07.11.16
NR completes £100m Bromsgrove upgrades ahead of schedule
The railway line at Bromsgrove reopened today as Network Rail completed a £100m upgrade to track and signalling through the area ahead of schedule.
The line was closed for the past 12 days as Network Rail engineers reconfigured the track, points and crossings in the area around the station.
This brought into use the new signalling between Five Ways (Birmingham) and Ashchurch in Gloucestershire, in preparation for electrification.
Richard Dugdale, senior sponsor for Network Rail, said: “This work was completed ahead of schedule, with the least amount of disruption to passengers and is an important part of our Railway Upgrade Plan to modernise the railway through the area to provide passengers with more frequent services and a more reliable, better railway.
“Our engineers worked quickly and safely to complete this work ahead of schedule and we worked closely with the train operators involved to carefully plan these improvements to cause the least amount of disruption to passengers. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while the improvements took place.”
Steve Fisher, head of regional services at London Midland, said the upgrades would bring “enormous benefits”.
The work at Bromsgrove has already seen a new station open in July.The next step is a programme of weekend electrification work, with the aim of turning on power from September 2017. A full service is currently due to run from May 2018 with the potential for some services from December 2017, to be confirmed.
(Images c. Network Rail)
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an RTM columnist? If so, click here.