Network Rail has completed major upgrade of Bristol East rail junction, removing a bottleneck into Bristol Temple Meads and replacing the 1960s track and components.
This will allow more trains to enter and exit the station, increase capacity, reduce congestion and help make journeys more reliable.
The project covered the replacement of more than 5 km of track, the installation of 300 track panels, and laying around 26,000 tonnes of ballast, the work being performed with 50 engineering trains. Also as part of the upgrade, an old signalling gantry has been removed and a new gantry, installed in December 2020, has been brought online.
An additional line has been introduced which paves the way to support new suburban services in the future as part of the West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA) MetroWest scheme. Once complete, this scheme will provide over 4,000 additional seats on trains every day in the area, making Bristol Temple Meads a key transport hub in the western region.
“After years of planning it’s great that Network Rail have completed these works, which will deliver so much for people using this station. We know these big projects can be an inconvenience and would like to thank everyone for their patience over the last two months,” Tom Joyner, CrossCountry’s managing director, said.
The Bristol East rail junction project, implemented into two months, has received a GBP 132 million (EUR 153.36 million) funding from the Department for Transport.
The completion of the track upgrade work is part of the wider Bristol Rail Regeneration programme that will see a number of improvements to the iconic Bristol Temple Meads station over the next three years, representing a major investment in sustainable transport in the region and creating a major transport hub that will serve millions of passengers each year and support business right across the region.
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