Media centre

Monday 31 Oct 2016

Network Rail encourages passengers to plan journeys early ahead of Christmas upgrade work

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Network Rail is advising passengers to plan their journeys as early as possible this Christmas. This is ahead of another huge programme of upgrade work with up to 200 projects being delivered across Britain over this holiday period.

This essential programme of investment is part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan that provides more and faster services to help relieve over-crowding and responds to the tremendous growth encountered on Britain's railways.

Unlike previous years, work on a few major projects will begin on Christmas Eve. This is because Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday this year so we expect many people to have completed their journey on Friday, 23 December, and the railway to be quieter. Passengers are being advised to plan their journeys more carefully this year as there will be significant changes to train services out of London Paddington and London Liverpool Street.

Larger pieces of work are planned for bank holidays as they are generally quieter periods with fewer – up to 50% fewer – passengers travelling by rail. By starting work on Christmas Eve, this gives engineers and maintenance teams four clear days to make significant progress on major projects that will deliver significant passenger benefits.

Passengers can find a breakdown of how their journey may be affected by visiting nationalrail.co.uk/Christmas and following #ChristmasWorks on Twitter.

In Wales, Network Rail will be working in the Cardiff area this Christmas:

• Cardiff Area Signalling Renewal: This Christmas will see the biggest commission of remodelling and re-signalling work in Wales ever, which means there will be no train services late on Christmas Eve between Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Newport and the Valleys and there will be bus replacements and diversions in place between Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Newport and the Valleys from 27 December until 3 January.

 

Phil Hufton, managing director England & Wales at Network Rail, said:

“Work takes place all year round as part of our railway upgrade plan, but we usually carry out larger upgrades over bank holidays as this is when passenger numbers are at their lowest. This Christmas will see significant investment in our railway with thousands of Network Rail’s orange army working hard to deliver hundreds of crucial projects to improve Britain’s railways. This will mean changes to services over the festive period, so we strongly advise passengers to plan their journeys as early as possible.

“Despite our essential upgrades the vast majority of the rail network, over 95%, remains unaffected and will be open for business as usual.”

“This vital investment will make the railway more reliable for years to come, while improving journeys for thousands of passengers. There’s never a good time to impact on journeys and I’d like to thank passengers in advance for their patience.”

ENDS

 

NOTES TO EDITOR

Work on a few major projects will begin on Christmas Eve this year. This is because Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday so we expect many people to have completed their journey on Friday 23^rd December, and the railway to be quieter.

Additional information on large-scale projects being delivered this Christmas:

Cardiff Area Signalling Renewal (CASR)

Description: As part of a £300m scheme to modernise the railway in South Wales – the biggest investment in the Welsh network for more than 100 years – CASR is a congestion-busting scheme that will also help to deliver a more reliable railway across the Cardiff and Valleys network. The work over Christmas will see the biggest commission of remodelling and re-signalling in Wales ever starting on Christmas Eve until 3 January.

Impact: There will be no train services late on Christmas Eve between Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Newport and the Valleys and there will be bus replacements and diversions in place between Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Newport and the Valleys from 27 December until 3 January.

Crossrail West

Description: Work taking place at several sites on Crossrail’s western section with work beginning in the early hours of Christmas Eve through to the morning of Tuesday, 3 January, including: between Paddington and Acton; Acton and Stockley; and Stockley and Ruscombe. London Underground will also be installing new equipment at Earls Court and carrying out upgrade work on parts of the line.

Impact: There will be disruption to services out of London Paddington from the early hours on Christmas Eve through to Tuesday, 3 January which means that passengers travelling to and from London need to interchange at Ealing Broadway station up until Thursday, 29 December. There will be no Heathrow Express services from the station and Great Western Railway services will be terminating at Ealing Broadway from Christmas Eve until Thursday, 29 December. There will be reduced train services from Friday, 30 December to Tuesday, 3 January.

Crossrail East

Description: A number of major upgrades are being carried out by Network Rail on this section of the route in preparation for the arrival of the new Elizabeth line services from 2017. This includes signalling, track and overhead line work from Friday, 23 December through to Wednesday, 4 January. The Crossrail project will provide new trains, better stations and quicker, easier, more reliable journeys for passengers in east London and Essex.

Impact: Bus replacements and diversions will be in place across some parts of the route with travellers to and from London required to interchange at Newbury tube station.

Northern Hub

Description: Since October 2015, work has been taking place on the Ordsall Chord.  This will be 300 metres of new track which will create a link between Manchester city centre’s main train stations for the first time. However, for this vital piece of track to be fitted, a huge amount of work needs to take place beforehand.  This includes realigning existing track, building new bridges, removing disused arches and restoring Grade I listed structures. This is part of our plan to stimulate economic growth in the north of England through better connections between key towns and cities.

Impact: Ordsall Chord work between Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly will mean bus replacements and diversions from Oxford Road station for 10 days from Sunday, 18 December to early Wednesday, 28 December

Thameslink

Description: From Christmas Eve until Wednesday, 28 December, major works at New Cross as part of the Thameslink programme will mean services on this line will not run into London Bridge and Charing Cross. Signalling and Eurostar work will take place in Ashford over the festive period, and structures work to Sevenoaks tunnel means that Hastings services will be diverted to London Bridge and rail replacement will be in place between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge. Mitre Bridge refurbishment is taking place from Christmas Eve until Tuesday, 27 December. When the Thameslink Programme is completed in 2018, journeys will be improved, with new spacious trains every two to three minutes through central London at peak times.

Impact: There will be no services to London Bridge and Charing Cross from 24-28 December, apart from the Hastings services which will be diverted to London Bridge. Passenger services affected by New Cross works will be diverted to Victoria and Blackfriars or passengers can travel to Cannon Street.

Mitre Bridge work mean that Southern services between East Croydon, Clapham Junction and Milton Keynes will not run during this time, and West London line services will operate between Shepherds Bush and Clapham Junction only.

As a result of the work taking place in Ashford, Southeastern and HS1 services will run to Gravesend and Eurostar services will not stop at Ashford.