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Tuesday 1 Sep 2015

Passengers thanked after August bank holiday upgrades completed

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Network Rail and Abellio Greater Anglia today thanked passengers for their patience as vital upgrades were completed over the August Bank Holiday on the line between London and Norwich.

Engineers renewed overhead lines, continued to upgrade the line in preparation for Crossrail between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, and installed new track at Ipswich Tunnel. The high output ballast cleaner, which renews the crushed rock on which the tracks and sleepers are laid, was also working between Manningtree and Ipswich during the weekend.

Steve Hooker, Network Rail area director, said: “While the majority of services ran as planned throughout the weekend, it was an opportunity to deliver vital improvement works and we thank passengers for their patience. We successfully used this time to continue to improve this busy main line and this work will help to provide passengers, who travel on this route every year, with more reliable journeys.”

Andrew Goodrum, Customer Service Director, Abellio Greater Anglia said: "We're very grateful for the cooperation and patience of our customers over the Bank Holiday while Network Rail carried out works to upgrade the railway. These improvements will help in providing a more reliable service on the Great Eastern Main Line."

Network Rail is investing £170m on the Great Eastern Main Line, which runs from London Liverpool Street to Norwich, in 2015. Network Rail’s High Output Ballast Cleaner – which renews the crushed rock on which the tracks and sleepers are laid – has been working on the line since January 2015 to provide a more reliable railway, reducing potential track problems, and providing a smoother ride for passengers. This year, we have also completed vital upgrades at several key locations including, Colchester, Witham, Chelmsford and Marks Tey.