Rail replacement buses from Colchester to Ingatestone

Due to track renewal and other essential engineering works on the line, there will be no trains running between Colchester and Ingatestone for our next home match against Southampton.

  • Saturday 11th February 2023 - Chelsea

  • Sunday 19th February 2023 - Tottenham (away)

  • Sunday 25th February 2023 - Nottingham Forest

  • Sunday 12th March 2023 - Aston Villa

  • Sunday 2nd April - Southampton

Routes Affected

GREATER ANGLIA - 2nd April 2023

No trains will run between Colchester and Ingatestone.

Buses will replace trains between Colchester and Ingatestone

Most of these engineering works are planned a long time in advance, often before the Club’s fixtures are even released. In our discussions with the Club they always cite that it is completely out of their influence: Network Rail normally carries out much of its maintenance and upgrade work requiring line closures over weekends and public holidays to minimise the number of passengers affected. This policy has caused frustration among football supporters for years.

It seems as though engineering works are happening far more often than many of us remember. Due to health and safety practices it is often no longer deemed acceptable to be working on one set of tracks when adjoining ones are being used for live running. Whilst there are two pairs of tracks between Shenfield and Stratford, both are shut whilst work may relate to just one pair. When a section of track is required for maintenance and trains cannot run, it is handed over by the operators to the engineers, who take “possession” and strictly only engineering trains allowed over the stretch of line in question. Today there is a far greater emphasis on safety with increased risk evaluation, assessment and monitoring plus work briefings. These all result in extended timescales for managing engineering possessions, with the added need to avoid any over-run for fear of incurring penalties. This means that timeframes for actual working during track closures are not always maximised.

WHUST