Photos and video released of major £2m Lancashire railway renewals

Saturday 1 Aug 2026

Photos and video released of major £2m Lancashire railway renewals

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

Impressive photos and video has been released of a major project to upgrade railway lines between Wigan and Southport.

Today (Saturday 1 August) the route reopened for passengers after a five-day closure for the £2m project in Parbold to improve future journeys.

Between Monday 27 and Friday 31 August, Network Rail and its contractor Central Rail Systems Alliance:

Replaced 1,100 metres of ageing track
Installed 750 new sleepers
Re-used 600 existing sleepers to reduce cost and reduce carbon footprint
Laid 5,500 tonnes of new railway foundation stone (ballast)
Enhanced the infrastructure to protect lines from future flooding as this is a known flooding site

The renewed railway means trains can run at full speed through this section, making journeys faster and more reliable for passengers.

It also protects the line from flooding, with tracks in this area becoming deluged in the past during heavy downpours.

Brian Paynter, Network Rail track, buildings and civils portfolio delivery director, said: “I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out these important railway upgrades this week to improve future journeys between Wigan and Southport.

“Now our work in Parbold is complete it will mean smoother, more reliable journeys, and better protection from flooding which has been a problem in this area in recent years.”

For more information on how Network Rail maintains and upgrades the railway, you can visit: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/our-work/railway-upgrade-plan/

Passengers are reminded to check to see if future journeys could be impacted by routine railway upgrades by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
North West and Central Media Relations
Press Office
Network Rail
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.