Network Rail Issues Travel Advisories During May Engineering Works

Network Rail is encouraging passengers to check their journeys ahead of a number of works taking place across Britain’s railway network over both the early and late May bank holiday weekends.

The works, which are valued at 133 million GBP, will see Network Rail undertaking over 630 projects across the country.

Projects set to begin over the upcoming early May bank holiday (3–5 May) include embankment repairs, track renewal and drainage works on the line between London Euston & Milton Keynes Central, leading to a lack of services between the two stations between Sunday 04 & Monday 05 May.

Battersea station is set to receive improvements to track, re-signalling, maintenance and general structural repair works, which will lead to the closure of platforms 1–8, as well as a pause on all Southeastern services to or from the station between Saturday 03 & Sunday 04 May. Services will instead be diverted via London Bridge of London Cannon Street, with the Gatwick Express set to operate on a reduced timetable, along with reduced Southern services through to Brighton.

Services between Cambridge & Audley End will also be paused between Saturday 03 & Monday 05 May due to works to install new signalling equipment, as well as preparations for the second phase of commissioning for the Cambrdidge re-signalling project ahead of the opening of Cambridge South station in early 2026. Rail replacement buses will be in operation between the two stations, with London Stansted CrossCountry set to operate buses between Cambridge and Stansted Airport over the weekend.

Later in the month, the late May bank holiday (24–26 May) will see Network Rail begin works to upgrade overhead lines between Bedford & London St Pancras, allowing bi-mode diesel-electric trains to run up to 125mph. This will lead to a pause in services between London St Pancras International and Bedford on both Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 May, and, as a result, East Midlands Railway services will start and terminate at Bedford, with Thameslink services starting and terminating at St Albans and Harpenden.

Elsewhere, a mix of structural works, HS2 works and earthworks will take place between Nuneaton and Stafford, leading to a reduced timetable on Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and CrossCountry services between Saturday 24 and Friday 30 May. Rail replacement buses will also be made available.

Helen Hamlin, Network Rail's director of system operations, said:

This May, thousands of workers will be out in force as we continue to invest in making Britain's railway more reliable, with £133m worth of essential upgrades taking place across the two Bank Holiday weekends.

While the vast majority of the network will remain open for business as usual, we're encouraging passengers planning to use the railway to check their journeys in advance.

When we close parts of the railway, we work hard to maximise that time—with over 630 vital pieces of work being carried out – and keep disruption to a minimum for passengers and freight customers.

Passengers are advised to check timetables regularly and contact either National Rail Enquiries or their operator for further information on their journeys.