Network Rail Issues August Bank Holiday Travel Advisory

Network Rail has advised that although the British rail network will be operational over the August bank holiday weekend (23–25 August), passengers should check their journeys before travelling.

A number of engineering and essential upgrade works will also take place this coming weekend as part of 261 projects across the country – an investment of 79.3 million GBP.

Locations affected by the programme of upgrade works include the line between London King’s Cross and Peterborough, which, as a result of works for the East Coast Digital Programme, will see no services on Sunday 24 August, with buses replacing services between Peterborough and Bedford for onward travel.

Elsewhere in the capital, there will be no Southeastern services from London Victoria to Dartford on both Sunday 24 and Monday 25 August. This is due to re-signalling work in the Lewisham area, with rail replacement buses set to operate between New Cross and Dartford via Bexleyheath. Ticket acceptance will also be in place between Bank and Lewisham.

Rail replacement buses will be in operation between Birmingham International and Birmingham New Street from Saturday 23 to Monday 25 August due to track renewals at Garrison Street and Tyseley. Avanti and CrossCountry services will be diverted with additional journey times, and London Northwestern services will terminate at Birmingham International.

Helen Hamlin, Network Rail's chief network operator, said:

With the August bank holiday weekend approaching, we've carefully planned our engineering work to minimise disruption, allowing people to rely on the railway and make the most of the late summer bank holiday weekend.

While the vast majority of the railway will be running, works on some parts of the network are unfortunately unavoidable. This bank holiday weekend gives us a rare opportunity to complete major work to support a better, more reliable railway, that we wouldn't be able to complete in a normal weekend. So, we're asking passengers to check their journeys in advance to ensure their route isn't affected.