Northampton rail passengers face TWO holiday weekends of travel chaos with all lines to London CLOSED

Hundreds of Northampton rail passengers are being told to re-think plans for any holiday weekend trips to London with engineering work set to shut all lines into Euston station for a total of SEVEN DAYS.

Network Rail and train operator London Northwestern Railway is advising customers to avoid making any journeys from Northampton or Long Buckby to the capital on Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday — AND between Saturday April 30 and Monday May 2.

Southbound services will finish at Milton Keynes with passengers having to tackle bus connections to Bedford for East Midlands Railway and Thameslink services to St Pancras International. Some journey times between Northampton and London will be nearly doubled to just over two hours.

Buses will also ferry passengers to intermediate stations south of Milton Keynes on the Euston route.

Those who do want to travel are being advised to take trains either side of the bank holidays and plan their journeys well in advance by checking the National Rail Enquiries website.

Avanti West Coast services at Rugby and Milton Keynes will also be affected.

Engineers will be working at Watford Junction on both weekends on the final stage of a project which started three years ago to upgrade track and overhead lines on the West Coast route to improve journeys between London and Crewe. The closures will also allow work on HS2 to be carried out without causing further disruption.

Network Rail’s route director James Dean said: “We know there’s never an ideal time to close the railway, so I’d like to thank people in advance for their patience ahead of this complex project.

“This upgrade which will transform the way we can move trains through the area, meaning fewer delays and extra capacity on this economically important passenger and freight route.

"With Euston closed for four days my best advice is, if you can, travel either side of the bank holiday – before and after the railway closure – for the smoothest journey possible. Otherwise please plan ahead by checking National Rail Enquiries for the latest travel information.”