Anglia route passengers to check before travelling over the festive season due to planned works: Southend OLE Boom Installation Nov 19

Wednesday 4 Dec 2019

Anglia route passengers to check before travelling over the festive season due to planned works

Region & Route:
Eastern: Anglia

Eastern Region, Anglia Route:

The vast majority of our rail network in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and East London will be open as usual for passengers to travel over the Christmas and New Year holidays.  

Passengers are advised to continue to check before they travel as there will be changes to services on a few routes due to engineering works which will affect some Greater Anglia and TFL Rail services. 

Over the Christmas period, Network Rail engineers will be carrying out the following engineering works on the railway:

  • Continue to replace the overhead wires on the Southend Victoria line in the Wickford area
  • Overhead power supply improvements between Stratford and Lea Bridge and between Shenfield and Liverpool Street
  • Track maintenance and repair in the Bethnal Green and Stratford area.
  • Ongoing improvements to switches and crossings at Colchester.
  • Platform extension work at Littleport and Waterbeach between Cambridge and Kings Lynn.

There are no trains running on Christmas Day and only a revised Stansted Express service on Boxing Day.

Mark Budden, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: 

“Most of the railway network is open over Christmas, but some routes will be closed for engineering works so we can provide a safe and reliable railway for passengers. For those wishing to travel over the festive period, my advice is to plan ahead and check with their train operator or National Rail Enquiries, for the latest travel information.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia Managing Director said: 

“We’re pleased that most of our services will be running between Christmas and New Year so that people can travel to visit loved ones, enjoy the sales and a day out. Since the railway tends to be much quieter over this period, Network Rail also use it to carry out essential upgrade work that will help to improve services for passengers.”

Passengers are advised to check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk or on the Greater Anglia website or app. A breakdown of how journeys will be affected by improvement work across Britain over the Christmas and New Year period can be found by visiting nationalrail.co.uk/Christmas

Notes to Editors

Greater Anglia passengers

Southend Victoria Line

Tues 24 December until Wed 1 January

From close of service on Christmas Eve until 20.00 on New Year’s Day inclusive, Network Rail will continue the replacement of the overhead wires with major works taking place around Wickford.

From Friday 27th December until 20.00 on New Year’s Day, a bus replacement service will be in operation between Southend, Southminster and Shenfield or Newbury Park.

West Anglia line

Friday 27, Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 December

Owing to engineering work between Stratford and Lea Bridge, West Anglia services to/from Stratford will be diverted to Liverpool Street via Hackney Downs.

Also, the service between Stratford, Lea Bridge, Tottenham Hale, Northumberland Park and Meridian Water will not run. Customers are advised to use local bus services.

Great Eastern Mainline

On Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th December, Greater Anglia trains from Norwich, Ipswich and Clacton will only run as far as Ingatestone, and there will be no TFL Rail service between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, while Network Rail carry out overhead line power supply upgrades.

There will be a bus replacement service operating between Ingatestone and Newbury Park and between Shenfield and Stratford. Greater Anglia and TFL Rail customers can use their tickets on the Central Line to Stratford and London Liverpool Street.

Stansted Express

Thurs 26 December

On Boxing Day, Stansted Express trains will run every 30 minutes between the airport and Tottenham Hale due to engineering works between Stratford and Lea Bridge. Passengers can take the Victoria line into London from Tottenham Hale underground station.

Colchester

Wed 1 January

Services will not be able to run through Colchester. A bus replacement service will be in operation between Ipswich, Manningtree, Colchester and Marks Tey on the main line and between Hythe and Marks Tey on the route from Colchester to Clacton-on-Sea.

Contact information

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

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Neil Kernohan
Media Relations Manager (Anglia)
Network Rail
0203 356 2515
neil.kernohan@networkrail.co.uk

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.

Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk