Network Rail plans £100 million works over August bank holiday

As trains start to get back to something like normal, Network Rail to carry out 520 projects to maintain and upgrade the railway for passengers over August bank holiday.

These include:

• Significant track replacement work in the Coventry area, with a reduced timetable in place over the bank holiday weekend and no direct services running between Birmingham and London Euston. Replacement bus services will be in operation.
• Moving signalling control from Ditton to the state-of-the-art Manchester Rail Operating Centre between 29-31 August. During this work, trains will be diverted onto different routes to keep services running in and out of Liverpool, and some rail replacement buses will operate between Warrington-Runcorn and Crewe-Liverpool South Parkway.
• Switches and crossings renewals, signalling commissioning and plan line track renewals in St Pancras area, working towards the opening of Brent Cross station. This will affect EMR and Thameslink services on 29-31 August and will see a significantly reduced service between St Pancras and London Bridge.
• Major project works taking place at King’s Cross for the King’s Cross remodelling project. There will be no train service in operation to/from London King’s Cross before 07:10 on 30 August as a result of this work.
• Switches and crossings renewals and heavy maintenance works at Clapton will affect London Overground, Stansted Express and Greater Anglia on 30 August.
• Bridge replacement works in Catford that will close the railway lines between Hayes and Lewisham, and Nunhead to Shortlands while the works take place.

Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said: “Throughout this pandemic, we’ve continued to work on the railway to make it more reliable and to improve journeys for passengers.

“This August Bank Holiday is no different, as we invest over £100 million to upgrade the railway. That means some journeys may be different, so if you plan to travel please check your journey before leaving home.

“As lockdown continues to ease, and the nation turns towards recovering from this pandemic, I look forward to welcoming more people back to the railway. We have significantly stepped up cleaning regimes and made sure there are more staff on hand to help with information so you can travel safely.”