ENGINEERS have spent the weekend upgrading the West Coast Main Line through Oxenholme.

Network Rail's orange army worked day and night replacing life expired track where it meets the Windermere branch line.

They have also been simplifying the track layout to pave the way for more reliable services.

The railway re-opened today with trains once again travelling through the area from 11am.

Martin Frobisher, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “A large amount of work has taken place over the bank holiday weekend to replace life expired track to improve the track layout in the area, making it easier to maintain and services more reliable for passengers.

“I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this investment as part of Railway Upgrade Plan to deliver a better railway.”

Alex Hynes, managing director for Northern Rail, said: “Investing in local improvements which provide network wide benefits for our customers is great news. It helps contribute to a real improvement in performance and reliability for our customers on this line of route."

Michelle Ragozzino, Virgin Trains station manager at Oxenholme, said: “We would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding, whilst Network Rail carried out this important work over the May Day bank holiday. More improvement work is scheduled, alongside the ongoing work at Oxenholme, so we advise passengers to check their journey before they travel and leave plenty of time to arrive at the station, as parking will be extremely limited. We are working closely with Network Rail to ensure alternative travel arrangements and parking spaces are in place to keep disruption to a minimum.”

More than 11,000 members of Network Rail’s orange army worked across the country over the weekend to deliver vital elements of the company’s £40bn Railway Upgrade Plan.

A total of £33m was invested over the May Day weekend, with the work planned to minimise disruption to passengers – when passenger numbers are typically fewer than half.