£200m Derby station upgrade on the way – with ‘short term pain’ for commuters

Network Rail has announced a £200m revamp of track and signals around Derby railway station in a move that has been welcomed by local business leaders – despite the prospect of serious timetable disruptions.

The work will start in July 2018 and is scheduled to take 79 days to complete.

Cross Country services will not call at Derby and there will be other timetable disruptions during the works.

But East Midlands Chamber has broadly welcomed the announcement.

Chris Hobson, the Chamber’s director of policy, said: “The £200m investment in rail infrastructure at Derby railway station is long overdue and will be welcomed by the business community and leisure users once the work is complete.

“The tracks and signals are old and the line priorities through the station do not function as well as they should, resulting in delays.

“There will be relatively short-term pain during the works but the modernisation will offer long-term gain and help deliver a rail network that will better meet the demands of future travellers.

“It must be delivered on schedule and it is essential during the works that rail users are kept fully informed of timetable disruptions, know how to access up-to-date information about services and that alternative access to the services that won’t be calling at Derby station is kept both realistic and practicable.”

Works will take place between 22 July 2018 and 7 October 2018

A full, detailed timetable will be published in the New Year but will see East Midlands Trains services to London, Crewe, Matlock and Nottingham affected at various points of the work. CrossCountry services will divert around Derby, with a bus replacement service from Derby to connecting stations

Rob McIntosh, managing director for Network Rail’s London North Eastern and East Midlands (LNE&EM) route, said: “It is many decades since the rail infrastructure at Derby saw this kind of investment and we have spent a huge amount of time working with our train operators, stakeholders and local businesses to make sure we keep disruption to a minimum while getting this vital work done as quickly as possible. Derby is a key interchange on the Midland Main Line and once the upgrade is complete and the bottleneck removed, the region will benefit from a more efficient, reliable and modern network fit to meet the needs of the economies and communities our railway serves.”

Jake Kelly, managing director for East Midlands Trains, said: “This work is vital to deliver an upgraded railway in Derby and we are supportive of the plans in place by Network Rail.

“Our key priority is to ensure that we provide the best possible service for our customers during the works . We are developing comprehensive plans to ensure that we can continue running as many of our London train services as possible, whilst ensuring that we can offer reliable replacement rail services on the local routes during the times we are not able to operate our train services.

“We’re in the process of finalising all the details of our timetable during the works and will be publishing detailed customer advice and timetables early in the New Year. We’ll also be carrying out an extensive communications campaign with customers, key businesses and rail station users so they are aware of the changes they can expect during these works.”

CrossCountry’s managing director, Andy Cooper, said: “These works will mean a long period of disruption for many CrossCountry customers, which is something we’d always try to avoid. However, the journey time improvement they deliver will get our customers to the north east quicker than ever before. The railway layout at Derby was great in the ‘days of steam trains’ but does not meet the needs of today’s much busier railway.

“We will do all we can to minimise the impact on customers travelling to and from Derby, and others with extended journeys times caused by diversions around the station, including clear and frequent real time communication during the period of disruption and publishing revised timetables in good time. While there will inevitably be some inconvenience for many, for which we apologise, we are working with our industry partners to ensure this massive project will deliver real benefits for our passengers.”

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