Media centre

Thursday 3 Mar 2016

Railway Upgrade Plan continues over Easter to deliver better, more reliable railway for passengers in Anglia

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

| Southern

Hundreds of thousands of passengers from Anglia are set to benefit from one of the biggest Easter investment programmes ever carried out on Britain’s rail network. Work over the holiday period will follow the weekend works that have taken place since early February to deliver a more reliable railway for those using train services in and out of London Liverpool Street, and to prepare the line for Crossrail.

 

The work between London Liverpool Street and Ingatestone in Essex is a key part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan and includes work to modernise the overhead lines which power the trains, as well as upgrades to the line in preparation for new trains which will transform rail services between London and Shenfield, with new trains and more frequent services from 2017.

Work of this nature can only be carried out when the railway is closed to trains – meaning passengers are advised to check before travelling over the Easter period.

The work includes:

• Renewing the overhead lines at Brentwood so that they don’t sag in the heat of summer and to improve general reliability all year round
• Replacing track at Maryland, Forest Gate and Shenfield improving reliability
• Track and overhead-line improvements at Shenfield sidings to prepare for Crossrail
• Improvements to footbridges and platforms at Forest Gate and Ilford stations

Over the last four weeks, a new footbridge has been installed at Harold Wood, new overhead lines have been installed along the route and work to extend platforms has taken place at a number of stations on the TfL Rail route.

Richard Schofield, route managing director, said: “The orange army has been out every weekend since the beginning of February to improve the railway to provide more reliable journeys for passengers.

“This work will continue over the Easter weekend and I would like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out this essential work to upgrade the railway in Essex.”

Across Britain, over 15,000 members of Network Rail’s orange army will be working over the four-day Easter weekend to deliver a £60m slice of the company’s £40bn Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers and businesses.

Over 450 separate improvement projects will be carried out by Network Rail and its team of contractors across Britain over the period.

The work is timed to take advantage of a relatively quieter time of the year when, on average, fewer than half the usual 4.5m people use the railway each day – enabling Network Rail and train operators to minimise disruption as much as possible.

 

Notes to Editors

On the weekend of Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 April, services will terminate at Chelmsford, where a short rail replacement service will transport passengers to Billericay for trains into London. TfL Rail will run a normal service between London Liverpool Street and Gidea Park, and between Gidea Park and Shenfield a rail replacement service will be in operation.

On the weekend of Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 April, services will terminate at Chelmsford, where a short rail replacement service will transport passengers to Billericay for trains into London.

TfL Rail will run a normal service between London Liverpool Street and Gidea Park, and between Gidea Park and Shenfield a rail replacement service will be in operation. Passengers can check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk 

Alternative timetables for the upcoming weekend upgrades are now available at www.abelliogreateranglia.co.uk

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s £40bn spending plan for Britain’s railways for the five year period up to 31 March 2019. The plan is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to tremendous growth the railways have seen – a doubling of passengers in the past twenty years. The plan will deliver a bigger, better railway with more trains, longer trains, faster trains with more infrastructure, more reliable infrastructure and better facilities for passengers, especially at stations

Although most of the network will be unaffected by planned improvement work, passengers are advised to check their journeys if travelling over Easter at www.nationalrail.co.uk