CUMBRIAN passengers are being warned to check before they travel during the Easter and May bank holiday weekends.

Network Rail has warned of major changes to train passengers' journeys during the weekends and will have a major impact on journeys including alternative routes, longer travel times and busier trains than normal.

The rail company is carrying out work at London Euston, in the West Midlands, the North West and Cumbria as part of Britain’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

Elsewhere, on the West Coast main line several sections of track will be completely replaced over both bank holidays, as well as upgrades to overhead lines, signals and points.

Work between Good Friday and Easter Monday includes:

  • Track foundation improvements at Upperby in Carlisle;
  • Work to improve points and rail replacement at Milnthorpe.

Work between May 4 and May 6 includes:

  • The West Coast main line will be closed between Crewe and Carlisle during the early May bank holiday while track and overhead line maintenance is carried out, as well as track renewal;
  • Euston station will be closed to main line train services as work takes place to prepare for HS2, Britain’s new high-speed railway.

Martin Frobisher, route managing director for Network Rail’s London North Western route, said: “We recognise there is never an ideal time to shut the railway for our must-do work. Bank holidays are the least disruptive time to do it, when fewer passengers use the railway compared to the working week. That way we can do the maximum amount of work while impacting the fewest number of people.

“Train companies and Network Rail have worked together to minimise disruption for customers. By doing a lot of work over the Easter and early May bank holidays, we can offer passengers better journeys over the late May and August bank holidays. The alternative would have been closing the line and Euston station over all of these weekends.”

To plan journeys and for the latest travel information visit: www.nationalrail.co.uk/westcoast