Network Rail will carry out vital maintenance and upgrades across Wales and the west this Easter to ensure it can continue to move critical freight and passengers, who are reminded to make essential journeys only.

Abseiling teams have been securing a steep railway cutting making it more reliable for passengers on the line between Liverpool and Ormskirk.

Manchester Piccadilly station has opened a collection point for food bank donations during the coronavirus pandemic.

Network Rail and Great Northern are urging passengers to check before travelling over the Easter weekend as an essential project to create a more modern and reliable railway in Bowes Park takes place.

Over the Easter weekend, Network Rail will work to install a new underpass beneath the railway in Bessacarr in a £3.5million investment which will help to improve safety in the area.

• Only essential journeys should be made over the Easter weekend
• West Coast main line upgrades include work at Bletchley, Wolverhampton and Chorley to improve services for passengers
• People who do need to use the railway should check before they travel

Railway staff on nationally critical routes, including the West Coast main line and Chiltern main line, are continuing to keep vital supplies and people who cannot work from home moving during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Easter Bank Holiday engineering work is taking place on lines around Hither Green in South East London, to improve rail services in the region, meaning trains will be diverted or replaced by buses for four days.