COMMUTERS in East Yorkshire are breathing a sigh of relief after Network Rail announced this morning (Monday) that it is to delay engineering works after a landslip at Hatfield colliery.
The work on the Selby swing-bridge was due to to start at the end of July but the rail company has now deferred the work meaning that major routes from Hull, including the connection to the East Coast Mainline, will remain open during the summer holidays. Work on three other bridges on the route to Hull was due to start in August but those too have also been deferred.Phil Verster, route managing director for Network Rail, said: "We seriously considered doing renewals work on the Selby swing-bridge while also repairing the Hatfield landslip. "This was only going to be feasible if we could still provide a reasonable train service to our communities on the east coast. "We have carefully considered what timetable can be run should the works at Selby and Hatfield be done at the same time, and, while many services can run, it will put too much strain on the network without fully satisfying the needs of our train and freight operators. "It remains true that the Selby swing-bridge is showing its age. We will now focus on completing intensive maintenance work to keep the swing-bridge safe and reliable until the renewals work can be rescheduled." The scheduled work on Selby swing-bridge will now not go ahead until Network Rail have first restored rail services along the Hatfield route.
