Network Rail will be delivering 261 upgrade projects – an investment of £79.3m – over the August bank holiday.

The vast majority of the rail network will be open for business over the weekend. But where work is taking place, thousands of railway workers will be delivering essential upgrades that will improve train performance and support a more reliable railway for passengers and freight customers.

However, journeys through Birmingham will be severely impacted over the bank holiday due to essential track work, plus industrial action by CrossCountry will affect services.

Network Rail's long-planned work to invest £600,000 upgrading 450 metres of tightly curved track which connects the Camp Hill line with the main line between Birmingham and Coventry will take place on Sunday 24 and Monday 25 August.

It will see changes to routes operated by CrossCountry - which will already be running a much-reduced timetable - as well as West Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales.

On those two days fewer trains will run as a result and those running will be diverted while others will be served by rail replacement bus services. 

Industrial action by the RMT union on Saturday 23 and Monday 25 August means CrossCountry will run a reduced timetable over the bank holiday weekend with no services on Saturday 23 August.

Other key improvement work being carried out by Network Rail includes:

• London King's Cross and Peterborough: As part of works for the East Coast Digital Programme, and maintenance works between Peterborough and Potters Bar, there will be no long-distance services between London King's Cross and Peterborough on Sunday 24 August. Buses will be in place between Peterborough and Bedford for onward travel.
• London Victoria and Dartford: Due to re-signalling work in the Lewisham area, there will be no Southeastern services from London Victoria to Dartford on Sunday 24 and Monday 25 August. Rail replacement buses will be in place between New Cross and Dartford via Bexleyheath, and ticket acceptance will be in place between Bank and Lewisham.

Helen Hamlin, Network Rail's chief network operator, said: “With the August bank holiday weekend approaching, we've carefully planned our engineering work to minimise disruption, allowing people to rely on the railway and make the most of the late summer bank holiday weekend.

“While the vast majority of the railway will be running, works on some parts of the network are unfortunately unavoidable, as we complete major work to support a better, more reliable railway that we wouldn't be able to complete in a normal weekend. So, we're asking passengers to check their journeys in advance to ensure their route isn't affected.”

Passengers travelling over the bank holiday weekend can check their journeys in advance at nationalrail.co.uk or with their train operator.

CrossCountry passengers are being warned of significant disruption to services due to industrial action by the RMT union on 23 and 25 August.

The strike will see union members – including train managers and senior conductors – declining to work on both days. While some managers are available to help provide a limited service on Monday, this being a holiday weekend has reduced the number able to work on Saturday, meaning no services can operate.

Passengers are strongly advised not to travel on Saturday 23 August and travel either side of the bank holiday weekend.

A very limited service will operate on Monday 25 August between 8am and 6pm and passengers are advised to check their journeys carefully before departing and expect all services to be busy.

Specific journey details will be available on CrossCountry’s website. However, there will be no CrossCountry service between Birmingham, Reading and the South Coast and no service between Leicester, Cambridge and Stansted Airport. There will only be a very limited service to the South-west and north of York.

On the Monday, planned engineering work in the West Midlands will also impact the CrossCountry services that do run, meaning some journeys will take longer.

Click here for the latest CrossCountry travel advice.