Devon County Council has just released the following statement regarding the opening of the railway station at the new town of Cranbrook in East Devon.....
Devon County Council has appointed Network Rail to project manage the delivery of the Cranbrook Rail Station platform works. Network Rail has appointed Balfour Beatty to construct the project with technical design support from Parsons Brinckerhoff. Work has been progressing on site since the autumn; however Network Rail has warned that there are significant risks to being able to open the station by Spring 2015. A spokesman from Network Rail said ^This is a very exciting project for Network Rail and we are working hard to finish the work as soon as we can. However, we and our contractors have encountered unforeseen problems that mean that we could be facing some delays. These include the complications with building the entrance over an important sewer that runs parallel with the rail line and also with the railway^s signalling system. We are confident that we will have a firm timescale in the next few weeks and will make sure that we, through Devon County Council, keep our neighbours in Cranbrook informed^.
A spokesman from Devon County Council said that ^we are fully aware of the inconvenience this is having on residents and will be pressing all parties to address the issues urgently so as to minimise any further delay to the project. Since we were notified of the delay, officers have been holding strategic-level discussions with senior personnel at Network Rail and South West Water to seek a resolution to the problems so that the station can be opened at the earliest opportunity.
Did the planners not know about this sewer or the layout of the signalling system??
