Network Rail is to spend £50 million on Britain’s railway over the May Day bank holiday weekend, with 14,000 rail workers expected to be involved in upgrade and renewal work at a number of sites. New station facilities, new platforms, new junctions and more reliable equipment will all feature in the programme.
Work will focus mainly on the above-ground elements of Crossrail, at Slough on the Great Western Main Line (for the installation of new track and junctions) and at Pudding Mill Lane near Stratford for a new bridge. Track will also be renewed at Chadwell Heath.
At London Waterloo, a junction outside the station will be replaced, with amended timetables in place.
On the Thameslink Programme, platforms 1-3 at London Bridge will be closed at various points, as well as Cannon Street, Waterloo East and Charing Cross. No Southeastern trains will run to or from Charing Cross, Cannon Street, London Bridge and Waterloo East with diversions in place to Victoria, Blackfriars or terminating trains at New Cross.
On the West Coast Main Line, Virgin Trains, London Midland, CrossCountry, TransPennine Express and Arriva Trains Wales passengers will face some disruption and amendments to services as work takes place to install new signalling between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Buses will replace trains on this WCML diversionary route.
In addition, the £250 million investment in Staffordshire to remove a major bottleneck at Norton Bridge, while track will also be renewed between Crewe and Wigan.
In Scotland, to the south and south east of Glasgow, Virgin Trains, ScotRail, TransPennine and CrossCountry services will be altered while a road bridge is demolished at Newton, a new footbridge installed at Motherwell and new track and junctions replaced at Carstairs.
NR says that over 95% of the network will be unaffected by its work programme.
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