Extensive engineering works across Network Rail’s Anglia route will cause major disruption throughout March, including a five‑day closure of London Liverpool Street mainline station. The programme, which forms part of essential maintenance and renewals, will affect all routes into the station and multiple TfL services.
Network Rail emphasises that the work is critical to maintaining reliability and safety on some of the busiest rail corridors in the UK.
Five‑Day London Liverpool Street Closure
The main concourse and all Greater Anglia mainline routes into London Liverpool Street from Southend Victoria, Ingatestone, and services from Cheshunt via Broxbourne will be suspended.
Some c2c services that normally run into Liverpool Street will also be impacted.
Significant Elizabeth Line and London Overground Disruption
- Elizabeth line: Closed between Stratford and Shenfield during multiple March weekends.
- London Overground (Weaver Line): Services from Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford will not run into London Liverpool Street on affected dates.
What the Work Involves
Network Rail is using the closures to carry out large-scale renewal and maintenance activities, including:
- Track and rail renewals near Ilford and Gidea Park
- Roof and drainage upgrades at London Liverpool Street
- Track drainage installations
- Station and platform works at Stratford, Chadwell Heath, Harold Wood, Manor Park, Upminster, Rayleigh, Wickford and Hockley
- Infrastructure improvements at Ilford depot
- Overhead line renewals and redundant structure removal
- Surveys of structures, canopies, tunnels, walls and essential brickwork repairs
- Vegetation clearance and litter removal across the route
- Track maintenance including tamping, rail grinding and ballast cleaning
- General infrastructure and drainage maintenance
Industry Voices
Katie Frost, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said:
"I'm sorry that our work will impact weekend passenger journeys in March. There is never a good time to close the railway, but our planned work will deliver an extensive amount of renewals, repairs, maintenance and surveys on these busy, well used routes into London Liverpool Street. Much of the work needs to be done while trains are not running to keep our staff safe, and we are maximising the time we have to do as much as we can."
Martin Beable, managing director for Greater Anglia, added:
“Passengers should check before they travel and allow more time for their journey. We would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding while Network Rail carry out this work.”
Trish Ashton, TfL’s Director of Rail, said:
"We’re sorry for any disruption caused by weekend engineering work impacting London Overground and Elizabeth line services during March. These planned works are essential to help keep our services safe and reliable. Customers are advised to ‘check before they travel’ using the TfL Go app or at TfL.gov.uk, and allow a little extra time for their journeys."
Image credit: Network Rail
