Travel disruption during rail line upgrades

A £60m railway bridge will be installed over the M6 at Clifton in January

Train passengers and motorists will see their journeys disrupted over the festive period as work is carried out to update a railway line.

Network Rail plans work to the West Coast Main Line between Carlisle and London from 24 December to 15 January.

The firm will replace a bridge over the M6 near Penrith, carry out signalling upgrades north of Carlisle and at Preston station and work on the Hanslope Junction near Milton Keynes.

It means sections of the line will be shut down, with trains diverted on to the Settle to Carlisle line and replacement buses drafted in. Closures are also planned on the M6 motorway to allow the Clifton Bridge replacement work to take place.

Network Rail said the work was part of a £400m investment on the line over the next four years.

Planned disruption includes:

• 24 December to 5 January: buses will replace trains between between Milton Keynes and Northampton/Rugby

• 31 December to 15 January: buses will run between Oxenholme and Carlisle, with a shuttle rail diversion running on the Settle to Carlisle line between Preston and Carlisle.

• 1 to 5 January: trains will not call at stations between Preston and Carlisle with buses used instead. Buses will also replace trains between Blackpool, Buckshaw Parkway Preston, Lancaster and Wigan.

• 1 to 7 January, buses will replace trains between Carlisle and Dumfries/Lockerbie.

• The M6 will be shut between junction 39 at Shap and junction 40 near Penrith from 20:00 GMT on 2 January to 05:00 on 5 January and at the same times the following weekend.

The M6 work will see a new £60m new railway bridge installed at Clifton, near Penrith.

It will be 427ft (130 metres) long, weigh 4,200 tonnes and replace a 60-year-old structure.

Rosario Barcena, from contractor Skanska, said the bridge work was on schedule

Rosario Barcena, rail programme director at Skanska which is working on the project, said: "The bridge has been built on schedule and our preparatory work for the removal of the current structure and installation of the new one is nearing completion."

Alongside the major projects, overhead line replacement and refurbishment of platforms will take place along the 309-mile (497km) route.

Christian Irwin, Network Rail's capital delivery director for the North West and Central region, claimed the work would improve reliability across the region.

"We know that this work will cause some disruption for those travelling during the festive season so please plan your journeys as early as possible," he said.