Passengers travelling on the railway connecting London with Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk have been thanked for their patience over the Christmas and New Year period after Network Rail engineers successfully completed a major programme of improvements to provide better, more reliable services across the region.

• Engineering works to repair damage on West Coast Main Line likely to continue until end of January
• Train Operating Companies working together to keep people moving
• Customers urged to ‘check before they travel’

Margaret Hickish, Network Rail’s access and inclusion manager, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to disabled people.

Freight lines serving the busy port of Immingham have reopened on time following five days of engineering work in Greater Lincolnshire.

The transformation of one of Scotland’s most important railway stations, Glasgow Queen Street, has moved a step closer after a £112m tender was issued for its rebuild.

Network Rail engineers have successfully completed planned engineering work at Doncaster and cleared 4ft of flood water from the railway near Leeds.

The West Coast main line near Stafford has reopened on time after Network Rail’s orange army completed four days of upgrade work to track and bridges over Christmas. 

Passengers in parts of northern England and Wales are advised to check before travelling as flooding continues to affect rail services.

Major flooding and landslips are disrupting services in some parts of Cumbria, the Tyne Valley, West Yorkshire and the Conwy Valley in Wales.