London Euston station will be closed from Good Friday, 15th April to Easter Monday, 18th April, with train services starting and finishing at Milton Keynes instead

The closure is to allow essential railway improvements to be carried out. Network Rail is investing millions of pounds upgrading sections of track in Watford. Such complex and large projects can only be done during a full closure of the railway, with bank holidays being the least disruptive time to do them.

During the closure:

• 1 km of new track will be installed;
• 4,400 of spoil will be removed;
• 5,000 tonnes of new ballast will be laid;
• Engineers will accumulate 7,000 working hours over 14 shifts;
• ten engineering trains will be in attendance;
• two rail-mounted cranes will be used to lift in new track sections;
• eight rail-mounted excavators will be used to move stone and spoil.

When the upgrade is complete, more trains will be able to use this key junction, meaning fewer delays and faster journeys for passengers and freight.

As well as the track improvements, engineers will make the most of the full railway closure to carry out a wide range of other work, including drainage, fencing, station maintenance, and bridge surveys.

Passengers needing to travel on the affected days could have longer journeys, there will be fewer seats, and they may need to use rail-replacement buses. To plan journeys and for the latest travel information visit: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/wcml.

James Dean, Network Rail’s West Coast South route director, said: “There is never an ideal time to shut the railway and we have to carefully balance the best time to do this essential work with the needs of our passengers. Long bank holiday weekends continue to give our engineers the time they need to close the railway for complex jobs like track replacements and bridge overhauls while disrupting the fewest passengers.

“Our advice this Easter is to travel either side of the bank holiday weekend and to plan ahead by checking National Rail Enquiries to see how your journey could be impacted by our essential upgrades to improve the railway for the future.”

Other essential work will also be carried out in Network Rail’s North West and Central region over the Easter Bank Holiday, which will require the railway to be closed at various places including:

between Birmingham International and Coventry, 1 km of track drainage will be replaced at Beechwood Tunnel;

• at Coventry South Junction, bridge renewal works will take place;
• at Hampton-in-Arden, enabling works for HS2 will be in progress;
• in Leamington Spa, Rugby Road railway bridge is being replaced as part of a £2.4m investment;
• around Crewe station, signalling and track improvements on lines will take place;
• at Carnforth on the West Coast main line, track ballast will be replaced ;
• at Carstairs in Scotland, track replacement will take place on the West Coast main line;
• between Liverpool and Manchester, there will be changes to train services due to track maintenance around Liverpool South Parkway