Media centre

Wednesday 15 Mar 2017

Rail passengers urged to check before they travel as investment in bigger, better railway continues over Easter

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Rail passengers travelling between Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and London this Easter are advised to check before they travel as a huge package of improvement work is carried out.

Rail passengers travelling between Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and London this Easter are advised to check before they travel as a huge package of improvement work is carried out.

Network Rail’s orange army will be working from Friday 14 to Monday 17 April to carry out Crossrail construction work at Shenfield and at stations on the TfL Rail line, and to continue to replace the overhead wires at Seven Kings as part of its Railway Upgrade Plan.

Over the four day period, nearly 7km of new, more durable, heat-resistant wires that will not sag in hot weather will be installed at Seven Kings, where engineers have been working to install structures that carry the wires over the last 10 weekends. When complete, heat-related speed restrictions can be lifted meaning fewer delays for passengers all the way up to Norwich.

With new walk-through, air-conditioned trains soon to be introduced to the TfL Rail line, the new signalling equipment installed at Shenfield as part of the Crossrail programme will be tested and improvement work will continue at stations between Shenfield and Stratford. More than 180 metres of track will be renewed at Pudding Mill Lane, between Stratford and London Liverpool Street, in preparation for its connection to the Elizabeth Line tunnel entrance.

The half way mark was recently reached in 10 consecutive weekends of important railway upgrade work, in which engineers spent 4,782 hours replacing 1,300 sleepers, 6,420 tonnes of ballast and 200 tonnes of rail at Romford to make journeys more reliable. Crossrail construction work also took place to install over 200 new CCTV cameras between Maryland and Brentwood and to modify platforms between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield to ensure passengers can board and alight safely and comfortably.

Richard Schofield, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “The work we are carrying out over Easter as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan is absolutely crucial to improve reliability and support the growing number of passengers travelling between Norwich and London. While I appreciate this does impact those travelling over the bank holiday, we have planned this work when fewer people travel. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience and urge those planning to travel over the Easter period to check ahead to see how their journey may be affected.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia’s managing director, said: “We will make sure that our customers can complete their journeys, even though there is engineering work. We have booked over 270 buses for the Easter weekend. We also have a team of over 50 bus controllers a day who will help customers to catch the right bus. We know our customers would rather complete their journey by train, but we recognise that Network Rail’s railway upgrade plan will benefit the railway for everyone who uses it in East Anglia.”

Howard Smith, Operations Director for TfL Rail, said: “We are working closely with Network Rail to carry out station improvements and other work necessary to introduce the first of our new trains from May. Two trains have now been delivered to London and are currently being tested.  I’d like to thank customers for their patience while this work takes place and remind them to always check before they travel.”

Passengers can check their journeys before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk/easter or tfl.gov.uk/easter-travel or www.greateranglia.co.uk.

Notes to Editors

Service information over Easter 2017

TfL Rail – London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

Friday 14 April to Monday 17 April

There will be no TfL Rail service between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield. Rail replacement bus services will run every 15 minutes calling at all stops (except Liverpool Street and Maryland) as well as Newbury Park for the Central Line.

London Overground services between Romford and Upminster are also suspended, customers are advised to use the local 370 bus service to complete their journey.

Greater Anglia, Great Eastern Main Line – London Liverpool Street to Shenfield, Southminster and Southend Victoria

Friday 14 April to Monday 17 April (excluding Sunday 16 April)

Rail replacement buses will run for journeys between Ingatestone/Billericay and London Liverpool Street via Newbury Park where  Greater Anglia tickets will be accepted on the Central Line between Newbury Park and Liverpool Street. A rail replacement bus service will also run between Wickford and Southminster.

Sunday 16 April

Rail replacement buses will run for journeys between Ingatestone/Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street via Newbury Park where Greater Anglia tickets will be accepted on the Central Line between Newbury Park and Liverpool Street. A rail replacement bus service will also run between Wickford and Southminster.