During the Early May Bank Holiday between 30th April and 2nd May, Network Rail will be working on 550 projects worth £70m to upgrade the railway.

Although most of the network will be open for business as usual, some routes will be affected and passengers planning to travel that weekend should check with their train operator or via National Rail Enquiries before they travel to find out whether their journeys will be affected.

While over 95% of the network will be unaffected by the engineering works taking place, there will be disruption on some routes. The following routes will be affected:

• there will be no trains between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central. Renewal of track, points, and crossings, and HS2 works will be taking place at London Euston and Watford North Junction, to improve capacity and provide a more reliable and safer railway for passengers.
• there will be no trains between Finsbury Park and Moorgate because newly installed signalling equipment that is part of the East Coast Digital Programme is being commissioned on the Northern City Line.
• all c2c services that usually run to/from Liverpool Street will be diverted via West Ham and will run to/from London Fenchurch Street due to roof renewal works at Liverpool Street station to improve safety and the customer experience.
• services from Hertford North and Welwyn Garden City will be diverted to start/terminate at London King’s Cross;
  there will be no trains between Waltham Cross and Stansted Airport with rail-replacement bus services in operation because of renewal of track, points, and crossings at Bishops Stortford.
• there will be no Southern trains to/from London Victoria on 1 and 2 May due to resignalling and maintenance works between London Victoria and Balham.
• between London Bridge and Gatwick Airport/Brighton, an amended Thameslink timetable will be in operation as station enhancement works continue at Gatwick Airport to improve capacity.
• some trains between Manchester and Stalybridge will be replaced by buses, and some trains will be diverted into Manchester Piccadilly as work continues to upgrade the railway between Manchester and Stalybridge as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “While the majority of our network will be open for business as usual, we’re asking passengers who are planning to use the railway over the Early May Bank Holiday to check their journey in advance.

“Teams across Network Rail will be delivering £70m worth of upgrades, helping to make the railway more reliable and fit for the future. A big thanks to those teams who will be working long hours or late into the night in order to get this work done swiftly and safely, while minimising the impact on our lineside neighbours.”