Southend Victoria line reopens on weeknights ahead of schedule following upgrades

Friday 3 Nov 2017

Southend Victoria line reopens on weeknights ahead of schedule following upgrades

Region & Route:: Eastern: Anglia; | Eastern

The Southend Victoria line reopens tonight, (Friday 3 November) over a month ahead of schedule, following completion of the first phase of work to upgrade the overhead wiring system as part of a £46m programme to reduce delays and improve reliability on this part of the railway.

Weeknight closures were introduced in May to accelerate the programme and Network Rail engineers have installed over 100 structures that will carry new overhead wires between Shenfield and Southend Victoria. Weekend closures were introduced in September, during which over 1km of overhead wire was installed between Shenfield and Billericay. This marks the start of work to install 128km of overhead wire on the whole line to improve reliability as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

The wires and structures that are currently in place form a system that is one of the oldest in the country, having been installed in the 1950s. When the weather gets hot, the old wires sag and speed restrictions have to be imposed to protect them from damage by trains, leading to delays and cancellations. The new wires are controlled by a system of weights to keep them taut at all times, so trains can travel at their normal speed, meaning fewer delays and more reliable services all year round.

Further closures will be required during 2018 to complete the project and details will be available once plans are finalised.

A rail replacement service will also run on some weekends during November and for a ten-day period over Christmas and New Year. Passengers are advised to check before they travel at www.greateranglia.co.uk or www.nationalrail.co.uk

Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “We’ve made excellent progress on this project, which means the line can be opened on weeknights earlier than we originally planned, which is good news for passengers. Last year, sagging wires in the summer months led to the cancellation of over 50 trains on this line over two days. The new wires we’re installing will alleviate these issues and make services on the Southend Victoria line much more reliable as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this important work.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director said: “We know customers find engineering works inconvenient, but we make sure they can always complete their journeys, even if part of it is by bus. It’s great news that Network Rail has completed the first section ahead of schedule. This work is essential so that we can run a more reliable railway fit for generations to come. Combined with the new trains we’re getting from 2019, we are working hard to modernise the railway in East Anglia.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

Autumn and Christmas closures for overhead wire upgrade at Ilford and Crossrail work at Stratford

Saturday, November 4 to Sunday 5 November, 2017

A rail replacement bus service will run between Ingatestone/ Billericay and Newbury Park (London Underground). Tickets will be accepted on the Central line from Newbury Park to/ from London Liverpool Street. c2c ticket acceptance will also be offered on the Southend Branch Line. Please note that trains will terminate at Shenfield for passengers for local stations, however London bound passengers should disembark at Ingatestone/ Billericay for bus to Newbury Park and onward travel to London.

On Sunday, until 13.30 ALL trains terminating at Ingatestone and Billericay with onward travel by rail replacement to Newbury Park. After 13.30 on Sunday trains will terminate at Shenfield for local passengers only.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

A rail replacement service will run between Ingatestone/ Billericay and Newbury Park (London Underground). Tickets will be accepted on the Central line from Newbury Park to/ from London Liverpool Street. Please note that trains will terminate at Shenfield for passengers for local stations, however London bound passengers should disembark at Ingatestone/ Billericay for bus to Newbury Park and onward travel to London.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Until 11.25, a rail replacement bus service will run between Colchester/Billericay and Newbury Park

A train shuttle service will operate on the Braintree and Sudbury Lines, connecting into rail replacement services to Newbury Park.

After 11.25 trains will resume from Colchester to Ingatestone and a rail replacement bus service will between Ingatestone/ Billericay and Newbury Park (London Underground). Tickets will be accepted on the Central line from Newbury Park to/ from London Liverpool Street on both days. Please note that trains will terminate at Shenfield for passengers for local stations, however London bound passengers should disembark at Ingatestone/ Billericay for bus to Newbury Park and onward travel to London.

Christmas

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - Katie Mack
Media relations manager (Anglia route)
0330 8577 132
Katie.Mack@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.