Planning a trip on Northamptonshire's trains or buses over Easter? You need to read this first ...

'Check before you travel' as engineering works and amended timetables will affect journeys
By Kevin Nicholls
Published 31st Mar 2021, 10:39 GMT
Updated 31st Mar 2021, 14:40 GMT
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Passengers on both major railway routes through Northamptonshire face disruption over the Easter weekend.

Engineering works will mean fewer trains running between Northampton and London on all four days.

Passengers from Corby will be shuttled to and from Kettering to connect with East Midlands Railway services and then face possible hold-ups because of work on a new station in north London.

Northamptonshire's trains and buses will be operating special timetables over the Easter breakNorthamptonshire's trains and buses will be operating special timetables over the Easter break
Northamptonshire's trains and buses will be operating special timetables over the Easter break

All on the first weekend it's been OK to travel since January!

Operators are advising anybody planning on taking a train to meet up with friends or family to check on National Rail Enquires website or app before travelling.

■ Northampton — London Euston

Network Rail is carrying out work on London's new HSW terminus; replacing and refurbishing worn out track between London and Milton Keynes and between Rugby and Birmingham; and on the new East-West rail route at Bletchley.

It all means amended timetables on London Northwestern Railway and Avanti West Coast routes from Good Friday until 5am Tuesday morning.

And on Sunday, replacement buses will be running between Northampton and Hemel Hempstead in both directions until 1.30pm.

■ Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough — London St Pancras

East Midlands Railway services between London and Northamptonshire will be affected by work going on to build a £40million new station for Thameslink services at Brent Cross.

The operator says fewer trains will be able to run on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday as a result of some lines being closed.

Trains that do run will take longer and some will have extra stops at Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway during the day.

There will be no direct train service between Corby and London St Pancras. Instead a shuttle train service will run between Corby and Kettering to connect with trains to and from the capital.

Trains are expected to be busier than usual meaning social distancing will be more difficult.

■ Buses

Stagecoach will be running its current Saturday service on Good Friday and a Sunday service on Easter Monday.

Normal Sunday services will run on Easter Sunday.

Related topics:LondonNorthamptonshireKetteringTrains