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Families and rail enthusiasts across the North West will have another chance to hop aboard the one-of-a-kind Railway 200 Inspiration train this January, as it returns for its second visit.

• As part of Railway 200, freight trains carry more than 1 billion tonnes of goods to prepare for festive period, including millions of Christmas decorations, trees, presents, food and bottles of wine  
• A freight train can carry as much as 129 HGVs, so the railway is helping to cut traffic jams in the run up to the festivities and deliver a greener Christmas 

Passengers travelling between St Ives and St Erth in Cornwall are being advised to plan their journeys in advance in the new year as vital track upgrade work takes place. 

Network Rail’s seven-day upgrade in the Somerton area is complete. On Monday 8 December engineers began work to replace a section of drainage under nearly 600 metres of the line. Work finished on time overnight, allowing train services to resume through the area this morning.

Passengers using rail services across London and Cambridgeshire are being reminded to check before travelling this Christmas for planned engineering work taking place which may affect rail journeys. 

The rail industry has launched the biggest timetable change on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in more than a decade today (Sunday 14 December), as part of a wider set of timetable changes across the network.

Rail passengers have been warned to expect disruption on Sunday in Cumbria and Lancashire as extreme weather is expected.