Southern region: Kent route stakeholder update

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KENT ROUTE: MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

Introduction

Welcome to the February newsletter for the Kent route at Network Rail.

So much work has been taking place - we hope you are enjoying the updates. Your feedback, as always, is appreciated.

Kent: News on the route

Putting Passengers First: Listening Exercise

You will recall in August 2019, we sought your views as a first step towards better understanding the views of our customers and stakeholders. We are focused on making changes to better suit the needs of our customers and are now conducting a six-monthly update to the survey to identify how we can further change and improve. The feedback from the survey will continue to help shape our future work.

We would be very grateful if you could take the time to complete the online survey no later than Friday, 06 March 2020.

Bexleyheath Line Closure
Kent passengers saw the benefits on Monday as Network Rail handed the railway back on time following a 9-day closure for vital engineering work to protect passengers from disruption caused by landslips.

More than 200 engineers worked around the clock at 17 sites to protect the railway between Kidbrooke and Barnehurst. They carried out the £6.6 million improvement programme to this stretch of railway. Read more here.

Hither Green Signalling Upgrade
Work is underway to prepare for the Hither Green signalling upgrade from 10-13 April 2020.

As we undertake the signalling work and transfer the signalling control to the state-of-the-art Three Bridges route control centre, line closures will be in place and buses will replace trains. Further information is available here and we will continue to keep you update on your alternative travel plans.

Network Rail launches action plan for working with small and medium businesses

Network Rail has published its plan of action for working more effectively and closely with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including through listening better to businesses.
The plan also considers how Network Rail will achieve the Government target of 33 per cent of its annual expenditure to be spent via SMEs by 2022. Read more here

Highways England work on the M23
In a break from railway updates, we regularly engage with our colleagues at Highways England to ensure are works are aligned. Highways England have confirmed several weekend road closures that will take place on the M23 between junction 8 – 10 starting 28 February 2020 for 5 weeks. Smart motorways reduce congestion and improve journey time reliability by making the hard shoulder available as a traffic lane and use variable speed limits to smooth traffic flow. They also add much needed capacity to some of the most congested parts of our network and support economic growth.

The amount of work involved to complete an all lanes running scheme goes far beyond just installing signs. Over these weekends the scheme will be carrying out the following:

Drainage installation and full carriageway reconstruction to multiple locations across the 8 lanes.
Installation of advanced directional signage and Technology equipment on the gantries
Carriageway realignments

Dates of the work and road diversions can be viewed M23closure.pdf . Please plan accordingly and if don't forget trains will be running during this period of roadworks.

Keep updated by following our Twitter feed and web pages:

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