Rail staff who worked over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend have been thanked by Mark Carne, Network Rail chief executive.
More than £50 million of investment and improvement work was completed successfully across Britain’s railway over the bank holiday weekend.
‘Our 14,000-strong army was determined to make sure everything went to plan this weekend, and I’m proud to say it did,’ said Mark Carne.
‘The improvements made…are a vital part of our £38 billion investment programme which will deliver a better railway in the weeks, months and years ahead.’
He added, ‘That job is far from over. Our orange army will be out tonight and every night carrying out work that’s essential to improving our increasingly congested network and providing better journeys for the four-and-a-half million people who rely on our network each day.’
New track was laid, junctions built and bridges lifted into place. Thousands of pieces of new, more reliable equipment were installed. Over 14,000 men and women worked round-the-clock across hundreds of locations.
Works included:
- Crossrail – New track and junctions installed at Slough,
- London Liverpool Street – New bridge put up at Pudding Mill Lane for Crossrail. New overhead lines and track installed near Chadwell,
- London Waterloo – A vital junction outside Waterloo station replaced,
- Thameslink – Track and signalling work continued on the £6.5 billion programme,
- West Coast Main Line – Work progressed at Wolverhampton, Stafford and Crewe. A new signalling system was installed between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. New track and overhead lines were installed at Stafford and new track laid between Crewe and Wigan,
- Glasgow – Investment schemes saw a new footbridge installed near Motherwell and new track and junctions replaced near Carstairs
