Passengers hoping to travel from Liverpool St to Stansted Airport and East Anglia will bear the brunt of railway closures planned for the Christmas holiday period, the rail industry announced yesterday.
In all, 28 engineering projects are planned for the holiday season, but only one of the mainline routes out of London — by far the busiest services in the country — will be closed.
Most trains into Liverpool St will be suspended from 11pm on Christmas Eve until 3am on January 4 as overhead cables are repaired. All long-distance services on the East Anglia network will begin and terminate at Ingatestone. Passengers will be forced to use rail replacement buses to and from London. Metro services, meanwhile, will begin and terminate at Ilford and Romford. Replacement buses will connect to Newbury Park Tube station on the Central line.
Stansted services will terminate at Tottenham Hale from Christmas Day until December 29 and again on January 2. Travellers will have to take Victoria Line Tube trains to and from Central London.
Services to and from South Wales will be delayed by a major engineering project in Newport. Trains on the Great Western Mainline to Cardiff and Swansea will be diverted via Gloucester, adding about an hour to journey times.
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The widening of a tunnel in Southampton to allow bigger freight carriages to pass through will sever the South West Mainline to Weymouth between Christmas and January 3.
A spur of the Midland Mainline running to Nottingham will be closed at the same time. Trains between London and Sheffield will be diverted around the area, adding about 20 minutes to journey times.
Despite the disruption Network Rail, which owns the fixed rail infrastructure, insisted that there would be significantly less engineering work on the lines than last year.
“The way we have planned our vital rail improvement work will mean that passengers can look forward to less disruption this Christmas. Passengers should check National Rail Enquiries to see how their journeys may be affected,” a spokesman said.
However, the Conservative Party vowed to impose tough financial penalties on the company if it fails to complete engineering works on time.
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“Christmas engineering works will leave passengers facing more travel misery, on top of threatened rail strikes. Network Rail needs to be made genuinely accountable to its customers and we need to give it much tougher incentives to get engineering works done promptly and efficiently to minimise closures,” said Theresa Villiers, Shadow Transport Secretary. “That is why Conservatives have called for the rail regulator to be given the power to inflict real financial pain on Network Rail when they fail passengers including the option to confiscate bonuses in the most serious cases.”
The main passenger watchdog urged train companies to reduce fares to travellers who are forced on to replacement bus services.
“We’re calling on the industry to keep passengers on trains wherever possible – our research shows that passengers would prefer a journey by train taking longer than getting on a bus. Plus, why should passengers pay the same price for a rail-replacement as they would a train ticket when they’re receiving a longer, more uncomfortable journey?” said Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive.
“Train companies should minimise inconvenience by making more staff available at stations to help with advice and luggage, give clear and timely information so people can plan their journeys and ensure the work finishes on time.”