Two weekends of journey changes between London Marylebone and Birmingham: Upgrading the track-2

Thursday 2 Jan 2025

Two weekends of journey changes between London Marylebone and Birmingham

Region & Route:
North West & Central
| North West & Central: Central

Passengers who travel on the Chiltern main line between London Marylebone and Birmingham are being warned of two consecutive weekends of journey changes which start this weekend.

Chiltern Railways services will be affected because of track improvement work taking place in the High Wycombe area.

Network Rail engineers will be working round-the-clock between 4-5 January and 11-12 January to improve and maintain the track to help keep the railway and journeys through the area safe and reliable.

While this essential work takes place, buses will replace trains between Gerrards Cross and Princes Risborough and between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Bicester North.

Neil Gaskin, programme director for Network Rail Central route, said: “I am sorry for the disruption caused while we complete this essential maintenance work in the High Wycombe area. It has been carefully planned and will help to make journeys more reliable in future.

“If you're planning to travel, please plan ahead and check your journey at www.nationalrail.co.uk or with Chiltern Railways for the latest journey information and travel advice.”

Michael Stewart, commercial and customer strategy director at Chiltern Railways, said: “I would like to thank customers for their patience on the first two weekends of January as Network Rail will carry out engineering works which are crucial for the future safety and reliability of the railway.

“Journeys through the affected area will take longer and involve rail replacement buses so I urge customers to check journey planners ahead of travelling on both weekends.”

Passengers should check www.nationalrail.co.uk for the latest journey information and travel advice.

Notes to Editors

On Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 January, the railway is closed between Gerrards Cross and Saunderton all day.

On Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 January, the railway is closed between Gerrards Cross and Princes Risborough all day.

The following passenger advice has been supplied by Chiltern Railways however passengers are encouraged to check nationalrail.co.uk and with Chiltern Railways prior to their journey for the latest travel updates:

Rail replacement buses will operate as follows, connecting with trains at Gerrards Cross, Princes Risborough, Bicester Village, Bicester North and Aylesbury Vale Parkway.

  • Gerrards Cross - Beaconsfield - High Wycombe - (Saunderton) - Princes Risborough.
  • Aylesbury Vale Parkway - Bicester Village - Bicester North.
  • Some late night buses will be extended to/from Banbury.

In connection with the above engineering works, an enhanced service of 2 trains per hour will operate between Marylebone and stations to Aylesbury Vale Parkway for most of the day.

IMPORTANT:

  • Passengers travelling between Marylebone - Bicester Village/Bicester North and stations to Oxford/Birmingham should travel via Aylesbury Vale Parkway.
  • Passengers travelling between Marylebone - stations to Haddenham & Thame Parkway should travel via Gerrards Cross.

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 - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@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.

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