Rail travellers warned to plan ahead for Easter weekend

West Coast train customers in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria urged to plan ahead to avoid rail upgrade impacts over Easter weekend.

Virgin Trains services will not operate to or from London Euston on Easter Sunday (April 1) to allow essential rail upgrades to take place at Wembley, customers are being reminded.

Train customers planning trips to and from Euston on the West Coast main line during the Easter bank holiday are urged to plan their travel on days other than the Sunday.

As part of Britain’s Railway Upgrade Plan, Network Rail says its engineers are doing preparatory work to enable the wholesale replacement of north Wembley junction in August.

The junction is old, worn out and needs replacing. Passengers will ultimately benefit from a more reliable service.

While the railway is closed to trains for Network Rail’s work, HS2 will make use of the opportunity to carry on with preparatory work for Britain’s new high speed railway.

Euston station’s Easter Sunday shutdown will affect rail services throughout the West Coast main line including at Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and Scotland.
Services on the Saturday (March 31) and the Monday (April 2) of the long weekend will also be busier as fewer trains than normal will be running.

London Overground and Caledonian Sleeper services however, will run as normal to and from Euston throughout the weekend including the Sunday.

Euston’s shops and access to London Underground are set to operate as normal throughout the Easter weekend.

Martin Frobisher, managing director of Network Rail’s London North Western route, said: “Our work this Easter is part of our joined-up industry plan – Britain’s Railway Upgrade Plan. We are working together. HS2 is making use of this chance to prepare to build its new railway.”