Check before you travel during rail upgrades this May bank holiday

Friday 21 Apr 2023

Check before you travel during rail upgrades this May bank holiday

Region & Route:: North West & Central; | North West & Central: West Coast Mainline South

Passengers travelling between London Euston, the West Midlands, North West and Scotland are being advised to check before they travel ahead of multi-million pound railway upgrades over the early May bank holiday.

Network Rail is investing £7.7m to improve future journeys on the West Coast main line between London and Crewe between Saturday 29 April and Monday 1 May.

The essential upgrades include:

Work to 25,000-volt overhead lines which power trains at Euston and Kings Langley to make them more resilient during hot weather
Track upgrades at Harrow and Wealdstone
Overhead line upgrades as part of a year-long power supply project at Bushey
Work starting to remove of the old arrival and departure boards at Euston station
Upgrades to track foundation stone at Willesden North and Watford South Junction
Track renewal at Sunnyside between Berkhamstead and Tring and at Chadwell Farm

London Euston will be closed on Sunday 30 April with trains terminating once again at Milton Keynes. Shuttle bus services to Bedford will connect passengers with onward trains into London St Pancras.

During the work people could have to change trains, have longer journeys, services will be busier, and in some cases travellers will need to use rail replacement buses.

Passengers are being advised to plan their journeys in advance by checking www.nationalrail.co.uk.

James Dean, Network Rail’s West Coast South route director, said: “We made great progress on major railway improvements over Easter and I’d like to thank passengers for their continued patience while we carry out more must-do work between Saturday 29 April and Monday 2 May. We know there is never an ideal time to shut the railway, but bank holidays continue to be the least disruptive time for us to carry out this essential maintenance.

“With Euston closed our advice is once again plan ahead by checking National Rail Enquiries to see how your journey could be impacted.”

Nationally Network Rail is investing £73m and carrying out a total of 610 railway upgrade projects over the early May bank holiday weekend.

Passengers are advised to plan ahead through their train operator or by visiting the www.nationalrail.co.uk website.

Notes to Editors

*On Saturday 29 April, there will be no London North Western Railway services between Euston and Tring as a result of this work, and trains that usually run to Crewe will start/terminate at Milton Keynes Central. Trains that usually run to Birmingham New Street will start/terminate at Northampton. A reduced Avanti West Coast service will also operate to and from Euston. No London Overground services will operate between Willesden Junction and Watford Junction, with a half hourly reduced service between Euston and Willesden Junction.

On Sunday 30 April, no trains will operate between Euston and Milton Keynes Central. Bus replacement services will be in place between Stanmore (London Underground Station), Watford Junction and Milton Keynes Central, and between Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington and Bedford and Milton Keynes Central. No London Overground services will operate between Euston and Watford Junction.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
07740 782954
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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