Slope regrade work in Scotland will improve network resilience

Network Rail has completed work to regrade a slope above the railway near Lockerbie to protect against adverse weather.

The work was at the first of 11 sites on the West Coast Mainline highlighted as vulnerable to adverse weather and delivered as part of a wider weather resilience project which will see an investment of £300,000.

To address this, 80 tonnes of spoil were removed from the embankment to create benches before it was lined and reconstructed with a more permeable material to enhance drainage and improve stability on the slope.

Stone had been delivered and stockpiled in advance and an excavator with a 13-metre reach was positioned on the crest of the slope to carry out the work while a 10-tonne tipper worked to transfer spoil and stone to support.  A Road Rail Vehicle (RRV) also supported from track level to assist the work and to transport additional materials.

The work was completed overnight with no disruption for passenger and freight traffic.

Thomas Podger, Project Manager, commented:

“Our asset teams have identified a number of locations where the slopes adjacent to the railway are showing early signs of being vulnerable to adverse weather.  By packaging multiple sites together, we can proactively and efficiently reduce this risk.

“Careful planning and coordination of effort across our business is allowing us to improve the resilience of the network in the context of the changing climate.

“While each individual site is relatively small, work across all eleven locations

that have been earmarked for slope regrades will improve Scotland’s Railway for passengers and freight customers.”