COMMUTERS will face TEN days of disruption due to major railway works.

From December 23, Network Rail engineers will be installing 12.5km of overhead wire at

Forest Gate on the Great Eastern Main Line as part of a £250 million investment to improve reliability.

They will also be installing structures to carry overhead wire on the Southend Victoria branch line as part of a £46 million investment to reduce delays and cancellations in hot weather.

There will be work on the Felixstowe branch line as part of a £60.4 million project to improve reliability.

Works will continue at Shenfield station as part of the Crossrail programme.

It means there will be changes to services between Ingatestone and London Liverpool Street which will cause disruption to commuters travelling into the City from north Essex.

This will affect both the Greater Anglia and TfL rail services from December 23 until New Year’s Day.

Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “We are making a huge investment into Anglia’s rail network to carry out major improvements to rail travel in the region as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan.

“This means the line will be closed over the Christmas period to allow our engineers to carry out these important upgrades.

“I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out this work and advise them to check before they travel.”

On December 23 and 24 there will be a rail replacement service from Shenfield to London Liverpool Street for the TFL service. For Greater Anglia it will be from Ingatestone. 

There will be no service on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

On December 27 there will be a rail replacement from Shenfield to Liverpool Street until 10.30am and then Romford to Liverpool Street.

For Greater Anglia it will be from Ingatestone. 

From December 28 to New Year’s Day there will be a rail replacement from Romford to Liverpool Street. For Greater Anglia it will be from Ingatestone. 

Further work will take place early next year which will see the overhead wiring system upgraded on the final stretch between Forest Gate and London Liverpool Street.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We know customers would rather stay on the train all the way to their destination, but I’d like to assure passengers that they will still be able to complete their journeys over the festive season, even if part of it is by bus.

“We’re sorry customers are inconvenienced by these works, but together with Network Rail, we’re working to transform the railway in East Anglia.

“Next year the first of our new trains that we’re getting to replace all of our existing trains will come into service.”