News Front
Major progress at King’s Cross ahead of Werrington blockade
PROGRAMMES OF engineering works over the Christmas holiday period largely went to plan, including significant progress at King’s Cross as part of the East Coast main line upgrade. However, work at Nine Elms on the approach to Waterloo was hindered by the collapse of a section of brick wall on a viaduct, which affected South Western Railway services into the New Year.
The project at Nine Elms began on Christmas Day and ran until 4 January, and included track and switch and crossing upgrades as well as vegetation clearance, closing platforms 12-20 at Waterloo as well as Vauxhall and Queenstown Road stations. The collapse of the viaduct was first observed on Christmas Day, and one track remained closed at the conclusion of the works as repairs continued. SWR reduced Hounslow loop services to hourly and removed some peak services from Reading, Shepperton (via Twickenham), Farnham and Hounslow as a result, although on 11 January its timetables were in any case reduced due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The Christmas period also saw two landslips within Network Rail’s Southern Region as a result of storm damage. A 30-metre landslip near Ock…
