On 23rd January, a cycle rack at Ely station in Cambridgeshire that is life-expired will be replaced with a brand-new one.

There are currently spaces for 144 bicycles at the station, but one of the racks is showing its age and is coming to the end of its life. Spare parts to repair the racks are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, so it is to be replaced with a better, more modern one.

The bike rack to be replaced has a total of 40 spaces and is marked with red handles. Before work can start on its replacement it needs to be cleared of all remaining bikes. Greater Anglia is therefore asking customers whose bikes are stored in the rack to move them before the work starts.

If any bikes have not been removed by the time the work begins, they will be moved by Greater Anglia and stored at Ely station for 14 days, where customers can retrieve them by speaking to the station supervisor. After 14 days, any bikes that have been not claimed will be donated to the Re-Cycle charity, which takes used bicycles and ships them to rural communities in Africa.

Information signs providing brief details of the upgrade work have already been fixed to the rack that is to be replaced.

In the coming months, similar renewal work will take place for cycle racks at Bury St Edmunds, Kelvedon, Rochford, and Thurston stations.

Krzysztof Drozd, Greater Anglia’s Station Cleaning and Waste Manager, said: “We are replacing the old bike rack with a new rack, with a higher specification, that will allow our customers to park their bikes more easily.

“To allow the new rack to be put in as quickly as possible, if your bike is in the rack with the red handles or the information signs, we’d ask that you move it, if you can.”