Weeks of Travel Mayhem as M6 and West Coast Main Line to Shut in January

The WestCoast Main Line is to close for two weeks and the M6 will face two full weekend closures in January as part of Clifton rail bridge replacement works.

Network rail will close the WestCoast mainline from the evening of Wednesday 31st December 2025 for two weeks until the Morning of the 15th January 2026 as part of works to replace the 60 year old railway bridge that carries the Westcoast main line across the M6 at Clifton.

Railway replacement buses will be in operation during this time and possible railway diversionary route using the Settle to Carlisle line is been considered as part of planning by Network rail.

The work to replace the bridge with a new steel bridge that will be constructed in a specially built compound alongside the M6 at Clifton is expected to see over 48,000 vehicles displaced from the M6 over each weekend of full closure that will enable the old bridge to be demolished and the new bridge rolled into place over the two weekends.

The closure of the WestCoast mainline will also see what has been called a once in a generation program of works taking place along the entire WestCoast line.

The M6 closures will be processed by a series of overnight closures expected from April to enable safety barriers to be installed along the section of the M6 between Junction 40 at Penrith and Junction 39 at Shap.

To safely demolish the old bridge and replace it, the M6 will close between junction 39 (Shap) and 40 (Penrith) in both directions from the evening of Friday 2 January to morning of Monday 5 January 2026 and the evening of Friday 9 January to morning of Monday 12 January 2026

It’s understood that National Highways are planning to divert around 25,000 vehicles Northbound along the A6 between J39 at Shap and J40 with Kemplay Bridge made one way and Kemplay Roundabout been restricted to prevent traffic travelling across and around it during the closures.

Southbound traffic will be forced off the M6 at Penrith and across the A66 with smaller vehicles expected to be diverted via Kirkby Stephen and Tebay to rejoin the M6 at Junction 38.

HGV’s are facing a 4 hour detour to head south Via Leeds and Manchester to rejoin the M6.

Lane closures along the M6 on the hard shoulder and lane 1 Northbound will be in place from February 2025 until Summer 2026 and Southbound from May 2025 until Summer 2026.