As announced last month, work on the railway line between Bristol and Weymouth, has been carried out between Dorchester West and Castle Cary and was completed last week by Network Rail.
Between Monday 15th to 19th February, a number of upgrades were completed within the five-day line closure.
The work included improving a railway cutting near Yeovil Pen Mill station, and removing 200 tonnes of debris from rescaling.
Remote monitoring equipment was also installed to monitor the stability of the cutting.
Lineside fencing was replaced along with 170 sleepers and track at Yeovil Pen Mill station.
The work that has been done in the Yeovil Pen Mill area is all part of an investment of £2bn on the Wessex route by Network Rail.
Later this year they will be further track renewals and maintenance being carried out on the Wessex line between Dorchester West and Castle Cary, the date for this work is yet to be confirmed by Network Rail.
Last year a railway bridge at Yetminster was replaced as part of the improvements on the line.
Mark Killick, Network Rail Wessex route director, said: “We’d like to say thank you to our passengers for their patience during this line closure. The railway cutting rescaling is a vital piece of maintenance on this important line for local communities. The work we have carried out will keep passengers moving long into the future.”
James Wilcox, Great Western Railway station manager for the area, said: “This work was important to ensure we can continue to provide services that people can rely on at this time and we thank customers for their patience.”
“We have been working hard to make sure that people can be confident to travel safely, and that includes running as many trains and carriages as we can to make extra room, and replacement buses where trains cannot operate, as well as enhanced cleaning and social distancing measures.”
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Responses
restore the bridge, damnit
Several years ago I tried to persuade Network Rail to build a halt on this line near to Yeovil Junction station and accessible on foot, which would avoid the faff of trying to get to Pen Mill by bus to get onto Weymouth line. They replied after 6 months and I soon realised that they had lost my letter