Services through the Severn Tunnel between England and Wales have resumed following a £10m project to renew all the rails of the westbound line.
There were no trains through the tunnel from Wednesday, 3rd July to Thursday, 18rd July, so Network Rail teams could replace all of the 4.3 miles of track in the Wales-bound direction.
Throughout the closure, engineers worked round-the-clock, and services resumed this morning, Friday, 19th July.
Whilst the tunnel was closed, all freight and passenger services were diverted via Gloucester.
The £10m project to renew the track inside the 138-year-old tunnel was the largest track renewal for many years.
Work included removing 21,000 tonnes of spoil, laying almost 11,000 sleepers, 66 216-metre-long rails and installing 22,000 tonnes of new ballast.
The work was necessary as salt water and minerals inside the tunnel create a corrosive environment.
Track elsewhere on the railway normally lasts for 25 years, but in the inhospitable environment of the Severn Tunnel needs to be replaced around every 10 years.
While the Severn Tunnel was closed, 900 metres of track was replaced at Cattybrook near Almondsbury, and over 230 metres of track drainage was replaced at Patchway Gap between the two Patchway tunnels near Bristol.
Follow-up work will require further closure of the Severn Tunnel on the weekends of 27th/28th July and 24th/25th August.
The route between South Wales and Gloucester is an important diversion route.
To help protect this line alongside the Severn Estuary from extreme weather, it will be closed between Severn Tunnel Junction and Gloucester from Monday, 22nd July to Friday, 26th July, and again from Monday, 29th July to Friday, 9th August inclusive.
Full details about the work during the closure of the line alongside the Severn Estuary can be found by clicking here.
This essential work means the entire track within the Severn Tunnel has now been renewed within the past two years.
We are committed to providing lower-carbon and reliable rail transport between South Wales and England – and this major track renewal on such a busy route is a significant part of that.
I would like to pay tribute to the dedication and skill of the Network Rail teams and our contractors, who worked 24/7 in challenging conditions to safely deliver the largest track replacement in the tunnel for many years.
I would also thank our passengers and our train operator colleagues, notably those at Great Western Railway, for their patience over the past 16 days while we carried out this work.
Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director
Responses
The track access required to deliver this work was jointly agreed between Network Rail and the Train operator and an industry decision was taken that the 16 day option was the correct industry decision versus blocking the tunnel for multiple weekends which is far more disruptive.
The comments and comparisons to how this used to be done more efficiently are grossly inaccurate and we still have the people on the team who used to do this work as it needs replacing more frequently than Track subject to normal conditions.
Rubbish Henry this is the norm now following the Government decision to close the Tunnel in Railtrack days following safety concerns raised by the RH Roy Hughes MP. It was closed for nearly 3 weeks to carry out extensive track replacement. Hopefully Network Rail are on top of this now that is why it is closed for such a long duration. It is interesting to see the ventilation tube in the tunnel hopefully that air is safe and not full of nitrous oxides, radon and asbestos from train brakes etc
Oh dear, look at the safety violations in that picture with the track clipping machine, is that a length of rail precariously balanced on the opposite side of the outrigger? That can’t be allowed. Henry is right that this shouldn’t have taken so long, there are high output renewals units for doing this sort of work it shouldn’t fall to small plant and brute force to do a job simply because its cheaper than doing it the right way.
What a load of nonsense closing a vital transport link for 16days to replace track. A closure of this extent was never required to successfully replace track during BR and early privatisation days. The problem we have now is an industry that lacks experience and loves to grandstand what should be just a part of a normals days work in industry. This is not a success and should be seen as a backward step in rail project management, utilisation of access, experience and the poor ability to put the passenger first.