Media centre

Monday 17 May 2021

Passengers urged to plan ahead as Network Rail gears up for £80m railway upgrades over Late May Bank Holiday

Region & Route:

National

• Network Rail carrying out 620 upgrade projects worth £80m to improve railway for passengers
• Those looking to travel by train over the Late May Bank Holiday are urged to plan their journeys in advance and travel at quieter times where possible

Network Rail is advising those planning to travel by train over the Late May Bank Holiday to plan ahead as it prepares to carry out 620 projects to upgrade the railway.

While the majority of the network will be unaffected, some routes will be impacted by the upgrade works taking place.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “We are continuing to invest in our rail network to provide a better service for passengers as they begin to return to the railway in greater numbers.

“While the majority of the network will be open as normal, some routes will be impacted by our upgrade works, so I would urge anyone wanting to travel by train over the bank holiday to plan ahead and check their journey in advance.” 

The major upgrade projects being delivered over the forthcoming bank holiday include:

• As part of the East Coast Upgrade, work is taking place in and around London King’s Cross which will bring more reliable journeys and create additional capacity in the future. A temporary reduced timetable will remain in operation over the bank holiday weekend, with platforms 7-11 at King’s Cross out of use as the final stage of work is carried out to simplify the track layout.
• Track renewals and remodelling works between West Hampstead and Mill Hill Broadway to create space for the new Brent Cross station to be built. As a result, there will be no East Midlands Railway services to Luton Airport Parkway between Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 May. Additionally, rail replacement bus services will be in operation between Luton and London St. Pancras, and there will be a reduced train service between Luton and Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and Corby.
• New overhead line equipment will be installed at Leeds station and some of the signalling equipment will be moved as work gets under way on a major project to upgrade the track layout. Buses will replace some train services on Sunday 30 May.
• Resignalling works at London Victoria to improve passenger safety and increase capacity on the line to East Croydon. As a result, there will be no Southern trains running to/from London Victoria between Saturday 29 and Monday 31 May.
• Plain line track renewals and signalling upgrades on the West Coast Main Line to improve reliability. There’ll be no direct services between London Euston and Liverpool or between London Euston and Scotland.
• Track renewals and tamping works between Stowmarket and Norwich to improve the reliability of the infrastructure. Buses will replace trains from Norwich to Ipswich, Peterborough, Stowmarket and Wymondham.
• Maintenance works between Guildford and Aldershot/Wokingham which will improve reliability of the railway. This will impact GWR and South Western Railway services out of Guildford.

Passengers can find out how their journeys will be affected with their train operator, via National Rail Enquiries, or by following #MayBHWorks on Twitter.

ENDS