Media centre

Monday 16 Apr 2018

Passengers urged to check before they travel this May

Region & Route:

National

• Railway open for ‘business as usual’ as majority of the network is unaffected by upgrade work
• This work will provide faster and more frequent services to help relieve over-crowding on Britain's railways

With the May bank holidays fast-approaching, Network Rail is reminding passengers to plan their journeys in advance of the two bank holiday weekends. Network Rail will be delivering more than 822 projects over the two bank holidays as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan.

A 32,100 strong workforce will work around the clock over both May bank holiday weekends to deliver more reliable infrastructure, improved facilities and better services for passengers.

Some routes will see significant changes to normal services and so passengers need to plan ahead this May.

Mark Carne, chief executive at Network Rail, said: “This May, thousands of rail workers will be working round the clock to deliver crucial upgrades to the rail network as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan. This huge investment programme will provide faster, better services and help relieve over-crowding to respond to the huge growth on Britain’s railways.

“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 May.”

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

ENDS

 

Notes to editor:

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

Early May bank holiday – Saturday 5 until Monday 7 May

In and around London:

• Sunday 6 May only: There will be overhead line renewals at Ilford. A rail replacement bus service will be in place between Ingatestone/Billericay and London Liverpool Street (Greater Anglia) and between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street (TfL Rail).
• There will be HS2 and maintenance works taking place between London Euston and Northampton between 5 – 7 May
• Thameslink Programme work continues between New Cross and Hither Green between 5 – 7 May
• There will be track renewals taking place between New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction between 5 – 6 May
• Crossrail West work continues between London Paddington and Hayes/Heathrow Airport between 5 – 7 May, there will be no trains to/from London Paddington and disruption at Heathrow Airport on 6 May

Elsewhere:

• There will be signalling work and installation and refurbishment of switches and crossings in the Liverpool area which will see reduced services or buses along part of the route
• There will be switches and crossings work taking place south of Carlisle station, bus services will be in place
• In Scotland, over the early May bank holiday, engineers will be delivering signalling upgrades in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, track renewals on the west coast mainline and working on the upgrade of the line between Aberdeen and Inverness

Late May bank holiday – Saturday 26 – Monday 28 May

In and around London:

• Saturday 26 – Monday 28 May: There will be overhead line renewals at Ilford. A rail replacement bus service will be in place between Ingatestone/Billericay and London Liverpool Street (Greater Anglia) and between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street (TfL Rail).
• Maintenance work will be taking place between London Charing Cross and London Bridge and there will be no Southeastern services running to/from London Charing Cross. Services will run to/from London Cannon Street or London Bridge on 27 May
• Sevenoaks Tunnel will see track renewals taking place with buses running between Orpington and Sevenoaks between 26 – 28 May

Elsewhere:

• Track renewal work will be taking place between Tebay and Carlisle. There will be an hourly service between London Euston and Oxenholme Lake District and also between Carlisle and Glasgow Central. Buses will run between Oxenholme and Carlisle on 26 May. On 27 May London Euston and Glasgow/Edinburgh services will run between London Euston and Crewe only. Buses will run between Crewe and Glasgow Central/Edinburgh
• Re-signalling will be taking place at Birmingham New Street between 26 – 27 May. London Euston to Birmingham New Street services will service between Coventry and London Euston with buses in place between Birmingham New Street and Coventry
• Significant work in the south of Scotland between Glasgow and Edinburgh will see East Coast Main Line services terminate/start at Edinburgh
• Greater West Electrification works will be taking place between Didcot and Chippenham/Bristol Parkway which will disrupt travel