11.06.18
Abergele track upgrade completed as part of £50m North Wales improvement project
Track upgrade work has been completed in Abergele as part of the £50m North Wales railway upgrade project.
Work involved laying 600 metres of new track, as well as upgrading two sets of points, moveable sections of track to allow trains to move from one line to another.
Preparation for the work began in March, with the core element of the work starting at the beginning of April in Abergele.
Additional track work has also been completed at Holywell, Talacre, Rockcliffe Hall and Llandudno.
So far, the £50m programme has seen a new signalling system installed between Shotton and Colwyn Bay, over 6km of new track installed in Mostyn, and a track upgrade between Rhyl and Flint.
There has also been enhancement work to Abergele and Penarn station, and Tyn y Morfa level crossing has been upgraded to a manually controlled barrier with CCTVs.
Kevin Roberts, senior project manager for Network Rail Wales and Borders, said: “We’re pleased to have completed the upgrade work at Abergele on schedule, improving the reliability and resilience of the railway for passengers in North Wales.
“We worked closely with our partners Arriva Trains Wales throughout the project, doing all we can to keep disruption and noise to a minimum.
“I would like to thank residents and passengers for their patience while we completed this essential work.”
Customer services director for Arriva Trains Wales, Bethan Jelfs, added: “We are very pleased at the completion of this upgrade work which is a significant investment in the rail network in North Wales.
“Working closely with our partners in Network Rail and the local community, we have done all we could to reduce the impact this work has had on services and we thank customers for their patience.”
Over the coming months, work will continue along the North Wales coast to remove old signalling equipment.
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