No trains from North West to Scotland for next two weekends

Rail passengers are being advised that the mainline linking the North West to Scotland will be closed for the next two weekends.

Network Rail is carrying out railway improvements, which will which see no trains running between Lancaster and Carlisle while they carry out important improvements to railway track from this Saturday (11 January).

So engineers can safely carry out their work, the line between Lancaster and Carlisle will need to be closed to trains on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 January and Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 January.

The work also means there will be changes to some services from Preston.

Passengers are being advised to allow extra time to travel with parts of their journey involving a rail replacement bus service.

When complete railway foundation stone (ballast), sleepers and steel rails will be replaced along a 1.2km stretch of one of Europe’s busiest mixed use passenger and freight rail routes.

Phil James, Network Rail’s North West route director, said: “We know there’s never an ideal time to close the railway and we always try to plan our work to impact the fewest passengers possible. When complete, our work will bring better, smoother and more reliable journeys for passengers and freight on the West Coast Main Line.

“When upgrading the track we have no choice but to close sections of railway and stop trains running so engineers can quickly and safely carry out our work. I’d urge anyone wanting to travel over the weekends concerned to check National Rail Enquiries and plan ahead, allow extra time to get to where you need to be, and be prepared for some of your journey to be by bus.”