​Advice for rail passengers travelling this weekend

London Northwestern Railway passengers are being advised to plan ahead if they intend to travel this weekend (from Saturday 4 until Monday 6 May).

Essential planned improvement work will be taking place at London Euston and also between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street. There will be major changes to train services as a result, with longer journey times on affected routes.

Passengers are advised to travel either side of these dates if they need to make journeys over the bank holiday weekend.

London Northwestern Railway services will be affected as follows:

Saturday 4 May

• Trains on the West Coast Mainline will operate as far south as Hemel Hempstead.

Sunday 5 May

• Trains on the West Coast Mainline will operate as far south as Milton Keynes Central.
• Buses will replace trains between Crewe and Liverpool South Parkway. Passengers are advised to use Merseyrail services to/from central Liverpool.

Monday 6 May

• Trains on the West Coast Mainline will operate as far south a Hemel Hempstead.

Passengers travelling to/from London will be able to connect with rail replacement bus services to/from Stanmore for connections onto London Underground services on these days.

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 days affected by improvement work. 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 both London and Liverpool. We still advise customers to travel on alternative days as these options will take significantly longer.”

Network Rail is carrying out work on the West Coast Mainline 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 Mainline, overhead lines, signals and points will be upgraded.

Martin Frobisher, managing director of Network Rail’s London North Western route, said: “We recognise there is never an ideal time to shut the railway for our must-do work. Bank holidays are the least disruptive time to do it, when fewer passengers use the railway compared to the working week. That way we can do the maximum amount of work while impacting the fewest number of people. Sometimes a closure is the only way we can carry out major work like replacing track or the improvements at Euston station.

“Train companies and Network Rail have worked together to minimise disruption for customers by doing a lot of work over the Easter and early May bank holidays. The alternative would have been closing the line and Euston station over multiple weekends throughout the summer.”

Robert Nisbet, regional director for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the railway, said: “This vital engineering work is part of the rail industry’s plan to add more services, improve punctuality and make journeys better and as fewer people travel on bank holidays than on a normal weekday, we’re keeping disruption to a minimum. We encourage people who are planning to take the train over the May bank holidays to check before they travel by visiting nationalrail.co.uk or speaking to their train operator.”

For passengers on the Marston Vale Line between Bletchley and Bedford, an hourly service will be operating on Monday 6 May. Previously, services have not operated on this route on bank holidays, in line with usual Sunday timetables.

Improvement work is also scheduled for the late May bank holiday, from Saturday 25 until Monday 27 May. During this time, a reduced service will operate to and from London Euston, with replacement buses operating for some early Sunday morning services. There will also be rail replacement buses operating between Crewe and Liverpool South Parkway from midday on Saturday 25 until midday on Monday 27 May.

Passengers are advised to plan their journeys and check before they travel at www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk

For more information on how the improvement works at London Euston are impacting services, go to https://www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/service-disruptions/euston-theres-problem

ENDS