Rail users face disruption for digital upgrade

Rail passengers are being advised to check before they travel due to improvement works being carried out on signalling systems.

Greater Anglia said engineering works would take place between Ipswich and Diss, Norfolk, on Sunday 22 February.

Trains on the Great Eastern Main Line would run between Norwich and Diss, Ipswich and London, Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge, as well as between Bury St Edmunds and Peterborough.

However, rail replacement buses would operate between Diss and Ipswich, and Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich.

The works by Network Rail are part of its project to swap out 40-year-old signalling components at the Norwich end of the Great Eastern Main Line.

The components are associated with various aspects of signalling, including detecting where trains are located on the route.

Network Rail said the digital upgrade would help in "minimising delays" both now and in the future.

Greater Anglia said that, as well as being more reliable, the new digital parts were compatible with potential further upgrades to signalling equipment, helping to future-proof the railway.

It apologised for any inconvenience and advised people to plan ahead.

"Network Rail's engineering work will help to modernise the railway and maintain punctuality and reliability," said Greater Anglia managing director Martin Beable.

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