Train services through Stoke-on-Trent will be disrupted during the remaining weekends this month as Network Rail carries out track upgrade work.

Engineers will carry out £2.5m of improvements through Stoke-on-Trent, using industrial-scale excavators on the West Coast main line to suck up ballast. They will:

• replace 3720 tonnes of ballast
• upgrade 32 bearers, which keep points in place

Ballast needs to be replaced when it wears down to the extent that it becomes ineffective in supporting track and allowing water to drain away.

The specialist ‘Railvac’ excavation machinery will enable Network Rail to replace ballast without removing tracks by cutting through rails and removing sleepers. This makes the work quicker and less disruptive.

It operates like an industrial vacuum, hoovering up the old ballast in preparation for rail-mounted vehicles to lay the replacement ballast.

Network Rail has used this method previously, for example in Dorset and Wiltshire three years ago.

Disruption dates

Network Rail is advising passengers that their train journeys through Stoke-on-Trent will be diverted or replaced with buses on the following dates:

• Saturday 10 August – Sunday 11 August
• Saturday 17 August – Sunday 18 August
• Saturday 24 August – Monday 26 August (August Bank Holiday)
• Saturday 31 August – Sunday 1 September

Passengers are advised to plan their journeys in advance at www.nationalrail.co.uk.

For more information on how Network Rail maintains the track visit: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/looking-after-the-railway/track/

Replacement bus details

Buses will replace trains between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent / Macclesfield on all four weekends.

Additionally, buses will replace trains in the Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield and Stafford area from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 August, as follows

• Avanti West Coast between London Euston / Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly
• CrossCountry between Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly
• East Midlands Railway between Derby and Crewe
• London Northwestern Railway between Birmingham New Street / Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street
• Northern between Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Piccadilly

“Over the next four weekends we are asking passengers who are travelling through Stoke-on-Trent to please check before they travel while our engineers complete a multimillion-pound upgrade to the railway.

“This vital investment on the West Coast main line will help improve train performance and give our passengers smoother and more reliable journeys. I would like to thank people for their patience while we carry out this essential work.”

Gary Walsh, Network Rail’s route director for West Coast South