Media centre

Monday 15 Jan 2018

Residents invited to find out more about major railway upgrades in Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Residents of Lingwood, Cantley and Brundall are invited to information drop-in sessions about the major signalling upgrade to the Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft rail lines.

The sessions take place in January, ahead of a nine-day closure of the lines from Saturday 10 February affecting services between Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft and between Lowestoft and Ipswich. Network Rail representatives will be on hand to talk about the upgrades and answer any questions.

• 19 January 2018 – Lingwood and Chapel Road drop in session at Lingwood Village Hall – 11:00 – 13:00 & 16:00 – 18:30
• 30 January – Brundall drop in session at East Hills Café Bistro, Brundall Bay Marina – 10:30 – 12:30 & 14:30 – 16:30
• 31 January – Cantley drop in session at Cantley Village Hall – 10:30 – 12:30 & 14:30 – 16:30  

The next phase of work begins on the 10 February as part of a £68million investment to upgrade the signalling system and replace some of the oldest signalling equipment on the network. A total of 66 new colour light LED signals, 22 power operated points and a remote computer-based signalling control system will replace levers and physical operations, providing safer and more reliable journeys for passengers.

Four level crossings will be closed temporarily on various days in the run up to and during the work as changes are made to bring them up to modern safety standards, diversions will be in place:

• Chapel Road level crossing will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians on Sunday 21 January from 8am to 8pm
• Lingwood level crossing will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians on Sunday 28 January from 8am to 8pm
• Brundall level crossing will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians overnight from 6pm Sunday 11 to 6am Monday 12 February
• Strumpshaw level crossing will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians on Sunday 4 February between 8am – 8pm
• Cantley Road will also be closed at nights from 11pm – 4am Saturday 3 March 2018 until Monday 5 March 2018

Level crossings that are currently operated by a crossing keeper will be replaced with a modern barrier type remotely controlled by a signaller using CCTV cameras.

Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “This is a significant project that will not only transform rail travel for passengers in this region, but also bring benefits for motorists and pedestrians. We are working to provide a sustainable and efficient railway which uses modern technology, to improve safety and reliability as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out this important work and urge anyone using these services to check how their journeys will be affected ahead of travelling.”

The work will take place at several locations and there will be significant work on the Norwich-Yarmouth-Lowestoft lines between October 2017 and March 2019. This will result in changes to train services and passengers are advised to check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk or with their train operator.

For more information about the project go to www.networkrail.co.uk/nyl