Network Rail is urging passengers on the West Coast Mainline to avoid all but essential train travel to and from London over three weeks in August and September when London Euston will be closed.

Network Rail is replacing North Wembley Junction, which is a major junction on Europe’s busiest mixed-use railway.

The current junction is old. Replacing it means passenger trains and freight trains will benefit from more reliable journeys in the future.

This job means shutting the line, at the least disruptive time, over the following weekends.

• 18-19 August
• 25-27 August (bank holiday weekend)
• 1-2 September

Access to the London Underground station will continue to operate as normal.

What did the officials say?

Martin Frobisher, route managing director for Network Rail’s London North Western route said:

“There is never an ideal time to shut the railway but these three weekends are the least disruptive times to do it.

“We have worked together for the past three years with train operators to carefully plan this closure of the railway in a way that minimises impact on customers.

“It’s vital the track at north Wembley is replaced to continue to safely meet the huge demand of passenger and freight rail services on the West Coast main line. This work will result in better, more reliable journeys in future.”

Peter Broadley, executive director for customer, operations and safety at Virgin Trains on the west coast, said:

 “With no services into or out of Euston we strongly advise our customers to avoid travelling to London on the days affected. We know this will impact on people’s travel plans, particularly over a bank holiday weekend so we encourage customers to plan ahead and where possible travel at other times.”

Andrew Conroy, customer experience director for London Northwestern Railway said:

“Our aim is to keep people moving if they have to travel on these dates. Improvement works are never convenient for anyone, but we have a tried and tested plan for operating buses to connect with alternative routes to and from London when Euston is closed. We still advise customers to travel on alternative days as these options will take significantly longer.”

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