Passengers advised of upgrade work affecting rail services between Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stafford and Telford this bank holiday weekend: Network Rail engineers

Thursday 21 Aug 2014

Passengers advised of upgrade work affecting rail services between Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stafford and Telford this bank holiday weekend

Region & Route:

Passengers planning to travel between Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Stafford and Telford over the bank holiday weekend are being urged to check before they travel as upgrade work on the rail network will mean changes to train services.

As part of its commitment to provide a safe, reliable and efficient railway, Network Rail will upgrade signalling in the area and renew level crossings, including the Noose Lane level crossing near Wolverhampton.

Much of the work can only take place when trains are not running and to keep disruption to a minimum, lines in the area will be closed over the bank holiday weekend which is traditionally a quieter time on the railway.

The work will take place from late on Saturday night, all day Sunday and Monday with the railway reopening as usual on Tuesday. Alternative routes and bus replacement services may be used both of which could mean longer journeys than usual.

Liam Sumpter, area director for Network Rail, said: “There is never a good time to close the railway so we plan our upgrade and maintenance work to take place at a time which will cause the least disruption to the fewest number of people.

“Upgrading the signalling along this section of railway and renewing level crossings will help to provide a more reliable railway which will cause fewer delays in the future.

“I apologise for any disruption caused and advise passengers to check before they travel for the latest information.”

A further closure will be required to complete the resignalling work and Network Rail is working with affected train operators to confirm and publicise these dates as soon as possible.

For the latest information and to plan journeys visit www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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