TRAIN passengers can expect two months of disruption as a £100m upgrade is made to one of the district’s main railway lines.

The work, to the Calder Valley line from Leeds to Manchester, via Bradford Interchange, begins this weekend and will go on until May 15.

It will see replacement bus services operating from several stations on most weekends, but services will run as normal on Easter and Tour de Yorkshire weekends.

Rail bosses said the work would renew and upgrade vital aspects of the track, paving the way for faster journeys on the line.

Much of the work will take place in the Mytholmroyd area of Calderdale, and will involve engineering trains and equipment being on track.

Network Rail said the work was being done over weekends, when fewer passengers use the railway, in order to keep disruption to a minimum, but urged passengers to check before they travelled.

Neil Henry, area director for Network Rail, said: “The investment in the Calder Valley line is vital to keep the railway performing reliably as demand for rail services continues to grow.

“Although there is never a good time to disrupt passengers, fewer people use the railway at a weekend and I advise those who are looking to travel between March and May to plan ahead.”

The work forms part of Network Rail’s Great North Rail Project, which aims to have delivered more than £1bn of improvements for customers across the North of England by 2022.

It will see elements of the track and the track bed replaced in order to improve the reliability of the railway and cope with an increasing demand for services.

And rail operator Northern Rail said it would also pave the way for a major programme of improvements they have planned.

Paul Barnfield, regional director at Northern, said: “The weekend work on the Calder Valley Line is a vital part of Network Rail’s project which will pave the way for our own modernisation programme.

“Once complete, this work will complement other improvements taking place across the region, including the refurbishment of all Northern trains and the introduction of 281 new, purpose-built carriages, and will help us provide a rail service fit for the 21st century.”

James Vasey, of Bradford Rail Users’ Group, said the work would bring benefits as it would help trains to travel at slightly faster speeds, by reducing the amount the carriages wobble.

But he criticised Network Rail for giving passengers “practically no notice” of the disruption.

He said: “People don’t like taking rail replacement services and if they had known there was one this weekend, they may have made alternative arrangements.”

Mr Vasey said he also hoped the engineering work would not disrupt the opening weekend of the new Low Moor rail station, which is opening on the line at some point in May.

He said: “I think it would be highly ironic if, at the opening of the long-awaited Low Moor station, there were buses instead of trains.”

A Network Rail spokesman disputed the lack of notice, saying while the official announcement had come yesterday, there had already been information online and posters in stations for passengers booking tickets.

A spokesman for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority said they did not anticipate any clash with the opening of the new station at Low Moor.

Councillor Eric Firth, deputy chairman of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s transport committee, welcomed the work but said they were still pressing for the line to be electrified.

He said: “Although there will be some inconvenience for passengers over a number of weekends, it is important that the route can cope with demand, which will grow again in the coming weeks with the opening of the brand new, £10.8m Low Moor station between Bradford and Halifax.

“The Calder Valley rail line provides vital links between Bradford, Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Leeds and Todmorden as well as an important cross-Pennine connection with Manchester, which is why we are continuing to press for electrification of the route to provide better reliability and quicker journeys across the North.”