Disruption on the rails as vital engineering work begins at Swinton station
ESSENTIAL work on the railway at Swinton station will mean no trains are running on two weekends next month (May).
The railway either side of Swinton station is being renewed to maintain safe and reliable train services from this Saturday (April 4).
The work will include nearly half a kilometre of track renewal within the 1km worksite.
The project involves replacing old sections of track and installing new foundations, using rail mounted cranes and engineering trains.
Most of the preparation work – starting on Saturday April 4 – will be taking place overnight and at weekends to minimise travel disruption.
The main engineering work will mean changes to services on the weekends of May 8-9 and May 15-16 as follows:
- CrossCountry – Trains will not call at Wakefield Westgate. Services will be retimed between Sheffield and Leeds.
- Northern – Trains between Sheffield and Doncaster/Adwick will not call at Swinton. Trains between Sheffield and Hull will start/terminate at Doncaster. A reduced train service will operate between Moorthorpe and Leeds. Buses will replace trains between Sheffield and Moorthorpe/York.
Karen Duffy, Network Rail operations director, said: “Renewing the track at Swinton is vital for maintaining a safe and reliable railway, and working at night allows our teams to do this efficiently without disrupting train timetables.
“We’re grateful for the patience of residents while we carry out these essential improvements and will do everything we can to keep disturbance to a minimum.”
A spokesperson for CrossCountry and Northern said: “We’re working closely with Network Rail while this essential work takes place at Swinton.
“We’re asking customers to check before they travel during the affected weekends, as some services will be diverted, retimed or replaced by buses.
“We’d like to thank everyone for their patience while this vital work is carried out.”
Follow up work – also mostly taking place overnight and at weekends – is planned to be completed by Sunday August 9.
The work is being delivered by CRSA, an alliance between Network Rail and Balfour Beatty, and will include laying 420 metres of rail, replacing three sets of points, placing 2,500 tonnes of ballast, and installing 650 sleepers.