The innovative Werrington Tunnel was officially opened on Thursday the 9th of December by Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris

The tunnel will allow freight trains to run beneath the well used East Coast Main Line and will mean that passenger services will not be disrupted due to freight trains crossing the tracks, bringing huge improvements for customers travelling through Peterborough.

The groundbreaking project will ease congestion on existing tracks and provide an opportunity for journey times to be reduced whilst allowing more passenger services to operate, bringing improvements in reliability for journeys on the line.

The project is part of a stage in the huge £1.2 billion East Coast upgrade which aims to provide more seats whilst bringing fast journey times between London, the north of England and Scotland and will pave the way for the mammoth infrastructure roll out as recently revealed in the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP).

The IRP will see a £96 billion investment for railways and will provide significant improvements for communities in the North and Midlands, supporting economic growth by transforming east-west and north-south links. The plan sets out to provide benefits faster and will impact positively for more areas than previous plans.

Rail Minister, Chris Heaton-Harris said:

“This country’s railways have long been home to marvels of engineering and the new Werrington Tunnel shows that we are continuing that proud tradition.”

“Opening this new section of railway marks the end of a project which saw Network Rail engineers deliver an incredible feat installing an 11,000-tonne concrete tunnel, freeing up tracks and unlocking new opportunities for rail freight.”

“Our investment in the railways, including the unprecedented £96 billion we are spending through the integrated rail plan, means there are even more opportunities to move goods by rails, taking HGVs off the road.”

The vast engineering required to put the tunnel in place saw a first for the UK in an incredible 11,000-tonne curved concrete tunnel moved smoothly into place under the existing network, taking place in January this year.  The ‘curved box’ was assembled right next to the East Coast Mainline, from 9 interconnected sections which when built measured 155m in length and 9.5m in width and 5.1m in height with the walls of the ‘curve box’ being 1m thick.

New track was installed inside the tunnel and was connected to the existing line during July, with work then moving forward to put in the signalling system which was accomplished in just a single weekend during September, with essential testing following this work to allow trains to use the infrastructure.

Rob McIntosh, Managing Director for Network Rail’s Eastern region, said:

“From building the huge concrete tunnel onsite next to the East Coast Main Line, to pushing it into place in a UK first for engineering, to installing new track and signalling equipment to connect it to the existing lines – it’s been amazing to see the progress our teams have made on this ground-breaking project.”

“Passengers travelling between London, Peterborough, the north of England and Scotland will benefit from faster, more reliable journeys as longer freight trains can now dive underneath the famous passenger route.”

“I’m proud of our team’s brilliant response to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and how they reached major milestones on the project when it was at its peak. Using innovative methods, we’ve also been able to avoid major disruption for passengers, as services have continued running throughout the majority of the work. We want to thank passengers as well as people in the community for their continued patience.”

The changes made in the Williams-Shapps plan for rail will future-proof rail freight with investment in such projects bringing increased capacity and performance whilst reducing carbon emissions as the government levels up the country and builds back greener.

Freight carried via rail rather than road provides genuine positives for both the economy and the environment by bringing £2.5 billion to the UK economy per annum and removing more than 7 million lorries from roads each year with freight trains only emitting one-quarter of the CO2 that lorries release per tonne-km travelled.

John Smith, CEO of GB Railfreight said:

“The Werrington tunnel is a win for both consumers and the rail freight industry. It will not only improve passenger journeys, but also crucially unlock much-needed extra capacity on the network for freight services. This is an important investment by the government and furthers our industry’s efforts to create a more efficient supply chain across the UK, whilst making crucial environmental and regional investment progress at the same time.”

David Horne, Managing Director at LNER said:

“This unique project has seen huge cross-industry collaboration, with Network Rail working together with train operators and project partners to deliver this essential part of the East Coast upgrade. The completion of this project will reduce delays and create capacity to enable more LNER services to be launched in our new timetable.”

Simon Smith, Managing Director for Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, principal contractor on the project said:

“We’re incredibly proud to have worked closely with Network Rail and our supply chain to deliver the UK’s first curved portal push on the East Coast Main Line upgrade at Werrington. The portal is a great example of the UK’s leading engineering and innovation expertise, harnessing these skills to enhance passengers’ experiences between London and the north of England.”

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