Network Rail will carry out 530 upgrade projects worth £83m to upgrade railway for passengers over the Easter bank holiday weekend. Hence, the majority of network will be open for business as usual, though some routes will be affected by the works taking place.

The major upgrade projects include:

• Resignalling and switches and crossings works at Clapham Junction to improve safety. This will mean no Southern trains will operate to/from London Victoria between 15-18 April, and a reduced SWR service will run to/from Vauxhall.
• Plain line track renewals, switches and crossings and HS2 works at London Euston and Watford North Junction, to improve capacity and provide a safer railway for passengers. As a result, no trains will operate between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central over the Easter weekend.
• Bridge renewal works at Coventry South Junction and HS2 enabling works at Hampton-in-Arden to improve reliability and future capacity. Services between Coventry and Birmingham will be diverted via Solihull, while there will be bus replacement services between Rugby and Birmingham International, and between Leamington Spa and Nuneaton/Coventry.
• Switches and crossing renewals at Bishops Stortford and station upgrade works at Hertford East to improve performance and station capacity. Bus replacement services will operate between Waltham Cross and Stansted Airport, and between Waltham Cross and Hertford East.
• Station enhancement works at Gatwick Airport to improve capacity. Some trains will not stop at Gatwick, with one train per hour running between Redhill and Gatwick Airport.
• Track upgrade work in the Llanhilleth area to improve passenger journeys and boost capacity, as part of the multi-million-pound upgrade of the Ebbw Vale Line. As a result, rail replacement services will run between Cardiff Central and Ebbw Vale Town.

Andrew Haines, Chief Executive, Network Rail, said: 

“The majority of the railway will be open as usual this Easter for people to take a short break or visit loved ones, but some routes will be affected by our upgrade works, so we’re asking passengers to plan ahead and check their journeys in advance.”

“We’ll be carrying out hundreds of vital projects that will improve passengers’ journeys in future – for example by improving reliability and boosting capacity on the network.”