Media centre

Monday 26 Mar 2018

Passengers reminded to plan ahead of £118m Easter upgrade to Britain’s rail network

Region & Route:

National

• Railway open for ‘business as usual’ as majority of the network is unaffected by upgrade work
• In Bristol, Network Rail is undertaking the biggest ever re-signalling project 
• This work will provide faster and more frequent services to help relieve over-crowding on Britain's railways

Rail passengers preparing for their Easter getaway this week are being issued a final reminder to plan their journeys in advance of another busy bank holiday weekend. Network Rail will be delivering more than 400 projects over Easter as part of a £118m investment across Britain. 

In just four days’ time a 15,000 strong workforce will work around the clock this Easter bank holiday weekend to deliver more reliable infrastructure, improved facilities and better services for passengers. 

The programme of work this Easter 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.

Most of the country’s services are unaffected by this investment programme but some routes will see significant changes to normal services and so passengers need to plan ahead this Easter. 

Mark Carne, chief executive at Network Rail, said: 

“Our Railway Upgrade Plan is the biggest in a hundred years. A number of massively complex and hugely challenging projects are on the home straight. These will bring faster journeys, more comfort and greater reliability to millions of people who rely on the railway.

“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 this Easter.”

A breakdown of how some journeys will be affected can be found by visiting nationalrail.co.uk/Easter and following #EasterBHWorks on Twitter.

 ENDS

Notes to editor:

Impacts on services as a result of the Easter Bank Holiday work:

In and around London:

• Euston station will be closed on Sunday 1 April. On Saturday 31 March and Monday 2 April a reduced service will be in place for London Northwestern Railway passengers. On Sunday 1 April passengers are advised to use the Jubilee line between London and Stanmore
• Work continues in the Shenfield area disrupting travel in and out of Liverpool Street on the Great Eastern main line to Norwich
• Services in and out of London Bridge between 31 March – 1 April will see buses between London Bridge and West Croydon with some services being diverted into London Victoria
• In the Sutton area between 31 March – 2 April Southern trains will be replaced by buses between Streatham and Epsom and also between West Croydon and Sutton/Epsom Downs
• Services to London Waterloo and Windsor/Reading will be diverted between 30 March – 2 April
• Crossrail West works continue with some changes to services in and out of London Paddington from 30 March – 2 April

Elsewhere:

• Significant work in the south of Scotland between Glasgow and Edinburgh will see bus services in place between Carlisle and Glasgow from 31 March – 2 April and Virgin Trains East Coast and CrossCountry services will terminate/start at Edinburgh
• Significant work in the Bristol area will see no trains running between Bristol Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads and Yatton/Bath Spa from Friday 30 March – Tuesday 3 April