Werrington Grade Separation Project

A major rail bottleneck north of Peterborough was transformed by the Werrington Grade Separation Project, removing slow freight crossings and unlocking smoother, faster journeys on the East Coast Main Line.

Project overview

North of Peterborough station was identified as a constraint to growth in Network Rail’s Line of Route Capacity Report (September 2012). A key issue highlighted was the operational conflict between freight and long‑distance high‑speed services to the north of the station.

Freight services running between London, East Anglia and the Great Northern Great Eastern route to Spalding were required to make a very slow 15mph crossing of the Up and Down East Coast Main Line (ECML) via Spital Ladder.

The selected solution was the development of a grade‑separated junction at Werrington, providing a new connection between the Stamford Lines and the GNGE lines to Spalding.

The Werrington Grade Separation Project involved installing a 155‑metre curved jacked dive‑under tunnel during a nine‑day blockade of the ECML, allowing the new lines to pass beneath the main line.

To enable this work, the Stamford Lines were relocated to the west to widen the existing gap between the ECML and the Stamford Lines. Existing rivers in the area were remodelled and culverted to accommodate the slew of the twin tracks.

A southern ramp was constructed within the widened formation using piled walls and props, allowing the new freight lines to drop 7 metres in depth alongside the open ECML.

On the eastern side of the ECML, two existing bridge structures were extended to allow the alignment of the northern ramp, where the new lines rise from the tunnel into an open cutting. A new 3.7‑metre‑wide road (Hurn Road Diversion) and a 3‑metre‑wide bridleway were constructed to replace a local road that was stopped up as part of the remodelling.