Network Rail will begin construction of new platforms at Ilkeston station in the next week part of the organisation’s Railway Upgrade Plan in Derbyshire.
Construction of the station, which will give the town its own station for the first time in 50 years, began earlier this year to prepare the ground for two platforms, ramped footbridges and car park.
From Tuesday night, the first big piece of physical construction work gets under way with the installation of the foundations for the platforms on both the west and east sides of the railway line.
Screw piling will take place for ten consecutive nights from Tuesday 31 May to Friday 10 June (inclusive), with work taking place between 11pm and 7am. Further blocks of work will take place in the coming months too.
The nature of the work means lighting, generators and a piling rig will all be used which is likely to generate light and noise from the site, although Network Rail will do everything possible to keep disturbance to a minimum.
Residents living near the site will receive letters from Network Rail explaining why the work is taking place, while posters and leaflets will also be available.
Gary Walsh, Network Rail area director for the East Midlands said: “This is a big step in the construction of the station at Ilkeston and over the coming months people will really see the station start to take shape. We need to do this kind of work at night when trains are not running and while it can be noisy, I assure residents living nearby that every effort is being made to keep disturbance to a minimum.â€
Contact information
Toby Higgins
Media relations manager (London North Eastern & East Midlands route)
Network Rail
01904 383180 / 07850 406724
toby.higgins@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain’s railway – the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.65bn journeys by rail every year and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We employ 36,000 people across Britain and work round-the-clock, each and every day, to provide a safe, reliable railway.
About the Railway Upgrade Plan
The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s investment plan for Britain’s railways. It makes up two-thirds of Network Rail’s £40bn spending priorities for the five years to 2019 and represents the biggest sustained programme of rail modernisation since the Victoria era. It is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to the tremendous growth Britain’s railways continue to experience; passenger numbers have doubled in the past 20 years and are set to double again over the next 25 years – so we need to continue to invest in building a bigger, better railway.
For passengers, that means:
- • longer, faster more frequent trains;
- • better, more reliable infrastructure; and
- • better facilities for passengers, especially at stations.
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk
