Passengers set to benefit from bumper Christmas: Ordsall Chord Christmas work track

Monday 6 Nov 2017

Passengers set to benefit from bumper Christmas

Region & Route:
National
  • Significant passengers benefits to be realised in the months ahead as Network Rail mega-projects start to draw to a close
  • Less passenger disruption this year despite more than £160m to be invested in the biggest Christmas railway investment programme ever undertaken
  • Thousands of new services and trains start to come into operation in 2018 as a result of the Christmas investment programme 
  • London Bridge station will be all but complete with the final section of the new concourse and brand new platforms 1-5 open for the first time

Tens of thousands of passengers are set to benefit from thousands of new, more frequent services being introduced from next year as a result of Network Rail's biggest ever Christmas investment programme – a £160m investment and a part of the £50bn Railway Upgrade Plan. 

A 32,600 strong workforce will work around the clock this holiday season to deliver more reliable infrastructure, reduced journey times and improved facilities and services for passengers when they return to work.

Overall there will be less disruption for rail users this year as most of the investment work – some 50% more than last year – has been scheduled for when no trains are planned to run, such as on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Over 95% of the network is unaffected by the work programme that will see 260 projects delivered across 3,400 worksites throughout Britain over the holiday period.

However, some routes will see significant changes to normal services and so passengers need to plan their journeys as early as possible this Christmas. 

Mark Carne, chief executive at Network Rail, said: “Thousands of passengers are on the cusp of seeing their rail journeys transformed in the months ahead as our massive £50bn Railway Upgrade Plan reaches its final stages with the introduction of thousands of new services, now,  just around the corner.

"This Christmas will see over 30,000 dedicated and hardworking railway people working round the clock to deliver a bigger and better railway for the millions of people who rely on it every day.

"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 Christmas.

“We know that our railway is up to 50% quieter than usual during the festive period so taking on and delivering these huge transformational schemes at this time of year minimises our impact on passengers who, so research shows, understand the need for such activity."

Work on a few vital projects will begin on Saturday 23 December giving engineers four clear days to make significant progress on major projects that will deliver numerous passenger benefits.

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

Notes to Editors

Additional information on large-scale projects being delivered this Christmas: 

Crossrail East

A number of major upgrades are being carried out by Network Rail on this section of the Great Eastern main line to Norwich out of London Liverpool Street including vital work  in preparation for the arrival of the new Elizabeth line (Crossrail) services.  The Crossrail project will provide new trains, better stations and quicker, easier, more reliable journeys for passengers in east London and Essex. The London end of the Great Eastern main line will be closed from 23 December to 1 January inclusive impacting services to Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich

Crossrail West

A number of major upgrades are being carried out by Network Rail on the lines out of London Paddington in preparation for the arrival of the new Elizabeth line services. London Paddington will be closed from 24 December to 27 December inclusive with an amended service in place from 28 December to 1 Januaryinclusive

Thameslink Programme

London Bridge (Southeastern platforms), Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Waterloo East will be closed and services will not run between Blackfriars and St Pancras International from 23 December to 1 January inclusive for the final major phase of Thameslink Programme. Following this Christmas work, The transformation of London Bridge station will be completed as the final platforms (1-5) and sections of concourse are opened for the first time 

Redhill junction renewal

Two of the four lines from London Victoria to Brighton will be closed from 24 December to 1 January inclusive. Victoria station will be closed on both 25 and 26 December

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 - National
020 3356 8700
mediarelations@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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