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Wednesday 15 Apr 2026

Travel by rail this May bank holiday across East Anglia

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

Passengers looking to enjoy a peaceful May bank holiday weekend trip will be able to travel to most destinations across East Anglia and into the capital as the majority of the railways will be open.

Whether you want to travel to the east coast in Suffolk, see the sights in Norfolk, explore the Thameside towns in Essex or experience some punting in Cambridge, choosing rail allows you relax, kick back and start enjoying your trip sooner, watching the world go by.  

We have kept our engineering work in East Anglia to a minimum so that the majority of the railways are open this May bank holiday, however we encourage passengers to check before travelling as some routes in Cambridgeshire will still be affected.

The following engineering work will be taking place over the May bank holiday (Sat 2 May to Monday 4 May). 

• Renewing almost 1000 yards of worn out track in the Ely station area including six sets of points (the movable sections of rail that allow trains to switch between lines), old sleepers and ballast (the stones that support the track). 
• The Cambridge Re-signalling team will be working near Bottisham installing signal foundations and a retaining wall as part of the wider re-signalling project.   
• Engineers will also be renewing over 1500 yards of worn out track between Fordham level crossing on the B1102 and Kings Sidings which serves the Pines industrial estate.   

The engineering work will affect Greater Anglia, East Midlands, Great Northern and CrossCountry services across the three days of the bank holiday weekend. Passengers travelling via Ely and Cambridge are encouraged to check before travelling and leave extra time to complete your journey. 

Martin Beable on behalf of Greater Anglia and Network Rail said: “We’ve worked hard with our train operators to keep disruption down to a minimum for this May bank holiday.

“It’s an important time of year for leisure travellers, day-trippers and tourists to explore east-Anglia and there is no better way to do that than by rail.”

“We have a lot of great destinations on our network, and we hope people are able to enjoy a day out by train."

Travel information

Greater Anglia:

Buses will replace trains between Thetford and Cambridge North and Bury St Edmonds and Peterborough. Trains will continue to operate between Norwich and Thetford, Cambridge North and Stansted Airport and Ipswich and Cambridge.

East Midlands Railway:

Liverpool to Norwich services will start and terminate at Peterborough. There will be a connecting rail replacement bus service between Peterborough and Norwich.

CrossCountry:

Buses will replace trains between Peterborough and Cambridge on services between Birmingham and Stansted Airport.

Great Northern:

Buses will replace trains between Kings Lynn and Cambridge North on the Kings Cross to Kings Lynn services.