Investment to deliver track and drainage upgrades in the East Midlands

Tuesday 11 Aug 2026

Investment to deliver track and drainage upgrades in the East Midlands

Region & Route:: Eastern; | Eastern: East Midlands

A £1.49 million investment in the railway in the East Midlands will mean a weekend when buses replace trains between Leicester and Peterborough.

Network Rail teams will be working on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August to carry out the renewal of:

576 metres of drainage at Kirby Bellars, Leicestershire to help prevent flooding and supporting safer, more reliable services.
583 metres of track at Ashwell in Rutland for smoother, more reliable journeys.

Eric Larocque, Network Rail operations director, said:

“These improvements at Kirby Bellars and Ashwell are part of our ongoing investment in the railway across the East Midlands.

“By renewing drainage and track, we’re helping to reduce the impact of flooding, improve reliability and provide smoother journeys for passengers.

“We’re sorry to passengers whose journeys will be affected, and we encourage passengers travelling over the weekend to check their journey before setting off.”

Mark Anderson, CrossCountry’s customer & commercial director, said:

“We’re sorry for the disruption to journeys in the East Midlands while this essential work takes place.

“On Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August, rail replacement bus services will be in place between Leicester and Peterborough, with journeys scheduled to take longer than usual.

“We encourage customers to check their journey before travelling and allow extra time to complete their trip. We’d like to thank all those travelling for their patience and understanding while this important work is carried out.“

Check details of your journey before travelling with National Rail’s Journey Planner or our train operator.

Contact information

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

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Gareth Dennison
Media relations manager, Eastern region
Network Rail
07561 874858
gareth.dennison@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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