Rail passengers warned over six-day Easter shutdown on west coast mainline

Rail passengers planning to travel over the Easter break face disrupted journeys owing to a six-day shutdown on Britain’s biggest intercity line.Engineering work means there will be no west coast mainline services between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday (3 April) to Wednesday 8 April.There will also be no service between Preston and Lancaster on the line on 4-5 April.Network Rail said the work, which is part of a £400m project to increase the reliability of the line, was vital and that bank holidays were chosen for such works because they were among the least busy times to close.“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, the body’s regional director for the north-west and central region. “This ensures we maximise the time our teams are out working on the tracks.”New track will be laid at Willesden, north London, while there will be repairs and upgrades at Harrow and Wealdstone station.A bridge in Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, will be given extra protection to prevent future damage.Network Rail shut the west coast mainline for four days over the Easter break last year.“We know how important bank holidays are – particularly at Easter, when families and friends come together,” Kelly said. “That’s why we work hard to keep as much of the network open as possible while carrying out these vital upgrades.”Elsewhere on Great Britain’s rail network, engineers will be involved in more than 270 other upgrade projects over the Easter period.Avanti West Coast will run services between Preston and Carlisle via the Settle-Carlisle line.Anglo-Scottish services will be diverted via Dumfries and Kilmarnock between Good Friday and Easter Monday.Over the same period, services between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction will be reduced, and there will be no trains between Winchester and Southampton in Hampshire, or between Herne Bay and Ramsgate in Kent.“Passengers will see some changes, and it’s a good idea for people to check before they travel,” Kelly said.