Media centre

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Network Rail £7m upgrade at Colchester to give passengers more reliable journeys on Great Eastern Main Line

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Rail passengers travelling on the busy Great Eastern Main Line can look forward to more reliable journeys as a major programme to renew ageing infrastructure starts this May.

Network Rail is investing £7m to upgrade the tracks around Colchester station, creating more reliable services for the growing number of passengers on the line.

The improvements will take place at weekends from May to July 2014 to ensure the least disruption for passengers and will mean some of the railway lines around Colchester will be closed on these dates.

Abellio Greater Anglia has amended their timetable to allow passengers extra time to transfer trains.

As a result, passengers travelling to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester will need to change trains at Colchester.

Richard Schofield, route managing director Anglia, said: ““We are investing millions of pounds to upgrade the tracks at Colchester station so that passengers across Anglia get more reliable and punctual trains. This is urgently required work and will deliver a much better level of service to the growing number of passengers that rely on rail services.

“We are sorry that some disruption will be caused over the weekends that we do this work and have worked closely with Abellio Greater Anglia to minimise the impact on the travelling public. We ask passengers to bear with the temporary disruption so that we can give them a better, more reliable service for the long term.”

Tanya Jacques, Abellio Greater Anglia Area Customer Service Manager for Colchester said: "We have worked closely with our Network Rail colleagues in planning this important programme of improvement works at Colchester to avoid the need for any disruptive bus replacement services. By changing trains at Colchester instead, we can help to minimise the inconvenience for rail passengers, whilst ensuring the improvements which will deliver a more reliable service for our customers, are carried out efficiently.

"We will also be providing additional staff to assist customers changing from one service to another in doing all we can to ensure a seamless level of service whilst these works take place. Customers can obtain full details of the service alterations at our local stations and website."

Passengers are strongly advised to check the timetable in advance of travel for details of the changes on weekend journeys beyond Colchester. Detailed information can be found at abelliogreateranglia.co.uk and nationalrail.co.uk