Railway upgrades are to take place in West Cornwall this week and the next affecting links between Falmouth and Truro.

Network Rail is to undertake track work in Penzance on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December, affecting services between Penzance and St Erth.

This will extend to include between Penzance and Truro, and the St Ives Bay line, from Monday 7th to Thursday 10th December.

This is set to impact Falmouth as they work around the railway upgrades, services will still run on the Falmouth branch line but up to 10 minutes earlier than usual.

Mark Chorley, GWR Regional Station Manager, West, said:

"We have been working hard to make sure that people can be confident to travel safely, and that includes running as many trains and carriages as we can to make extra room, and replacement buses where trains cannot operate,as well as enhanced cleaning and social distancing measures.

"This work is important to ensure we can continue to maintain and improve reliability and we thank customers for their patience in advance."

Where the mainline remains open, amended train services will operate through Cornwall towards Plymouth with roughly one train per hour in each direction.

Buses will replace trains from Penzance to St Erth (5th/6th December) and from Penzance to Truro (7th-10th December), with buses also running between St Erth and St Ives from 7th to 10th December.

Long-distance services from London Paddington to Devon and most of Cornwall will continue to operate.

Replacement buses will connect with trains, adding up to 50 minutes to journey times. Some train departure times will also be changed, and passengers are advised to check beforehand.

Lee Hildreth, Network Rail's project manager, added:

"The improvements will help provide passengers with more reliable journeys and represents further investment in the railway in Cornwall following recent signalling upgrades in the South West."

Click here to see the revised timetable and more updates.

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