THE delayed £26m project to upgrade the 13.7km railway linking Ryde and Shanklin on Britain’s Isle of Wight was finally completed in October allowing train services to resume on November 1.  

The line closed for refurbishment in January and should have reopened in March, but the work to replace the trains and upgrade the infrastructure took far longer than planned.  

“This has been due to several factors including train testing complications, the pandemic and even the flash flooding which engulfed the Isle of Wight earlier this summer,” says the operator South Western Railway (SWR). “During testing, the new class 484 Island Line trains have been affected by software issues, which SWR and train supplier Vivarail have made good progress in solving through further testing.” 

The project has involved replacing the former London Underground 1938 Stock small-profile trains with former District Line trains dating from 1978-81 which have been refurbished by Vivarail. Each of the five two-car EMUs feature Wi-Fi, recharging points, wheelchair spaces and passenger information screens. 

 

Two generations of former London Underground trains on the Isle of Wight.

The upgrade included adding a new passing loop at Brading to allow the introduction of a more even-interval timetable, track enhancements to improve ride quality, adjusting station platform heights to reduce the gap between the trains and the platforms, uprating of the third-rail electrification from 660V dc to 750V dc, resignalling, and installation of ticket machines and Wi-Fi in stations.