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Monday 23 Mar 2015

Passengers thanked for their patience as eight weekends of upgrades completed between London and Norwich

Region & Route:

| Southern

Essential track and overhead line upgrades on the line between London Liverpool Street and Norwich have been carried out after eight weekends of work were completed.

Over the last two months, hundreds of engineers have worked to improve the railway at Colchester, Witham, Marks Tey and Chelmsford to provide a better, more reliable service for passengers.

Richard Schofield, Network Rail’s route managing director, said: “The huge amount of work we have completed is a vital piece of the jigsaw of our railway upgrade plan to give passengers a more reliable and consistent service on the line from London to Norwich.

“We try our best to minimise the impact on passengers and do most of the work behind the scenes, but there are big pieces of work that can only be completed when the railway is clear of trains.

“We understand the impact our work has on passengers and would like to thank them all for bearing with us while we got it done.”

Andrew Goodrum, Customer Service Director, Abellio Greater Anglia said: "We're very grateful for the cooperation and understanding of our customers over the past eight weekends. We will continue to do all we can to provide the best possible alternative travel arrangements and assistance for rail passengers when Network Rail is carrying out work to upgrade the railway."

The following upgrades were delivered: 

• Colchester: Engineers installed more than two kilometres of new track on this stretch of the route. The old track at Colchester and at Witham was more than 30 years old. 
• Witham: Network Rail installed new track and points at Witham. Points allow trains to move from one part of the track to another.
• Chelmsford: Engineers installed new overhead line equipment to improve reliability along the Great Eastern Main Line.
• Marks Tey: Network Rail installed new points at Marks Tey, which allows trains to travel from the main line to Sudbury.

Network Rail is investing £170m on the Great Eastern Main Line, which runs from London Liverpool Street to Norwich, in 2015. For more information on the work that will be carried out over Easter visit http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/story-for-tuesday-march-17-check-before-you-travel-over-easter-as-work-to-improve-the-railway-in-the-east-of-england-continues. Please visit www.abelliogreateranglia.co.uk for more details on how your journey may be affected.