Major railway line to be closed for 7 days: Here's how it could affect your Easter holiday

Rail passengers are being warned to expect disruptionand to plan ahead as the Easter weekend will see several line closures due to vital maintenance being carried out. The scheduled work will affect travel on the West Coast Main Line as well as trains coming out of major London stations like Charing Cross and Victoria.

The maintenance work is due to be carried out over the Easter holiday, Friday 7 April until Monday 10 April, as well as Saturday 30 April to Monday 2 May for trains between Northampton and London. This means that passengers will also have to take a bus replacement service or find an alternative route to cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

London rail disruption

Major work across the rail network will affect the following lines, as per Network Rail:

West Coast Main Line – Milton Keynes to London Euston

• No services will operatebetween London Euston and Milton Keynes Central throughout the bank holiday weekend.
• Bus services will operate from Milton Keynes Central and Bedford to connect to Thameslink/East Midlands Railway services to and from London.
• London North Western will also operate bus services to serve stations south of Milton Keynes to connect with Thameslink services at Potters Bar.
• Caledonian Sleeper services will start from London King’s Cross.

London Victoria Station – no trains to platform 9-19

• Services will start and terminate at London Bridge.
• London Victoria to Dorking services will be diverted to start/terminate at London Bridge via Peckham Rye.

London Charing Cross station – maintenance work and track renewals

Work will take place on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 April.

• Trains will not run to or from via Waterloo East to Charing Cross.
• Southeastern services will start and terminate from Cannon Street or London Victoria.
• Bus replacement services will be in operation between Lewisham and Dartford via Sidcup.

In addition to this, no trains will run between East Croydon and London Victoria. Most Southern services will be diverted to London Bridge, and the Gatwick Express will not run. Gatwick Express customers should use Thameslink or other Southern services between London and Gatwick Airport.

Read more:

⋙ Easter holidays could be cancelled as passengers warned of 'severe' travel disruptions

⋙ New health warning issued for Brits travelling to Turkey, here's what you need to know

Read more:

⋙ Travel warning issued as passport office to strike for weeks, here's how it will affect your holiday

Rest of UK

Outside of London will also see disruption as Avanti West Coast trains will go no further north than Lancaster between 8 and 11 April due to track work near Carlisle halting trains to the Lakes and Glasgow.

In addition, passengers will face disruption to services around the major rail interchange of Crewe due to works on HS2.

Network Rail’s route director James Dean said, as per My London:

We know there’s never an ideal time to close the railway, so I’d like to thank people in advance for their patience ahead of this complex project.

This upgrade will transform the way we can move trains through the area, meaning fewer delays and extra capacity on this economically important passenger and freight route.

Passengers are being advised to travel either side of the bank holiday for the smoothest journey possible. Customers can plan ahead by checking National Rail Enquiries for further information.

Sources used:

- My London 'London travel: Warning issued as closure of key city rail route set to cause chaos for seven days'

- Network Rail 'We’ve planned essential engineering works over the Easter bank holiday to make improvements to the railway'

- The Guardian 'Network Rail warns of Easter disruption due to engineering works'

- Network Rail 'Sussex: Rail passengers urged to plan ahead this Easter weekend as Network Rail undertakes key track upgrades on the lines into London Victoria'