Preparatory work for £184M Cambridge South station among raft of Network Rail bank holiday improvements

The new £184M station will sit next to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, an area highlighted as having potential for major change. The new Cambridge South station will connect it with potential destinations such as London, London Stansted Airport, Ely, Birmingham and onwards to Europe.

Network Rail engineers will continue its preparatory work, from Saturday 27 May to Monday 29 May. The new station will aim to provide access to a “growing area of high-quality employment and help relieve congestion in the local area by supporting the development of environmentally sustainable transport in Cambridge,” according to Network Rail.

As part of this project, Network Rail will also continue to deliver the major re-signalling renewal programme around the Cambridge area this bank holiday. The Cambridge re-signalling, re-lock and re-control project aims to deliver state-of-the-art signalling technology for the railway which means better reliability and reduced maintenance, while providing a platform ready for digital technologies such as the European Train Control System.

Network Rail’s programme also includes a number of other works taking place over the Spring bank holiday.

The c2c line will be closed between Upminster and Grays on Sunday 28 and Monday 29 May while track and maintenance work is undertaken.

From Friday to Monday, engineers will also be replacing two sets of switches and crossings and 300m of track at Rochester Bridge Junction, which sits on the Victorian railway arches running alongside the A2 and Canal Road at the Strood end of Rochester Bridge. Old ballast, the stones that support the track, and life expired sleepers and rails will also be replaced closing the line between Meopham, Gillingham, Gravesend and Maidstone West.

On Sunday, track maintenance and repairs on lines in South East London mean that no trains will run into London Waterloo East or London Charing Cross. The railway line between Woking to Winchester and Basingstoke to Andover will also be closed to enable Network Rail engineers to complete track work.

Work will involve removing what the industry calls “wet beds” – sections of track where the stones and sleepers are so wet, they cause uneven and bumpy train rides for customers. Engineers will also be completing routine maintenance to improve the overall reliability of the railway and testing new equipment that has been installed over the last month.

This is part of a wider eight-week programme of work to bring more smooth and reliable journeys on the South West Main Line in the Basingstoke area. So far, engineers have introduced two new switches and crossings at Great Western Junction, as well as laying new track, repairing earthworks to prevent landslips, and tamping, which is the process of compacting the stones that support the track.

Elsewhere across the Wessex route, the line between Hounslow to Virginia Water and Windsor & Eton Riverside to Staines will be closed all day on Sunday and Monday to facilitate the renewal of around 90m of track.

A reduced service will also run between Sheffield and London from Friday for 16 days as engineers upgrade drainage systems, replace sleepers and work on ballasts in the Clay Cross tunnel. The tunnel shafts will have specially coated rails placed underneath to make them more resistant to bad weather. Milford tunnel in Derbyshire will also benefit from a track upgrade.

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