Bumper package of vital rail upgrades to take place this Sunday in Suffolk and Essex

Tuesday 4 Feb 2020

Bumper package of vital rail upgrades to take place this Sunday in Suffolk and Essex

Region & Route:: Eastern: Anglia

Important rail upgrades and maintenance work will be carried out on the main line between Ipswich and Chelmsford on Sunday 9 February which will improve reliability of rail services in the region.

Network Rail’s engineering teams will carry out the following:

Track maintenance work at Colchester
Overhead wire renewals between Witham and Marks Tey
Work to the signalling systems at Colchester
Vegetation clearance

The work will improve reliability on the busy main line between Norwich and London, meaning fewer track and signalling issues which cause delays.

Rail replacement services will run between Witham to Braintree, Sudbury to Marks Tey, Harwich to Manningree and between Ipswich and Ingatestone. Passengers are advised to check with the train operator before they travel.

Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s managing director, Anglia, said: “The main line is used by hundreds of trains every day which causes wear on the track and equipment. This package of upgrades and maintenance is vital to keep our passengers moving and reduce the number of delays. We’ve planned this for Sunday when fewer people use the railway.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We’re very sorry for the inconvenience engineering work causes but we will make sure customers can still complete their journeys, even if part of it is by train.

“We have a very busy railway and it’s vitally important that Network Rail keeps on top of maintenance, so that we can provide a punctual and reliable service for our customers.”

Service information

Rail services will run between Chelmsford and London Liverpool Street.

Rail replacement services will be in place between:

Witham to Braintree
Ipswich to Ingatestone
Sudbury to Marks Tey
Harwich to Manningtree

Bury St Edmunds

Work will take place between Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds on the Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February. A rail replacement service will be in operation.

For more information please visit www.greateranglia.co.uk

Contact information

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

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - Katie Mack
Media relations manager (Anglia route)
0330 8577 132
Katie.Mack@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.

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