Passengers on the Boston to Skegness line are set to benefit from a £21m injection of new track on the route.  The overall project will see 32 miles of track replaced using recycled materials making the railways even greener.

The work started work on Friday 2nd October to replace the first 12 miles and is due to finish by 2nd November.

Richard Lungmuss, route director said: “This is a groundbreaking project that will deliver huge benefits to the thousands of people who use this route.  We are using recycled materials on an unprecedented scale that will result in massive amounts of track replaced in an incredible short timescale at a very affordable price.”

The track between Boston and Skegness was opened in 1873 and has suffered from years of underinvestment.  It is an important line for both the local community and visitors to the area and this work will give a new lease of life to the route.

Phase one of work will see the line between Boston and Skegness closed for four weeks from 2nd October to 2nd November.  Engineers will work round the clock to replace 21,000 yards of track using only recycled and serviceable materials from other parts of the network.

The second phase of this work will take place for eight weeks in February and March 2010.  During this time the final 35,000 yards of track will be replaced.  This work would usually take over a year if the work were done overnight and at weekends

The project in numbers

We will be using:

86,000 concrete sleepers

132,000 yards of rail

140,000 tonnes of ballast

We will be reusing

23,650 tonnes of concrete

120,000 tonnes of ballast

6,700 tonnes of steel

Benefits to passengers

  * A much smoother ride due to change from jointed track to continuously welded rail which can be installed in longer lengths
  * Access for different types of trains - giving more capacity at busy times
  * Faster trains and shorter journey times - linespeed increased from present 50-60mph to 75mph
  * Less disruption due to maintenance work

The Green credentials:

  * Network Rail is using 100% recycled materials– rail, sleepers and ballast, involving an 18 month national material recovery and delivery programme on the biggest scale seen in the UK since the 1960s.