Greater Anglia is prepared to fight leaves on the line over Autumn
Generic library train Station Greater Anglia Byline: Sonya Duncan Copyright: Archant 2016 - Credit: Sonya Duncan
Greater Anglia and Network Rail are hoping new equipment will minimise disruption to rail passengers caused by slippery rails.
The completion of a £500,000 project to fit the train equivalent of ABS to Greater Anglia's trains will combat 'leaves on the line' and should result in more reliable services.
Preparations for Autumn includes extra track-cleaning equipment and plant clearance to try to keep delays to a minimum. Some timetables will also changed so that services can run smoothly during the autumn and winter months.
To combat the problem of slippery rails, Network Rail has six specialist trains in circulation to clean the tracks.
Other measures that have been put in place include:
Trains for London will depart five minutes earlier from October 9 until December 8.
Trains on the regional routes in Norfolk and Suffolk will have improved automatic sanders. that deposit sand onto the rail when the brakes are applied, to prevent the train wheels slipping.
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All trains have been fitted with a monitoring system that reports when and where a train experiences slipping.
Greater Anglia's managing director, Jamie Burles, said: 'We are acutely aware of the frustration and inconvenience felt by our passengers when things go wrong, so we are pleased to be taking action in partnership with Network Rail, making additional preparations to protect train services during what is traditionally a difficult period on the railway. We will be doing all we can, as ever, to make lives a little easier for our passengers, getting them from a to b reliably, on time and in comfort.'
Maliha Duymaz, Network Rail's route managing director for Anglia, said: 'We have been working together with Greater Anglia on a package of works that aims to keep train services running as smoothly as possible this autumn and winter. We understand the inconvenience caused when problems occur, and our engineers will be doing everything they can to keep passengers moving.'
