Network Rail has announced a £24 million upgrade programme for the West Coast Main Line over the late spring bank holiday weekend.

Trains will be operating over most of the busy route between London Euston and Scotland, although passengers are likely to need to use rail replacement buses north of Preston.

These improvements follow on from an extensive set of works over the bank holiday weekend earlier this month.

Three projects are being carried out on the West Coast Main Line between Saturday 25th and Monday 27th May:

• At Crewe, major drainage and track improvement work is set to continue.
• A ‘drain train’ will be busy at Shap in Cumbria, a stretch of the line which has seen serious disruption from flooding. More than 2.5km of drainage will be refurbished, along with track improvements.
• Over 3.5km of track is set to be replaced at Milton Keynes and Stafford. This is designed to mean fewer speed limits will be needed, enabling trains to run faster in these areas.

Changes to Chiltern services south of Aylesbury

In a separate piece of engineering work, Chiltern Railways services between London Marylebone and Aylesbury are set to face disruption on Saturday 25th and Sunday 27th May.

HS2 engineers will be carrying out more preparatory work to install a new 350m viaduct to carry the high speed line over the existing track at Wendover in Buckinghamshire.

This will mean an altered service between Great Missenden and Aylesbury and Network Rail advise travellers to check their journey times before setting off here.

Network Rail warns that, on both the West Coast Main Line and Chiltern route, passengers may face longer journey times and find fewer seats available, as well as possibly needing to use rail replacement buses for part of their journey.

I’d like to thank passengers for their continued patience this month as we continue to invest in improving journeys for passengers and freight services on the West Coast main line between London and Scotland over the late May bank holiday. Train services will be busier than usual over the bank holiday weekend, especially on Saturday 25 May with the FA Cup final taking place in Wembley.

If you’re planning to catch a train over the long weekend, please check before you travel with National Rail Enquiries or your train operator to see how your journey could be impacted.

James Dean, passenger director for Network Rail’s North West and Central region