Railway disruption is expected to affect the Midlands over the Christmas period.

The essential work has been planned to take place between December 24- January 4, to cause the least amount of disruption possible.

Up to £30 million is expected to be spent on the upgrades, with much of the work to be undergone on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The new work includes upgrades to signals and the traffic lights of the railway at Birmingham New Street from between 24 and 29 December and platform extensions between Wolverhampton and Telford between the same dates.

The work is also said to affect the North-West and Cumbria.

Passengers are being advised to allow extra time for their journey, due to train changes, delays or use of replacement bus services.

Managing Director for Network Rail’s North-West and Central region, Tim Shoveller, said, “While some essential work is taking place to upgrade our railway over the festive period, we’ve worked hard with train operators to reduce the impact on passengers as far as possible so that they can spend time with their families and friends this Christmas.

“I’d like to thank the thousands of rail workers who will be working to keep services running, and those delivering upgrades to improve our railway and bring more reliable journeys to passengers in future.”

The reintroduction of guidance to work from home appears to have had an immediate impact after reports of a sharp fall in transport usage.

Figures from location technology firm TomTom, show that cities across England experienced a decline in traffic on Monday morning.

Network Rail said footfall at several major railway stations between 6am and 9.30am on Monday plummeted compared with the same period last week.

Cannon Street in the City of London saw the largest week-on-week decline out of the 16 stations it gave figures for, at 38%.

This was followed by Leeds Central (35%), Waterloo (34%) and King’s Cross (28%).

Other stations where a reduction in demand was recorded include Birmingham New Street (24%), Manchester Piccadilly (20%) and Edinburgh Waverley (11%).

Passengers using trains must now also wear a face covering in train stations, on train services and any replacement bus services, with those who fail to do so facing a fine of £200.

Anyone attempting to travel to work over the holidays is urged to check with their train operator or online, here.