Rail travellers heading south are warned of weekend disruption

Rail travellers from Rotherham and the Dearne Valley are warned that they could have their journeys disrupted by upcoming infrastructure work.

Improvement work at Alfreton Tunnel will mean buses replace trains between Sheffield and Nottingham for the weekend of Saturday August 8 and Sunday August 9.

Network Rail engineers will be renewing nearly half a kilometre of track to make train journeys more reliable.

East Midlands Railway will have an amended timetable on the Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich route with trains not calling at Ilkeston, Langley Mill, Alfreton and a significantly reduced service for Sheffield.

Passengers for these stations can use Northern’s replacement buses.

In addition, the 6.53am Derby to Sheffield train on August 8 will start from Derby later than scheduled at 7.20am and will continue to run up to 27 minutes later through to Chesterfield where it will terminate at 7.42am.

The 7.40am Sheffield to Norwich train on August 8 will start from Chesterfield at 7.47am.

The 9.17am Nottingham to Matlock train on August 9 will depart Derby earlier than scheduled at 9.51am and will continue to run up to three minutes earlier through to Whatstandwell, where it will return to its scheduled departure time.

Eric Larocque, Network Rail operations director, said: “We know this sort of rail improvement work can be inconvenient, and we're sorry to passengers whose journeys are affected.

“We encourage anyone planning to travel between Sheffield and Nottingham over the weekend of 8 and 9 August to allow more time and check their journey before setting off.”