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£250 million rail revamp to bring Christmas train chaos

Rail passengers have been warned to prepare for large-scale disruption over Christmas.

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Major rail disruption is expected into the new year

Major engineering work at Smethwick will see the line between Wolverhampton and Birmingham closed from December 27 to January 3 - meaning there will be no trains from Sandwell and Dudley station.

The work is set to cause misery for people who were due to travel on the trains over Christmas.

Rail bosses have apologised to passengers but said the job is essential and will be carried out when many people are off work over the festive period.

Travellers will instead be able to get on replacement buses.

Engineers will be replacing a major junction on the tracks at Smethwick as part of the latest phase of the Birmingham New Street resignalling project aimed at improving services across the Midlands.

Track and signals dating as far back as the 1960s will be replaced.

The £250 million scheme will put the busy section of track connecting the two cities, used by thousands of people in the Black Country every day, out of action.

Passengers have been urged to check their journeys ahead of the work starting.

Richard Dugdale, Network Rail’s senior scheme sponsor for the work, said: “Half the normal number of people travel by train at Christmas and New Year so we are seizing the opportunity to complete a huge amount of signalling and track upgrades.

"That way we cause the least amount of disruption to the fewest number of people. Train passengers should check before they travel on nationalrail.co.uk and allow extra time for their journeys.”

Andrew Cooper, managing director at train operator Cross Country, said: “We understand people don’t want their journeys disrupted, particularly at this time of year, and apologise if any of our customers are delayed by this important work.

"However, many parts of Britain’s railways need to be replaced or maintained to ensure our customers can travel safely and comfortably, and we have worked alongside our industry partners to keep any disruption to a minimum.”