OREANDA-NEWS. The work – which forms part of Network Rail’s multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan to build a bigger, better, more reliable rail network for Britain – will be carried out mainly on Saturdays to Mondays until 8 August although some mid-week work is required. Track will be removed and replaced with new railway and the ballast – the foundation that the track sits on – relayed.

In order to carry out this work a site compound will be set up on the overspill car park at Dorridge station just off Grange Road. This will mean a small reduction in parking spaces at the station for the duration of the work. In addition to this the level crossing at Mill Lane will be subject to closure on some weekends between 25 June and Monday 8 August. When the crossing is closed, a clearly-signed diversionary route via Four Ashes Road and Widney Road will be put in place. The pedestrian footbridge will remain open and in use for the duration of this work.

Martin Ball, Area Director for Network Rail said: ”We would like to thank everyone affected by the work in advance for their patience and would like to apologise for any disruption incurred. The type of equipment and machinery that we have to use to renew track is noisy which will unfortunately mean that some disruption is unavoidable. Our work will be carried out safely and we will do all we can to keep any noise and disruption to an absolute minimum.”

London Midland head of route, Brenda Lawrence said " The train services in and out of Birmingham Snow Hill are the best performing across the whole London Midland network. The track work is essential to maintaining and improving that standard and keep travel simple and easy for our passengers. We have worked closely with Network Rail to make sure this programme causes the minimum inconvenience while delivering the benefits as soon as possible."

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain's railway - the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.65bn journeys by rail every year and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We employ 36,000 people across Britain and work round-the-clock, each and every day, to provide a safe, reliable railway.