Passengers urged to check before they travel this May: Dalwearie, Easter 2019 2

Wednesday 24 Apr 2019

Passengers urged to check before they travel this May

Region & Route:
National
  • Railway open for ‘business as usual’ over both May bank holiday weekends (4 – 6 and 25 – 27 May) as majority of the network is unaffected
  • London Euston station and sections of the West Coast Main Line between London and Glasgow will be closed on 4 – 6 May

With the May bank holidays fast-approaching, Network Rail is urging passengers to plan their journeys in advance of the two bank holiday weekends as it delivers more than 900 projects. 

A 22,000 strong workforce will work around the clock over both May bank holiday weekends to keep the railway open and deliver more reliable infrastructure, improved facilities and better services for passengers.

Most of the country’s services are unaffected, but some routes will still see significant changes to normal services and so passengers need to plan ahead this May. The railway is up to 50% quieter than usual over bank holidays so doing work at this time of year minimises our impact on passengers who, as research shows, understand the need for such activity.

Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail said: “Passengers want and deserve a more reliable railway, and over the May bank holidays, thousands of railway workers will be out on the track and working behind the scenes to deliver just that. While most of the railway network will be open as usual, some routes will be closed, so if you are thinking about travelling please plan ahead.”

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

Notes to editors:

Impacts on services as a result of the May bank holiday work:

Early May bank holiday – Saturday 4 to Monday 6 May (inclusive):

  • Significant work along the route from London Euston to Glasgow – the West Coast Main Line– sees closures of the line at London Euston, near Crewe and Glasgow. There will be no trains running to or from London Euston station and the station will be closed from Saturday 4 to Monday 6 May. This will have a major impact on journeys including alternative routes, longer travel times and busier trains than normal
  • Work to replace the track between Farringdon and West Hampstead means Thameslink services will be diverted to start/terminate at St Pancras, London Bridge or Blackfriars stations from Saturday 4 to Monday 6 May
  • There will be changes to services from London Waterloo to Barnes and Clapham Junction from Saturday 4 to Monday 6 May while maintenance and refurbishment work is carried out
  • Renewing the track between Swindon and Bristol Parkway from Saturday 4 to Monday 6 May will see buses replace trains between Bristol Parkway to Severn Tunnel junction/Newport and services from London to South Wales diverted via Gloucester
  • Upgrading the overhead wiring system on the Southend Victoria branch line. This will see buses replace train services between Shenfield and Southend Victoria/ Southminster from Saturday 4 to Monday 6 May

Late May bank holiday – Saturday 25 to Monday 27 May (inclusive):

  • Significant work along the route from London Euston to Glasgow – the West Coast Main Line– sees changes to services across the route throughout the bank holiday weekend
  • Work to replace the track between Farringdon and West Hampstead means Thameslink services will be diverted to start/terminate at St Pancras, London Bridge or Blackfriars station from Saturday 25 to Monday 27 May
  • Upgrading the overhead wiring system between Wickford to Southend Victoria and Southminster. This will see buses replace train services between Shenfield and Southend Victoria/ Southminster from Saturday 25 to Sunday 2 June
  • On the Great Eastern Main Line, work to renew overhead line equipment, switches and crossing – movable sections of rail that guide trains from one track to another- and track maintenance will see buses replace trains between Ipswich and Norwich/Bury St Edmonds from Saturday 25 to Monday 27 May

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 -Grete Luxbacher
Senior media relations manager
Network Rail
020 3356 8700
07710 959721
grete.gogay@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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