Rail passengers travelling through Harrow over the Easter bank holiday have been advised to “travel either side” of the long weekend, according to Network Rail.
The West Coast main line will see services starting and finishing at Milton Keynes, with no trains running to or from London Euston between Good Friday (7 April) and Easter Monday (10 April). The closure is necessary for the final phase of upgrades to track and signalling at Watford junction, and journeys on those days will involve rail replacement buses.
CrossCountry services through the Midlands are also affected, with the rail route closed for emergency viaduct repairs, meaning long-distance travellers are urged to re-check with their train operator on the impact this urgent work has on journeys. Chiltern Railways has advised only essential travel on its services, with alternative rail routes expected to be extremely busy over Easter.
Dave Penney, Network Rail passenger director for the North West and Central region, said, “We’re reminding people that the best time to travel on the West Coast main line and Chiltern main line this Easter is on Thursday 6 and Tuesday 11 April – before and after we must close parts of the railway to carry out multi-million pound improvement work.
“This advice becomes even more pertinent with the urgent closure of a railway viaduct south of Oxford used by CrossCountry services, as the knock-on impact over the Easter weekend will make alternative routes very busy.”
