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Tuesday 5 Nov 2024

Vital signalling upgrades between Leicester and Bedford this weekend

Region & Route:

Eastern

| Eastern: East Midlands

Engineering work on the Midland Main Line will see changes to journeys this Sunday as passengers are being advised to check before they travel.

Teams will be working between Leicester and Bedford all day on Sunday 10 November to make changes to how trains are controlled in the Wigston area. 

The signals (traffic lights for the railway) in Wigston and much of the East Midlands are controlled from the East Midlands Control Centre in Derby. Signallers sit (or stand) at workstations and – among other tasks – monitor train movements, level crossings and give safe access for rail workers to get onto the tracks to carry out maintenance and respond to incidents. 

The current workstation in Kettering has increased in capacity over recent years, thanks to the ongoing enhancements from the Midland Main Line electrification project. As part of Network Rail's commitment to future-proofing this critical route, the original workstation is being divided into two.

This strategic move will not only reduce the workload on signallers but also allow more teams to access the railway simultaneously, thereby improving safety and enhancing the reliability of train performance.

No trains can run while the signalling is being altered to protect safety.

East Midlands Railway (EMR)* will be operating a revised train service as a result of the work with buses replacing all trains between Leicester and Bedford.

Passengers are being urged to check before they travel via National Rail Enquiries as their journeys may be impacted or via EMR’s website and social media channels.

Dan Matthews, head of operations delivery for Network Rail said: “Signalling systems are vital in running a safe and reliable rail network and installing a new workstation will allow our teams to operate the system more effectively for passengers travelling through the East Midlands.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience this work will cause and we would like to remind passengers to plan ahead with their journeys as they may take longer than anticipated.”

Philippa Cresswell, Customer Service Director for East Midlands Railway, said: “We recommend customers planning to travel to or from London on Sunday 10 November to check their journeys in advance by looking for updates on the EMR website.

“We are working closely with Network Rail to keep customers moving throughout the engineering work and EMR services will be running where possible, however journey times will be longer than normal with rail replacement buses and amended timetables in place.

“We would like to thank our customers for their patience whilst the vital signalling work on the Midland Main Line takes place. This work will greatly benefit our customers in the future with more reliable journeys to and from London.”