Line works cancel Great Western Railway sleeper trains

An "extremely popular" sleeper train is being cancelled most weekdays for eight weeks due to complications with engineering work, rail bosses say.

The service between London and Cornwall would be cancelled between Mondays and Thursdays, Network Rail said.

Disruption to Great Western Railway's (GWR) Night Riviera service will begin next week, with the normal timetable due to resume from Monday 21 March.

It was due to delays to vital improvements in Devon, managers said.

Network Rail is building a 209m (685ft) long shelter on a stretch of track between Dawlish and Holcombe to improve protection from falling rocks.

Engineers recently discovered that poor ground conditions meant work to install the foundations could not be carried out from the side of the railway, so a machine had to be positioned on the track, blocking the route, the rail track owner said.

Network Rail said the "vital" work had been timed to ensure weekend travel was not affected and the disruption ended before Easter.

GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said: "Our Night Riviera Sleeper service is extremely popular and provides an important link between London and Devon and Cornwall, and we are sorry for the disruption that this vital engineering work will cause."

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