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Wednesday 5 Mar 2025

Vital engineering works for West Coast Mainline

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

A series of weekend engineering works will mean changes to cross-border services on the West Coast Mainline this spring.

Engineers will be working on both sides of the border to deliver a range of signalling upgrades and track improvements.

In Scotland, teams will be carrying out track renewal, drainage improvement and infrastructure maintenance works at locations between Carstairs and the border across weekends from Sunday March 30 until Sunday June 8.

Work will include renewing or refurbishing track at a range of locations including Abington, Thankerton and Symington.

Drainage improvement works will be carried out at Elvanfoot while switches and crossings – pieces of track that move to transfer trains from one line to another – will be renewed at Kirtlebridge.

Buses will replace trains between Carlisle and Glasgow / Edinburgh and passengers can check how their journey is affected on www.nationalrail.co.uk, or individual operators’ websites.

Work will take place on:

• Sun 30 March
• Sun 6 April
• Sun 13 April
• Easter Weekend (Sat 19 April to Mon 21 April)
• Sun 27 April
• May Bank Holiday (Sat 3 May to Sun 4 May)
• Sat 10 & Sun 11 May
• Sat 31 May & Sun 1 June
• Sun 8 June

Ross Moran, Network Rail Scotland route director, said: “Our engineers will be working hard to deliver these improvement projects as quickly as possible for our customers.

“The work we’re undertaking is vital to the long-term future of the line and will help to provide a more reliable railway for our passengers and freight customers.

“The complexity of the engineering work being completed means it can only be done by closing the line and we are urging passengers planning to travel on the West Coast Mainline over this period to check their journey in advance.”

Chris Liptrot, Operations Director at Avanti West Coast, said: “This closure of the West Coast Mainline north of Carlisle will enable Network Rail to carry out planned renewal work to make the railway more reliable.

“During this time, there’ll be no direct trains to or from Glasgow and Edinburgh and as a result, we’ll be operating a reduced timetable north of Carlisle. Rail replacement services will also be in place.

“We would like to thank our customers for their patience and strongly advise they plan their journey, as well as check the Avanti West Coast website for the latest updates before travelling.”

Andrew McClements, customer experience and transformation director for TransPennine Express, said: “While this work is being carried out on the weekends and bank holidays, TransPennine Express will operate an amended timetable on its services between Liverpool/Manchester to Glasgow/Edinburgh via Preston and Carlisle.

“We’d encourage customers to check carefully before they travel and plan ahead by visiting the TPE website for the latest updates on engineering work.”