After a 21-day closure and just in time for the August bank holiday, Network Rail has reopened a 50-mile stretch of the West Coast Main Line through Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Greater Manchester after major engineering works.

The line was reopened on the morning of Saturday, 23rd August, after a major £20m project to remove and rebuild the 67-year-old Greek Street bridge over five railway lines south of Stockport station, and other improvements to bridges, tracks, overhead lines, and lineside structures elsewhere on the West Coast Main Line.

Network Rail released footage of the first trains running through Stockport after completing the rebuilding of the Greek Street viaduct.

Network Rail also released time-lapse footage of the dismantling and reconstruction of the Greek Street viaduct.

While the lines through Stockport were closed, the opportunity was taken to carry out various improvements, including:

• Renewing track and points at Macclesfield, Cheshire.
• Reconstructing a platform at Poynton station in Cheshire.
• Renovating a footbridge at Longport station in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
• Waterproofing a viaduct over the River Trent at Stone, Staffordshire.
• Upgrading track at Hixon, Stone, and Congleton in Staffordshire.
• Renewing points and track at Stone station.
• Upgrading level crossings at Meaford, Church Lane, and Aston-by-Stone in Stone.
• Improving the track and drainage near Trentham, Staffordshire.

The total value of work carried out by Network Rail and its partners on these projects was over £43m.

Rebuilding the Greek Street bridge follows the refurbishment of the Stockport viaduct over the M60 earlier this year.

“We’d like to thank passengers impacted by this significant railway closure of the West Coast Main Line for the last three weeks. It’s allowed us to invest tens of millions of pounds and make wide-ranging improvements to provide a safer and more reliable railway, benefiting journeys for passengers and freight in the future. While we completed this work, all in time as planned for the bank holiday, with services expected to be busy with major events and football matches, railway upgrades on further parts of the network and strike action today by staff at CrossCountry trains, we’d still advise people to check before they travel so they know what to expect from their journey this weekend.”

John Nixon, Network Rail Capital Delivery senior programme manager