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Monday 11 Jun 2018

Passengers urged to check before they travel as track repair underway at London Liverpool Street

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Network Rail is urging Great Eastern Main Line passengers to check before travelling over the next few days, as engineers work to fix a major track fault at London Liverpool Street station.

A crack was identified during an inspection on the approach to Liverpool Street station and owing to the size of the crack, the part cannot be repaired and needs to be replaced. This means trains are unable to access two platforms.

Engineers are working as quickly as possible to provide a temporary fix to enable  a full service to run.

Greater Anglia has altered some services in the morning and afternoon rush-hours, including some cancellations. This means that passengers may need to get two trains to their destination, and that trains will be busier. Some services on the routes from Norwich, Ipswich, Harwich, Clacton, Braintree, Colchester, Chelmsford, Southminster and Southend to London will be affected.

Steve Hooker, Network Rail’s head of maintenance for Anglia, said: “I understand the inconvenience this issue causes and apologise to everyone affected. We are working hard to repair this fault as quickly and safely as possible, so that we can get a full service back up and running. I advise that passengers check before they travel as some journeys may be split between two trains and trains will be busier than usual.”

Jay Thompson, Greater Anglia train service delivery director, said: “We’re running  as many trains as we can given that two platforms at Liverpool Street are closed. We’re also doing our best to make sure customers are aware of any changes to their trains in advance.

“I’d like to reassure customers that the majority of our services across the network are running as normal, but we apologise to customers who have been affected by this track defect.”

The fault affects a specialist piece of track which is on a curve and allows for trains to cross from one track to another and a replacement part needs to be manufactured to order. Engineers were aware that this part would need replacing in the future and had ordered a replacement earlier in the year. However, the part deteriorated quicker than expected and owing to the manufacturing process, the replacement isn’t due to arrive until October. Network Rail has asked the manufacturers to speed up the order. This permanent replacement will be put into place once the part is delivered.

Off peak services and TfL Rail Services are scheduled to run as normal.

Passengers should check before travelling via www.greateranglia.co.uk, the Greater Anglia app or @greateranglia on Twitter or www.nationalrail.co.uk