Cheshire rail upgrades complete this August to improve future journeys

Tuesday 26 Aug 2025

Cheshire rail upgrades complete this August to improve future journeys

Region & Route:: North West & Central; | North West & Central: North West

Major rail upgrades have been carried out this August to improve future journeys for passengers and freight through Cheshire.

Network Rail has invested in excess of £8.5m renewing tracks, points, bridges and platforms over the last three weeks.

The work took place during a rare 21-day closure of a 50-mile stretch of the West Coast Main Line through three counties, which enabled the massive renewal of a railway bridge in Stockport.

With no train traffic on the tracks, hundreds of railway workers from Network Rail and its supply chain were able to complete the essential infrastructure upgrades over a wide area.

In Cheshire the work included:

New track, points and overhead lines in Macclesfield
Switches and crossings renewals at Macclesfield station
Track upgrades in Congleton
Platform renewals and lighting improvements at Poynton station

Those projects were carried out between 2 and 22 August with trains running on the line again on Saturday 23 August.

Today (Tuesday 26 August) Network Rail has released footage of the upgrades which took place in Cheshire (footage attached as video downloads).

Darren Miller, Network Rail North West route infrastructure director, said: “I’d like to thank passengers for their patience this August while we’ve had the railway closed for an extended period for these essential railway improvements.

“Now they’re complete ,our multi-million-pound investment will improve future journeys through Cheshire and on the wider West Coast Main Line, keeping passenger and freight trains moving safely and smoothly on one of the busiest routes in the country.”

The work through Cheshire was part of a wider £43m investment to improve the West Coast Main Line throughout August.

Passengers are reminded they can plan their journeys in advance by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk.

To find out how Network Rail maintains and improves the railway you can visit: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/looking-after-the-railway/

Notes to Editors

The work was led by Network Rail Capital Delivery in partnership with its supply chain as follows:

Work in Macclesfield and Congleton was delivered by the Central Rail Systems Alliance
Platform renewals and lighting improvements at Poynton station were delivered by AmcoGiffen

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.