Passengers advised to avoid the West Coast main line this Christmas as improvement work continues

Wednesday 8 Oct 2014

Passengers advised to avoid the West Coast main line this Christmas as improvement work continues

Region & Route:

Passengers are being advised to not use the West Coast main line over the Christmas period unless absolutely necessary as Network Rail continues to invest in and improve the railway.

The West Coast main line will be closed between London Euston and Hemel Hempstead after the last trains on Christmas Eve until Monday 29 December. It will also be closed between Stafford and Crewe after the last trains on Christmas Eve until Sunday 28 December.

The closure between London Euston and Hemel Hempstead is necessary to continue work in the Watford area as to renew track, overhead lines and signalling. The closure between Stafford and Crewe is part of a £250m investment to provide faster services and capacity for more trains, including building a new section of railway over the existing main line.

To minimise disruption Network Rail, Virgin Trains and London Midland are advising passengers to avoid the West Coast main line and use alternative routes. Journeys made on the West Coast main line in and out of London and between the West Midlands and north west of England will be longer and are likely to involve a bus replacement service.

The closures will affect passengers from across parts of Scotland, north Wales, the West Midlands, north west and those travelling between Rugby, Northampton and Milton Keynes into London. Full details and alternative routes are available on the National Rail Enquires website at www.nationalrail.co.uk/christmas.

Jim Syddall, acting route managing director for Network Rail, said: “The section of track at Watford is one of the most intensively used, high-speed pieces of railway in Britain and has seen tremendous growth in traffic and passengers over the last five years.

“Norton Bridge between Stafford and Crewe is one of the last remaining bottlenecks on the West Coast main line and the new flyover there will help to increase capacity and allow linespeed improvements through the area.

“There is never a good time to carry out this type of work and we have liaised closely with the train operators to plan for it to take place at a traditionally quieter time on the railway.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused but the work is essential to improve the network and maintain reliable services for the millions of passengers who travel on the West Coast main line every year.”

Network Rail will continue to work with train operators to provide passengers with information in advance of the work and will continue to throughout to minimise disruption as much as possible.

Terry Oliver, London Midland’s head of west coast services, said: “During previous closures of this line we were pleased that passengers followed our advice to travel on alternative dates or with other operators. We are hopeful that our customers will choose to do this again during the December closure.

"If passengers do need to travel over the Christmas period, they should remember to plan ahead, allow plenty of time and check before they travel."

Phil Bearpark from Virgin Trains said: “There is never a good time to shut the railway, especially one as busy as the West Coast main line. But it is important that this investment takes place, enabling Network Rail to replace ageing and unreliable infrastructure, leading to an improvement in performance on the route.

“We’re making every effort to ensure that passengers are aware of the disruption they face if travelling with us over the weekend of 27 and 28 December and to consider postponing their journey if possible until Monday 29 December when a normal service resumes.”

Notes to editors

The confirmed dates for work on the West Coast main line at Watford are:

2014:

Saturday 3 May to Monday 5 May (completed)

Saturday 9 August to Monday 11 August (completed)

Saturday 16 August to Monday 18 August (completed)

Saturday 23 August to Monday 25 August (completed)

Wednesday 24 December to Monday 29 December

2015:

Saturday 14 February to Monday 16 February

Saturday 21 February to Monday 23 February

Friday 3 April to Tuesday 7 April

Network Rail had originally planned a 16-day closure in August 2014 and nine-day closure in February 2015. However after feedback from key stakeholders, this strategy was revised to eight weekend and bank holiday closures resulting in less disruption for passengers using the West Coast main line.

In the past 15 years the number of trains using the West Coast main line has doubled – increasing the pressure and wear and tear on the infrastructure. As Network Rail works with the train operating companies to increase capacity on the railway, investment in the Watford area is essential to accommodate the increasing demand.

During the work, all signalling between Kings Langley and Bushey will be renewed and more than 15km of new track will be laid. Modifications will be made to the overhead line equipment to make it more reliable and Orphanage Road bridge will be replaced to allow for future line speeds of 125mph.

Stafford Area Improvements Programme

With unprecedented levels of passenger and freight growth on the rail network and the West Coast main line full to capacity within the next five years, the Staffordshire Area Improvements Programme seeks to remove a major bottleneck through the Stafford area. Once complete, the £250m programme will facilitate the introduction of new timetables between 2015 and 2017 and help to create the capacity to run:

Two extra trains per hour (each direction) between London and the north west of England
One extra fast train per hour (each direction) between Manchester and Birmingham
One extra freight train per hour (each direction) through Stafford

The programme will deliver this through the following three key projects:

Phase 1 – Linespeed improvements between Crewe and Norton Bridge, increasing the line speed on the ‘slow’ lines from 75mph to 100mph. Running from January 2013 to April 2014, these works include modifications to the overhead line equipment and installation of four new signals and will be delivered during weekends and midweek nights, significantly reducing the impact to passengers and lineside residents.

Phase 2 – Stafford resignalling. The installation of a new freight loop and the replacement of life expired signalling, telecoms and power supplies, with the signalling control transferred from the existing Stafford No4 and No5 signal boxes to Rugby, plus the installation of bi-directional signalling for all platforms and an increase in the ‘slow’ line speeds (predominantly used by local passenger/freight services) from 75mph to 100mph between Great Bridgeford (near Norton Bridge) and Stafford. Running from spring 2014 to late 2015 (with an August 2015 commissioning), the majority of these works will also be delivered during weekends and midweek nights.

Phase 3 – Proposed flyover at Norton Bridge. The proposed construction of a grade-separated junction, including 6 miles of new 100mph railway, 10 new bridge structures and one bridge enhancement, four river diversions, major environmental mitigation works, pipeline, road and footpath diversions and the construction of temporary haul roads. Main works are scheduled to run from spring 2014 to 2017, with key commissionings in 2016. These works have been preceded by preparatory works carried out under separate planning consent.

Staffordshire Alliance

The Stafford Area Improvements Programme is being delivered by the Staffordshire Alliance – a partnership of Atkins, Laing O’Rourke, Network Rail and VolkerRail, working as part of a new collaborative contract that will help to transform the delivery of rail infrastructure projects in the UK.

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