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Monday 21 Mar 2016

Passengers urged to check before travelling this Easter weekend

Region & Route:

Passengers travelling through Peterborough and Selby are being advised to check before they travel this Easter as Network Rail embarks on one of the biggest Easter investment programmes ever carried out on Britain’s rail network.

As part of the ongoing Railway Upgrade Plan, essential work to the track as well as the installation of a new overhead electric wire will mean fewer services through Peterborough on Saturday 26 March and Sunday 27 March, with passengers urged to plan ahead before setting off this weekend.

Track enhancements near Gilberdyke will also mean bus replacements between Selby and Hull, Selby and Beverley and Selby and Goole on Sunday 27 March.

Nationally, over 15,000 members of Network Rail’s orange army will be working across Britain over the four-day Easter weekend to deliver a £60m slice of the company’s £40bn Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers and businesses.

Rob McIntosh, route managing director for Network Rail said: “We are advising passengers to check before they travel over the Easter bank as we make a big investment to provide passengers with a better railway.

“The work around Peterborough and Gilberdyke will help improve the performance and reliability of the railway and while I appreciate there will be some disruption as a result of this work, I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out this investment to provide a better railway.”

Over 450 projects will be carried out across the country, the majority of which will have no impact on passengers. The work is timed to take advantage of a quieter time of the year when, on average, fewer than half the usual 4.5m people use the railway each day – enabling Network Rail and train operators to minimise disruption as much as possible.

The work is timed to take advantage of a relatively quieter time of the year when, on average, fewer than half the usual 4.5m people use the railway each day – enabling Network Rail and train operators to minimise disruption as much as possible.

Notes to editors

• The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s £40bn spending plan for Britain’s railways for the five year period up to 31 March 2019. The plan is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to tremendous growth the railways have seen – a doubling of passengers in the past twenty years. The plan will deliver a bigger, better railway with more trains, longer trains, faster trains with more infrastructure, more reliable infrastructure and better facilities for passengers, especially at stations

For the work around Peterborough:

• Grand Central - on Saturday and Sunday, train services between Bradford Interchange/Sunderland and London Kings Cross will run to an amended timetable. Most trains will be diverted via an alternative route between Peterborough and London arriving in London Kings Cross later than usual. Some trains will terminate at Doncaster, passengers should use alternative Grand Central services for their onward journeys. Some trains may also be subject to cancellation or retiming. 

• GTR - trains will terminate at Huntingdon and a rail replacement bus service will transport passengers between Peterborough & Huntingdon.
  From approximately 22:45 on Friday until approximately 06:45 on Monday, no trains will run between Huntingdon and Peterborough. 
  On Friday night until the end of service, starting with the 22:52 London Kings Cross to Peterborough train, buses will replace trains between Huntingdon and Peterborough. 
  On Saturday, until approximately 10:00 and from approximately 19:00, buses will replace trains between Huntingdon and Peterborough. From approximately 10:00 to 19:00, some Virgin Trains East Coast services will call additionally at Huntingdon (pick up only northbound and set down only southbound) to allow Great Northern passengers to travel between Huntingdon and Peterborough.
  On Sunday until approximately 07:45, trains between London and Peterborough will be diverted to start/terminate at Letchworth Garden City.
  On Sunday until approximately 12:00 and from approximately 21:00, buses will replace trains between Huntingdon and Peterborough. From approximately 12:00 to 21:00, some Virgin Trains East Coast services will call additionally at Huntingdon (pick up only northbound and set down only southbound) to allow Great Northern passengers to travel between Huntingdon and Peterborough.
  On Monday morning, the 03:25, 04:16, 05:16, 05:46 and 06:16 Peterborough to London Kings Cross services will be replaced by buses (departing earlier than normal) from Peterborough to Huntingdon.

• First Hull Trains – services between London Kings Cross and Hull / Beverley will run to an amended timetable. From approximately 19:30 on Saturday, services are replaced by buses between Selby and Hull / Beverley
  
  
• Virgin Trains East Coast - On Saturday and Sunday, a reduced level of service will operate to/from London Kings Cross, with other services starting/terminating at Doncaster, Newark, Grantham or Peterborough. On Saturday morning, Saturday evening and Sunday morning trains will be diverted via Cambridge with journey times extended by approximately 60 minutes.

For the work at Gilberdyke:

• First TransPennine Express - services are replaced by buses between Selby and Hull, extending journey times by approximately 30 minutes. Buses will depart Hull and Brough earlier than the usual train times in order to connect into the trains. An additional bus will depart Hull at 21:40 on Saturday and at 20:49 on Sunday, calling at Brough, Selby, South Milford and Leeds.
  On Monday morning the 05:48 Hull to Manchester Piccadilly service will start from Selby.
  
  
• Hull Trains - services are replaced by buses between Selby and Hull / Beverley and will run to an amended timetable between London Kings Cross and Selby.
  
  
• Northern Rail - services are replaced by buses between Selby / Goole and Hull.
  It is not yet known how Virgin Trains East Coast are affected by this engineering work. (VTEC are introducing a Hull direct service)