PASSENGERS have been praised for their patience after eight weekends of disrupted rail travel.

No trains have run between Norwich and London Liverpool Street on weekends since January 31.

The last weekend of work was on Saturday and Sunday.

As part of the work, Network Rail replaced 2km of 30-year-old track which goes through Colchester.

New track points - which allow trains to move from one part of track to another - were installed in Witham and Marks Tey.

Track at Witham was also upgraded.

New overhead lines were also installed in Chelmsford.

The changes are part of a £15million upgrade to improve the reliability of the Great Eastern Main Line.

Richard Schofield, Network Rail’s route managing director, said: “The huge amount of work we have completed is a vital piece of the jigsaw of our railway upgrade plan to give passengers a more reliable and consistent service on the line from London to Norwich.

“We try our best to minimise the impact on passengers and do most of the work behind the scenes, but there are big pieces of work that can only be completed when the railway is clear of trains.

“We understand the impact our work has on passengers and would like to thank them all for bearing with us while we got it done.”

Andrew Goodrum, Customer Service Director at Greater Anglia said: "We're very grateful for the cooperation and understanding of our customers over the past eight weekends.

“We will continue to do all we can to provide the best possible alternative travel arrangements and assistance for rail passengers when Network Rail is carrying out work to upgrade the railway."

• Travel between north Essex and London will be disrupted over the Easter weekend.

Network Rail is upgrading overhead lines between Ingatestone and London Liverpool Street, which means now trains will travel between the two stations on Easter Sunday, April 5, and Easter Monday, April 6 .

Greater Anglia will operate bus replacement services between a number of stations on the main line and Newbury Park where passengers can board the Central Line.