OREANDA-NEWS. Over 9,000 members of Network Rail’s orange army worked around the clock over the long weekend to deliver vital elements of the company’s Railway Upgrade Plan, to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers and businesses across Britain.

1,200m of new overhead wire was installed at Brentwood to improve reliability, as the new wire will not sag in the summer heat and will be make the railway more reliable all year round. To prepare for overhead line replacement on the line from London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria, 46 new masts were installed.

Passengers will also benefit from smoother journeys and less disruption in the future, following the replacement of 550m of track at Brentwood, which means we no longer need to impose track-related speed restrictions in hot weather. A further 420m of rail was replaced between London Liverpool Street and Bethnal Green which will make sure the railway is fit for use for years to come.

Between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street, Crossrail construction work to prepare for the Elizabeth line took place, which saw work continue at several stations on the route to extend platforms and progress towards step-free access. Once opened, the Elizabeth line will greatly improve capacity on this busy line, providing passengers with quicker journeys to central London destinations, new trains and more frequent and reliable services.

Across the country, a total of ?30m was invested over three days to renew track, upgrade signalling systems and help boost the capacity of the network so more trains can run in future. The work was planned to minimise disruption, as passenger numbers typically drop by more than half during a bank holiday, and work only took place on Sunday and Monday, so passengers could still travel by train as normal on Saturday.

Richard Schofield, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: "Our orange army was out in force, working hard for you this bank holiday weekend, improving the railway so that the thousands of passengers who use it every day will benefit from better, more reliable journeys. We’ve also delivered more Crossrail project works to prepare for the arrival of Elizabeth Line services, which will vastly transform journeys on this busy route, once complete.

“We planned for the work to take place over two days instead of three so that passengers could still travel as usual on Saturday. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this work to improve the railway as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan.”

Andrew Goodrum, Customer Service Director for Abellio Greater Anglia, said: “We are grateful to customers for their patience and understanding while these important works were carried out. The improvements will help to deliver a better and more reliable service, particularly on the Great Eastern Main Line and the Southend Line. We are committed to working with Network Rail to improve punctuality and performance across our network.”

Howard Smith, TfL’s operations director of TfL Rail, said: “I would like to thank the passengers using TfL Rail services between Shenfield and Liverpool Street for their ongoing patience whilst these works have taken place. We have worked closely with Network Rail and MTR who operate the line on behalf of TfL to ensure that passengers have had alternative travel options during these bank holiday closures. Passenger numbers continue to increase on the route and a huge amount of work is taking place on track, stations and depots ready for Elizabeth line services from December 2018.”