We look at our bank holiday plans in London as we count down to our huge Easter railway works.
They range from essential improvements to signalling to keep your journeys safe and reliable to work that will help us get ready for a brand-new station for the capital.
Our Easter works around Britain will take place from Friday 2 to Monday 5 April 2021 and will involve 600 upgrades and routine maintenance projects around Britain.
We’re reminding you to continue to follow Government advice around the use of public transport and minimise travel over the Easter bank holiday.
If you do need to travel by rail over this period, please plan ahead and check whether the works will affect your journey.
You can find out how our improvement projects will affect your Easter journeys with your train operator, via National Rail Enquiries or by following #EasterRailWorks on Twitter.
What’s happening in Greater London over Easter?
New signals for South West London
We’re switching on new signals – essentially the traffic lights of the railway – for Kingston, Richmond and Twickenham to improve train services in South West London.
This modern, more reliable equipment will replace existing equipment that’s almost 50 years old and make your journeys more reliable.
Mark Killick, director of our Wessex route, said: “The signalling technology in this area has been in place for nearly 50 years and is starting to show its age. It’s vital that we introduce modern technology if we are to improve reliability, cut down on delays and provide our passengers with better journeys.
Watch this animation to find out more about signals and how they keep the railway safe.
Getting ready for a brand-new station
This Easter we’re remodelling track between West Hampstead and Mill Hill Broadway to make space for the brand-new Brent Cross West railway station.
The new station will give you direct services into central London and connections to towns and cities along the route. We expect the station to open next year.
The new £40m state-of-the-art Brent Cross West station, which will sit between Hendon and Cricklewood, is an important part of Barnet Council’s ambitious Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration programme.
It will transform the area with a new town centre and new homes, as well as a commercial, retail and leisure space.
Over the bank holiday we’ll also replace the track between West Hampstead and Mill Hill Broadway to give you smoother, more reliable journeys.
Improving the layout of the track, as well as moving some of the overhead line equipment, which powers electric trains, and making changes to the signalling, will allow the construction of one of the new platforms.
Find out more about track and how we look after it.
Crossrail
We’ll make more preparations for the introduction of Elizabeth Line services – the new Crossrail route, which will run from East to West London.
This will involve Transport for London’s platform reconfiguration and track realignment works at London Liverpool Street station.
Meanwhile, upgrades to the overhead line equipment at Stratford in East London will improve reliability.
Kent
We’re replacing a bridge just outside Dartford station in Kent to give you more reliable services.
Find out more about how we look after our thousands of bridges, tunnels and viaducts.
On the Hastings line between Hastings and Tonbridge, our engineers will continue embankment stabilisation work to protect the area from future landslips.
The work will follow a two-week closure of the line in January and February, when landslips blocked the route near High Brooms in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
That closure also included remedial work at Wadhurst, where remote condition monitoring sensors were detecting movement in a vulnerable cutting.
Watch this video to find out more about landslips around the railway and how we respond to them to keep you safe.