Return to Scottish embankment for Rail Services

The embankment is at Crutch Bog (pictured above, prior to work commencing), which is remotely located on the East Coast Main Line, Kings Cross to Edinburgh - just north of Alnwick, 20 miles south of Berwick on Tweed.

The project, which will include three possessions, is a continuation of works carried out earlier in the year to prevent an embankment slip.

225 gabion baskets, each measuring 2m x 1m x 1m and weighing up to 3.6 tonnes, will be installed one by one. The baskets will be placed parallel to the track, just inside the Network Rail boundary at the toe of the five metre high embankment. The embankment will then be benched and re-graded to accommodate the new gabion baskets and provide extra stability.

Initially it was thought that great crested newts - a protected species in Europe - might inhabit the area. However, as a result of early liaison between the site and environment teams, an ecological survey was carried out in good time. The survey concluded that no great crested newts were present, and that works could continue as planned and without delay.

The works form part of the LNE Civils Framework that May Gurney holds for Network Rail.