Major improvement works taking place in 2017

 

London Waterloo and South West England

There are more than 230 million passenger journeys to and from London Waterloo every year. Network Rail are currently investing £800m in a programme of works to improve and increase the capacity of London Waterloo, Britain’s busiest station, and one of the country’s most used railways.

Between 5 and 28 August 2017, fewer trains will run in and out of London Waterloo. This includes the busiest times of the day – the morning and evening peaks. Between those dates, London Waterloo platforms 1-4,  together with platforms at Ascot, Bracknell, Camberley, Chertsey, Egham, Feltham, Martins Heron, Sunningdale, Virginia Water and Wokingham, will be extended so longer 10-carriage trains can run. This will provide thousands of extra seats every day.  

Platforms 1-9 will need to be closed throughout this time so the work can be carried out. Although Platforms 20 to 24 (the former Waterloo International terminal) will be in temporary use during this time, there will still be fewer South West Trains services.

The impact on your journey will vary depending on when and where you are travelling, you can use our Journey Planner to check.

Here are links so you can get more information on this project from South West Trains and Network Rail.

London Bridge

As part of the Thameslink Programme, work is continuing on rebuilding London Bridge station. When completed, London Bridge will have more through and longer platforms and a bigger concourse to cope with the 54 million passengers that go through every year.

Thameslink services which run through Central London are not calling at London Bridge until the work is completed in 2018, however there is a limited service which runs between London Bridge and Brighton.

Southeastern services to and from London Cannon Street are currently unable to call at London Bridge. Most London Charing Cross services do stop at London Bridge, but until August 2017, only a limited number of London Charing Cross line platforms will be available at London Bridge station. To accommodate busier routes and to keep services moving, some of these trains won’t be stopping at London Bridge during peak times.

Significant work will take place over the August 2017 bank holiday and the four working days after (26 August - 2 September). There will be no Southeastern services at London Bridge, London Charing Cross and London Waterloo East. This will have a considerable impact on journeys into and out of London, and those trains running may be diverted to different stations. As Southeastern will running less trains than normal during this time, trains and stations will be busy and you should look at alternative routes and travel outside of peak hours wherever possible, or consider working from home during this period. Customers should keep this in mind when booking holidays.

Southeastern are also giving customers advance notice that over Christmas and New Year 2017/18 there will be more work taking place that will severely impact their trains. From 23 December to 1 January 2018 there will be no trains at many main London stations served by Southeastern, which will include the working days in between Christmas and New Year.

Elizabeth Line

The Elizabeth line will transform travel across London, boosting the economy by billions of pounds and supporting thousands of new jobs and homes. The line, currently being constructed by Crossrail, will be named after the UK's longest serving monarch when it becomes operational in 2018.

Stretching over 60 miles from Reading and Heathrow to the west of London across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, the Elizabeth line will stop at 40 stations - 10 newly built and 30 newly upgraded - and serve approximately 200 million people each year.

A fleet of 66 new 200 metre long trains built in the United Kingdom will run on the Elizabeth line, featuring nine walk-through carriages, air conditioning, CCTV and live travel information. Each train will be able to carry up to 1,500 people.

The Elizabeth line opening plan is listed below: 

• Ongoing - New trains are being introduced into passenger service (under TfL Rail) between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield. By autumn 2017 the new trains will make up half the TfL Rail fleet.
• May 2018 - TfL Rail service opens between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 4, replacing the existing Heathrow Connect service and part of the Great Western Railway inner suburban service.
• December 2018 - The Elizabeth line opens. Three separate services will run - between London Paddington and Abbey Wood, between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield, and between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport.
• May 2019 - The Elizabeth line through service extends to run between Shenfield and London Paddington, and between Abbey Wood and London Paddington. Services from London Paddington to Heathrow Airport will continue to start and terminate in the National Rail station.
• December 2019 - The Elizabeth line is fully open, with services running from Reading and Heathrow Airport in the west through the central tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

 

High Speed Two (HS2)

High Speed Two, mostly referred to as simply HS2, is the planned £56 billion rail network between London, the West Midlands and the North

The first phase (construction from now to 2026) will link London Euston and Birmingham, while the Y-shaped second phase (2026 to 2033) will link Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds. By the time both phases are finished in 2033 there will be 350 miles of new track.

Trains will run on the new lines at speeds of up to 250 mph. Each train will be 400 metres long and will carry up to 1,100 customers. There will be up to 14 trains per hour in each direction.

The first HS2 phase includes a revamp and expansion of London Euston station, there will be a new Old Oak Common station in west London, and two new Birmingham stations at Curzon and Interchange. Preparatory work on Phase One is underway, with major construction work beginning in 2018. An interactive map of the Phase One route is available on the HS2 website.

Bristol Parkway and Cardiff Railway Upgrade

During late summer and autumn 2017 Network Rail are undertaking a key part of the Great Western Modernisation by electrifying the railway through tunnels between Bristol Parkway and Swindon. They are also constructing a new platform at Bristol Parkway station to increase capacity. Work will also be taking place in Cardiff, part of Network Rail’s programme to lower the track in the area ahead of installing overhead wires by late 2018.

 

There will be a four week closure of the line between Bristol Parkway and Swindon (the last two weeks will see Bristol Parkway cut off as well), a closure of the line between Cardiff and Newport on August Bank Holiday weekend, and nine weekends of disruption in the Cardiff and Bristol Parkway areas once that is all done.

The following work will be carried out:

From 19 August until 1 September – Great Western Railway high speed services will call at Patchway instead of Bristol Parkway – except at peak times when they will continue to use Bristol Parkway. A replacement bus service will run between Bristol Parkway and Patchway.

From 26 until 28 August - Over the August Bank Holiday there will be no trains between Newport and Cardiff with buses running instead. Train services will continue to run between Swansea and Cardiff, and eastbound trains will start from Newport. London services will call at Patchway and be diverted because of the upgrade work in the Bristol Parkway area.

From 2 until 17 September – Great Western Railway high speed services will call at Patchway instead of Bristol Parkway. A replacement bus service will run between Bristol Parkway and Patchway. Local Great Western Railway services between Yate and Filton Abbey Wood will be replaced by buses. Trains will continue to run between Yate and Gloucester, and Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads. CrossCountry services will run on a diverted route, calling at Patchway and Filton Abbey Wood instead of Bristol Parkway.

23/24 September, 30 September/1 October, 7/8, 14/15, 21/22 and 28/29 October - On these weekends, Network Rail will be undertaking further work in the Cardiff area to prepare for electrification, as well as annual track maintenance in the Severn Tunnel. As a result, Great Western Railway high speed services will start/terminate at Newport and run non-stop via a diverted route to Swindon. A shuttle service will run between Swansea and Cardiff. Services to and from Portsmouth Harbour and Taunton will start/terminate at Bristol Parkway, buses will run between Cardiff, Newport and Bristol Parkway.

4/5, 11/12 and 18/19 November - On these weekends, Network Rail will be carrying out further preparatory work on the new platform at Bristol Parkway. Great Western Railway high speed services will call at Patchway instead of Bristol Parkway. A replacement bus service will run between Bristol Parkway and Patchway.
Local Great Western Railway services between Yate and Filton Abbey Wood will be replaced by buses. Trains will continue to run between Yate and Gloucester, and between Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads. CrossCountry services will run on a diverted route, calling at Patchway and Filton Abbey Wood instead of Bristol Parkway.

Manchester - Linking Victoria, Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations

Work is taking place on the Ordsall Chord in Manchester, which is 300 metres of new track that will create a link between Manchester's main stations.The project also includes realigning existing track, building new bridges, removing disused railway arches and restoring Grade I listed structures.

Once the work is completed in December 2017, the chord will help provide many benefits not only to passengers but also to the wider economy

• There will be new direct links to Manchester Airport from across the north of England.
• Congestion currently seen at Manchester Piccadilly will reduce by a quarter with some services being rerouted through Manchester Victoria.
• There will be more capacity on the railway, meaning more frequent trains to run.

   

To complete the work safely, some train services will be affected throughout this year coming in and out of Manchester Victoria. You can check whether this project will impact your travel arrangements with Northern and TransPennine Express here.

 

Sheffield - Rotherham Tram Train project

The Sheffield - Rotherham Tram Train scheme is unique in the UK. It will link heavy and light rail infrastructure, systems and operations together to provide a new transport service. Seven brand new Tram Train vehicles are being introduced, designed to run on both the Stagecoach Supertram system and the national rail network.

 

Scheduled to start in 2018, Tram Trains will run on the national rail network from a new Rotherham Parkgate Retail Park station via a new tram stop at the existing Rotherham Central station. They will then join the existing Stagecoach Supertram network at Meadowhall South (via a new 400 metre rail line called the Tinsley Chord) and continue to Sheffield city centre.

Construction work is underway. The track connection that will provide the physical link between the Supertram network and the traditional heavy rail network was installed at Tinsley during Easter 2017. Work is now ongoing until August 2017 on the replacement of a key railway bridge in Rotherham so that the overhead lines which will power the Tram Trains can be safely installed underneath. Alongside this is the construction of the Tinsley Chord, the new tram stops, and electrification of the line.

When the work is complete in 2018, the Tram Train pilot will run for two years with a view to permanent operation. Learning gained from the pilot will help determine whether Tram Trains can run in other parts of the country. More information on this pioneering project can be found here.

Details of planned engineering work for approximately the next 12 weeks is available on our Future Engineering Work page.

The Network Rail website also has some interesting information on railway improvement works.