total. We also delivered 2,400 railway sleepers. The new track was spread out across Britain. Here’s where some of it ended up:
London Waterloo
We installed new rail at London Waterloo station and replaced old wooden wheel timbers with 11 composite ones. This will help support the track at this busy central station.
New Cross
We also replaced five sets of switches and crossing – the moveable rail that allows trains to switch paths – at New Cross station in London. We’ve also spent August replacing more the 1,000 yards of track, sleepers and ballast.
It’s part of our investment in replacing 1980s rail infrastructure in Kent to improve reliability for you. It will mean smoother journeys in and out of this busy junction.
Wolverton
Meanwhile, we renewed track at Wolverton in Milton Keynes. We first dug out the old track and prepared the ground before installing this lining.
It will keep the track stable and extend its life.
A digital railway
We made significant progress on the East Coast Digital Programme on the East Coast Main Line.
Work on the East Coast Digital Programme is vital to help digitalise our railway. It will bring you more punctual services and reduce carbon emissions.
Engineers installed equipment and technology between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin in Hertfordshire this weekend. It will prepare this section of railway for digital signalling from 2025.
We also carried out upgrades in the Peterborough area to move local signalling control to our modern rail operating centre in York.
A new station, a stronger economy
We continued building Beaulieu Park railway station in Essex. This will be the first railway station to be built on the Great Eastern Main Line for over 100 years. The station and the transport links it brings will boost the local economy and provide more opportunities here.
Work included installing track drainage and under-track cable routes, platform work and piling for overhead line structures to give power to electric trains.
London Euston
Our long-term project to improve emergency access at London Euston station continued. Engineers cut and removed concrete from above platforms 14 and 15. They also began building a new bridge.
We hope emergency accesses like these won’t ever need to be used but keeping them in good condition is an important part of managing the railway responsibly.
Signal upgrades
We also continued working on a £116m resignalling scheme in southwest London and Berkshire as part of the wider Feltham and Wokingham resignalling programme.
In fact, the last train signalled through Feltham Signal Box ran on 26 August. We’ll move signalling to the modern Basingstoke rail operating centre.
This will lead to more reliable journeys and fewer delays on the Windsor Lines – an important route for commuters in and out of London.
