We’re upgrading parts of the railway in east Anglia this Easter bank holiday weekend – so you can benefit from a more reliable and safer railway.
Carrying out track work in Anglia
Engineers will upgrade track across the region between Saturday 19 April and Monday 21 April. It’s part of our vital maintenance to keep trains running smoothly.
We’re renewing the track and a crossover between Chelmsford and Hatfield Peverel in Essex. This includes renewing the switches and crossings that allow a train to cross over from one track to another. They’re delicate pieces of equipment that often wear out quickly, which is why we must renew them more frequently than other parts of track.
We’ll carry out track work at Chelmsford station, including tamping to pack the ballast – the stones that support the track – under the rails. Tamping helps level the ballast evenly against the rail – lowering the risk of trains derailing and ensuring trains run smoothly along the track.
Engineers will also remove a crossover no longer needed at Brickhouse near Chelmsford station. This will save us the time and money that we’d otherwise spend maintaining it.
In Marks Tey in Colchester, engineers will replace worn-out points and weld and stress the rails. Welding and stressing rails – mechanically stretching them – helps prevent the rails from buckling in hot weather. This will help keep your journeys moving in the summer.
Further south, engineers will spend most of Sunday 20 April renewing track and level crossing equipment at Jurgens Lane in West Thurrock. We’ll also replace rails at Grays station and Purfleet in Essex.
Upgrading Cambridgeshire
In Cambridgeshire, engineers will continue preparing for the second stage of the Cambridge re-signalling renewal project from Friday 18 April to Monday 21 April. We expect to start stage two in December. This will involve resignalling the area south of Cambridge station and adding the new Cambridge South station to the signalling network.
To prepare for it, we’ll gather and deliver many of the materials we need in the area and test our preparation plans, ensuring they’re robust.
The £194m project will give you and freight more reliable and efficient journeys by updating the signalling system that’s approaching the end of its working life.
We’ll also continue building the new station at Cambridge South, including finishing off the roof and fitting out the mechanical and electrical systems inside the station buildings.
We expect to finish much of the building work for the station by the end of the summer and open it for use early next year. We estimate 1.8m passengers will use the station each year, travelling to and from the neighbouring Cambridge Biomedical Campus – Europe’s largest medical research facility.
Check before you travel
Katie Frost, route director for Anglia at Network Rail, said: “Passenger numbers are generally lower over bank holidays, which is why we work together as an industry to do as much work as we can, making the most of this time whilst disrupting the fewest journeys possible.”
We’ll close parts of our railway around the Anglia region during the long weekend so our teams can work safely and efficiently. Many journeys around Chelmsford, Cambridge, Pitsea and Basildon in Essex will be affected as a result.
We urge you to check before you travel with National Rail or your train operator and thank you for your patience.
