Victorian railway tunnel in the Peak District reopens after £1.1m upgrade

Eaves Tunnel - a 400m stretch of Victorian engineering - was closed over the last weekend of September and reopened on Monday September, 28.

Simon Clare is the head of operations for Central Rail Systems Alliance which is the contractor working with Network Rail to renew 700 yards of new ballast, sleepers and rails. He said: “Working inside tunnels is quite challenging due to obviously, limited clearances the delivery team had multiple challenges to overcome in the planning stage, putting safety first. “We’re then onsite with the supply chain ISS, Hercules, and Quattro just all coming together to deliver the project safely. “So we’ve installed coated rail throughout the tunnel. We've installed coated rails predominantly in areas that are identified as being overly wet to increase the life expectancy of the rail itself. It stops it degrading like normal standard rail would.” During the closure, Network Rail and CRSA carried out £1.1m of upgrades including replacing over 1,200m of ageing track, installing 975 new concrete sleepers and they laid over 2,200 tonnes of new railway foundation stone (ballast). Simon said: “With minimal viable product in mind so maximising volume output in terms of length and depth, the amount of disruptive follow-up access that we will be able to need in order to bring the line back to line speed and avoid delaying passengers any further than we need to.

“The benefits for the passengers will be a smoother ride through Eaves Tunnel, through this part of the network and obviously reduced possibilities of future speed restrictions coming into play. “The work has been necessary to avoid any unplanned disruption to passengers in the future. “Looking forward to handing back a more reliable railway to the tax payer and thank you for your patience once again.”

Andrew Mulholland, programme manager for Network Rail, added: “I’d like to thank our passengers for their patience while we carried out these important railway upgrades to improve future journeys on the Buxton line.

“This upgrade will mean smoother, more reliable journeys for our passengers when they’re travelling through this picturesque part of the Peak District.”