BRITAIN’S busiest railway line is set for a decade of severe disruption.
The once-in-a-generation upgrades to 150 miles of Network Rail’s west coast main line are due to begin in 2026 – costing an estimated £3.8billion.
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An Avanti West Coast mainline train on the tracks in CreweCredit: Getty
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Passengers wait for their trains as they travel through Euston stationCredit: EPA
Sections of the line will be shut for weeks each year, planning documents reveal.
The stations affected will include Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan, Pres- ton, Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith and Carlisle.
Sections of the line will shut for trains for three separate two-week periods each year between 2026, 2027 and 2028, a source has told The Times.
They added that the levels of disruption have not been seen for 25 years.
“There is a huge amount of planning taking place but it is still early days,” they said. “It’s a major project that will ensure the line is fit for the future.”
Avanti West Coast, which operates trains between London and Scotland, has said it is currently unclear what the impact on its timetables will be.
The work is set to “renew” the line as apposed to enhance it, and will include replacing 155 miles of overhead wiring, as well as signal upgrades to 2,000 units and 140 miles of track replacement.
Stuart Patrick, the chief executive of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is a demonstration of how bad we are at long-term investment in infrastructure — when you get to the point when you have to replace things that are 50 years old.”
He added: “The long-term solution to the west coast main line was supposed to be HS2, because we were struggling with congestion on the west coast main line. It is increasingly difficult to see how we shift from air to rail.”
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester to save funds.
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Bus replacement services are expected to be offered, but transport planners are reported to be worried about passengers booking planes, according to The Times.
It comes as more than two million train tickets are being discounted during a promotion from this month.
Thousands of popular routes across almost all UK train operators, including Transport for Wales and ScotRail, will be offering discounted tickets with journeys spreading the length and breadth of Great Britain.
Cheaper Advance and Off-Peak tickets will be available to buy in the rail sale between January 14 and 20.
They will be sold for travel across Britain between January 17 and the end of March.
Sale tickets will be available on a limited basis. The only operators in Britain not participating in the sale are Hull Trains, Lumo and Merseyrail.
The DfT said passengers saved around £5.8 million during a similar scheme a year ago, when more than 600,000 tickets were sold.
This was worth £5.1 million in fares revenue and resulted in “an extra 440,000 journeys taken by train”, according to the department.
The Sun has approached Network Rail for comment.