Easter closure at railway station

A MAJOR northern railway station will close for four days over Easter.

Rail passengers will be hit by disruption as Victoria Station in Manchester will close for four days with work to electrify routes taking place.

The station will close at the end of the day on Thursday, March 29 and re-open on Tuesday, April 3.

Rail bosses say it will impact on TransPennine line and Northern services from Huddersfield and along the Calder Valley line.

Northern say all services that would normally call at the station, including Stalybridge and Huddersfield services and those from Leeds to Manchester via Bradford, will be affected.

They plan to operate rail replacement buses on most routes.

Liam Sumpter, regional director for Northern, said: “The work at Victoria is an integral part of the Great North Rail Project and will help pave the way for our own modernisation which, by 2020, will see new and refurbished Northern trains operated more services than ever before.

“Whilst important, this engineering work will cause disruption for our customers and it is vital they start to plan ahead for what is traditionally a busy travel weekend.”

TransPennine services from Huddersfield to Manchester Piccadilly are planned to run as normal. The train operator says they expect the services to be busier than normal as passengers look for alternative trains into Manchester.