Media centre

Thursday 17 May 2018

West Midlands passengers urged to plan ahead as upgrades means no trains between Birmingham and Coventry this bank holiday

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

Train customers in the West Midlands are being urged to plan ahead as upgrade work means significant changes to rail travel between Birmingham and Coventry this bank holiday.

A major resignalling project between Birmingham New Street and Coventry, via Birmingham International,  means there will be changes to services on some routes in and out of Birmingham between Saturday 26 May and Tuesday 29 May.

The investment will improve the railway between Birmingham and Coventry, increasing capacity and enabling better, more reliable journeys.

Over the bank holiday 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.
• On Saturday 26 May, no trains will run between Birmingham and Lichfield and Wolverhampton to Walsall services will start from Birmingham New Street.

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.”

Andrew Conroy, customer experience director at London Northwestern Railway, said: “Engineering works are never convenient for anyone, but we’re working with other train companies to help people complete their journeys whilst the work takes place.

“Customers are advised to check before they travel as journeys may take longer than usual.”

Peter Broadley, executive director, customer, operations and safety at Virgin Trains, said: “We know that improvement works can impact people’s travel plans. We’ve worked closely with Network Rail to minimise disruption and are able to run some trains to and from London, but a much reduced service with extended journey times. We encourage anyone who is travelling with us over the bank holiday weekend to speak to our station staff or check our website when planning their journey.”

Elsewhere, work will be taking place across the country as part of the Railway Upgrade Plan to improve journeys, including:

• Track renewal in the Penrith area on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 May which 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.