Network Rail replaces over 1,200m of track at Eaves Tunnel on Buxton line

Network Rail has finished a £1.1m Eaves Tunnel track upgrade on the Buxton line, replacing more than 1,200m of track during a weekend closure before trains returned on 28 September.

The 400-metre Victorian tunnel sits between Chapel-en-le-Frith and Dove Holes in Derbyshire. Alongside the new track, Network Rail and its contractor Central Rail Systems Alliance installed 975 new concrete sleepers and laid more than 2,200 tonnes of fresh ballast, the stone bed that holds the track in place.

Weekend closure between New Mills Newtown and Buxton

Network Rail announced the closure on 11 September. No trains ran between New Mills Newtown and Buxton on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September. A rail replacement bus service was planned between the two stations for both days. Passenger services on the Buxton line resumed on Monday 28 September.

The completion statement describes the removed track as ageing. Network Rail expects the new rails, sleepers and ballast to make journeys smoother and more reliable on a line used by both commuters and visitors heading into the Peak District.

Machinery inside Eaves Tunnel

Network Rail has released video and photographs from the work. The images show a tamping train moving through Eaves Tunnel, a freight maintenance train inside it, mobile ventilators being brought into the tunnel and old rail being scrapped at the site.

Budget and length figures in the two statements

When it announced the closure, Network Rail put its investment at £1.5m for renewing the lines through the 163-year-old tunnel. The statement issued after the work gives £1.1m for the upgrades carried out during the closure. Network Rail has not explained the £0.4m difference. Neither statement says whether the two figures cover the same scope.

The length figures raise a similar question. More than 1,200m of track was replaced, about three times the length of the tunnel. The completion statement does not say how much of that total lies inside the tunnel.

Earlier tunnel track renewals by Network Rail

Central Rail Systems Alliance also delivered Network Rail’s renewal of 400 metres of line through Northchurch Tunnel on the West Coast Main Line between Berkhamsted and Tring. That job ran from 31 December 2024 to 4 January 2025 and used 672 new sleepers and 2,200 tonnes of ballast. Elsewhere in Derbyshire, Network Rail renewed almost half a kilometre of track in Alfreton Tunnel over the weekend of 8 and 9 August 2026, using mobile ventilation to keep air moving for the engineering teams.

Eaves Tunnel used more sleepers than the Northchurch renewal and a similar ballast volume, over a two-day closure. At Northchurch the work covered one of three tunnel bores, so the totals describe different scopes. Sources: Network Rail statements on Eaves Tunnel, Northchurch Tunnel and Alfreton Tunnel.