A series of closures on Britain’s busiest rail route will affect Northampton rail passengers for more than five weeks from next spring.
A 12-mile section of the West Coast Main Line around Watford Junction station will be closed for 36 days between May 2014 and April 2015, as part of a £81 million Network Rail project to improve punctuality.
The restrictions will affect passengers travelling to and from London from Northampton.
London Midland, which runs the vast majority of services through Northampton, will be making alternative arrangements for passengers during the closures, which will be from May 3 to 5; August 8 to 25; December 25 to 29; February 14 to 22, and April 3 to 6.
The longer shut-downs are the lesser of two evils, as Network Rail says it would take 54 complete weekend closures to complete the work. During the project, the signalling at Watford will be upgraded alongside new junctions and track, with the aim of providing better flexibility and reliability.
Dyan Crowther, Network Rail route managing director, said: “This scheme represents significant investment in the southern end of the West Coast Main Line to improve punctuality and make the railway more reliable.
“This line has seen tremendous growth in traffic and passengers over the last five years with the section at Watford being one of the most intensively used, high-speed sections of track in the UK. This work is absolutely essential to maintain the punctuality that passengers and our freight customers rightly expect.
“There is never a good time to carry out major work on such a busy route. However, after careful discussion with the train operators and industry partners, it became apparent that carrying out this vital investment over five longer closures between May 2014 and Easter 2015 when fewer people travel would, overall, cause less disruption.”
Patrick Verwer, London Midland managing director, said: “We want our customers to have good journeys with minimum disruption. This is much needed investment and a series of closures is the quickest way of bringing the benefits of this major upgrade to our passengers. It gives certainty and allows us to plan good quality alternative travel arrangements.
“We are now working closely with Network Rail and other industry partners to ensure that there is a comprehensive programme of communication with good passenger information available well ahead of and during the closures. It’s vital that passengers are aware of what’s going on so they can plan their journeys and allow enough time to get to their destinations.”
Paul Minton, vice-chairman of Northampton Rail Users’ Group, said: “When Network Rail last came to us for discussions about the West Coast Main Line, we said we would accept longer closures if it got the work done. We were assured that would be it.
“It will cause a lot of difficulty for a lot of people. The 0700 and 0712 from Northampton are standing room only, and you are talking in the region of 1,200 people.” You can’t displace that many people in an hour.”
Alongside this project, Network Rail intends to increase the line speed of the fast lines through Watford to 125mph, from the current 80mph, and is investigating the feasibility of this.