OREANDA-NEWS.  Network Rail is urging passengers across the north west of England to check before they travel as Storm Henry approaches Britain.

Forecasters are predicting winds to strengthen overnight (Monday) with gusts in excess of 70mph in the Lancashire and Cumbria area.

Network Rail's frontline teams will continue to be on alert in the area and across the country, ready to deal with any damage the storm may cause to the railway.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: "Additional teams will be on standby to react to any damage caused to the railway by Storm Henry. As always, our advice to passengers is to check before you travel, using National Rail Enquiries for the latest information. With even more rain predicted to fall on already saturated ground, there is the potential for localised flooding, as well as possible damage from high winds which may cause disruption to passengers planning to travel."

As a precaution a 50mph speed restriction is already in place on the Settle to Carlisle line, between Settle and Appleby, and will remain in place until 5am tomorrow (Tuesday). A 50mph speed limit will come into operation on the Cumbrian coast line from 8pm tonight until 5am tomorrow and will also be in place on the West Coast main line between Garstang and Tebay between 8pm and midnight.

The West Coast main line remains closed at Lamington, near Lockerbie, while Network Rail repairs a railway viaduct severely damaged by Storm Frank.

Repair work continues across Cumbria and Lancashire on a number of railway embankments and other infrastructure damaged by December's storms and floods.

At Caldew Junction, north of Carlisle, which was under eight feet of floodwater in early December, engineers are putting rebuilt electrical units for powering signals on stilts to guard against them being destroyed again by floods in future.

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain’s railway – the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts, and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.6bn journeys by rail every year - double the number of 1996 - and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We’re investing ?38bn in the railway by 2019 to deliver more frequent, more reliable, safer services and brighter and better stations.