Media centre

Tuesday 1 Sep 2020

More reliable railway for Anglia passengers following Bank Holiday upgrades

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

A huge package of vital rail upgrades was delivered over the August Bank Holiday weekend to improve reliability of services for Anglia’s rail passengers. 

Network Rail’s engineers carried out a programme of upgrades and maintenance work across the region to reduce the number of delays and cancellations and to keep tracks and equipment in safe and reliable condition which included:

• Work on a new siding as part of the King’s Lynn capacity enhancement scheme. 
• Upgrades to the overhead wires at East Tilbury  to reduce the number of delays owing to overhead line issues.
• Track maintenance at Cantley to reduce the number of track faults.
• Installation of over half a mile of track, drainage and overhead wire and structure works at Needham Market to improve reliability between Ipswich to Norwich / Bury St Edmunds
• Bridge strengthening work on the Gospel Oak to Barking London Overground line to prevent speed restrictions and delays.
• Track maintenance work at Clapton and Tottenham to improve reliability of the track. 

Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “We’ve completed as much work as we can this Bank Holiday weekend to improve the reliability of rail services in the Anglia region. This means fewer delays and cancellations for passengers which is important now more people are using our services. I’d like to thank our passengers and our railway neighbours for their patience while we completed our work.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “These upgrades will provide huge benefits to those who travel on our network. These works will help to improve the punctuality and reliability of our services, which is essential now that more people are travelling with us.

“We would like to thank customers for their patience while this essential work was carried out.”

Notes to editors

The new siding at King's Lynn will provide the operational flexibility to park longer eight-car trains once they are introduced to serve Fen line stations from December 2020, providing more space and seats for passengers travelling on this busy part of the network.