Media centre

Thursday 1 May 2008

MAY BANK HOLIDAY - CHECK BEFORE YOU TRAVEL

Region & Route:

National

Network Rail has today reminded passengers to double check how their journeys over the bank holiday weekend will be affected by its multi-billion pound programme of improvements for the railway. The majority of lines are open but services on the west coast mainline and into London from Liverpool Street and the south are affected. Alternative rail routes are available to passengers.

Work includes:

• Almost 30,000 yards of track renewals nationwide
• The construction of a new station near Loughborough called East Midlands Parkway
• Electrifying tracks near Norwich to enable additional services to run

Over the long weekend some £75m of investment will be made, all aimed at delivering a more reliable, better performing railway, and a better service for passengers. Around 5,000 people will be working day and night to deliver 250,000 man hours of improvements to the railway network.

Iain Coucher, Chief Executive said: “The work over the May bank holiday is all about improving the railway for passengers and freight users. Over the long weekend we’ll be investing millions of pounds to make services more reliable, more punctual and in some cases faster and more frequent.

“Whilst the overwhelming majority of services remain unaffected, our message to passengers is to check before you travel and that alternative rail routes are available. We'll be working closely with the train operating companies and National Rail Enquiries to provide the very latest information both online, via help-lines and at stations."

The main concentrations of investment over the weekend include:

• West Coast Main Line - work at Nuneaton, Milton Keynes, Rugby and along the Trent Valley will see a continuation of the £8.6bn programme to deliver more frequent (up to 30% more), faster services along the entire route by the end of the year
• Great Eastern Main Line - Transport for London will be carrying out a huge 'bridge slide' over the weekend just outside Liverpool Street station to move into place a 800 tonne bridge that will form part of the new East London Line
• South West Main Line - a new signalling system will be brought into use over the weekend at Basingstoke and further points renewals will be undertaken at Clapham Junction

For more details on Network Rail's major May bank holiday work visit www.networkrail.co.uk/may