RAIL passengers commuting over the Easter period can expect major disruptions to services.
The UK’s biggest intercity line will be closed for six consecutive days early next month.
Engineering work has been planned for the busy route, which carries over 75 million passengers a year, from Good Friday (April 3) to Wednesday, April 8.
There will be no west coast mainline services between London Euston and Milton Keynes on these dates, with services between Preston and Lancaster halted on Easter weekend (Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5).
The upgrade works are part of a wider £400 million project, which will see improvements to the line’s reliability as well as repairs to tracks.
Jake Kelly, Network Rail’s regional director for the north-west and central region spoke to the Guardian about the latest upgrade.
“The four-day period at Easter gives us a valuable opportunity to complete projects that simply can’t be delivered during a normal weekend,” he said.
“This ensures we maximise the time our teams are out working on the tracks.”
While the north London neighbourhood of Willesden, north London will see new tracks laid, there will also be repairs and upgrades at Harrow and Wealdstone station.
And a historic bridge in Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, which gained international notriety in the Great Train Robbery, is also scheduled for upgrades over Easter.
Kelly added that Network Rail is working hard “to keep as much of the network open as possible while carrying out these vital upgrades”.
Avanti West Coast will run services between Preston and Carlisle via the Settle-Carlisle line over the Easter period, while Anglo-Scottish services will be diverted via Dumfries and Kilmarnock between Good Friday and Easter Monday.
Network Rail has advised passengers to check before they travel on these dates.
Over 270 other upgrade projects are planned for various rail routes over the Easter period this year.