Rail repairs will see short term pain but 'long-term benefit'

The government has defended the decision to carry out extensive repairs to the rail network over the Bank Holiday weekend, saying that passengers, business and the tourist industry will "feel the long-term benefit of this weekend's rail engineering work".

Network Rail has planned five major areas of work on different sections of rail lines across the country this weekend. Passenger services will be affected, but alternative arrangements have been made, said Minister for Transport Kim Howells.

The AA has warned that motorists could face even worse Bank Holiday delays than usual this weekend as people switch from trains to cars.

Routes to the Reading and Leeds Festivals; the England v Wales rugby match at Cardiff; the Notting Hill Carnival and the Rolling Stones concert at Twickenham could be congested, as well as the traditional holiday routes, the association said.

AA Roadwatch urges motorists to plan journeys and prepare for delays as people make the most of the three-day break – the last official long weekend before Christmas.

Graham Webb, Business Manager of AA Roadwatch, said: “Traffic volumes could be high especially with the rail repairs being carried out, so we would encourage people to leave as early as possible to beat the queues especially if travelling to an organised event. We predict it to be worse than it would normally be on a Bank Holiday weekend."

Mr Howells said that "thousands of men and women" would be working around the clock to deliver a "safer, faster and more reliable railway".

He added: "We understand that some people travelling this weekend will be frustrated by line closures, but there is no easy time to do this work. It has been planned to cause the least disruption possible. During a normal weekday rush hour, double the number of people will travel than at any time this weekend."

Among the services affected are those using the Reading to London Paddington line which will have buses replacing services between Maidenhead and Slough. First Great Western Trains will not run between Reading and London Paddington. Extra train services have been put on for the Reading Festival weekend from Reading to London Waterloo.

Rail services from London to Cardiff will be affected over the weekend and could delay rugby fans heading to Wales to see the match.

Two other services which will be affected are the East Coast Main line which is closed between Newark and Retford affecting GNER and Hull Trains. The West Coast main line is not running between Stockport and Manchester and Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes.

This year, Network Rail will replace around 700 miles of track compared with 200 under Railtrack.

Anyone planning a rail journey should check with train operators to confirm arrangements. The details of line closures are available from Network Rail.

(gmcg)