Passengers were today facing travel headaches when a West Midlands railway line shuts for engineering works.
The Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury route will be closed for nine days from October 16.
The closure is to allow new signalling to be installed at Madeley, near Telford.
Passengers on the busy service, run by Central Trains and Arriva Trains Wales, have been told to use replacement bus services.
The service stops at stations including Bilbrook, Codsall, Albrighton, Cosford and Shifnal.
Ged Burgess, spokesman for Central Trains, apologised for the disruption but said it would result in a better service, with more trains travelling faster.
“It guarantees the future of the line, increases capacity and increases the line speed from 75mph to 90mph potentially,” he said.
“It’s something we believe that customers will understand. There is a bit of inconvenience because people will have no trains for nine days but I think people will put up with that because they are getting a far more reliable railway.”
Commuter Dave Briggs, aged 34, who travels from Telford to Wolverhampton, said the closure was “very inconvenient”.
He added: “I just hope the buses will run on time.”
Central and Arriva operate services through to Birmingham on the route, while Arriva runs trains beyond Shrewsbury to Chester or Aberystwyth.
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