The Great Eastern Main Line will see work take place over four consecutive weekends throughout February in order to carry out essential maintenance work on infrastructure between, Stratford, Shenfield, Billericay and Southend Victoria with work also taking place at the site of the new Beaulieu Park station.

The huge project will involve the following work:

• Track maintenance, including switches and crossings
• Overhead line work between Ilford and Goodmayes
• Maintenance of a signal gantry between Bethnal Green and Stratford Bridge
• Inspection of culverts and structures between Forest Gate and Shenfield
• Footbridge steps replaced at Ilford station
• De-vegetation to manage leaf fall, reducing the risk of damage to railway infrastructure from falling trees and branches.
• Removal of litter and graffiti, supporting a clean environment and reducing the risk of litter obstructing railway equipment.
• Platform canopy refurbishment at Burnham-on-Crouch and Wickford stations.
• Ballast management work between Billericay and Wickford, to help prevent track misalignment
• Work will continue on the new station at Beaulieu Park station, which will see services impacted between Shenfield and Witham over the last two weekends of February.

The infrastructure maintenance project will take place over the following weekends and will impact both Greater Anglia and Elizabeth line services:

• Saturday the 3rd and Sunday the 4th of February
• Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of February
• Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th of February
• Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th of February

Elizabeth line passengers – Liverpool Street to Shenfield:

• During each weekend of the essential maintenance work, the Elizabeth line will not be able to operate any train services between Stratford and Shenfield
• Some weekend services will run between Stratford and Liverpool Street Elizabeth line station via Whitechapel
• Sunday the 18th of February will see no Elizabeth line services running between Paddington and Abbey Wood/Shenfield

Rail Replacement Bus Information for Elizabeth line passengers – Liverpool Street to Shenfield:

• Rail replacement buses will be in operation from Stratford and will call at all stations to Romford except for Maryland
• For outer stations passengers are able to change at Chadwell Heath for a bus beyond Romford, including Gidea Park, Harold Wood, Brentwood and Shenfield.
• Passengers will also be able to take the Central line to Newbury Park underground station where they can transfer to a rail replacement bus service to Chadwell Heath and change for a bus to outer stations.

To find out more about the above, please visit the TfL website or National Rail.

Greater Anglia passengers from Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Colchester Town:

• The first two weekends of February will see Greater Anglia services from Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester Town and Colchester terminate at Shenfield.
• The last two weekends of February will see rail services terminate at Witham.

Rail replacement buses will operate between:

• Ingatestone and Newbury Park underground station for the first two weekends in February only
• Witham and Newbury Park underground station for the last two weekends in February only
• Southend Victoria and Newbury Park underground station, calling at all stations between Southend Victoria and Shenfield,
• Wickford and Southminster.
• Passengers travelling from Newbury Park underground station are able to use the TfL Central line underground services to Stratford and London Liverpool Street.

Passengers are advised to keep checking their travel plans via National Rail or Greater Anglia website ahead of making a journey. Customers are also advised to allow for more time than usual to complete a journey.

“These works play an essential role to maintain the reliability and safety of our railway. Each improvement, inspection, survey, and maintenance task emphasise our commitment to passenger safety, and keeping our infrastructure in good condition on a heavily used part of the network into central London is very important. I’d like to thank all our customers for their patience while we carry out these essential tasks.”

Mark Walker, Network Rail Anglia Route Infrastructure Engineer

“This work is extremely important to help maintain the safe and reliable running of the railway and make it fit for the future.

A rail replacement service will run while the work takes place and passengers are advised to check before they travel and allow more time for their journey.

We would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding while it is carried out.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia Managing Director