While more than 95 per cent of Britain’s railway will be open for business this Easter, Network Rail engineers are gearing up for a £90 million programme of improvement work over the long weekend.
Network Rail stated that, unlike roads, the railways are quieter over long bank holiday weekends compared to normal long weekends – giving it an opportunity to improve the network whilst minimising disruption for passengers and freight users.
The majority of improvement work will be carried out overnight. Some larger pieces of work take longer to complete, and Network Rail added that whilst most of the network will be open and unaffected, a handful of key routes will be impacted. It is urging passengers to check their journey details before they travel.
Notable locations affected by work include:
Euston to Milton Keynes: this stretch of the West Coast Main Line will be closed over all four days for work to take place laying new track near Kensal Green tunnel and replacing a busy junction just south of Milton Keynes itself. Buses will run from Potters Bar to Watford Junction and Milton Keynes to London.
Glasgow: Work to renew tracks and points, which allow trains to cross from one track to another, will take place over a major junction between Glasgow Central and Cambuslang/Polmadie Depot. The work will mean changes to train times across the long weekend.
Huddersfield: Work continues on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, with new tracks being laid around the city and changes to trains on routes such as Sheffield to Leeds and all trains to Huddersfield itself.
Network Rail’s Network Strategy Director, Laurence Bowman, said: “We know how important Easter is for families and friends to catch up and we try to keep as much of the network open as possible. There’s never a good time to do the work we need to do but the four days of the bank holiday, when fewer people are travelling, give us the opportunity to do major work we couldn’t do in normal weekend. That’s projects such as renewing major junctions or relaying many miles of track.
“When we do close the railway, we do everything we can to get as much work into those closures as possible. We’ve got 493 different pieces of work taking place this Easter, most happening overnight, including laying over 8,000 metres of new rail and putting down over 40,000 tonnes of new ballast to support the tracks.
“We couldn’t do this without the support of passengers, freight users and our lineside neighbours, whose patience we don’t take for granted. Thank you.”
For full details of engineering works this Easter, passengers are advised to check their journeys with their operators or at National Rail.
