Permanent Way

Faults tend to have significant impact on railway performance, disrupting or stopping train movement. Railway administrators make significant efforts to reduce or eliminate sources of failures. So-called ‘single point’ failures are often the most difficult to deal with as there...

The Brighton main line in Sussex has reopened following a nine-day closure while Network Rail and its contractors carried out major improvement work. The Three Bridges station car park was turned into a bus station as...

The cutting at Barnehurst, on the Bexleyheath line between Lewisham and Dartford, Kent, reopened on Monday 18 February after being closed for a week. When the cutting face slipped at around 03:30 on the morning of Monday...

Network Rail has reopened the West Coast main line through the Stafford area after more than 24 hours of disruption caused by a lorry hitting a bridge. The bridge, which carries Worston Lane over the busy...

Network Rail has reopened Ambergate junction in the Derwent Valley – where the branch to Matlock leaves the Midland main line – after a £13 million remodel and a six-day closure. All services between Derby and Matlock have resumed on...

As usual, Network Rail took advantage of the Christmas and New Year holiday to undertake some of the lengthier and more onerous projects that the renewal and enhancement of the railway network demands. Christmas is therefore a good...

Christmas and New Year at Westbury saw the station and its associated routes closed for 12 days to carry out some long-awaited major works in one fell swoop. The main work was the reballasting and renewal of 12 switch and...

This Christmas, Battersea Pier junction became the latest focus of intense activity as it was renewed over an 11-day blockade. Battersea Pier junction is one of London’s busiest junctions. Located one mile south of London’s Victoria Station,...

Network Rail has announced two (shortly to be three) track systems contracts that could cover the next 10 years and be worth around £5 billion to the successful bidders, or over £10 billion of work when the...

One of Network Rail’s bigger Christmas jobs in 2018 was that at Wellingborough North Junction, 57m 0ch to 69m 40ch on the Midland main line (MML). The main works here took place between 22:20 on Sunday 23 December 2018 and...