http://www.modern-railways.com April 2019 Modern Railways 63
switch & crossing (S&C) renewal, sleeper renewal,
ballast renewal / removal of wet beds, drainage
improvements, telecoms / signalling cable renewal,
axle counter introduction, vegetation, removal of
temporary speed restrictions, attention to fencing,
structures and earthworks.’ The Department for
Transport agreed and a £300 million fund was
established for the work, with £250 million coming
from the DfT and the balance from Network Rail.
Some £75 million of the total is being spent
on the Thameslink network north of the Thames,
on upgrading fencing, improving the alignment
of overhead line electrification and other minor
works; £40 million is going on pods along the
route that will hold key spares and welfare facilities
to allow immediate work on any infrastructure
breakdowns; and another £15 million is being
spent on a ground breaking incident management
system that has been pioneered in the Netherlands.
But the bulk of the money – over £170 million –
has been earmarked for the South East Route,
and over £30 million of that was spent on theBrighton main line in just nine days in February.
A blockade from Three Bridges to Brighton
(3B2B) over the half-term week (16-24 February)
allowed engineering staff unfettered access to
the route for a blitz on the backlog of work.BLOCKADE
The efficiency of blockade working is now
well rehearsed. There is just one taking and
release of the possession, saving many hours
of set up and break down time in individual
weekend blocks. Equipment can be put in
position and can stay there, rather than having
to travel to and fro to short possessions. Staff
hours can be more efficiently scheduled.
It is estimated that the work done in the
nine days of the February half-term would
have taken a dozen or more weekend blocks,
with all their attendant disruption. Anyway,
a string of short possessions would havebeen difficult to schedule: weekend service
disruption in the summer months is considered
too damaging to Brighton’s tourist trade to
be feasible, limiting the times available.
By giving commuters plenty of advance
warning of the week-long blockade, it would give
them the chance to schedule a week off work at a
time when children would be off school. Coupled
with lavish provision of alternative facilities (see
panel overleaf ), it was thought that travellers
would find the temporary pain bearable.
The travel advisory programme was more
effective than predicted: a 25% drop-off in
travel was expected, but in the event journeys
on the southern stretch of the Brighton line
were a massive 67% down in the affected
week. The frightening signs of wait times
(‘60 minutes from this point’) in the extensive
queuing system set up for rail replacement
bus services turned out to be unnecessary.Hired-in equipment: the massive crane used for replacing
the footbridge at Balcombe during the blockade. Jamie Squibbs3B2B CONTRACTORS
Balcombe Tunnel Junction (worksite A) S&C Alliance (Aecom, Colas, Network Rail)
Haywards Heath (worksite B) BAM Nuttall with Infrastructure Projects – South East
Wivelsfield – Preston Park (worksite C) Kier Signalling with Infrastructure Projects – South East
Patcham Tunnel Down Track Renewal (worksite D) Infrastructure Projects – Track
Keymer Junction – Lewes (worksite E) WDSE / Maintenance062-065_MR_Apr 2019_brighton upgrade.indd 63 11/03/2019 17:25