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Essential improvements to provide a better, more reliable railway for passengers on the line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich will take place over Easter.

Overhead lines will be upgraded at Chadwell Heath, Romford and Ilford on the main line between Ingatestone in Essex and London Liverpool Street meaning trains will be not be able to run between these two stations on Sunday April 5 and Monday April 6.

Abellio Greater Anglia will operate bus replacement services between a number of stations on the main line and Newbury Park where passengers will be able to continue their journey to Stratford or London Liverpool Street via the Central Line.

Richard Schofield, Network Rail route managing director, said: “It is only by continuing to invest in improving our infrastructure that we will be able to provide a more reliable service for passengers who rely on this line.

“The line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich carries a huge amount of traffic and this work is absolutely vital to provide passengers with a better service. We would like to thank passengers in advance for bearing with us over Easter as it will mean some changes to their travel plans.”

Jamie Burles, Managing Director, Abellio Greater Anglia said: “Although there is never a good time for such works, this investment will help in our joint objective with Network Rail to deliver more consistent train service performance. We will be doing all we can to provide the best possible alternative service during these improvement works."

Work will be carried out at the following locations over Easter in the east of England:

• Ilford, Romford and Chadwell Heath: Engineers will upgrade the overhead lines and track layout to improve reliability and prepare the line for Crossrail.  Engineers will also be upgrading the track layout at Brentwood to prepare the line for Crossrail. 

• Between Ely and Peterborough (Sunday April 5): Network Rail is carrying out bridge surveys at four different structures in preparation for bridge strengthening work. This work will mean alterations to Abellio Greater Anglia, Cross Country and East Midlands Trains services. 

• Line from Ipswich to Felixstowe and Ipswich to Saxmundam (Sunday April 5 and Monday April 6): Bridge survey works will be undertaken at two structures in preparation for strengthening work.

ENDS

Notes to Editors 

Investment on the Great Eastern Main Line

• Overall, Network Rail is investing £170m on the Great Eastern Main Line in 2015.
• In January 2015, Network Rail started to renew the track foundations between Norwich and Stowmarket. This work will continue for the rest of the year and into 2016. Upgrades are being carried out on Saturdays and Sunday nights, and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays from mid-to-late evening onwards to avoid the peak periods when most commuters will be travelling.
• On January 31, eight weekends of upgrades between Manningtree and Shenfield began to upgrade the railway at Colchester, Marks Tey, Witham and Chelmsford. Seven weekends of work have been completed and the last weekend of work is on March 21 and 22.

Easter service summary

• Service information for Easter is available on the Abellio Greater Anglia website 12 weeks in advance. Abellio also produce monthly posters for each month's engineering works for display at stations and this is also available from their website.
• On Sunday April 5 and Monday April 6, buses will replace Mainline and Intercity services from Ingatestone to Newbury Park where passengers should use London Underground Central Line services to Stratford and London Liverpool Street.
• On Sunday April 5 and Monday April 6, buses will replace Shenfield Metro services between Shenfield, Brentwood, Harold Wood, Gidea Park and Romford to Newbury Park where passengers should use London Underground Central Line services to Stratford and London Liverpool Street. Passengers travelling to / from stations between Stratford and Romford should use the Transport for London route 86 bus service.
• On Sunday April 5 and Monday April 6, buses will replace Southend Victoria services from Wickford to Newbury Park where passengers should use London Underground Central Line services to Stratford and London Liverpool Street.
• Abellio Greater Anglia services between Peterborough and Ipswich (Sunday April 5 only) will be replaced by buses between Peterborough and Ely. CrossCountry services between Birmingham New Street and Stansted Airport will be replaced by buses between Peterborough and Ely. There will also be changes to East Midlands Train services.
• On Sunday April 5 and Monday April 6, buses replace trains between Ipswich and Saxmundham / Felixstowe. Passengers at Westerfield are advised to use the Customer Help Point to arrange assistance for their onward journeys.
• The c2c line will be operating as normal with a Sunday service on both bank holidays. For more information visit http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/