ScotRail said the Glasgow Queen Street Station tunnel would be closed from 20 March until 8 August.
Services will divert to low-level platforms or Glasgow Central, bringing timetable changes and in some cases, longer journey times.
The work is part of a Â£60m upgrade project that will allow faster and longer trains to use the station.
Passengers on ScotRail's main Edinburgh to Glasgow service, via Falkirk High, are being advised to travel via Bathgate and Airdrie.
That journey will take around 70 minutes.
Phil Verster, managing director of the ScotRail Alliance, said: "Upgrading the tunnel will allow us to run faster, longer, greener trains in the future.
"This will mean more seats, shorter journey times and less impact on our environment.
"The long-term benefits of this investment will be considerable, not just for our railway, but also for the country."
ScotRail said the closure was necessary to enable major engineering work to renew 1,800m of existing concrete slab track formation, which carries the rails through the 918m tunnel.
The firm said this was the largest engineering project undertaken on the Edinburgh to Glasgow, via Falkirk High, railway, since it was built.
The project will involve 140 days of continuous round-the-clock working, the removal of 10,000 tonnes of existing concrete slab and the installation of 4,000m of new rails.
ScotRail has now launched a dedicated webpage to give passengers more information about the impact of the project.
Transport Minister Derek Mackay said: "This is a once in a generation project and one of the most ambitious ever planned on the Edinburgh-Glasgow route.
"The works will support the introduction of a new generation of faster, quieter and greener electric trains on routes across the Central Belt next year.
"Although I understand that this work will cause some inconvenience to passengers, the ScotRail Alliance is working to ensure that services are maintained where possible, disruption is kept to a minimum and that passengers are kept well informed throughout the work."

The 29-year-old has signed a two-year contract with the Dingwall side after leaving Shrewsbury Town.
"I'm delighted to bring Jim back to Dingwall on a permanent deal," manager Jim McIntyre told the Ross County website.
"He has lots of experience and qualities that can help bring on the younger players in our squad."
O'Brien spent six months on loan at Ross County last season, making 18 appearances and scoring twice.
The former Celtic and Motherwell midfielder may not be available to play in Friday night's Scottish League Cup encounter with Hibernian unless international clearance arrives in time.
"He played a part in helping us achieve our goals in the second half of last season and he wants to come and play for us," added McIntyre, who has also signed Sean Kelly, Thomas Mikkelsen and Jamie Lindsay this summer.
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Female players had been considering striking in an effort to address wage discrimination.
The US Soccer Federation sued the players' union to prevent a strike that could have caused the team to miss the summer Olympics.
The judge ruled the players are not eligible to strike because of a provision in an earlier contract.
In March, five players filed a lawsuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging pay discrimination. They argued female players were sometimes paid four times less than their male counterparts despite holding the world title.
The players' union had not called a strike over the issue, but had been weighing the possibility.
The US Soccer Federation - the sport's national governing body- filed its own suit to prevent a strike. It argued a no-strike clause from an early collective bargaining agreement carried over to the 2013  memorandum of understanding that the players are currently working under.
The union argued that a no-strike clause had never been specifically laid out in the terms of the latest agreement.
However, the judge sided with the federation citing oral and email communication between the two sides, as evidence that the original terms were passed to the new agreement.
"A collective bargaining agreement may be partly or wholly oral and a written collective bargaining agreement may be orally modified," Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman wrote in her ruling.
The team is expected to perform well at the Olympic Games in Rio and the federation said it feared a strike would damage the development of football in US.
The players, many of whom have expressed outrage at gender pay differences, will continue their wage discrimination case.
The main tunnel serving Scotland's third busiest rail station is to close for 20 weeks, causing major disruption.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Ross County have signed winger Jim O'Brien on a permanent deal following a loan spell last season.
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A judge has ruled that the world champion US women's football team does not have the right to strike.