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Friday 14 Mar 2025

Plan ahead for your rail journeys across East Anglia this Easter

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

While much of the rail network will be open this Easter, engineers will be working in key locations to maintain, renew and improve the railway infrastructure to keep services running safety and reliably.  

The vast majority of the UK's rail network will be open for business as usual but some routes will be affected.  Planning ahead is essential for passengers travelling across East Anglia to allow plenty of extra time and to check their plans before travelling with their train operator or on National Rail Enquiries. Some train services will be disrupted around Chelmsford, Cambridge and Pitsea/Basildon over the long bank holiday weekend. 

On the Great Eastern main line between Shenfield and Colchester, work will be taking place from Sunday 20 April to Monday 21 April (Easter Monday): 

• Renewal of track and a crossover between Chelmsford and Hatfield Peverel  

• Track work at Chelmsford station, including tamping to pack the ballast under the track 

• Removing redundant crossover at Brickhouse near Chelmsford station  
• Track work at Marks Tey including replacing worn out points, tamping, welding and stressing the rails.  
• Work to stabilise the embankment at Chitts Hill, Colchester.  

Travel information: Buses replace Greater Anglia trains between Colchester and Billericay, Sudbury and Marks Tey as well as between Braintree and Witham. Trains will continue to operate between Norwich / Ipswich / Clacton-on-Sea and Colchester as well between Southend Victoria/Billericay and Liverpool Street.

On the West Anglia main line, engineering work will be taking place between Cambridge and Ely, and Cambridge and Newmarket from Saturday 19 April to Monday 21 April:  

• Continuing work for the Cambridge re-signalling renewal project preparing for future commissioning stages
• Installing approximately 180 metres of drainage and three drains at Barnwell junction.  

Travel information: For Greater Anglia passengers, buses replace trains between Ely and Cambridge as well as Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge. For CrossCountry passengers, buses will replace trains between Ely/Cambridge and Stansted Airport. For Great Northern and Thameslink passengers, buses replace trains between Cambridge and Ely. 

On the Essex Thameside line, engineers work will be taking place on Sunday 20 April between Basildon and Leigh-on-Sea and between Stanford-le-Hope and Pitsea  

• Renewal of track and level crossing equipment at Jurgens Lane, West Thurrock. 
• Track renewal preparation work at Barking 
• Replacement of rails at Grays station and Purfleet.  

Travel information: Buses replace c2c trains between between Basildon, Stanford-le-Hope and Leigh-on-Sea. A train shuttle service will be in operation between Leigh-on-Sea and Shoeburyness. c2c passengers with monthly or longer season tickets may travel on Greater Anglia services between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street (including Romford for travel to/from Upminster). A rail replacement between Upminster will also operate between Rainham, Purfleet and Grays. Passengers for Dagenham Dock have ticket acceptance on EL2 and 287 TfL bus services. 

Katie Frost, Network Rail's route director for Anglia said: "This Easter bank holiday, our engineering teams will be out across the network repairing, maintaining and renewing your railway to keep it working reliably and safely for everyone. 

"Passenger numbers are generally lower over bank holidays which is why we work together as an industry to do as much work as we can, making the most of this time whilst disrupting the fewest journeys possible."  

A spokesperson for the train operators said: "I’d like to thank passengers for their patience and apologise to those who may need to change plans because of this work.

"We’ll have staff up and down the network ready to support you on your travels, but the most important message is to plan ahead, allow extra time for your journey and check for the latest service updates before you set off for the station."