Prompt Work Repairs Landslip on London to Norwich Mainline Minimising Disruption for Passengers

Abellio Greater Anglia and Network Rail have worked quickly to ensure the landslip that occurred at Brantham, near Manningtree on the London to Norwich mainline last Tuesday was promptly repaired overnight on Saturday 22 and throughout Sunday 23 February, ensuring that mainline train services were not delayed from the start of service this morning (Monday 24 February).

Last Tuesday (18 February), Network Rail engineers identified a landslip that had occurred close to the railway at Brantham on the Ipswich-bound line. Although the landslip did not block the line, a temporary speed restriction was applied to Ipswich-bound services which slightly extended journey times, and the site was constantly monitored on a 24-hour basis whilst Network Rail put in place the necessary resources to repair the landslip.

This involved a comprehensive programme including all the necessary plant and manpower resources at very short notice to ensure the landslip was repaired as quickly as possible over the past weekend. The Abellio Greater Anglia team also worked quickly to plan the necessary service alterations implemented on Sunday to enable the work to proceed. As an existing programme of improvements was planned for Sunday on the mainline between Chelmsford and Manningtree, the alternative services were extended to Ipswich to allow Network Rail engineers to undertake the repair work at Brantham efficiently.

The landslip was fully repaired and normal working for the railway through the Brantham area introduced from the start of service this morning.

Peter Lensink, Operations Director for Abellio Greater Anglia said: “The work to quickly repair the landslip that occurred at Brantham has been an excellent example of our team working in close partnership with Network Rail colleagues to ensure extensive repairs were carried out quickly and efficiently, ensuring that any disruption to our customers’ journeys was kept to an absolute minimum. Most importantly the railway was handed back on-time this morning for a full Monday morning peak service to operate.”

Richard Schofield, Network Rail route managing director said: “The partnership between Network Rail and Abellio Greater Anglia demonstrates clearly how our respective teams worked closely to repair the landslip at Brantham quickly, with minimal disruption to passenger services.”