TRAINS passing through Shap will be able to travel at top speed by the end of November when work to upgrade the track is expected to be completed.

The embankment work, part of a £1m project, was needed because Network Rail is going to install a new crossover into Harrisons Sidings, just north of Shap, which will give freight trains faster access to the sidings and so get them clear of the main line more quickly when high speed passenger trains approach.

The six-metre high embankment sits on extremely wet ground, which contains a layer of peat up to a metre thick, and during heavy rainfall the area becomes saturated. Network Rail also had to purchase an additional strip of land approximately 110 metres long by six metres wide to allow the gradient of the embankment to be reduced. The current line speed has been reduced to 60mph while the work is done.