Reminder that investment in bigger, better railway continues on East Coast Main Line over spring bank holiday weekend: Check Before You Travel featuring Paul Clark, operations deliver manager

Monday 23 May 2016

Reminder that investment in bigger, better railway continues on East Coast Main Line over spring bank holiday weekend

Rail passengers can look forward to better journeys as Network Rail’s work to improve and upgrade the railway continues over the spring bank holiday weekend (28-30 May).   Engineers will be working around the clock to carry out improvements to the rail depot at Hornsey as part of a project to provide more rail connections into the depot ready for new trains that Great Northern is introducing. It is part of the Thameslink Programme transforming north-south travel through London and improving connections to give passengers better travel options to more destinations. 

The work means that Great Northern services are significantly reduced or suspended over the weekend. There are also changes to long distance services, although Network Rail has worked with operators to make sure that Hull City fans that are travelling to Wembley on Saturday have the best possible options for travel.

Rob McIntosh, Route Managing Director for Network Rail said: “The investment taking place at Hornsey depot this bank holiday is a crucial piece of our Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers. This work takes us a step closer to being able to support cross-London services, meaning big time savings for passengers as part of the Thameslink Programme.

“While there is never a good time to carry out disruptive work like this, bank holidays are a time when significantly fewer passengers travel and I would like to thank people for their patience while this crucial work is carried out.”

 

The improvements include major signalling alterations, installation of a buffer stop and overhead electrification work. There is also extensive testing to be done to make sure trains can travel safely into and out of the depot.

Great Northern Passenger Service Director Keith Jipps said: “This bank holiday engineering work by Network Rail is an essential part of the programme to upgrade our railway for the benefit of passengers, now and into the future.

“The new trains we’re introducing are part of the government-sponsored Thameslink Programme. They will replace a large number of our trains that are over 25 years old and offer improved reliability of service and space within the train along with audio and visual customer information systems.

“Over the next three years all our trains on the Great Northern will be either replaced by new and more modern units or undergo major overhauls. This will move us from having one of the oldest fleets in the country, to one of the youngest – a major improvement for passengers.

“From 2018 these trains will give passengers on the main line from Peterborough and Cambridge direct services across central London to London Bridge, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport and beyond. A Cambridge passenger, for example, will be able to reach Gatwick Airport up to half an hour faster than today without changing trains or travelling on the Underground.”

Speaking about the arrangements for Hull City fans, Rob McIntosh added: “We are very pleased that, working together with our train operator partners, we have been able to increase the train travel options for Hull City fans who want to go to Wembley on 28 May even during our essential improvement works.  Longer trains will provide extra seats and additional services have been scheduled before and after the match on Saturday - and on Sunday morning too as we know many fans want to stay over in London on the bank holiday weekend. We’d urge fans to only travel by train if they’ve booked a ticket and always check for up to date information at www.nationalrail.co.uk.”

    

NOTES - Train alterations over the Bank Holiday weekend:

Great Northern, Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May

  • A significantly reduced London – Cambridge service.
  • A significantly reduced Peterborough – London service.
  • Trains will run Stevenage – Gordon Hill on the Hertford Loop with replacement buses running ‘all stations’ Gordon Hill – Alexandra Palace – Turnpike Lane Tube station for the Piccadilly line to and from central London.
  • Buses will replace trains between Potters Bar and Finsbury Park on the Welwyn route.
  • There are no trains between Finsbury Park and Moorgate and no services at Hornsey or Harringay.

Virgin Trains East Coast, Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May (excluding football trains)

Southbound services to London King’s Cross will take approximately 40 minutes longer than the usual journey time. Northbound services will start approximately 15 minutes earlier than usual resuming normal times from Stevenage. Other services will terminate at Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate, Retford and Doncaster and return north.

Grand Central and First Hull Trains, Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May (excluding football trains)

Reduced services and some timetable changes.

 Great Northern, Bank Holiday Monday 30 May

  • A revised service will run on all routes with buses between Gordon Hill and Turnpike Lane Tube station (as above).
  • Welwyn services will run into King’s Cross with no trains between Finsbury Park and Moorgate.

Hull specific information for football fans -

  • Hull Trains – a longer train at 07.54 on Saturday 28 May to London
  • Virgin Trains – an additional train at 08.19 on Saturday 28 May to London
  • Hull Trains – an additional train at 21.11 on Saturday 28 May to Hull (in addition to the 20.15 service)
  • Virgin Trains – an additional train 21.23 on Saturday 28 May to Hull
  • Hull Trains – an additional train at 11.34 on Sunday 29 May to Hull

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s investment programme for Britain’s railways and is part of our £40bn spending programme 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 the vast majority of the network will be unaffected by planned improvement work, passengers are advised to check their journeys if travelling over the bank holiday at nationalrail.co.uk  Twitter #SpringBHWorks

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
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Journalists
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Network Rail
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About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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