Passengers warned of Easter travel chaos as HS2 works shut Euston station
Passengers have been urged to check their travel plans this Easter as Euston station closes while major engineering works for HS2 take place.
Read more: Passengers urged to plan Easter travel ahead of railway upgrades
No trains will leave Euston over the Easter weekend between 19 and 22 April, as well as the first bank holiday in May, which runs from 4 to 6 May.
The work around Euston for HS2, the proposed £56bn railway that will connect London to the north, includes constructing additional concourse space around the station.
Network Rail is also carrying out maintenance work on the West Coast main line, which connects London to Birmingham, cities in the north and Glasgow.
Several sections of track on will be completely replaced over both bank holidays, as well as upgrades to overhead lines, signals and points.
The best days to travel are on Thursday 18 April and Tuesday 23 April.
Martin Frobisher, route managing director for Network Rail’s London north western route, said: “We recognise there is never an ideal time to shut the railway for our must-do work.
“Bank holidays are the least disruptive time to do it, when fewer passengers use the railway compared to the working week. That way we can do the maximum amount of work while impacting the fewest number of people.
“Train companies and Network Rail have worked together to minimise disruption for customers. By doing a lot of work over the Easter and early May bank holidays, we can offer passengers better journeys over the late May and August bank holidays. The alternative would have been closing the line and Euston station over all of these weekends.”
Robert Nisbet, regional director for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the railway, said: “Train companies and Network Rail are working together to make big improvements to today’s railway to add more services, improve punctuality and make journeys better.
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“There’s never a good time to carry out vital engineering work but fewer people travel on bank holidays than on a normal weekday. We’d encourage people to check before they travel by visiting National Rail Enquiries or speaking to their train operator.”