Network Rail has started work to reinforce land at Browney Curve in County Durham.

The work, which is being carried out alongside the East Coast Main Line, involves workers reinforcing over one kilometre of land where the track is, protecting against landslips and other occurrences that can cause delays and disruption.

Browney Curve is an active landslip. The area contains two electrified tracks for mainline trains, which run in a curve from north west to south east, following the line of the B6300.

The land west and south of the road is relatively flat, but to the north and east, the land level drop by up to twelve metres, starting at the roadway and sloping steeply down towards the railway and then onto the River Browney.

Network Rail is monitoring the area for ground movement and to ensure that trains can travel safely along the line. The permanent measures to secure the land involve major piling work, introducing reinforced concrete piles, widening the embankment, improving drainage and planting trees to reduce the impact of heavy rainfall will.

The project will not affect passenger journeys and is expected to be completed in autumn 2024. Network Rail will carry out regular track maintenance and monitoring during and after the work.

Tom Grainger, Lead Portfolio Manager at Network Rail, said: “The reinforcement work at Browney Curve is essential in continuing to deliver reliable journeys for our passengers on a more resilient railway. The work has been carefully planned to avoid disruption to passengers using the East Coast Main Line.

“This is a really big and complex piece of work, but we’re excited to deliver improvements to the railway for our customers.”