COMMUTERS in St Helens are being assured that alternative rail links will be running when Liverpool Lime Street closes in the autumn for three weeks.

Journeys through Lime Street will be affected for 23 days, from September 30 to October 22, while Network Rail upgrades the station to cater for a predicted double in passengers during peak periods by 2043.

The transport plan will involve keeping people on the rail network wherever possible, diverting many mainline services to Liverpool South Parkway.

People will then be able to get to and from the city centre on the Merseyrail network.

Some services will offer rail replacement buses and every attempt has been make sure they are of the best quality buses.

During the works, engineers will be remodelling station platforms, increasing them in number and in length, as well as installing overhead line equipment to power electric trains and upgrade track.

This is the first of two phases of work at Liverpool Lime Street, with a further station closure planned in 2018.

Martin Frobisher, Network Rail’s London North Western route managing director, said: “Our Liverpool Lime Street work is the biggest upgrade of the station since the 19th century.

“It will enable faster, more frequent and reliable train services by 2019. As Liverpool’s economy grows the railway is growing too.

“We are working with rail industry and the Liverpool City Region colleagues to keep the people of Merseyside on the move throughout the Lime Street closure.

“The short-term pain of re-routed commutes will be worth the long-term gain of transformed train travel in future.”

The development is part of a £340 million railway investment programme by Network Rail and Liverpool City Region until 2019, following the six-month renewal of the Wirral line concludes.

It is one of 10 major railway upgrades across the Liverpool City Region and sits within the wider Great North Rail Project to transform rail travel for customers in the North of England.

Frank Rogers, chief executive at Merseytravel, added: “The Liverpool City Region is bold in its ambitions for transport and other major infrastructure improvements and with that inevitably comes some disruption.

“However, we’re confident that we can keep people travelling to and from Liverpool for work, business or leisure in a way that may mean changes to their journeys, but one that remains a positive experience.

“This work to Lime Street is an important stepping stone towards long term improvements to the City Region’s capacity and connectivity.

“We’re making the case for full high-speed rail connections west-east, joining up north-south HS2 infrastructure with Northern Powerhouse Rail into Liverpool.”

Once work is complete passengers will be able to enjoy three new services per hour in and out of Lime Street station, including new direct services to Scotland, more reliable services and a re-modelled concourse.