September Rail Update
Thank you to those who have travelled to London to pay respect to her Majesty the Queen and to the staff at Greater Anglia and rail services more broadly for enabling people from across the country to do that.
This week I have been in touch with the Department for Transport with regards to the planned redevelopment of Witham railway station, which is an important investment. It was granted planning consent in October 2019, and I am in contact with Greater Anglia over the progression of these plans and with the Department for Transport over the funding of this project.
Rail Strikes
ASLEF and RMT called new strikes for Saturday 1st and Wednesday 5th October. Passengers are advised to avoid travelling with Greater Anglia services as they will be severely disrupted on these dates, and to check the revised train times for their journeys before deciding to travel. More information can be found here:
www.greateranglia.co.uk/strikes
Forthcoming Service Alterations and Engineering Work
Essential engineering work is being carried out on the Great Eastern main line and its branches this Autumn. These will include:
- Renewal of three switches and crossing at Witham (which allows trains to change from one line to another) as well as overheard line, signalling and electrical works.
- Track, level crossing and drainage work at Kelvedon.
- Track renewal between Ipswich and Norwich.
- Power supply work between Liverpool Street and Ingatestone ahead of the next stage in the phased opening of the Elizabeth line, which will integrate services from the East and West into the new central tunnels and stations.
There will be bus replaces services between Chelmsford and Colchester on the following dates:
- Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September
- Saturday 1st October
- Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th October
- Sunday 30th October (between Shenfield and Colchester)
Rail replacement buses between Ipswich and Norwich will be in place on:
- Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October
- Sunday 23rd October
Between Colchester and Ipswich:
- Saturday 12th November
- Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November
Marks Tey to Sudbury branch line:
- Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September
Clacton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze branch lines:
- Saturday 26th October Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October
- Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November
- Sunday 27th November
Other Important Updates
Greater Anglia created another virtual station tour for customers, this time for Ipswich. It means 12 of Greater Anglia’s busiest stations – Bishop’s Stortford, Broxbourne, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Harlow Town, Ingatestone, Ipswich, Norwich, Shenfield, Southend Victoria and Stanstead Airport – now benefit from this helpful feature. This feature is designed to support journey planning and to assess how busy it is before travelling. The tours can be viewed at: www.greateranglia.co.uk/travel-information/your-journey/virtual-tours