Media centre

Tuesday 29 May 2018

Essential upgrades completed on Norwich to London rail line

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Essential upgrades were completed over the bank holiday weekend as part of a £250m programme to upgrade the overhead wiring system between Chelmsford and London Liverpool Street, which will provide a more reliable service for passengers travelling between Norwich and London.

Network Rail’s Team Orange installed 3km of overhead wire between Ilford and Maryland to reduce delays on the main line, to support the growing number of passengers as part of the company’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

The wiring system currently in place is one of the oldest in the country and work to replace the stretch between Chelmsford and Ilford has already been completed.

The new system adapts automatically to heat during the summer, meaning fewer delays and cancellations caused by wires sagging in hot weather.

This new wiring system will also allow Greater Anglia to run their fleet of new trains with Wi-Fi, plug sockets and extra seats, from 2019 and allow more trains to run in future to meet growing passenger demand.

Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “The work we completed this weekend is part of a programme of crucial upgrades which will improve reliability on the busy main line.

“The improvements will last for decades to come and support the growing number of passengers as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this work.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “Thank you to customers for their patience over the weekend. We know people would rather travel all the way to and from London by train at all times, but these engineering works are vital to the transformation of the railway in East Anglia, so that passengers can enjoy the full benefits of brand new trains running on more reliable infrastructure. We had just under 250 rail replacement buses and extra staff on hand to make sure people could complete their journeys as easily as possible.”