01.11.12
‘Vast majority’ unaffected by Christmas engineering works – ATOC
ATOC says fewer passengers than last year will be disrupted by Christmas and New Year engineering works.
The “vast majority” of train passengers should experience no disruption due to planned works, it said, noting that the number of replacement buses has almost halved compared to last Christmas.
Among the major projects that are taking place, however, is the resignalling and remodelling works at Bletchley, south of Milton Keynes, starting 10pm on December 22, which will affect direct services on the West Coast Main Line into the new year. There will also be major works between Stafford and Lichfield Trent Valley.
Michael Roberts, chief executive of ATOC said: “A great deal of effort and planning goes into making sure that work to improve stations and make journeys faster and more reliable goes on while minimising disruption for our passengers.
“This year, we have again been able to reduce the number of people who will have to get on to a replacement bus. Once again train companies have been working closely with Network Rail to make sure that we keep people on trains wherever we can.”
Robin Gisby, Network Rail managing director of network operations, said: "We’re doing a lot of work this year to improve Britain's railway and there will be some disruption to passengers over the Christmas period, but the overall effect on passengers is much lower than in previous years.
“Passengers will see fewer buses and a better service this Christmas holiday period as our vital improvement work uses new techniques and equipment that reduces the impact on train services. This will be the model for the years ahead as we invest heavily to build a bigger, better railway and support Britain’s economic growth.”
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