Easter rail updates: changes to West Midlands Railway services this Easter

Passengers travelling on the West Coast Main Line over the Easter period are being urged to plan ahead during essential railway upgrades between London Euston and Milton Keynes.

Between 3 - 8 April, engineers will carry out a large programme of improvements to modernise ageing railway infrastructure.

The scale of the projects means that no main line services will run between Euston and Milton Keynes Central for 6 days, with trains starting and terminating north of the closure.

London Northwestern Railway services operate between Liverpool and Birmingham, and on the West Coast Main Line to and from London Euston.

West Midlands Railway services operate to destinations across the West Midlands via Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill.

The journey improving work includes:

• £8.4m of essential track work will take place at Willesden including the renewal of switches and crossings (moveable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another), and installing new railway foundation stone (ballast).
• A bridge in Ledburn, just south of Leighton Buzzard will see a £6.6m investment in waterproofing the bridge to prevent future damage to the structure. Engineers will also complete over £7m of signalling upgrades nearby, which will help to reduce failures and improve the reliability of journeys.
• Over £8m will be spent on a renewal of overhead line equipment near Wembley to enhance safety and power resilience.
• £2m of enabling works will be carried out in Bushey as part of a project to upgrade the power supply that keeps trains moving in and out of London.

Rail replacement services will be in operation to keep passengers on the move.