West Coast Main Line to Undergo £113m Upgrades

Network Rail is investing 113 million GBP (130 million euros | 144 million USD) in improving the track, overhead lines and signalling on the West Coast Main Line over Easter.

Between 10–13 April Network Rail will be conducting essential work at London Euston, in the West Midlands, the North West, Cumbria and in Scotland as part of its Railway Upgrade Plan. Among the work in question, it will replace a major junction at Euxton near Preston, renew track in Wolverhampton as well as between Carstairs in Scotland and Carlisle in Cumbria, and upgrade overhead lines, signals and points.

Track renewal works on the West Coast Main Line
Track renewal on the West Coast Main Line

The work being performed at Euston in London is to prepare for HS2.

Tim Shoveller, Managing Director, Network Rail’s North West and Central region, said:

“There’s never a perfect time to close parts of the railway to make improvements, but bank holidays and weekends are the quietest times when the fewest people use the railway. We work closely with our industry colleagues to get as much work done as possible during the closures and minimise its impact on people’s journeys.”

Some sections of the West Coast Main Line will be closed and bus replacement services will be put into place. Where the line is open there will be service changes.

Gus Dunster, Executive Director Operations & Safety for Avanti West Coast, said:

“We know this will impact on customers’ travel plans, particularly over a Bank Holiday weekend. That’s why we have tried to give as much notice as possible. The best advice is to check before you travel and expect services to be busier than usual, with in some cases extended journey times.”

In addition to closures between 10–13 April, work will also take place on 2–3 May, 9–10 May, 23–25 May. There will be ten weekends of work between Carstairs and Carlisle (4 April–7 June) and parts of the West Coast Main Line will be closed during these weekends with replacement bus services in operation.

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