The Marches Line will close between Hereford and Shrewsbury for nine days starting next Tuesday.
Buses will replace trains while workers renew the track and ballast inside the historic Dinmore Tunnel, which was built in 1853.
The tunnel is actually two tunnels, one carrying trains towards London (the up-side) and one carrying trains away from London (the down-side). They are jointly the fifteenth longest tunnels on the former Great Western Railway.
Network Rail, working with its principal contractor, Colas Rail, will access the railway from Wellington Level Crossing. Workers will replace the ballast and track in the up-side tunnel.
The new track will improve the performance of trains reliability of journeys on the Marches line, which provides an important rail link between South Wales and the Midlands and beyond.
Network Rail plans to be working on the dates and times below, but these are subject to change:
- Tuesday 12 September to Friday 29 September (continuously main work) – track renewal
- Saturday 30 September to Sunday 19 November (Saturday nights) 11pm to 9:40am – follow-up work
Transport for Wales (TfW) will run a replacement bus service from Hereford to Shrewsbury during the closure. It will then run a reduced rail service from Cardiff to Shrewsbury from Friday 22 September to Friday 29 September.
Passengers can check TfW’s journey planner before they travel.
The work will take place day and night, and will cause some obstruction to road traffic between Cherry Brooke/Old Dinmore Hill and Wellington Level Crossing, to allow for the safe movement of materials into and out of the tunnel. The road near the crossing will close from Monday 11 until Friday 22 September between 8pm and 6am each day.
Clarisse Grother, senior programme manager at Network Rail Wales & Borders, said: “We understand that there is never a good time to close the railway or roads but this essential work, in Dinmore Tunnel, will improve reliability on the Marches Line, ensuring this important and well-travelled link between South Wales, the Midlands, North of England and beyond is secure for the future.
“We will be working around the clock to get the work completed as quickly and safely as possible, and I would like to apologise to passengers and the local community for any disruption this may cause.”
Responses
Since the up and down lines use separate tunnels, I’m not clear why Network Rail has decided to close BOTH tunnels for this work. Surely they could keep one tunnel open while closing the other to carry out the track renewal. That would allow a reduced service in both directions using the single track between Hereford and Leominster where there are crossovers between the two tracks.