Network Rail to renew 4.6km of Derwent Valley Line track in £3m nine-day block

Network Rail will renew 4.6km of track at three sites near Matlock on the Derwent Valley Line in Derbyshire in a £3m job that closes the Derby to Matlock route to trains for nine days from Saturday 14 November.

The infrastructure owner said rail replacement buses will run between Derby and Matlock from 14 to Sunday 22 November, calling at all stations. Trains between Derby and Sheffield via Chesterfield are not affected.

The work covers Matlock Bath, Cromford and a site near Whatstandwell station. Across the three locations, Network Rail will install 4.6km of new rail, 3,509 sleepers and 6,400 tonnes of ballast.

Eric Larocque, Network Rail operations director, said: "By replacing rail, sleepers and ballast that have reached the end of their working life, we're improving the resilience of the East Midlands route and reducing the need for unplanned maintenance."

The plant

Eight engineering trains will be used during the block, Network Rail said. They include a New Track Construction (NTC) train, which the company described as specialised plant that lays new rails and sleepers as it travels, allowing a higher volume of renewal than conventional methods.

Network Rail has set out elsewhere how the machine works. New sleepers are carried from trailing wagons along a conveyor to the head of the train, placed on the track bed and aligned automatically, and new rail is then clipped to them. The company says the High Output NTC can lay up to 180 metres of track an hour and is up to 50% quicker than conventional track-laying.

Earlier work on the line

The November block follows a run of renewals on the Derby to Matlock branch and the surrounding East Midlands route.

In June 2023 Network Rail completed 16 days of track upgrades at Milford and Clay Cross tunnels in Derbyshire, renewing over two miles of track across the two tunnels. Between the two schemes, 32 engineering trains replaced 5,040 sleepers, 12,322 tonnes of ballast and 360 tonnes of rail.

Scheme	Sleepers	Ballast (tonnes)	Engineering trains
Milford and Clay Cross tunnels, 2023	5,040	12,322	32
Matlock Bath, Cromford and Whatstandwell, 2026	3,509	6,400	8

In 2019 Network Rail renewed Ambergate Junction in a £13m scheme. Rob McIntosh, Route Managing Director at Network Rail, described it at the time as the latest stage of the Midland Main Line Upgrade and said it would allow trains to travel at increased speed.

Network Rail's East Midlands route covers the whole of the East Midlands, including Derby, Nottingham and Leicester, and takes in the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to Sheffield. According to the company, the route has 1,500 employees, runs about 1,400 trains a day calling at 99 stations and looks after 622 level crossings.

The line

The Derwent Valley Line service runs hourly between Matlock, Belper, Derby and Nottingham, according to Derbyshire County Council. The council said passenger journeys on the line have greatly increased over the last decade and that it is increasingly used by residents travelling to Derby and Nottingham.

The line's community rail partnership is funded by the county council alongside Amber Valley Borough Council, Derbyshire Dales District Council, the Peak District National Park Authority, East Midlands Railway and Cross Country Trains.

Passenger arrangements

East Midlands Railway is the affected operator, according to National Rail, which said replacement buses may be busier than usual and passengers should allow extra time.

Philippa Cresswell, customer experience director at East Midlands Railway, said: "Customers can find details of rail replacement bus stop locations on our station webpages." She said some stops may be a short distance from the station.

Before the main block, National Rail lists a separate week of late-evening closures between Ambergate and Matlock from Monday 2 to Friday 6 November, when the 22:09 Nottingham to Matlock and 23:20 Matlock to Nottingham trains are replaced by buses.

The nine-day closure ends on Sunday 22 November.