Network Rail is advising customers of multi-million-pound upgrade projects which will take place over the early May bank holiday weekend from Saturday the 29th to Monday the 1st of May.

The planned engineering works will affect services on the West Coast mainline and North West rail routes and comes as part of a bid to improve the railway for both passenger and freight trains and will include:

• Platform extensions at Leyland station
• Track upgrades at Caldew in Cumbria
• New track installed at Euxton junction in Lancashire
• Signalling work at Basford Hall in Crewe
• Track foundation stone improvements in Wigan
• Ongoing construction of the new Merseyrail station at Headbolt Lane in Kirkby
• Follow-up work at Stalybridge on Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th of April for the Transpennine Route Upgrade (see below for more detail)

In order for the work to take place as safely and efficiently as possible, the West Coast mainline will see a closure between Lancaster and Carlisle and also for the Lakes line between Oxenholme and Windermere from Sunday the 30th of April to Monday the 1st of May

Phil James, Network Rail’s North West route director, said:

“We made great progress on major railway improvements over Easter and I’d like to thank passengers for their continued patience while we carry out more must-do work between Saturday 29 April and Monday 2 May. We know there is never an ideal time to shut the railway, but bank holidays continue to be the least disruptive time for us to carry out this essential maintenance.

“With sections of railway needing to close for our important work, please check National Rail Enquiries in advance to see how your journey could be impacted.”

For passengers making their way to London,  Euston Station will be closed on Sunday the 30th of April because of improvement work being carried out.

Passengers are being advised to check their travel plans using www.nationalrail.co.uk before making their journey.

Further detail regarding the Transpennine Route Upgrade at Stalybridge: 

Taking place on Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th of April, Network Rail will undertake major upgrade work at Stalybridge, which will see:

• Installation of overhead line equipment in order to allow the operation of greener, cleaner electric trains.
• The complete remodelling and simplification of the track layout
• Commissioning of new signalling upgrades which will bring an improvement in capacity, and reliability whilst allowing an increase in train running speeds.

The upgrade work will see the following changes to services:

TransPennine Express services:

• Trains between Manchester and Leeds will divert via the Calder Valley
• Trains between Liverpool Lime Street and Hull will only run between Huddersfield and Hull, running non-stop between Huddersfield and Leeds.
• Customers travelling to or from Manchester and Liverpool need to change at Leeds in order to catch further connections.
• Trains between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle will divert between Manchester Victoria and Leeds and will not call at Huddersfield. However, there will be an extra stop at Lea Green.
• Trains between Manchester Airport and Saltburn will start/finish at Manchester Victoria instead of Manchester Airport and will not call at Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly or Manchester Oxford Road. The services will be diverted between Manchester Victoria and Leeds and will not call at Huddersfield.
• Trains between Manchester Piccadilly, York and Scarborough will run between York and Scarborough only.
• Customers need to change at York for all onward connections.
• Local services operating between Marsden, Huddersfield and Leeds will continue to run, calling at Slaithwaite, Deighton, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, Batley, Morley and Cottingley.
• Rail replacement buses will run between Manchester Piccadilly and Huddersfield non-stop.
• All-stations rail replacement buses will operate between Manchester Piccadilly and Huddersfield, calling at Stalybridge, Mossley, Greenfield, Marsden and Slaithwaite.
• Customers can change to onward services at Huddersfield.
• A rail replacement bus service will run operate between Manchester Airport and Huddersfield calling at Stockport.

Northern:

• Northern services between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge will be replaced by rail replacement buses.

Whilst the work is underway, people may need to change trains, experience longer journey times and services are expected to be much busier than usual and some routes will require the use of rail replacement buses.

Passengers are being advised to check their travel plans using www.nationalrail.co.uk before making their journey.