LANARKSHIRE residents have been warned of impending rail disruption as engineers work to complete a £114million revamp of the area's signalling system.

The Motherwell North Signalling Renewal (MNSR) project is replacing track side equipment and transferring control of systems from Motherwell Signalling Centre to the West of Scotland Signalling Centre in Glasgow.

Network Rail has been carrying out the work over different phases - the third and most complex phase of commissioning began this month.

It will see major renewals across North Lanarkshire towns Motherwell, Holytown and Wishaw, and include Carluke and Lanark as well as the "strategically important" West Coast Mainline.

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It's expected the majority of routes will return to normal by August 27.

However, buses will continue to replace trains on the Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Shotts line until August 30.

More extensive work is required on this route to enhance the signalling systems ahead of the electrification of the line by March 2019.

Steve Muirhead, route asset manager for signalling in Scotland, said: “Improved signalling technology means more reliable journeys with fewer delays and increased capacity so more trains can run and more people are able to travel on the railway across Scotland.

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“This weekend we will carry out the complex commissioning work needed to ‘re-control’ the signals, to move control from the 1970’s signalling centre at Motherwell to our state-of-the-art centre in Glasgow – which is a massive undertaking.

“We are working closely with the various train operators to make sure that passengers are able to get to where they need to be during this period but its really important that people plan journeys in advance during these dates to ensure they get the right information.”

Passengers are being encouraged to check before they travel and more information can be found at nationalrail.co.uk and for local services scotrail.co.uk.