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Monday 23 Feb 2026

First trains return after nine-day £7.9m Manchester Piccadilly track upgrades

Region & Route:

North West & Central

Passengers travelling to Manchester are being thanked for their patience after a multimillion-pound upgrade to tracks outside Piccadilly station.

The first trains travelled into the city shortly after 5am this morning (Monday 23 February) following nine days of intense work to future-proof the southern approach to the North West’s busiest station. 

Network Rail and its partner Central Rail Systems Alliance overhauled large sections of track and surrounding infrastructure across six lines between 14-22 February.

During the nine-day closure, engineers replaced:

• Eleven sets of points
• 9km of signalling and telecoms cabling
• 4,000 timber sleepers with modern concrete equivalents 
• 5,500 tonnes of new railway foundation stone (ballast) 
• Signalling and other lineside equipment 

The newly installed infrastructure updates track which was last replaced in the late 1980s.

Today impressive time-lapse footage has been released showing the sheer scale of the effort involved to renew such a large section of railway in a short period of time.

While platforms 1-12 were closed to all passenger trains, improvements also took place inside the station itself to repaint and repoint platform edges, improve emergency lighting and thoroughly litter pick the tracks between platforms to make the most of such a rare closure of the main train shed.

That closure also resulted in one of the largest rail replacement bus operations the city has seen in recent memory, with one bus departing Manchester and Stockport every two and a half minutes in each direction on average.

In total over the nine days, 8,922 rail replacement bus services ran to keep thousands of passengers on the move during the major railway improvements.

Brian Paynter, Network Rail Capital Delivery track director, said: “We would like to say a big thank you to passengers for their patience while this once-in-a-generation upgrade has taken place over the last nine days. 

“Manchester Piccadilly is one of the country’s busiest stations and it’s a key hub for people travelling to the North West. Upgrading the track over six lines in what’s known as the Piccadilly corridor will make journeys more reliable and the points and signalling systems less prone to faults - meaning fewer delays for passengers. It’s all part of our long-term commitment to invest millions of pounds to make the North West’s railway fit for the future.”

Simon Elliott, network director for rail at TfGM, said: “This was a once in a generation piece of work that will future-proof journeys for people travelling to and from Manchester Piccadilly train station for years to come.

“By working together with partners across the rail industry we were able to keep people moving and we would like to thank everyone for their patience while these works took place and all of our colleagues who helped people to make their journeys on Bee Network trams and buses.”

This coming Sunday 1 March, and again on Sunday 22 March, routine follow up work will take place to secure the new railway foundation stone through a process called tamping.

This will impact trains until lunchtime with passengers advised to check www.nationalrail.co.uk if planning travel on those dates.

Manchester Piccadilly is a key stop on the West Coast Main Line – Europe's busiest mixed-use rail line which connects London to Scotland – and this work is the latest effort to upgrade the line for generations to come, with more than £400m to be spent in the coming year. 

That includes this Easter where further improvements will see some changes to journeys for people travelling south to London and North towards Cumbria.

• Read more: Huge improvements into the West Coast Main Line this Easter

Passengers are advised to plan their journeys in advance by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk.