Advice for passengers travelling over the Easter weekend

London Northwestern Railway passengers are being advised to plan ahead if they intend to travel this weekend (from Friday 19 until Monday 22 April).

Essential planned improvement work will be taking place at London Euston, Liverpool Lime Street, and on the West Coast Mainline between Rugby and Birmingham International. There will be major changes to train services as a result, with longer journey times on affected routes.

Services will be impacted across the Easter weekend, from Friday 19 until Monday 22 April. Passengers are advised to travel either side of these dates if they need to make journeys over the holiday period.

London Northwestern Railway services will be affected as follows:

• Friday 19 and Monday 22 April - Trains will operate as far south as Harrow and Wealdstone. Passengers will be able to connect onto London Underground services to/from central London.
• Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April - Trains will operate as far south as Milton Keynes. Passengers will be able to connect with rail replacement bus services to/from Stanmore for connections onto London Underground services to/from central London.
• Friday 19 until Monday 22 April - Rail replacement buses will operate between Birmingham International and Rugby. 
• Sunday 21 April only - London Northwestern Railway services to Liverpool Lime Street will operate to and from Liverpool South Parkway. Passengers are advised to use Merseyrail services to and from Liverpool city centre.

Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director for London Northwestern Railway, said: “Our aim is to keep people moving as far as possible if they have to travel on the days affected by these works. Closing a major mainline station is never going to be convenient, but we have a tried and tested plan for operating buses to connect with alternative routes to and from London when Euston is closed. We still advise customers to travel on alternative days as these options will take significantly longer.”

Network Rail is carrying out work at London Euston and in the West Midlands as part of Britain’s Railway Upgrade Plan. The work at Euston is in preparation for the HS2, Britain’s new high-speed railway and includes work to clear additional concourse space to help customers move more freely around the station. Elsewhere on the West Coast main line several sections of track will be completely replaced, as well as upgrades to overhead lines, signals and points.

These works will also be continuing over the upcoming May bank holiday weekends.

Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail said: “This Easter we are strongly advising passengers to plan ahead while we deliver essential upgrades to the rail network to improve their journeys.

“We know that our railway is up to 50% quieter than usual over bank holidays so doing work at this time of year minimises our impact on passengers who, as research shows, understand the need for such activity.”

Robert Nisbet, regional director for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the railway, said: “Train companies and Network Rail are working together to make big improvements to today’s railway to add more services, improve punctuality and make journeys better. There’s never a good time to carry out vital engineering work but fewer people travel on bank holidays than on a normal weekday. We’d encourage people to check before they travel by visiting National Rail Enquiries or speaking to their train operator.”

For passengers on the Marston Vale Line between Bletchley and Bedford, an hourly service will be operating on Friday 19 and Monday 22 April.Previously, services have not operated on this route on bank holidays, in line with usual Sunday timetables.

Passengers can plan their journeys and check before they travel at www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk

For more information on these works go to www.nationalrail.co.uk/easter

ENDS