Over eight weeks in Summer 2023 our engineers upgraded the railway in the Basingstoke area, to deliver more reliable and smoother train journeys.
What did we do?
Teams spent 5000 hours over multiple bank holiday weekends to modernise the railway infrastructure running through Basingstoke.
Over multiple bank holidays we:
- Introduced new sets of switches and crossings (the moveable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another) at Great Western and Great Worting Junction, outside Basingstoke station
- Renewed track along the line
- Improved the geometry of the junction to reduce the need for maintenance
- Completed stabilising earthworks by Basingstoke junction
- Installed a catch fence at Farnborough to keep our track safe
- Tamped up and down the line which means compacting the ballast (stones that support the track)
- Built two new location cases to house the new switch equipment
- Strengthened the underbridge at Park Lane, between Basingstoke and Overton
- Installed a retaining wall at Litchfield tunnel.
Why was the work needed?
Basingstoke has seen historical problems which has impacted the reliability of services running through the area. By closing parts of the railway for multiple days we were able to complete multiple significant engineering projects, getting more done and overall disrupting our passengers less.
Project in numbers
- The project involved 5000 hours of work and cost £3.3m
- We used 10 engineering trains to bring in all the equipment we needed to renew the track; railway track panels, ballast and specialist rails
- 2 tampers were deployed to compact the ballast along the closed railway
- A rail mounted Kirow train (a crane capable of lifting 125 tons) was used to lift and install track panels
- We used road rail machinery which weighed 32 tons to install the new railway infrastructure.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about this work or another project visit our contact us page or call our 24-hour helpline on 03457 11 41 41.