NETWORK RAIL is celebrating the fact that railway upgrades over the May Day bank holiday weekend were less disruptive than the work carried out at Easter this year, even though 11,000 people were involved in possessions between Scotland and the south of England.

One project saw the transfer of signalling control on part of the Midland Main Line from South Yorkshire to the new Rail Operating Centre at York, while track was renewed on the West Coast Main Line through Oxenholme. In other projects, work continued to upgrade lines on either side of London for Crossrail and to improve the WCML between Stafford and Crewe.

There were also track renewals at Weybridge and Axminster, and  improvement works to a number of bridges in the Stour and Avon area, while the replacement of track in the tunnels approaching Glasgow Queen Street continues in preparation for electrification.

Rob McIntosh, who is Network Rail's route managing director in the East Midlands, said: "I would like to thank passengers for their understanding while we worked to improve the railway over the long weekend. I am proud of the efforts of our engineers who worked tirelessly to deliver another slice of our £40 billion Railway Upgrade Plan aimed at providing better, more reliable journeys for passengers and businesses across Britain.”

It has also been revealed that a section of the Alton branch in Hampshire is to reopen earlier than expected, following repairs to a landslip. Train services are expected to be restored tomorrow, which will be five days earlier than originally planned, after a 'small army' of engineers had worked around the clock to stabilise the track at Wrecclesham.

There was also good news for passengers on the Whitby branch in North Yorkshire, because the line has reopened after being closed since Sunday between Whitby and Grosmont for emergency engineering work at Ruswarp. Rail replacement buses ran non-stop between Middlesbrough and Whitby, while minibuses were deployed to serve the intermediate stations.

Disruption continues further west, however, with buses continuing to replace trains on the Settle & Carlisle line between Appleby and Carlisle while repairs to a landslip near Armathwaite continue.