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Engineers raced to make emergency repairs on the West Coast main line to avoid major disruption to 1m tonnes of freight being moved on the railway line each week.

Abseiling teams have been securing a steep railway cutting making it more reliable for passengers on the line between Liverpool and Ormskirk.

Manchester Piccadilly station has opened a collection point for food bank donations during the coronavirus pandemic.

• Only essential journeys should be made over the Easter weekend
• West Coast main line upgrades include work at Bletchley, Wolverhampton and Chorley to improve services for passengers
• People who do need to use the railway should check before they travel

Railway staff on nationally critical routes, including the West Coast main line and Chiltern main line, are continuing to keep vital supplies and people who cannot work from home moving during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Metal thieves have disrupted the journeys of key workers after ripping out hundreds of metres of railway signalling cable.

• West Midlands petrol arrives by rail from Humberside
• Steel transported in and out of Wolverhampton and Stourbridge
• Imported household goods and food arrive into Birmingham for distribution from UK’s deep-sea ports

• Scotland’s supermarkets rely on goods by rail from Daventry 
• Royal Mail post goes by rail between London and Glasgow
• Imported goods into West Midlands from deep-sea ports