Passengers travelling between Blackpool and Preston are reminded to plan their journeys as the count down continues to a 19-week transformation of the railway line.

Work on the £1billion+ Great North Rail Project will take place from Saturday 11 November with the aim of upgrading the railway line.

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This will create an improved and bigger railway in order to carry the ever-increasing number of people who travel by train across the region, and provide more reliable train journeys by May 2018.

It will do this by fully electrifying the line, paving the way for better trains with more seats.

Read more: New speed limit for Broughton planned from April

There will also be improvements to the track layout and modernising signalling equipment to reduce delays and improve performance.

The work includes the replacement of 84 signals and moving the signalling control to the Manchester rail operating centre.

Blackpool North and Kirkham & Wesham stations will be remodelled as part of National Rail’s plans to simplify the current layout of the railway.

Replacement buses are to be provided during the railway closures with Network Rail and Northern working together to deliver the Great North Rail Project.

The train services that it will affect, and temporarily close, include Preston to Blackpool North from 11 November 2017 – 25 March 2018, and the route from Preston to Blackpool South will close from 11 November 2017 – 28 January 2018.

National Rail are urging passengers to check before they travel and allow extra time for their journey.

Engineers will be carrying out a lot of work during overnight shifts when trains are not running, and so some work will take place during 24 hours in some areas.

Thousands of postcards have being posted out on the route to let residents know what is happening near to them.

A video is available to watch on YouTube which explains the electrification process and helps to manage expectations around the noise and disruption caused by this type of work.

Regular information events will take place in Blackpool, Poulton-le-Fylde, Kirkham and Preston to give residents the opportunity to hear about the project.

The Preston information event will take place on Tuesday 24 October from 4pm-7pm at St Walburges Church Hall, Weston Street.

Network Rail have a 24 hour helpline for those wishing to ask questions – 03457 11 41 41 or more information on the Network Rail website.

You can follow the process on Network Rail’s Twitter account as well.

What do you think about the upgrade to the Preston and Blackpool rail line? Did you receive a postcard? Let us know in the comments below