Passengers have been warned of major rail upgrades in Crewe over Christmas as the final stages of work to improve freight services on the West Coast main line mean changes to trains.
Network Rail has invested almost £200 million to upgrade the Crewe Basford Hall independent lines on the West Coast main line.
The Basford Hall independent lines in Crewe take freight trains around Crewe station and back onto the West Coast main line, so services can efficiently transport essential goods up and down the country.
There company has carried out drainage and track work, and a full re-signalling in the area to modernise the “traffic” system.
Over the past two years, 65 new signals, 49km of cables and 5km of new drainage has been installed to the independent lines. Other essential parts of the work included new buildings to accommodate the signalling system, new track equipment and structures and upgrades to the track itself.
The signalling upgrade also means that three signal boxes will close, and control of the traffic will move to the Manchester rail operating centre.
The work will be completed over Christmas and involves “significant” railway closures to make sure the work can be carried out safely and efficiently.
There will be changes to train timetables between Tuesday, 24th December and Thursday, 2nd January.
Jamie Morris, Network Rail programme manager, said: “The signalling upgrade work at the Basford Hall independent lines means that essential goods can travel by freight up and down the country safely and efficiently for years to come.
“Food and construction materials are just some of the tens of thousands of goods transported every month by our freight network.
“I’d urge passengers to check before they travel as there are changes to services to, from and through Crewe over the Christmas period. We have worked hard to reduce the impact on passengers as much as possible, which means there is a different timetable on different days during this time.
“I am grateful to passengers and the community of Crewe for their patience during this important work.”
Taryn Banks, Avanti West Coast station manager at Crewe, said: “While this major work takes place, there’ll be changes to all services in and around the Crewe area.
“On Friday 27th, no trains will run to or from Crewe, but replacement buses will connect customers to nearby stations. From Saturday, 28th Thursday, 2nd, we’ll be operating an amended timetable with a reduced service to Manchester and no direct trains to Liverpool on Wednesday, 1st and Thursday, 2nd.
“Anyone travelling on these dates is strongly advised to plan their journey, make a reservation, and check with their train operator as well as the National Rail website for the latest updates.”
Engineers will also be improving the signalling system in south Manchester and starting preparation work to the Greek Street bridge in Stockport, ahead of its rebuild next year.
Passengers travelling to London Euston are strongly urged to plan their journeys in advance as major rail upgrades mean Euston station is expected to be much busier than usual from Christmas Eve, into the new year.
More information can be found online at networkrail.co.uk/wcml.
