Newcastle Station disruption warning as points upgraded

Rail passengers travelling to and from Newcastle Central Station are facing eight days of disruption, as an £8.6m engineering project gets under way.

Network Rail is replacing 19 sets of switches and crossings - more commonly known as points.

The original ones, which dated from the 1980s, failed 15 times during the first 10 months of 2017.

A revised timetable will be in place until 15 January, and people are advised to check before travelling.

Platforms 9-12 will also be out of use for the duration of the work, and Virgin Trains, which manages Newcastle Central Station, will provide extra staff and signage to help customers during the engineering works.

Rob McIntosh, from Network Rail, said: "There is never a good time to carry out railway work which disrupts passengers.

"But this upgrade is absolutely essential and we have worked extremely closely with our train operating partners to keep disruption to a minimum and make passenger information as clear as possible."