This August bank holiday weekend a huge workforce will deliver vital upgrades to enable better journeys.
Our teams will carry out works that will lead to more reliable infrastructure and improved facilities from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 August inclusive.
The railway is up to 50% quieter than usual over bank holidays so doing work at this time of year minimises our impact on passengers.
Why we carry out major works over weekends and bank holidays
How were reducing delay minutes after engineering work
How London Kings Cross improvements will benefit passengers
Most of the country’s services will remain unaffected but there will be significant changes to some routes’ normal services so we advise passengers plan ahead.
What are we doing this August bank holiday?
The major investment projects include:
Significant work taking between Peterborough and Cambridge and London King’s Cross, London St Pancras International and Moorgate stations.
This bank holiday weekend we will use a planned closure of the East Coast Main Line for the first time in 20 years.
We will:
- Transfer signalling control of the area currently controlled by King’s Cross signal box to our state-of-the-art facility in York. This is part of a nationwide programme to bring our signallers into modern centres of excellence and allow the railway to operate more efficiently.
- Carry out work to the overhead line equipment outside King’s Cross station. This will support the power supply upgrade and improvements to the track layout and signals immediately outside the station.
- Also carry out other work on the upgrade of the East Coast.
Meanwhile, we will upgrade the overhead wiring system and renew the track on the Southend Victoria branch line as part of a £46m investment.
The wiring system currently in place along the route was installed in the 1950s and needs replacing to prevent frequent failures that cause delays, in order to improve reliability of the rail service.
The replacement includes wires, structures, masts and steelwork.
The programme is important to improving rail services for Southend passengers over the next two years. This means a bigger and better railway, including:
- Fewer delays and cancellations – especially in hot weather
- Allowing for more train services to support the growing number of passengers, new housing, and the local economy including the busy airport
- Supporting the introduction of Greater Anglia’s new trains which will start to come into service from 2019 with fast, free wifi, air conditioning, and plug and USB sockets.