Railway engineers are to start work to upgrade a 17-mile stretch of railway in north London between Saturday 11 and Sunday 19 February.

The scale of the work means the Bakerloo line between Queen's Park and Harrow & Wealdstone and the London Overground between Euston and Watford Junction will be closed for nine days.

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The improvements in February will include:

• Installing 7,000 modern concrete sleepers in place of wooden ones dating back to the 1950s

• Replacing 28km of cabling for signals – traffic lights for trains

• Structural improvements to five stations* including platform resurfacing and roof canopy maintenance

• Renewing the track at Willesden and Queen’s Park

• Upgrading the power supply for London Underground and Overground trains

• Carrying out signal maintenance at Watford Junction.

It follows the successful completion of similar upgrades to a 17-mile stretch of the same lines in December.