Bank holiday train chaos as passengers told: Just don’t travel

RAIL travellers thinking of using the West Coast main line this bank holiday weekend have been told – in no uncertain terms – to think again.

The shutters will go down on London Euston station on Saturday as a huge programme of engineering works puts large swathes of the network out of action.

Yesterday Network Rail instructed Virgin West Coast passengers wanting to travel to or from the capital this weekend to pick a different date if at all possible.

The busy line runs from London to Glasgow and stops at Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

Euston will shut from Saturday to the bank holiday Monday while the North Wembley junction is replaced. It will then shut again the following weekend.

In a blunt message to passengers, Martin Frobisher, route managing director of Network Rail’s London North Western route, said: ‘Our message to West Coast train customers this August Bank Holiday and on 1-2 September is: ‘DO NOT TRAVEL’. Instead please plan your journey on other days.’

He added: ‘If you absolutely cannot avoid travel on these dates, expect a very different journey to what you’re used to – busier trains, less chance of a seat, diverted routes taking far longer...’

Over the bank holiday weekend, around 400 engineering works will take place. Passengers travelling across the UK to or via Derby will be diverted, delayed or forced to take a bus replacement service as a 79- day programme of works to upgrade the tracks and signalling continues over the bank holiday weekend.

Cross Country, East Midlands and Northern services will all be affected. No trains will run via Bolton and passengers will have to use buses to and from Manchester, Preston and Wigan. Buses will also run between Coventry and Birmingham International airport.

Passengers will also have to contend with another wave of strikes over the weekend on Northern rail and on South Western. The RAC predicted that the disruption will mean as many as 14.4million cars could take to A-roads and motorways between tomorrow and Monday evening.