Engineering work moved to help Seagulls fans reach FA Cup semi-final at Wembley

Region & Route: Southern

Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway are pleased to announce they have been able to move the engineering work scheduled to take place on the Brighton main line on 6 April.

The date of the works clashed with Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley, so GTR and Network Rail immediately started discussions on ways to accommodate the fans.

Paul Harwood, Director of Investment at Network Rail south east, said: “We congratulate the Seagulls on reaching the semi-finals. “This match is incredibly important, not just to so many Brighton fans but also the wider Brighton economy, so we started planning to reschedule the work as soon as Brighton were through to the semi-finals. With the kick-off details confirmed yesterday afternoon we're now pleased to announce our decision. “Moving the work means we can accommodate the fans, but also hold firm on our promise to complete our £67 million reliability upgrade to the Brighton main line. “We will update passengers soon once we have confirmed a replacement date to complete the work before the summer.”

The work on Saturday, 6 April, will be rescheduled to another date set to be confirmed. However, the work planned for Sunday, 7 April, will continue as advertised with a rail replacement bus service in place for passengers.

Keith Jipps, GTR Infrastructure Director, said: “We wish the Seagulls the best of luck. By working with Network Rail to reschedule this essential work, fans will have a much easier journey from the south coast and back." George Hunt, the football club’s transport manager, added: “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to work with Network Rail and GTR to successfully reschedule the work to allow our fans to travel to Wembley on trains instead of replacement buses. “We’ve worked really closely with Network Rail and GTR over the past two years and look forward to working together as we move forward.”

For more information and to sign up for free alerts, visit BrightonMainLine.co.uk or follow @brighton_line on Twitter. To plan your journey visit nationalrail.co.uk

Notes to Editors Majority funded by the Department for Transport as part of a wider £300 million programme, the project will tackle delay hotspots and boost reliability on one of the busiest and most unreliable parts of the network.

The £67 million work on this stretch of railway is renewing and upgrading track junctions and signalling, shoring up embankments to reduce the risk of landslides and introducing new technology that not only detects potential problems before they occur, but can help the railway recover faster if there is a fault.

There is also extensive work within four Victorian tunnels – Balcombe, Clayton, Patcham and Haywards Heath – which includes track, signalling and drainage work to improve reliability and reduce delays for passengers in the future.

More than three quarters of passengers made alternative travel arrangements, worked from home or took annual leave during the 9-day closure during the school half-term last month, thanks to an extensive passenger awareness campaign, which was praised by independent watchdog Transport Focus.

More than two years of planning has gone into the Brighton main line improvement works