Network Rail has invested £41m in North West rail upgrades to bolster key routes as El Niño raises the chance of wet, stormy conditions this winter. Area director Darren Miller said he was “really confident” in the safeguards, though weather is difficult to predict.
At Shale Cutting, Network Rail installed new drainage and ground stabilisation to prevent landslips. It accelerated work to stabilise a “high risk” embankment between New Mills and Hague Bar on the Manchester–Sheffield line; at Shap, earthworks and defences against loose rock and slope material reaching the tracks were completed.
El Niño is a naturally occurring pattern that happens about every two to seven years and tends to last around a year; it raises the chance of wet and stormy weather in north-west Europe in late autumn and early winter. A Met Office forecast released this autumn signalled increased UK rainfall and storminess, particularly in November and December. Miller said the Shap work was part of wider network improvements, not a response to a train derailment after a landslip.
