Signal work on track

Lindsey Vamplew said normal services will soon be back

The biggest single signal replacement job undertaken by Railtrack is due for completion on time.

The £55m project, which was carried out over the Christmas period, will see 130 old signals replaced on a 10-mile stretch of track in North West London.

Rail chiefs say the work, which began on December 23, will be finished by January 2.

The weather has not stopped us. We have had heavy rain, heavy frost and now heavy snow and we have been able to cope

Lyndsay Vamplew

Railtrack project manager Julian Sharp said: "The new equipment is safer, considerably more reliable and will allow trains to run in and out of Euston faster and more frequently.

"There are restricted train services over Christmas but we deliberately chose a quiet time of year to do the job.

"Passengers will find that when they return to work in the New Year services will be back to normal."

Head of delivery for Railtrack West Coast Lyndsay Vamplew confirmed the work on the track should be completed by January 2.

"The weather has not stopped us. We have had heavy rain, heavy frost and now heavy snow and we have been able to cope."

The signals will be controlled from a Wembley control centre where trains on the West Coast mainline between Euston and Birmingham are monitored.

New timetables

A Railtrack spokeswoman said the company's nationwide repair programme was progressing well, new timetables were expected by January 15 and 85% of services were expected to be back to normal by the end of January.

The signalling work in north west London, between Queen's Park and Hatch End near Willesden Junction was planned before the Hatfield crash and is part of Railtrack's £5.4bn West Coast route modernisation programme, due to be completed in 2005.

The work will eventually allow trains to run at 125mph on the track, 50mph faster than before.