Major signalling upgrade to provide safer and more reliable rail journeys for passengers in Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft

Monday 25 Sep 2017

Major signalling upgrade to provide safer and more reliable rail journeys for passengers in Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft

Region & Route:: Eastern: Anglia; | Eastern

A new, state of the art signalling system is to be installed on train lines in the Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft areas as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

The new system is part of a £68 million investment to modernise the railway and will replace some of the oldest signalling equipment on the network. A total of 66 new colour light LED signals, 22 power operated points and a remote computer-based signalling control system will replace levers and physical operations, meaning safer and more reliable journeys for passengers.

Changes will also be made to level crossings to bring them up to modern safety standards. Level crossings that are currently operated by a crossing keeper will be replaced with a modern barrier type remotely controlled by a signaller using CCTV cameras. This will improve journey times and reduce the amount of time the barriers are down, meaning fewer delays and congestion for motorists too.

There will be changes to services between Norwich and Lowestoft, and Norwich and Yarmouth for a nine-day period from Saturday 21 October until Monday 30 October 2017 while work is under way. Passengers are advised to check before they travel.

Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “This is a significant project that will not only transform rail travel for passengers in this region, but also bring benefits for motorists and pedestrians. We are working to provide a sustainable and efficient railway which uses modern technology, to improve safety and reliability as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out this important work and urge anyone using these services to check how their journeys will be affected ahead of travelling.”

The work will take place at several locations and there will be significant work on the Norwich-Yarmouth-Lowestoft lines between October 2017 and March 2019. This will result in changes to train services and passengers are advised to check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk or with their train operator.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Norwich to Yarmouth – all services

A rail replacement bus service will run between Norwich and Yarmouth from Saturday 21 October until Monday 30 October 2017

Mid-week services between Norwich and Lowestoft

Peak services will operate as normal on routes between Lowestoft and Norwich from Monday to Friday 07:00 – 10:00 and 16:00 – 19:00 only.

Rail replacement buses will be provided for all journeys outside of these hours.

Weekend services between Norwich to Lowestoft

A rail replacement bus service will run between Norwich and Lowestoft for the weekends of 21-23 October and 28-30 October 2017. Train services will be suspended from late Friday until early Monday morning (between approximately 22:00 - 05:00).

Contact information

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

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - Katie Mack
Media relations manager (Anglia route)
0330 8577 132
Katie.Mack@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.