The West Coast Main Line in Cumbria reopened this morning, Tuesday, 22nd April, after being closed over Easter for major engineering work.

Train services were suspended over the Easter bank holiday to allow engineers to upgrade the signalling system at Kingmoor north of Carlisle, waterproof a railway viaduct over the River Esk at Mossband, and completely replace the track and ballast on sections of line between Carlisle and Gretna Green.

Network Rail also carried out work at London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street, and Network Rail Scotland carried out major improvements on their section of the line.

Parts of the West Coast Main Line will be affected again when further work takes place over the early May bank holiday from Saturday, 3rd to Monday, 5th May.

This will affect the whole of the line, ranging from signalling upgrades at Carlisle, with no trains north of the city, to the southern end of the line where Euston station will be closed.

Engineering work will take place between London Euston and Watford, and between Watford and Leighton Buzzard, and work between Preston Brook and Winwick Junction in Lancashire will see trains diverted via Manchester and Bolton.

Improvements to Salford Crescent Station on Sunday, 4th May, will see trains that normally stop there diverted via Ordsall Lane.

Anyone intending to travel during the affected dates should check their plans in advance at www.nationalrail.co.uk.

“We’ve invested millions of pounds to improve future journeys on the West Coast Main Line north this Easter, at a time of year when we know passenger numbers are lower so we can minimise disruption to one of the country’s most important rail routes. In the short term, we know some passengers were disrupted and I’d like to thank them for their patience if their travel plans were affected over the bank holiday. In the long term, though, our ongoing investments will see better, smoother and more reliable journeys and keep people and goods getting safely to where they need to be.”

Christian Irwin, Network Rail North West and Central region Capital Delivery director