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Friday 11 Apr 2025

Passengers reminded to check before travelling ahead of major Easter weekend rail upgrades

Region & Route:

North West & Central

Passengers travelling between London Euston and Scotland are being advised to plan their journeys in advance over the Easter bank holiday weekend.  

Between Friday 18 April and Monday 21 April, Network Rail will be delivering a suite of upgrades to improve the reliability of the railway for passengers and freight services. 

The renewal of switches and crossings (movable sections of track), and improved track drainage on the West Coast Main Line means no trains will run between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central on Saturday 19 April, Sunday 20 April, and Monday 21 April, with Euston station closed on these days. A reduced timetable will operate on Friday 18 April. Passengers are advised to travel before or after the Easter weekend to avoid longer journeys. 

To show passengers that we care, Network Rail is also using the Euston station closure to improve the customer experience by upgrading the toilet facilities and enhancing wayfinding to make navigating the station easier.

As part of an investment worth almost £20m to replace a bridge over the West Coast Main Line in Greater Manchester, the Greek Street roundabout in Stockport will be closed to traffic for one year starting from 31 March 2025. During Easter, preparatory work will be carried out on the railway underneath the bridge before it is this summer. Train services will be affected between 19-21 April and some journeys will be diverted around Stockport, while others will be replaced with bus services. 

Essential signalling upgrades north of Carlisle in the Kingmoor area between Saturday 19 - Monday 21 April means services on the West Coast Main Line will start and terminate at Carlisle. Bus replacement services will be in place between Carlisle, Glasgow, Dumfries and Edinburgh.   

Network Rail’s head of Euston station operations, Amanda Webster-Uz said: “There’s a lot of great work happening over the Easter bank holiday to improve the reliability and safety of the railway for passengers and freight.

“I’d like to urge passengers to plan ahead at www.nationalrail.co.uk/spring and recommend those planning journeys to or from London Euston, travel either side of the Easter weekend to avoid longer journeys."

Other work to improve the performance and reliability of the railway includes: 

• Engineers completing the final stage of work to connect a new rail freight interchange to the West Coast Main Line in Northampton. Over Easter, the focus will be on commissioning the complex new signalling system to ensure safe and efficient integration into the wider rail network. 
•  Lines between Mossley Hill, Huyton and Lime Street will be closed on Sunday 20 April so engineers can upgrade the railway. The team will be replacing track switches and crossings, and carrying out proactive maintenance work to the electrical supply equipment.
• Work to improve station facilities at Salford Central station mean changes to services on Sunday 20 April. 
• Passengers travelling between Wendover and Great Missenden should check before they travel on weekends from now until June, including over the Easter bank holiday, as essential HS2 work takes place. The carefully planned work will support the construction of the 345-metre-long Small Dean Viaduct, which will carry HS2 over the Chilterns rail line, the A413, and Small Dean Lane.  

Small Dean viaduct is one of 50 major viaducts on the HS2 project, which will improve journeys between the UK’s two largest cities, while freeing up space on the West Coast Main Line – Europe’s busiest mixed use railway.