Six day shutdown on West Coast line to disrupt thousands

Saturday, 7 March 2026 06:00

By Shaun Moore

Thousands of Easter rail journeys will be disrupted by engineering work on the West Coast Main Line.

There’ll be no trains between Preston and Lancaster on Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday.

Avanti West Coast services will instead run between Preston and Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle line.

The work is part of a four-hundred-million-pound project by Network Rail to improve reliability on Europe’s busiest mixed-use railway.

Jake Kelly, Network Rail regional director for North West and Central, said: "We know how important Bank Holidays are - particularly at Easter, when families and friends come together – and that’s why we work hard to keep as much of the network open as possible while carrying out these vital upgrades.

"However, Bank Holidays are also among the least busy times on the railway, and the four-day period at Easter gives us a valuable opportunity to complete projects that simply can't be delivered during a normal weekend. This ensures we maximise the time our teams are out working on the tracks.

“So passengers will see some changes and it's a good idea for people to check before they travel.”