Work on Staffordshire rail bottleneck to start in weeks
A £250 million package of rail improvements in Staffordshire will start within weeks, it emerged today.
The completed scheme will result in faster journeys between Norton Bridge and Crewe and resignalling and remodelling of the track layout throughout Stafford.
It will also provide a new area for freight trains at Stafford and, subject to the outcome of a public inquiry, a new flyover at Norton Bridge. The main aim is to separate commuter, freight and inter-city services, helping to address capacity problems on the West Coast Main Line.
The first stage of work, expected to begin before Easter, will focus on 23 miles of improvements between Norton Bridge and Crewe. The whole project is due to be finished by December 2017.
Network Rail said the five-year contract has gone to a construction alliance of Atkins, Laing O'Rourke and VolkerRail.
It said the complex works will remove a "key bottleneck" on the network and provide faster, more frequent train services with improved reliability.
As a result, the rail firm will be able to put on two extra trains every hour in each direction between London and the North West, one additional train hourly both ways between Manchester and Birmingham, via Stone, and a further freight train every hour each way through Stafford.
