Out with the Old

October 2nd 2009

Work on Network Rail's £104 million upgrade of the railway in east Essex has been successfully completed, heralding more reliable journeys for millions of passengers on both the busy Clacton branch and the Great Eastern main line. The last piece of the jigsaw included the commissioning of new bi-directional signalling between Colchester and Marks Tey, allowing trains to bypass problems should they occur as well as improving flexibility and helping to reduce delays.
Major upgrades have also been completed on the lines to Colchester Town and Walton-on-the-Naze. Obsolete searchlight signals - a throwback to the 1960s when they were originally installed - have been replaced with 170 modern LED signals whilst eight level crossings have been upgraded with full barriers and CCTV. Control of the branch lines has been handed over to the newly-extended and modernised signal box at Colchester which has been equipped with state-of-the-art visual display units.
"The infrastructure on this part of the railway was like a classic car - unique but becoming unreliable and expensive to maintain" explains Patrick Hallgate, Network Rail route director for Anglia. "Thanks to our investment, passengers in this part of Essex will be among the first to benefit from Network Rail's nationwide programme to upgrade signalling equipment. Signal boxes and level crossings might not seem particularly exciting but the investment we've made here will make a real difference to passengers."

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