Wednesday 6 Apr 2022
Duffield station to get Easter upgrade – passengers asked to plan ahead
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
- | Eastern: East Midlands
- Network Rail is upgrading the track at Duffield station this Easter (Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 April)
- The £700k scheme will bring smoother, more reliable journeys for passengers
- People should plan ahead and check their journey with National Rail Enquiries
Passengers are set to benefit from a more modern and reliable railway this Easter, as Network Rail carry out a £718,000 track upgrade at Duffield station.
On Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 April, engineers will completely renew around 486 metres of rail, sleepers and supporting stones. Replacing this vital equipment will bring smoother, more reliable journeys for passengers in Derbyshire.
The station, which is managed by East Midlands Railway (EMR), served around 14,000 passengers in 2020-21*. Completing this upgrade now will reduce the need for further maintenance work, resulting in less disruption for passengers.
Gary Walsh, East Midlands Route Director for Network Rail, said: “Continuously upgrading our track and equipment means that we can provide better, on-time journeys for passengers in Derbyshire and right along the Midland Main Line.
“We’re working with our train operating partners to keep passengers moving throughout the Easter bank holiday, but there will be some changes to services. I’d urge anybody who needs to travel by train to check their journey in advance to avoid any inconvenience.”
To keep rail workers safe over the weekend, CrossCountry trains between Derby and Chesterfield will be diverted. This could extend journey times by 60 minutes, so passengers are urged to plan ahead and check before they travel with National Rail Enquiries or their train operator.
Richard Morris, Regional Director East Midlands & Anglia for CrossCountry, said: “We know that extended journey times are never popular with our customers, but carrying out this essential track upgrade work across the Bank Holiday weekend will mean that there is less need for further maintenance work later in the year.
“We ask that our customers travelling on our long-distance services between Scotland & the North East to Derby, Birmingham and the South West check our website crosscountrytrains.co.uk for details of amended timetables before they travel.”
EMR trains between London and Sheffield will also be diverted and will not call at Long Eaton or Derby. Instead, rail replacement buses will run between Derby and East Midlands Parkway. For Long Eaton passengers, EMR tickets will be valid on board CrossCountry trains.
Neil Grabham, Customer Services Director at East Midlands Railway, said: “These vital works will provide long-term benefits for customers, reducing the need for further maintenance work on line, while also lowering the risk of possible disruption in the future.
“Any customers who need to travel during the works should plan ahead and check their journey on our website before setting off.”
Across the country, Network Rail is carrying out 530 upgrade projects worth £83m to upgrade the railway for passengers this Easter bank holiday weekend.
While the majority of the railway – over 95% – will be unaffected by the engineering work, there will be disruption on some routes, so passengers are urged to plan ahead.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Travel advice
CrossCountry
Trains between Derby and Chesterfield will be diverted, with journey times extended by 60 minutes.
East Midlands Railway
Saturday:
EMR Intercity services between London and Sheffield will be diverted and NOT CALL at Long Eaton or Derby. Customers for Derby will need to change at East Mids Parkway for rail replacement bus service. Passengers for Long Eaton will need to travel on London to Nottingham services and change at Beeston or Nottingham.
Sunday:
EMR Intercity services between London and Sheffield will be diverted and NOT CALL at Long Eaton or Derby. Customers for Long Eaton AND/OR Derby will need to change at East Mids Parkway for rail replacement bus service.
Check before you travel:
You can plan your journey using the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner
Replacement Bus Travel Advice:
For helpful advice if you need to travel on a rail replacement service, including accessibility and bicycle information, please use this page.
You can find the location of your bus replacement by checking station signs or by searching for your station on our station information pages.
*Figure taken from Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal - https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1907/table-1410-passenger-entries-and-exits-and-interchanges-by-station.ods
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Louise Leighton
Media Relations Manager
Network Rail
07858 375508
louise.leighton2@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