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Friday 4 Nov 2016

Cross-city line closed this weekend as £100m track and signalling upgrade at Bromsgrove reaches milestone

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

Network Rail and London Midland are reminding passengers that the line between Birmingham and Cheltenham will be closed this weekend (4-7 November) as the £100m project to upgrade the line at Bromsgrove reaches a critical milestone.

New track, points and crossings have all been installed, and after the last train on Friday night (4 November) the new signalling system will undergo final installation and testing. This safety-critical work means the whole line between Birmingham and Cheltenham is fully closed from Friday evening until early on Monday morning.

Richard Dugdale, senior sponsor at Network Rail said: “This £100m investment at Bromsgrove, part of our Railway Upgrade Plan, is crucial to modernising the railway through the area and providing passengers with a more reliable, better railway.

“This final phase of work is a highly complex operation. The signalling system underpins the safe and reliable operation of the railway, and the painstaking proving and testing of every component drives this temporary closure of the line. I’d like to thank everyone for their patience during the period of closure.”

London Midland head of Cross City Services, Rob Hornsey, said: "Unfortunately this does mean that buses will be replacing trains between Redditch and Birmingham on Saturday and Sunday while the improvements are made. The advice is to check before you travel and allow a little more time for your journey this weekend."

A rail replacement bus operation is in place for London Midland, CrossCountry and some Great Western Railway services, and passengers intending to travel this weekend (5-6 November) are advised to check before they travel by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk.