{"id":201066,"date":"2025-04-16T19:46:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T09:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=176565"},"modified":"2025-04-16T19:46:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T09:46:36","slug":"passengers-urged-to-check-before-travelling-over-bank-holiday-weekend-as-network-rail-carries-out-vital-upgrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=201066","title":{"rendered":"Passengers urged to check before travelling over bank holiday weekend as Network Rail carries out vital upgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Passengers are being reminded to check before travelling this Easter weekend as Network Rail delivers vital upgrades and track renewals to improve train performance and reliability. <\/p>\n

Though most of the network will be open for business as usual over the Easter bank holiday weekend, some journeys will be affected, so passengers are advised to plan their journey in advance using National Rail Enquiries<\/a> or their train operator’s website: GWR<\/a>, TfL<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The key pieces of work taking place on the Western route are: <\/p>\n

Maidenhead to Bourne End\/Marlow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Network Rail will be renewing the track between Maidenhead and Bourne End\/Marlow until Sunday 20 April.<\/strong> This work began on Saturday 12th April. During this time, no trains will run and a rail replacement bus service will be in operation. <\/p>\n

While the line is closed to upgrade the track, engineers will also upgrade the existing signalling equipment, making the railway in the area more resilient.<\/p>\n

Acton East to London Paddington<\/strong><\/p>\n

From <\/strong>Friday 18 April to Monday 21 April <\/strong>engineers will be carrying out upgrades to the switches and crossings in the Acton East area \u2013 rail equipment that enables trains to move between tracks. These upgrades will improve the safety and reliability of the line.<\/p>\n

Network Rail will also be continuing work that\u2019s needed to bring trains in the future to HS2\u2019s Old Oak Common station in west London, with a focus on installing drainage, and the overhead line equipment that power trains.<\/p>\n

During this period, trains will be running to a reduced timetable between Reading and London Paddington \u2013 affecting GWR, Heathrow Express, and Elizabeth line services.<\/p>\n

Frome<\/strong><\/p>\n

All trains to and from Frome will be affected by engineering work taking place from 10pm on<\/strong> Saturday 19 April to 10pm on Monday 21 April, <\/strong>as Network Rail carries out vital track maintenance to enhance safety and reliability.<\/p>\n

Trains between London and the south west, and trains between Westbury and Weymouth, will not stop at Frome and will instead use an alternative route.<\/p>\n

A rail replacement service will operate between Frome and Westbury.<\/p>\n

Marcus Jones, Network Rail\u2019s Western route director, said:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out these vital upgrades over the Easter break.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile most of our network will be up and running, there will be bus replacement services operating in some areas, so please do check before travelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that there\u2019s never a good time to close the railway and this engineering work has been planned for a time when fewer people are travelling by train to reduce disruption. These upgrades will mean that passengers can continue to experience a safe and reliable railway into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mian Sarwar, GWR station manager for Slough & Maidenhead, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis improvement work forms part of an ongoing programme of maintenance, helping to ensure we continue to provide consistent and reliable services.<\/p>\n

\u201cGWR will provide replacement bus services between Maidenhead, Bourne End and Marlow from Saturday 12 to Sunday 20 April.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther works in the Acton area will also mean that we are able to run less services than normal, and these trains are likely to be much busier.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an alternative, season tickets will also be valid for journeys on the line between Henley-on-Thames and Twyford for onward connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeason tickets will also be valid with Chiltern Railways between High Wycombe and London Marylebone as well as London Underground services between Marylebone and Paddington.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that customers are aware that these alternative travel arrangements will make journey times much longer, so please plan ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard Smith, director of the Elizabeth line, said:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\u201cThese essential engineering and maintenance works along the western route of the Elizabeth line will enhance the safety and reliability of the track so that we can continue to operate the best service possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time, Elizabeth line services in the west will be running on a reduced timetable. We encourage customers to plan ahead, allow extra time for their journeys, and check before they travel using our website or the TfL Go app.\u201d <\/p>\n

Image credit: Network Rail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Passengers are being reminded to check before travelling this Easter weekend as Network Rail delivers vital upgrades and track renewals to improve train performance and reliability.\u00a0 Though most of the network will be open for business as usual over the Easter bank holiday weekend, some journeys will be affected, so passengers are advised to plan [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16013,343,47,913,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-infrastructure","category-rail-news","category-travel","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201066"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201086,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201066\/revisions\/201086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}