Weekend works to hit West Coast Main Line train services

May 14 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE first of a series of weekend major engineering works will mean a section of the West Coast Main Line between Liverpool and London will close this Saturday and Sunday.

The work at Rugby in the West Midlands will mean no direct Virgin Trains’ services to and from Euston station.

All Virgin Trains services from the north west and Scotland will terminate at and start from either Birmingham International or Coventry stations.

A frequent replacement coach service will run in both directions between Birmingham International and Northampton. This will connect with a train service running in both directions between Northampton and Euston, serving also Milton Keynes Central and Watford Junction. The train service will be three trains an hour on Saturday and two an hour on Sunday.

Network Rail (NR) has said there will need to be a number of weekend closures on parts of the WCML in order for the upgrade of the line to be completed by December.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) last week approved NR’s new plan for completion of the work but said it would monitor the works’ programme to ensure passengers were inconvenienced as little as possible.