Shropshire Star

Shropshire passengers travelling out of county on track for plenty of Easter rail chaos

Rail passengers face replacement buses and disruption throughout the Easter weekend.

Published

Network Rail has confirmed it will be carrying out work at a number of locations, with issues affecting the West Coast Main Line, as well as Virgin Trains services between London Euston and Birmingham New Street.

The Easter work will see some sections of line shut, with buses replacing trains on several routes.

One of the biggest projects is at Reading in Berkshire, while work at Watford in Hertfordshire will lead to disruption to the journeys in and out of Euston station in London.

There will also be disruption to trains in and out of London's Liverpool Street station, while other areas where services will be disrupted include Dorking in Surrey, Crewe in Cheshire, between Lancaster and Carlisle and between Peterborough and Ely.

However, Arriva Trains Wales says no services running out of Shrewsbury station over the weekend will be affected.

On Easter Sunday, Virgin Trains between London Euston and Birmingham New Street or Crewe will run between Northampton and Birmingham New Street or Crewe only.

Until 10am, replacement buses will operate between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central and Northampton and after 10am replacement buses will operate between London Euston and Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes Central, Northampton, with an hourly train service running between Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes Central.

Mark Carne, Network Rail chief executive, said that despite the disruption he is confident the contingency measures will prove effective.

He said: "We have thoroughly reviewed our Easter improvement work and worked closely with the train operating companies."

Mr Carne also apologised to those who will be affected by the work. He said: "We are acutely conscious that many people want to use the railway during the holidays to reunite with their friends and families, which is why the vast majority of the network is running normally over the holiday period but there will be disruption for some.

"I'd like to apologise to any passengers whose plans are affected by our improvement work, but I hope they will understand that this is a quieter time on the railway and we want to minimise the overall impact of these vital projects."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.