South Western Railway and Network Rail have spoken to Island Echo about the forthcoming works on Island Line, which will get underway in just a few weeks’ time. From Friday 6th September to Sunday 6th October, Island Line will be closed in its entirety from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin while Network Rail engineers complete a large programme of vital maintenance, as previously reported by Island Echo. Track and bridge renewals will take place between Ryde St Johns Road and Ryde Pier Head and renovations to the historic footbridge at Brading will also be completed. The Grade II listed footbridge at Brading has been closed since March 2021. Engineers will also continue work to repair and preserve the historic Ryde Pier structure, which began in October 2022. The pier will be closed to trains for around 6 months until May next year as structural supports and the track itself are replaced. 
Neil Drury, Engineering & Infrastructure Director at South Western Railway, says he has a high confidence that there will be no delays to the re-opening of Island Line next May, unlike with previous works. Mr Drury says that SWR has also worked to tackle staffing issues to get Island Line back on track. Moving forward, Mr Drury says that SWR is still exploring a 30-minute timetable…
“Part of the previous investment was the 30/30 timetable, by putting in a passing loop at Brading. We did commence running the 2 trains an hour timetable this year but what we found really rapidally was that the reliability and robustness of that timetable was really difficult. “We now run a 40-minute timetable – 3 trains every 2 hours – which has actually been really reliable. The last few weeks has seen some of the best performance on the railway for a very long time, even pre-investment. There is still asperation to get to the 30-minute point so we are looking at what is required to achieve that, such as speeding up the trains and reducing dwell time – and other infrastructure work. “We need to assess whether it is financially viable option and whether a 40-minute timetable, or indeed another timetable, is the way to go”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ9gyD6z1Wk George Murrell, Route Renewals Director (Wessex) at Network Rail, has apologised for the disruption that the work will cause to customers, local businesses and residents. He’s explained:
“Ryde Pier is such an incredible structure. There has been a lot of wear over the years so we’re here again and we’ve got a lot to deliver. 590m of brand new track will be installed and2,500m of brand new steel to reinforce and provide a good base for the railway. “We’re going to be renewing bridge structures at both Rink Road and Park Road too. We know the condition of them are quite poor but they are critical to the safe running of trains. Whilst we look at the railway and infrastructure we are obviously very interested in the infrastructure that runs over or next to the railway as well, so we’ll be completing the bridge renewals during the 4-week closure where we have a closure of the entire 8.5-miles of Island Line”.
