THERE will be no weekend train services between Colchester and London Liverpool Street for two months, as part of Network Rail’s £15m upgrade.

The line will be closed between Manningtree and Shenfield for eight weekends, beginning Saturday, January 31.

This will affect all trains through Colchester on Saturdays and Sundays until March 22.

Greater Anglia will put on replacement bus services.

In Colchester, engineers will be installing two kilometres of track to replace the existing track, which is more than 30 years old.

They will be doing the same at Witham, as well as adding new points which allow trains to move from one part of the track to another.

New points will also be added at Marks Tey, and the overhead lines will be upgraded at Chelmsford.

Network Rail route managing director, Richard Schofield, said: “This investment is absolutely vital to help us deliver a better service for passengers.

“We know that people want to travel by train and not a bus, but the line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich carries a huge amount of traffic and desperately needs this boost.

“The project will deliver a more consistent and reliable service for passengers who travel on this line.

“We would like to thank passengers in advance for bearing with us over these weekends as it will mean some changes to their travel plans.”

What do you think? Email your views to zoe.forsey@nqe.com or call the newsdesk on 01206 508432.

Read the full story in tomorrow's Gazette.