Media centre

Thursday 10 Apr 2003

EASTER RAILWAY ENGINEERING WORK 2003

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National

Network Rail will be carrying out an extensive programme of engineering work this Easter as part of the continued drive to deliver a more reliable rail network.  Large scale maintenance and renewal work will be undertaken at sites across the country, as engineers work around the clock to complete these important projects.             The work has been specifically programmed to ensure that peak commuter travel periods remain unaffected when, on average, twice as many people use the trains even compared to peak holiday travel time.  Where it has been necessary to carry out work over the entire holiday period, this has been planned well in advance to give train operating companies adequate time to plan alternative travel arrangements for passengers. Details of the largest pieces of engineering work involving line closures over the Easter weekend (Friday 18 April to Monday 21 April) are detailed below, full alternative travel arrangements can be obtain by either calling national rail enquiries (08457 48 49 50) or logging on to www.nationalrail.co.uk West London and the West Country Paddington station closed, Friday 18 – Monday 21 April (inc):

• £30m investment into the resignalling of the approaches to Paddington station, which began last autumn, will mean that the station will close over the Easter weekend.  More than 40 signals are being replaced over the two-mile stretch of route between London’s Paddington station and Ladbroke Grove.  Trains from and into London will use Ealing Broadway, where passengers can join London Underground services.  Passengers can also use direct train services from Reading into Waterloo. 

  - more - Easter – 2 East Anglia Main line from London to Stansted closed on Sunday 20 April: ·        The £184m West Anglia Route Modernisation project (WARM), which is upgrading the signalling system from Liverpool Street station to Stansted Airport, is currently in its fifth stage and the holidays mark essential periods of activity on the network.  The line from Cheshunt to Stansted Airport, including the Hertford East branch will be closed all day on Sunday 20 April.  A replacement bus service will be in operation. West Coast Main Line West Coast Main Line closed from Friday 18 to Monday 21 April (inc) between Hemel Hempstead and Bletchley: ·        Large scale engineering works are planned during this period involving the installation of a new set of points, bridge renewals and repairs, tunnel works, overhead line equipment renewals and repairs and essential track maintenance work.  Train services will be substituted by coach/bus services between Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead with a mixture of fast point-to-point services, intermediate and all station services. East Coast Main Line Two sections of the East Coast Main Line closed on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 April; north of Huntingdon and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed: ·        Track renewals work will take place north of Huntingdon on the East Coast Main Line resulting in this section of line’s closure all day Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 April. GNER, Hull Trains and WAGN services will all be affected by the work with replacement coach services in operation.

• This Easter weekend will see the successful completion of the £56 million diversion of the East Coast Main Line at Dolphingstone, East Lothian.  This will require the closure of the route all day Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 April between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh with train operators running replacement coach services.

  The final phase of this major engineering project - involving the construction of1.8km of track to bridge ancient local mine workings - will involve connecting the new realigned section of track, signalling and overhead power supplies to the existing line.  Network Rail engineers are taking advantage of this period when no trains are running to gain full access to this key cross-border route to undertake additional track enhancement and maintenance works between Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed, at Redhouse, Grantshouse and Drem.  - more - Easter – 3 A Network Rail spokesman said: “Network Rail is carrying out a huge amount of work this Easter in what is traditionally one of the busiest engineering periods on the railway.  Thousands of on-track staff will be working hard over the holidays to upgrade and maintain the railway and bring real and tangible improvements to the rail network. “These windows of opportunity are essential to the continued maintenance and renewal needed on the nation’s infrastructure.  During these times, however, we will be doing our utmost to ensure disruption to passengers and those living beside the railway is kept to a minimum.”