Media centre

Thursday 17 May 2018

Passengers urged to check before they travel over the late May bank holiday as work to upgrade the railway continues

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

Passengers are being encouraged to check before they travel ahead of upgrade work on the railway over the bank holiday weekend.

Team Orange will be working throughout the bank holiday (Saturday May 26 to Monday 28 May) as part of the Railway Upgrade Plan to improve the rail network.

As part of the Railway Upgrade Plan, work will be taking place at various locations which may impact journeys and passengers should plan ahead to avoid disruption.

Martin Frobisher, Network Rail route managing director for the London North Western route, said: “These upgrades are a vital step towards us being able to provide better, more reliable journeys for the millions of passengers who travel on the railway from London to Carlisle via the West Midlands and the north west of England.

“The work we do is essential to keeping people and goods moving. There is never a good time to carry out big pieces of work but we plan it over bank holidays which are traditionally quieter times to affect the fewest number of people.”

Work includes:

• A major resignalling project between Birmingham New Street and Coventry which means changes to certain journeys and a bus replacement service between the two for the whole weekend. Buses will replace trains in both directions between Birmingham New Street and Coventry via Birmingham International station on Saturday 26, Sunday 27 and Monday 28 May.
• Track maintenance and signalling work will mean a replacement bus service will be in place for passengers travelling from Milton Keynes to Northampton on the morning of Sunday 27 May
• Track renewal in the Penrith area on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 May will mean bus replacement services for some journeys on the West Coast main line
• Ongoing improvements on the Halton Curve and Weaver-Wavertree projects from 12.15pm on Saturday 27 May until 11.55am on Monday 28 May which will affect some services in and out of Liverpool Lime Street.
• Further work on the railway between Preston and Manchester as work continues to electrify the railway. This will affect all services to and from Manchester via Bolton from Saturday 26 to Monday 28 May.

There will also be enabling work at Euston taking place in preparation for High Speed 2.

Passengers can get the latest travel information and plan their journeys at www.nationalrail.co.uk or via their train operator.