Passengers have returned to services on the West Coast Main Line after a 21-day closure which allowed for multiple upgrades across Staffordshire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.

On 23 Augus the 50-mile stretch of railway, where improvements to bridges, tracks, overhead lines and lineside structures have been taking place, fully reopened to trains.

Those projects all took place while the railway through Stockport was completely closed for a major £20m project to remove and rebuild a 67-year-old railway bridge over five lines to the south of the town’s station.

Greek Street railway bridge was constructed in 1958 is being be replaced with a modern structure which will last for up to 120 years. 

The rare three-week railway closure over a wide geography gave the company and its supply chain the perfect opportunity to carry out numerous railway improvement schemes while the routes in and out of Stockport were closed to train traffic, including:

• Track and points renewal in Macclesfield
• Platform reconstruction at Poynton station in Cheshire
• Footbridge renovations at Longport station in Stoke-on-Trent
• River Trent Viaduct waterproofing in Stone
• Track upgrades at Hixon, Stone and Congleton
• Track and points renewal at Stone station
• Level crossing upgrades at Meaford, Church Lane, and Aston-by-Stone crossings in Stone
• Track and drainage improvements near Trentham

Combined with the work at Greek Street, the full portfolio of work carried out by Network Rail and its partners to improve the West Coast Main Line was in excess of £43m.