The upgrade works at Bristol East Junction are now complete, resulting in a new track layout and modern signalling equipment.
These upgrades will allow more reliable journeys for services into and out of Bristol Temple Meads.
Network Rail’s upgrades at Bristol East Junction have removed a bottleneck into the city’s main station. The works have seen the replacement of tracks and components from the 1960s. More trains will now be able to enter and exit the station, which increases capacity and reduces congestion.
Full train services into and out of Bristol Temple Meads resumed on Saturday morning.
The project, funded by the Department for Transport with 132 million GBP, began on 10 July and lasted for eight weeks. In total, Network Rail engineers used 50 engineering trains to replace more than 5km of track, install more than 300 track panels and lay in the region of 26,000 tons of ballast.
The engineers have also introduced an additional line, in readiness for new suburban services as part of the West of England Combined Authority’s MetroWest scheme, which will provide more than 4,000 additional seats per day.
The upgrade also involved a new signalling gantry, installed over the 2020 Christmas period, to be brought online.
There will be some follow-up work on 25 and 26 September, which will impact services heading to Bristol Parkway on the Saturday and Bath Spa on the Sunday. These services are run by GWR and Cross Country.
“I am delighted we have completed this important upgrade work which, now finished, will bring great benefits to passengers, particularly more trains, more seats and more reliable journeys.
“This was a highly complex piece of engineering that has taken several years to plan and we would like to thank passengers and local residents for their patience and understanding over the past eight weeks while we have completed this work.
“The upgrade of Bristol East Junction is just one aspect of our wider Bristol Rail Regeneration programme of work that is transforming the station and railway in Bristol for the benefit of passengers, the city and West of England region.”
The upgrades to Bristol East Junction reached their halfway point in mid-August.
