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Tuesday 2 Dec 2025

Packed schedule of engineering work saved the public two weekends of disruption

Region & Route:

Eastern

| Eastern: East Coast

Network Rail has successfully delivered a raft of engineering projects – planned in an ambitious manner to spare the public two additional weekends of disruption.

The bulk of the work was carried out over just five weekends – starting on October 11 and ending yesterday (Monday 1 December). 

Major strides have been made in the £140 million upgrade of Darlington station, where changes to the signalling system have been successfully tested and brought into use. This is a key milestone in the project to add two new platforms – allowing Network Rail teams to better manage the flow of trains, cutting delays and enabling capacity for more services in the future.

Over three weekends (25 & 26 October, 1 & 2 November and 8 & 9 November), a wide range of improvement projects was carried out, centred on York. This was ambitiously organised to be at a more intensive level than usual, in a trial which has saved two further weekends of disruption.

The package of work completed over the three weekends included:

• a £125,000 investment in Nether Poppleton level crossing, with new surface, road markings and cill beams (the interface between road surface and railway).
• a £1.1 million investment at Heck sidings, between Selby and Doncaster, upgrading the ground frame which controls the points (movable sections of track enabling trains to switch lines).
• replacing sleepers and ballast at Tollerton.
• renewing track components at Skelton Junction and Holgate.
• new track at Holgate Junction, Dringhouses and Earfit Lane.
• drainage renewal north of York.
• improving the resilience of overhead line equipment.
• Transpennine Route Upgrade work just south of York to replace two sets of heavily used track points.
• renewed signalling equipment at York station.

There was also a nine-day closure of the line between Knaresborough and York from Saturday 25 October to allow for repairs to Cattal signal box and the renewal of its lever frame, as well as new gates and hinges at Cattal level crossing.

Jason Parrish, head of planning for Network Rail’s East Coast route, said:

“We’re grateful for passengers’ patience while we carried out this work. It’s important to note that carrying out such an intensive programme of work over the five weekends has reduced the overall impact for customers.

“Had we done this in the ‘normal’ way, then there would have been two more weekends of disruption required in order to complete all the work.

“We’re grateful to everyone in our teams, and across the rail industry, for pulling together to deliver what is an outstanding achievement, with clear benefits for the public, both in terms of the improvements delivered in journey quality and reliability and the reduced periods of overall disruption required.”