Media centre

Monday 30 Jul 2018

Passengers across Britain urged to check before they travel this August bank holiday

Region & Route:

National

• More than £84m to be invested this August bank holiday
• Railway open for ‘business as usual’ as majority of the network is unaffected by upgrade work

Ahead of the August bank holiday weekend Network Rail is urging passengers to plan their journeys in advance as it delivers more than 400 projects as part of a £84m investment across Britain over the bank holiday weekend.

A 9,600-strong workforce will work around the clock this August bank holiday weekend to deliver more reliable infrastructure, improved facilities and better services for passengers.

The programme of work is just part of Network Rail’s five-year railway upgrade plan – a multi-billion-pound investment in the rail network which will improve passenger journeys in the months and years ahead.

The major investment projects this August include:

• The replacement of a vital junction outside of London Euston station at North Wembley to improve reliability of services. This will see London Euston station closed not only over the bank holiday weekend (25 – 27 August), but also the 18 – 19 August and 1 – 2 September.

• The £200 million investment to transform the track and signalling through the Derby station area will continue over the bank holiday weekend. The 79 days of engineering began on Sunday 22 July and runs until Sunday 7 October. The investment is a key part of the biggest upgrade of the Midland Main Line, which will support better journeys between Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and London.

• The replacement of track near Coventry to improve the reliability of services through the area. Passengers travelling to Birmingham International Airport are advised to plan their journeys in advance as buses will replace trains between Birmingham International and Rugby.

Some routes will see significant changes to normal services and so passengers need to plan ahead this August bank holiday weekend.

Andy Thomas, managing director of England and Wales at Network Rail said: “This August bank holiday weekend, thousands of rail workers will be working round the clock to deliver crucial upgrades to the rail network as part of the £50bn railway upgrade plan. This huge investment programme will lead to faster, better services and help relieve over-crowding to respond to the huge growth on Britain’s railways.

“While most of the network is open for business as usual, some routes are heavily affected and so we strongly advise passengers to plan ahead.”

Jacqueline Starr, managing director of customer experience at the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the railway, said: “Network rail and train companies are working together to change and improve as part of our long-term plan to deliver more services, quicker journeys and better value-for-money for customers. This bank holiday as we work to improve the network’s reliability, we are asking customers to check before you travel by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk/august where you can search your journey to see if it’s affected.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• A breakdown of how some journeys will be affected can be found by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk/August and following #AugustBHWorks on Twitter.
• For more details on some of the major projects happening over the August bank holiday visit www.networkrail.co.uk/August.