The underpass at Ely train station is to be closed for two weekends in January during sewer main replacement work.

The A142, where it crosses and passes under the railway line, will be partially shut on the weekend of January 23-26, and then fully closed the following weekend, January 30 – February 2.

The closure is being planned by Anglian Water alongside the local highways agency to allow a £400,000 sewer replacement scheme to be completed.

The project has been designed to significantly reduce the chances of bursts affecting customer supplies.

Emma Staples, from Anglian Water, said: “This work has been extensively planned to minimise disruption wherever possible while we replace this stretch of sewer, which has burst several times recently.

“Our teams of engineers will be working round the clock over both weekends to ensure work is completed on schedule.

“We hope people will understand why this work is so essential, however, we also appreciate that it will be inconvenient. This is why we wanted to give people in Ely and the surrounding area as much notice as possible, and why we have meticulously planned the project and timing to avoid peak times and minimise the impact it will have.”

From 7pm on Friday January 23 until 6am on Monday January 26 the underpass beneath the railway line will be closed. Traffic will still be able to use the A142 as normal although all vehicles will need to use the level crossing which is currently used by larger vehicles.

The following weekend, from Friday January 30 at 7pm until Monday February 2 at 6am both the underpass and level crossing will be fully closed to all vehicles.

Over this weekend traffic will be diverted Angel Drove, the A10 (Cambridge Road), the A1123 (Newmarket Road) and the A142 (Soham Road), and vice versa.

Spokesman Antony Innes said: “We’re doing all we can to make sure this important work to help safeguard customer services and the environment goes smoothly. However, we do recognise that this work will cause disruption to the area, including towns like Soham, Stretham, Wicken and Little Thetford and we’re sorry for this.”