Twitter was awash first thing on Tuesday morning with news from Network Rail that Easter works at various sites around the country had been completed on time and that trains on the first day back at work for many after the long weekend, were running on time.
It was a very festival of good news and Network Rail was clearly extremely happy that after the horrors of the Christmas overruns, its planning, logistics and site operations had delivered efficiently.
Chief executive Mark Carne and managing director for infrastructure projects Francis Paonessa’s decision to be on hand during the £100M of investment work that was undertaken over the holiday period seems to have changed Network Rail’s luck and they are likely, like haresfeet, to be required for all future work programmes.
New station facilities, new platforms, new junctions and thousands of pieces of new, more reliable equipment were built and brought into use by Network Rail this Easter. And more than 14,000 men and women worked round-the-clock across hundreds of locations over the four-day Easter weekend, the rail operator reported.
“Our 14,000-strong army were determined to make sure everything went to plan this weekend and I’m proud to say it did. I’d like to thank people for their patience as I know our work caused some planned disruption,” Carne said.
“The improvements made this weekend are a vital part of our £38bn investment programme which will deliver a better railway in the weeks, months and years ahead."
But he warned: “That job is far from over. Our orange army will be out tonight and every night carrying out work that’s essential to improving our increasingly congested network and providing better journeys for the four and a half million people who rely on our network each day.”
The major investment schemes successfully completed this Easter included: