Network Rail is reminding passengers to plan their journeys this weekend as the Late May Bank Holiday means engineering works around the country.
Work will take place to replace sections of track and overhead electric cables and maintain bridges, tunnels and trackside equipment on the route between London Euston and Cumbria.
The West Coast main line is Europe's busiest mixed-use railway line.
Where the line is open trains will be running but passengers will have longer journeys, fewer available seats, and may need to use rail replacement buses.
Work taking place between Saturday 25 and Monday 27 May includes
- Track work between Camden and Wembley
- Railway track replacement between Tring and Milton Keynes
- Track foundation improvements in Milton Keynes
- Signalling and telecommunications work at Acton Grange junction in Warrington
- Track renewal at Acton Bridge station in Northwich
- Improvements to overhead electric lines in Cumbria
- Track foundation cleaning in Carlisle
What did the officials say?
Martin Frobisher, managing director of Network Rail's London North Western route, said:
“We recognise there is never an ideal time to shut the railway for our must-do work. Bank holidays are the least disruptive time to do it, when fewer passengers use the railway compared to the working week. That way we can do the maximum amount of work while impacting the fewest people. Sometimes a closure is the only way we can carry out major work like replacing track or improvements to overhead electric lines.
“Train companies and Network Rail have worked together to minimise disruption for customers by doing a lot of work over the recent bank holidays. The alternative would have been closing the line over multiple weekends throughout the summer.”
Robert Nisbet, regional director for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the railway, said:
“This vital engineering work is part of the rail industry's plan to add more services, improve punctuality and make journeys better, and as fewer people travel on bank holidays than on a normal weekday, we're keeping disruption to a minimum. We encourage people who are planning to take the train over the May bank holidays to check before they travel by visiting nationalrail.co.uk or speaking to their train operator.”
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The West Coast Main Line is the busiest railway line linking from London to Birmingham, West Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool and Northwest England. Which is why it still needs more upgrades.