Speculation as to whether the Government’s announcement that they are to pause the electrification of the Midland Mainline might adversely affect the project to bridge the gap between both preserved section’s of the former Great Central Railway mainline has been mounting.  Great Central Railway PLC have released the below statement to inform us of the situation.  There is clearly a lot of encouraging goodwill from Network Rail and GCR PLC are adapting their project methodology whilst they await more information from a government report due to be published in September.  Let’s be ready to support the GCR if the need arises!

GCR plc met with Network Rail on Friday 14th August to discuss the implication of the Government’s ‘pause’ of the electrification programme.

Currently Network Rail are examining the impact of the Government’s recent announcement and a nationwide review is underway. This is expected to report in September.

Meanwhile GCR plc is considering its options to ensure that the project stays on target. Furthermore Network Rail confirmed that they remain fully supportive of the Bridging the Gap project and are doing all in their power to ensure that the current pause on the electrification programme does not interfere with GCR plc’s original plans.

Part of Network Rail’s assessment will involve looking at which elements of their upgrade programme will still go ahead – such as bridge reconditioning work. However a timescale for this is not yet known.

Currently, GCR plc has been working hard with its Project Managers FJD to complete the preliminary surveys and studies on the rest of the 500 metre ‘Gap’ and if there are further delays on the MML bridge project, other elements of the scheme can be quickly brought forward. These include constructing the new embankment, refurbishing the Canal Bridge, building new abutments and installing one of our existing bridge decks over Railway Terrace.