Seven-week railway closure in New Mills while emergency works take place

Last month The Buxton Advertiser reported Network Rail were about to start work on a four month emergency repair project in Hague Bar as there was a risk of 50,000 tons of earth, which supports the railway, falling into the River Goyt.

Now engineers have announced that in order to carry out the work safely and quickly the work safely and quickly, the railway needs to be closed between Saturday July, 6 until Sunday August, 25.

Vitesh Solanki, Network Rail’s scheme project manager, said: “I’d advise passengers to check National Rail enquiries for travel advice in July and August for services between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield.

“I’m sorry for the disruption the rail closure will cause passengers. The closure is the safest and quickest way for us to carry out the work so we can reopen the line fully to passengers as soon as possible.”

The team will be drilling foundations into the earth and building a wall between the railway and the river to stop the movement of the ground.

Network Rail say work will be carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible to minimise disruption to the community and to reopen the railway fully as soon as possible.

A spokesperson for Northern said: “We’d like to thank our customers for their patience while this important, safety-critical work is carried out by Network Rail. We’ll do everything we can to make sure customers can still get where they want to be – but they should allow more time for their journeys.”

The work means there will be some changes in services from Manchester to New Mills Central via Bredbury; from Monday to Saturday there will be an hourly train service between Manchester Piccadilly and Marple.

A bus service will run between Marple and Chinley.

On Sundays, an hourly bus service will run between Manchester Piccadilly, Bredbury, Marple and Chinley.

Services between Chinley and Manchester Piccadilly continue to divert via Hazel Grove and Stockport, with a bus service between Chinley and Marple.

Passengers are advised to check nationalrail.co.uk before they travel.