Following concerns raised by some constituents in the area neighbouring Mountney Close and Heybridge Road, I made representations to Network Rail and received the following response from the Senior Public Affairs Manager, Anglia route, Network Rail:
In January, part of the railway embankment behind Mountney Close became unstable. This caused a dip in the tracks on the line from London to Norwich, which meant it had to be closed to rail services. The line from Norwich to London remained open. But despite this, the closure of one of the tracks caused disruption to services on the Great Eastern main line itself, as well as on the branch lines to Clacton, Braintree, Southend, Colchester Town and Harwich.
To prevent the embankment from deteriorating further, which could have required the whole Great Eastern main line to be closed, we carried out repairs as quickly as possible. To do this we needed to bring over 1,000 tonnes of stone to the site to repair the embankment. Unfortunately, the only safe access point to the railway in this area was via the play area at Mountney Close.
Because these were emergency works, we had limited time available to warn residents before they started. But the day after the problem with the embankment was identified, we sent a letter to residents in the area to let them know about our work and the impact it would have.
The nature of this work meant we needed to use a variety of equipment including generators, power tools, dumper trucks, diggers and engineering trains. We also installed temporary lighting so work could continue throughout the night.
Our staff on site were briefed on the importance of working sensitively in the community and the need to minimise any unnecessary noise. Those operating plant and lorries were mindful of the need to operate this machinery safely in a residential area.
I recognise that, as your constituent describes in his email, the nature of the work and the fact it was done at short notice meant it was disruptive to residents. I’m very sorry for this and am grateful for the patience shown to us while we were on site.
I’m sorry that our work caused damage to the grass playing field, car park and verges in the area. I’ve outlined below what we’re doing to put this right:
- Grass playing field. Work to repair the grass verge identified by your constituent began on Thursday 15 April. The area will be hoed and reseeded. It will be fenced off for six weeks to enable the grass to grow back.
- Car park and verges. Our staff have already carried out repairs to the car park and verges in the area. But in recognition of the inconvenience our work caused to residents, we’ll carry out further repairs to the verges in the area, even if they weren’t damaged by our work.
I’m sorry again for the disruption your constituents experienced as a result of our work to repair the embankment at Ingatestone. I hope this response demonstrates that we’ve taken their concerns seriously and will fully restore any damage caused to the area.”
I trust you will find the response provided by the Senior Public Affairs Manager useful in reassuring you that work is being done to remedy the damage caused during the emergency repair work.
