Essential maintenance work delivered alongside major upgrade project.
Network Rail has maximised the planned weekend closures on the Midland Main Line to complete an extensive programme of maintenance and improvement work while overhead line upgrades were taking place between London and Bedford.
The series of nine weekend closures, which began in February and finished in early June, has allowed maintenance teams to access the railway to carry out critical work that wouldn’t have been possible during normal operations.
Teams have successfully completed work at 120 different locations along the route which included:
- 49 comprehensive infrastructure inspections covering track, signalling, and telecommunications systems
- Removal of trees in the North London area, significantly reducing risks to overhead line equipment
- 23 sites of vital signalling and telecoms improvements, adding resilience to some of our most complex equipment
- Renewal of seven sets of switches and crossings (the equipment that allows trains to change tracks), improving track reliability and smoother journeys for passengers
- Rail grinding and defect removal at six locations to improve track resilience
- Weather-related overhead line work and seasonal preparation at multiple locations
A spotlight success of a weekend closure in May was the rapid repair of a cracked crossing at Carlton junction, preventing the need for an emergency speed restriction that would have caused significant delays for passengers.
Mark Budden, Network Rail’s East Midlands route director, said: “While we understand the disruption these weekend closures have caused for passengers, we’ve been working hard to maximise essential access time to prevent future disruption that would otherwise require separate closures.
“By carefully coordinating our maintenance activities with the planned upgrade work, we’re delivering significant improvements that will make journeys more reliable for years to come. We would like to thank passengers for their continued patience while this important work was carried out.”
Louis Rambaud, GTR’s chief customer officer, said: “Our Thameslink route is one of the busiest in the country, with hundreds of thousands of people relying on it every day to get to work, see loved ones, and explore the great destinations it has to offer.
“It’s vital to have reliable infrastructure which will keep passengers on the move, connecting communities up and down the country.
“The past nine weekend closures have ensured this will be the case for years to come, and for this, I would like to thank our passengers who have been patient while works were underway.”
Image credit: Network Rail
