Yesterday at Wimbledon we replaced all of the ballast in the area and today the tamping train has worked to smooth the ballast so that the track is level, ready for train services to go over. A tamping machine is used to pack (or tamp) track ballast under railway tracks/sleepers to make it more durable. Tamping used to be completed by hand however by introducing these machines we can cover a big area faster and more accurately. For more information about these works and to see how it affects train services on our network in January and February please visit: http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/wimbledonengineering.aspx