NETWORK Rail has completed the installation of 121 new overhead electrification structures as part of the wider project to upgrade and remodel Carstairs Junction. The work to date is valued at £100 million. With much of the equipment around the junction close to the end of its operational life, and with the layout of the junction no longer suited to the needs the modern railway, renewal and a simplification of the layout was seen as the best long-term solution to resolve conflicts at this bottleneck.
The new layout will include longer freight loops at 775 metres long.
With work being mainly restricted to Saturday nights, the project has already delivered more than 3km of track renewals and 1.5km of drainage. The process of removing redundant equipment has begun. New equipment will allow the control of the OLE remotely.
The next phase will see more drainage installed, further embankment work, and the installation of 10km of new track, resulting in a faster and more easily maintained layout.