Friday 5 Jan 2024
Check before you travel ahead of Greater Manchester weekend railway drainage upgrades
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central
Passengers are being urged to check before they travel while £2.7m of essential drainage work to reduce flooding and improve the reliability of the railway between Bolton and Manchester takes place over the next five weekends.
Every weekend from 6 January to 4 February, bus replacement services will be in place at all railway stations between Bolton, Salford Crescent, Salford Central, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria while Network Rail completes vital drainage upgrades in response to recent storms.
Tom Carrington, project manager at Network Rail, said: “We are very sorry to weekend passengers travelling between Bolton and Manchester for the inconvenience to their journeys while we put in a better drainage system to future proof the railway from heavy rainfall experienced during recent storm events.
“While journeys can still take place between Bolton and Manchester via bus replacement services, and from Preston and Blackpool with train services diverting through Wigan, it’s important passengers know their travel options first by checking before they travel at nationalrail.co.uk.”
Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern, said: “I’d like to thank our customers for their co-operation and patience while these important works take place. It is important to allow more time for your journey during this period and if in doubt, ‘check before you travel’ on the Northern website.”
Every weekend from Saturday 6 January until Sunday 4 February, the railway between Bolton and Manchester will be closed while 1404 metres of new drainage pipes are laid and six foot trenches are dug to better manage water levels to keep passengers and freight on the move.
During the weekend closures of the line, Northern is providing bus replacement services between Bolton and Manchester Piccadilly. Trains from Blackpool North and Preston will divert via Wigan and services from Windermere and Barrow will start and terminate at Bolton. TransPennine Express services between Scotland and Manchester Airport will start and end at Preston.
Passengers are advised to plan ahead through their train operator or by visiting the www.nationalrail.co.uk website.
To read more about how Network Rail is combating adverse weather visit: www.networkrail.co.uk/responding-to-weather-impacts-on-the-railway/
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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