WITH work to the railway network between south Essex and London once again forcing passengers into seeking alternative travel arrangements over the busy bank holiday weekend, it led to some irate commuters again asking why it could not be done overnight.

On Sunday and Monday, Crossrail carried out track renewal, major project work, signalling work and overhead line renewal work.

This meant that there were no Greater Anglia trains between London Liverpool Street and Billericay all day.

Any passengers who were looking to travel into and back from London had to take the replacement bus service instead.

Some passengers were happy enough with the work being carried out and said that they accepted it was better done on a weekend than during the working week.

Others, however, complained that a bank holiday was a bad time to have it carried out, as so many people would have wanted to visit the capital for the long weekend.

One passenger, Toni Peters, 28 from Westcliff, said she was happy for work to be carried out, but questioned why they had been decided to be done on a bank holiday weekend.

She said: “They need to do the work at some point so I’m alright with that, but on a bank holiday weekend? I don’t really understand that.

“We headed into London for the Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday and it just seemed like a lot more aggro and I know there were a few other people who felt the same.

“Obviously work they do isn’t ever going to be carried out at a convenient time for everyone.

“But why not do it next week when it’s not a bank holiday weekend and there’s not a huge festival going on?

“People were heading in for the carnival and taking their kids into London so it just seems bad timing to me.

“I think they can just plan it a bit better and maybe look out for stuff that’s going on that weekend, but I guess I’m no expert.”

In response to complaints about the work being carried out, Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles assured passengers.

He said: “We made sure that customers were able to complete their journeys last weekend, even if part of the way was by bus.

“We apologise to customers for inconveniences that engineering work may cause, but these engineering works are vital to improve the railway in East Anglia for everyone, making it more reliable for generations to come.”

Another spokesman for the company yesterday gave further explanations for the timing of the work.

They said: “Obviously a bank holiday weekend is going to be a quieter period than midweek.

“It’s quite common for these works to be carried out on bank holiday weekends.

“A longer weekend helps as well so it seemed like a suitable time.

“The work is being carried out by National Rail and Crossrail so we have to make sure we can provide for that.

“We understand that the work is an inconvenience for some people but this way, we upset a lot less people than if they were done midweek.

“We have replacement bus services for all trains so there are alternatives and they have all run smoothly.

“We make sure that we also give our customers a lot of notice in advance so that they can make alternative arrangements if necessary.”

A number of passengers also defended the timing of the work, with some suggesting it was the best time to do them.

Sam Smart, 34, from Southend was one of those people and he also went on to say that commuters shouldn’t complain seeing as the work is done for a reason.

He said: “The train companies can’t win.

“I don’t understand why people complain about this.

“These works are done for our safety so I don’t understand how people have the nerve to argue about it. They have to be carried out at some stage and it might as well be done on a long weekend instead of during the week when it’s ten times busier.

“Everyone puts up with roadworks when they’re done at inconvenient times and no one seems to argue then – it only ever seems to be when it happens to the trains.”