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Passengers in the Calder Valley are being urged to check before they travel from this weekend when essential maintenance starts on an 180-year-old viaduct designed by railway pioneer George Stephenson.

Network Rail is upgrading Canterbury East station with new lifts and a new footbridge, providing step free access at Canterbury East for the first time. Tactiles will also be installed along both platforms to improve use for passengers with visual impairment.

Graffiti on the railway is being targeted across the West Midlands and Chilterns area to improve its appearance for passengers and people who live and work nearby.

Unsightly graffiti in Southport is being removed as part of Network Rail’s war on railway vandalism.

Rail passengers in South East London and Kent are advised to plan ahead for their Christmas and New Year journeys as work to upgrade the railway through Lewisham continues.

Network Rail is inviting the public to have their say on the next stage of development for the new Cambridge South station during the second round of public consultation, now open.

Works to replace a bridge at Eccles Heath, which was damaged in a road traffic incident in 2017, are set to start at the end of this month.

• First time Network Rail SME spending has exceeded £2.5bn in a single financial year
• In 2019-20, Network Rail spent 35.6 per cent of its expenditure with SMEs
• Network Rail ahead of government target to spend 33 per cent of expenditure with SMEs by 2022