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Thursday 7 Feb 2019

Rail passengers in East Midlands reminded to check before they travel as major upgrade begins on Sunday

Region & Route:

Eastern

Network Rail is reminding passengers to check before they travel as a £13million investment into the railway begins on Sunday 10 February.

The project will mean six days of changes for passengers, as no trains are able to travel on the line between Matlock and Derby between Sunday 10 February and Saturday 16 February (inclusive).

East Midlands Trains services between Nottingham and Matlock will operate between Nottingham and Derby only and buses will operate between Derby and Matlock.

This also means changes to East Midlands Trains services between Sheffield, Derby and London.  There will be no direct East Midlands Trains services from Sheffield/Chesterfield to Derby. CrossCountry services between Sheffield and Derby will stop at Chesterfield and customers can use these to complete their journey. However, as the trains will need to follow a diversionary route then journey times will take up to 30 minutes longer.

The project will see a vast amount of work take place, including renewing and relocating Ambergate Junction, the point where the Matlock branch line leaves the Midland Main Line and upgrades to the signalling. The work will mean trains are able to travel through the area at a higher speed.

Rob McIntosh, Route Managing Director, said: “We’d urge all passengers planning on travelling to, from or through Derby during this time to plan ahead and check before they travel.

“This work is a vital part of the Midland Main Line Upgrade, which is the biggest investment into the railway in this area since its completion in the Victorian era and will improve journeys for passengers.

“We are working closely with East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry to keep people moving and we’d like to thank passengers for their patience whilst this vital work takes place.”

Jake Kelly, Managing Director for East Midlands Trains said: “We are reminding passengers to check before they travel as there is disruption to services across Derbyshire as well as changes for passengers travelling to and from Sheffield, Chesterfield and London.

"Although this means minor disruption for passengers at this time, the long term benefits will help to improve punctuality and reliability for passengers in the East Midlands".

Ben Simkin, CrossCountry’s Commercial Director, said: “With the works at Ambergate just about to start we’d like to remind customers to check their travel times again to see if their journey is affected. We are sorry if this small amount of extra journey time causes any disruption, but when the works are finished we’ll have a faster and more reliable railway for years to come.”

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