Easter disruption for Europe's busiest train line

Thousands of Easter train journeys will be disrupted by a six-day shutdown on the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

Engineering work means no intercity services will run between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday to Wednesday, 8 April, Network Rail said.

The Easter work is part of a £400m project to boost reliability, which WCML said was Europe's busiest railway line used for passenger and freight trains.

Operator Avanti warned trains on Maundy Thursday were expected to be busy and said it had lifted peak restrictions for 2 April.

"We recommend travelling earlier in the day if you can to avoid busy trains," it said.

Normal services on WCML will resume on Thursday April 9.

National Rail said replacement buses would run between Milton Keynes Central and Bedford or Potters Bar, where passengers could catch trains to stations in central London.

London Northwestern Railway said its tickets would be accepted on Thameslink and East Midlands Railway services.

"Journeys via this route will be faster and more frequent than alternative routes," it said.

Network Rail said WCML is "Britain's economic backbone", connecting major cities and moving "thousands of trains and tonnes of goods every day".

It said parts of the line cannot cope with modern demand and need investment to "prevent disruption tomorrow and build confidence in rail travel for years to come".

In north-west London, new track will be laid at Willesden, while Harrow and Wealdstone station will see repairs and upgrades.

A bridge in Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, will receive additional waterproofing to prevent future damage.

More than £8m will be spent on renewing overhead line equipment near Wembley, and £2m on upgrading the power supply in Bushey to "keep trains moving in and out of London".

Engineers will also complete more than £7m of signalling upgrades, which operator London Northwestern said would "help to reduce failures and improve the reliability of journeys".

The company said the "large programme of improvements" would "modernise ageing railway infrastructure, increase reliability and support future growth".

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