{"id":402715,"date":"2026-04-10T06:04:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=191800"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:04:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:04:52","slug":"weekend-of-significant-upgrades-will-include-milestone-in-station-footbridge-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=402715","title":{"rendered":"Weekend of significant upgrades will include milestone in station footbridge project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/railuk.com\/travel\/weekend-of-significant-upgrades-will-include-milestone-in-station-footbridge-project\/\" title=\"Weekend of significant upgrades will include milestone in station footbridge project\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"485\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/09210358\/Harlington-bridge-Network-Rail-485x360.jpg\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;\" link_thumbnail=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/09210358\/Harlington-bridge-Network-Rail-485x360.jpg 485w, https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/09210358\/Harlington-bridge-Network-Rail-80x60.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A modern footbridge designed to last 120 years opened on Thursday 9 April at Harlington station to improve safety and long-term reliability.<\/p>\n<p>The old footbridge will be removed during a busy programme of improvement work affecting passenger services between Bedford and Harpenden on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April.<\/p>\n<p>Improvement work will also be taking place on the Harlington\u2019s overhead line equipment, which was directly attached to the old bridge but will be free-running beneath the new one.<\/p>\n<p>Other planned engineering work taking over the same weekend, making the most of the time the railway is closed, includes:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Track renewal at Flitwick, where five engineering trains and a tamper maintenance machine will install 642 metres of new rail, along with 2,760 tonnes of ballast and 1,008 concrete sleepers.<\/li>\n<li>Further progress on the Access for All project at Luton station, where we\u2019ll install an accessible footbridge and three lifts.<\/li>\n<li>Drainage work at Harpenden station to prevent flooding, protect the railway and support safer, more reliable services for passengers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The work means that on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>No East Midlands Railway (EMR) services will run between Bedford and London St Pancras. An amended service will run between Sheffield\/Derby\/Nottingham and Bedford, and between Corby and Kettering\/Bedford. Replacement buses will run between Bedford and Hitchin, and tickets will be valid on Great Northern\/Thameslink services between Hitchin and London.<\/li>\n<li>Buses will replace Thameslink trains between Bedford and Harpenden. Tickets can be used on EMR replacement buses between Bedford and Hitchin, and on Great Northern\/Thameslink services between Hitchin and London.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On Saturday 18 April, a revised train service will run between Harpenden and Brighton, and between London Bridge and Rainham. Trains between Peterborough and Horsham will call additionally at Norwood Junction, South Croydon, Purley, Earlswood and Salfords.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday 19 April, a revised train service will run between Harpenden and Brighton, West Hampstead Thameslink and Three Bridges\/Horsham\/Sutton, London Bridge and Rainham.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Matthews, Network Rail operations director, said: \u201cThe footbridge project at Harlington is nearing completion and will improve safety and reliability for many years to come. The milestone of removing the old bridge is just one part of a packed programme of improvement work on 18-19 April.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy co-ordinating this work with other key upgrades along the route, we\u2019re keeping disruption to a minimum and helping passengers see the benefits as quickly as possible. We appreciate everyone\u2019s understanding while these important improvements take place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The car park at Harlington station has been partly closed throughout the project to replace the footbridge. It will be fully closed from 10pm on Sunday 12 April to 11.59pm on Friday 24 April to allow Network Rail contractors to set up and break down their worksite.<\/p>\n<p>The station will remain open to passengers throughout. Motorists are advised to travel to Leagrave or Luton stations while the car park is closed. Users with monthly, quarterly or annual car park tickets will be able to use Leagrave and Luton car parks at no extra cost.<\/p>\n<p>Image credit: Network Rail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/railuk.com\/travel\/weekend-of-significant-upgrades-will-include-milestone-in-station-footbridge-project\/\" title=\"Weekend of significant upgrades will include milestone in station footbridge project\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"485\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/09210358\/Harlington-bridge-Network-Rail-485x360.jpg\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"><\/a>A modern footbridge designed to last 120 years opened on Thursday 9 April at Harlington station to improve safety and long-term reliability. The old footbridge will be removed during a busy programme of improvement work affecting passenger services between Bedford and Harpenden on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April. Improvement work will also be taking [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"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":[343,16015,47,16092,16031,16016,913,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infrastructure","category-permanent-way","category-rail-news","category-stations","category-structures","category-train-operating-companies","category-travel","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402715","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=402715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402716,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402715\/revisions\/402716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}