Most of Britain’s rail network will remain open over the Easter bank holiday, but a series of major engineering works will shut or disrupt several key routes, particularly on the West Coast Main Line and parts of the South East.
The most significant closure affects the southern end of the West Coast Main Line, where no intercity services will run between London Euston and Milton Keynes for five days.
No trains will run between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday through to Wednesday 8 April, as Network Rail carries out a concentration of upgrade works including track renewals, overhead line upgrades and bridge waterproofing. Long-distance services will start and terminate at Milton Keynes, with replacement buses and diversions via Bedford and London St Pancras.
Further north, the route between Preston and Lancaster will be closed on Saturday and Sunday, with signalling and power supply upgrades taking place. Avanti West Coast will divert services via the Settle & Carlisle line, while other operators will terminate earlier along the route.
In Scotland, additional works south of Glasgow mean Anglo-Scottish services will be diverted between Carlisle and Glasgow or Edinburgh via Dumfries and Kilmarnock rather than the core West Coast corridor.
Network Rail says the works are targeting some of the most delay-prone sections of the route. “The four-day period at Easter gives us a valuable opportunity to complete projects that simply can’t be delivered during a normal weekend,” said Jake Kelly, Network Rail’s regional director for North West and Central. “This ensures we maximise the time our teams are out working on the tracks.”
Disruption across London and the South
Outside the West Coast Main Line, disruption is more fragmented but still significant on several commuter corridors.
Services between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction will be reduced from Friday to Monday due to track renewals and structural works. At the same time, passengers travelling in Hampshire will face a full closure between Winchester and Southampton, where buses will replace trains for the entire four-day weekend.
In Kent, engineering work at Margate station will block services between Herne Bay and Ramsgate via Broadstairs, again requiring replacement buses.
“While most services will continue to run as normal over Easter, some improvement works will mean changes for customers on a small number of routes,” said Daniel Mann, director of industry operations at Rail Delivery Group. “We’re encouraging anyone travelling over the long weekend to plan ahead and allow extra time for travel.”
Wider programme of works
These schemes form part of a wider programme of more than 270 engineering projects scheduled across the network over the Easter period. While most lines remain open, passengers can expect additional timetable changes, diversions and reduced frequencies on a range of routes beyond the headline closures.
Network Rail has concentrated the works into the bank holiday window to take advantage of lower passenger demand. “We know how important Bank Holidays are, particularly at Easter, when families and friends come together,” Kelly added. “That’s why we work hard to keep as much of the network open as possible while carrying out these vital upgrades.”
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