London Midland today announced that the engineering works being carried out by Network Rail at Rugby (which are part of the West Coast Mainline improvement project) will continue until 0500hrs on Friday.
This means that services between Coventry and Northampton will continue to be provided as a bus service, until normal train services resume on Friday morning.
The engineering works began on Thursday last week and were originally planned to end before the start of normal services for the return to work on 2nd January. However Network Rail's latest schedule means that the tracks will not be back in use till Friday morning.
London Midland, which manages Northampton station, one of the stations directly affected, is advising that there will be a reduced amount of car parking space available at the station on Wednesday 2nd January. Part of the car park is being used as a temporary bus station for the extra buses that are needed to transport passengers between Coventry and Northampton whilst the engineering works are on.
London Midland Managing Director Steve Banaghan apologised for the further inconvenience the engineering works are causing to London Midland passengers.
He said, “We are very disappointed that London Midland services have not been able to run as planned. This is a result of the extra time Network Rail is taking to complete the scheduled engineering works at Rugby. Network Rail is advising us that the engineers need additional time over and above the original period of closure, meaning that we cannot return our services to normal till Friday.
“The West Coast upgrade is a major engineering project and one that will bring huge benefits to London Midland passengers overall, particularly from December 2008 when a completely new timetable will be introduced.
"However, it is vitally important that in planning and delivering the works, Network Rail is able to provide certainty to us as Train Operating Companies and to our passengers that deadlines and estimates for works to be completed are realistic and firm. We will be working with Network Rail to ensure that the progress of works in 2008 is planned more effectively and delivered on time.
"In the meantime, we are doing all we can to ensure that once the works have been completed and the lines are safe to use, we will be getting train services back as quickly as possible.”
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