28
CHRISTMAS
BOB WRIGHT
Christmas at WERRINGTON The north end of the works with both Down and Up Stamford lines connected into the realigned section. The parapets of the topdown future maintenance access underbridge are visible centre right.
O
ver Christmas, part of the East Coast main line moved 20 metres westwards as enabling works for the £200 million Werrington Grade Separation project to construct an underpass at Werrington Junction near Peterborough. The existing Werrington junction layout causes constraints on increasing the frequency of passenger services, as slow freight trains moving onto the Great Northern Great Eastern route (GNGE) need to cross over the three high speed lines of the East Coast main line. Network Rail and its designer, Jacobs, considered a number of options for grade separation, comprising both under and overline options. Local public consultation in summer 2014 presented these and 400 people attended events, with a strong majority favouring the underpass solution. Public feedback received was collated and analysed and used to help inform Network Rail’s selection of the
Rail Engineer | Issue 181 | Jan/Feb 2020
preferred option. Key concerns raised were the potential environmental and community impacts, especially noise, given the proximity of the railway to properties. An overline option would require a very high viaduct that would have to also cross the higher level A15 trunk road and, for many, the visual intrusion of this on the very flat landscape was a key concern. The underpass option was selected, recognising public concerns but also reflecting
the technical, environmental, cost, maintenance and constructability issues and constraints. In Autumn 2016 the single preferred option was presented in four local public consultation events, enabling concerned residents to review the plans for the scheme, speak to members of the project team and provide their feedback. This enabled Network Rail to address any remaining queries before the detailed design of the underpass option was finalised. Network Rail submitted a Transport & Works Act Order in 2016 to begin work on the project and this was approved in 2018.
