Britain's busiest railway is shutting for 3 WEEKS next month for £20million demolition – check dates to avoid
Passengers are advised to check the dates affecting the route, which is the most used in the country.
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This August, engineers will set out to improve future journeys across three counties during a rare three-week railway closure.
Network Rail teams will oversee multiple large-scale projects carried out through Stockport.
The West Coast Main Line in Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Greater Manchester will be closed between Saturday, August 2 and Saturday, August 23.
During this time the highly anticipated £20m demolition and replacement of Greek Street roundabout will take place.
The roundabout is located over the railway south of Stockport station, meaning train service through the area will be brought to a halt during these dates.
Tracks will be clear of most train traffic along approximately 50 miles of the line, between Staffordshire and Stockport.
This is a major disruption considering the West Coast Main Line is Europe's busiest mixed-traffic railway.
Rail works
However, the roundabout construction provides the perfect opportunity for Network Rail to access the railway for dozens of additional railway upgrades.
The largest of these schemes involves an additional £23 million investment.
Planned works include the strengthening and waterproofing of the River Trent Viaduct in Stone.
Scotland hit by flooding chaos as thunderstorms leave roads & rail lines completely under water
Work will also be carried out to upgrade the power supply to overhead lines in Stockport.
Meanwhile, track renewals will take place in Stone, Hixon, and Congleton.
Railway point replacement will be carried out in Macclesfield while there will be platform work at Poynton station.
The railway drainage system at Trentham is also due to be upgraded during this period.
And a new footbridge will be constructed at Longport station.
Smaller maintenance activities will also be taking place, including upgrades to signal boxes and level crossings.
Condensing all this work into those three weeks is more efficient, helping to save money for the taxpayer while minimising disruption to commuters.
Minimal disruption
The alternative would involves years of disruptive weekend or overnight work.
It has also been carefully planned during the school summer holidays, when less commuters are on the roads and railway lines.
And those who are disrupted during this time can use replacement bus services or take trains using diversionary routes.
As these will vary from day to day, anyone planning travel between theses dates is urged to use www.nationalrail.co.uk to carefully plan their journey.
In particular, there will be no services north of Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester for the duration of the closure.
Christian Irwin OBE, Network Rail's North West and Central region Capital Delivery director, spoke about the works.
'We know that any railway closure means changes to people's travel plans, so we've worked hard to make sure we carry out as many improvement projects as efficiently and effectively as possible during this rare three-week window when routes in and around Stockport are closed," he said.
'When combined all of these upgrades will greatly improve the future reliability for passenger and freight trains on the West Coast Main Line for years to come.
"During the significant improvements, we're advising people to plan ahead and remember to check before they travel by using National Rail Enquiries.'
More on rail
An English train station is due to shut for two years ahead of major £11.5 million revamp.
Another major station is scheduled to close for a month while upgrades take place.
Plus, London commuters were issued a travel warning follow significant delays this week.
And a unique UK train station dating back 90 years will also shut for the entire summer during a major revamp.
A huge new £166 million railway station is set to transform a market town with first mainline trains in 50 years.
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