It is business as usual from tomorrow (Saturday, April 1st) on a popular Yorkshire Dales commuter and tourist line following its recent closure for track renewal work.

During the four-week closure, the Settle-Carlisle line has seen seven miles of new track laid, resulting in higher line speeds across some sections of the route. Drainage was also improved and other maintenance completed across 35 miles of the line.

Settle-Carlisle Railway re-opens for passengers

Network Rail carried out the work and believes the higher speeds will help to improve punctuality for all services that use this key rail artery.

Peter Strachan, Route Director for Network Rail, said: "We'd like to say a big thank you to passengers and freight customers for their understanding and patience whilst we undertook this vital work.

"The four week project has been a big success, the engineering team has done a tremendous job and we now have a better railway as a result."

The investment in the route over the last four weeks is just part of the story and further work is planned for May & July.

"These vital investments will help to secure the long-term future of the route which, with the recent increases in traffic, has a bright future," added Mr Strachan.

While the work was going on a combination of revised train services and replacement coaches and buses was introduced, ensuring that passengers were able to continue to travel and complete their journeys.

Further engineering work is currently planned from 14 to 21 May and 16 to 30 July; full details of revised train and replacement road services will be available nearer the time.

For further information on services and line closures, log on to www.settle-carlisle.co.uk