Train passengers warned of Easter disruption

Train travellers were today warned a section of the West Coast Main Line through the Black Country will close for two days over the Easter bank holiday.

Replacement buses will be introduced in place of all London Midland services between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street on Easter Sunday and Monday. Virgin, Arriva Trains Wales and Cross Country services will also be affected, as engineering work gets under way on a section of the Birmingham to Stafford rail line.

Tracks will be removed from a section of railway at Tipton station, to allow a pedestrian subway to be demolished and rebuilt in a £320,000 scheme.

Trains serving Coseley, Tipton, Dudley Port, Sandwell and Dudley, Smethwick Rolfe Street and Smethwick Galton Bridge between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street will stop running from 12.01am on Sunday morning to allow work to start.

Virgin trains services from Wolverhampton to London will also be affected, with replacement buses in place between Wolverhampton and Birmingham in both directions.

Normal services through Tipton will be resumed at 5am on Tuesday.

The subway itself, connecting platforms at the station, will close from Monday.

Tracks will be ripped up and the roof of the existing subway knocked through.

The whole subway will be waterproofed and a new roof installed then rails and sleepers will be replaced. New lighting will also be installed.

Keith Lumley, spokesman for Network Rail, said: "The subway needs to be rebuilt to modern standards. The railway lines over the subway need to be removed so it can be demolished."

The renovations at Tipton are part of a larger programme of engineering works due to take place across the Black Country and Staffordshire over Easter.

On Easter Sunday Cross Country trains will also be disrupted between Birmingham and Stafford. Arriva Trains Wales services will also be affected.