Network Rail to spend £26m upgrading stretch of West Coast Main Line in Milton Keynes
Network Rail has announced plans to spend millions improving the West Coast Main Line over the Christmas period.
Rail passengers are being given advanced notice of the huge programme of journey-improving upgrades on the local West Coast Main Line between December 24 and January 15.
Projects will take place throughout the line, but one of the biggest will be a £26m upgrade to a vital railway junction across all four main lines at Hanslope.
Known as one of the busiest stretches, it will to make future journeys more reliable for passengers and freight travelling via Milton Keynes to London Euston through to Glasgow Central.
The Hanslope work is scheduled for December 24 to January 5.
The scheme is part of an ongoing investment of £196m by Network Rail into both the northern and southern sections of the West Coast line. It also involves a £16m investment into Preston station’s signalling system, a rolling £61m programme of signalling upgrades at Kingmoor, north of Carlisle, and the main phase of a £60m railway bridge replacement over the M6 at Penrith in Cumbria.
For the work to safely take place, significant sections of the line will need to be entirely closed to train traffic over a 22-day period between 24 December and 15 January.
Network Rail has been working with train operators to try and keep passengers on trains for as much of their journey as possible but replacement buses will be in place where there are no alternative rail routes.
Christian Irwin OBE, Network Rail North West & Central region Capital Delivery director, said: “This Christmas and New Year we’ll be investing tens of millions of pounds as part of our long-term commitment to make the West Coast Main Line fit for the future.
“Our ambitious programme, with numerous large-scale journey improving projects, will mean certain sections of the route will have to close across 22 days this festive season. For that reason, our advice to anyone planning to travel on the West Coast Main Line between London and Scotland is to plan your journeys as early as possible by visiting National Rail Enquiries.”