West Coast Main Line Improvement Work

 

West Coast main line and Euston HS2 upgrades spring/summer 2021

We're making major improvements on the railway between London Euston and Scotland over Spring and Summer 2021.

Early May bank holiday, 1-3 May 2021

Travel either side of May bank holiday weekend 

Passengers travelling between London Euston and Scotland over the early May bank holiday are strongly advised to travel either side of the long weekend (Friday 30 and Tuesday 4 May).

This is while major upgrades take place between London Euston and Milton Keynes. Euston station will be closed to main line train services between Saturday 1 and Monday 3 May.

Passengers needing to travel during the bank holiday could have loner journeys, fewer available seats ,and may need to use rail replacement buses. 

Please visit Journey Planner for information about specific journeys. 

What's happening?

Millions of pounds is being invested to improve future journeys for passengers and freight on the West Coast main line and key routes in the Midlands and North West.

Over the early May bank holiday, work taking place includes: 

• Work at Euston station to prepare it for HS2, Britain's new high-speed railway
• Work at Bletchley for the new East West Rail railway 
• Track upgrades at various locations between Preston - Penrith, Euston - Milton Keynes and at Watford
• Signalling upgrades continue in Trafford, Manchester

Where possible Network Rail has moved planned work to minimise disruption for passengers tot ake advantage of lockdown quiet time:

• We re-scheduled upgrades at Bletchley over Easter, affecting London to Birmingham journeys. This meant the work finished earlier, allowing more trains to run.
• Essential work in North London and Northamptonshire was brought forward to be completed before Easter. This meant Euston could stay open on the Easter and Spring bank holidays.
• Reviews into other planned summer upgrade works are underway to reduce the impact on passengers as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Other work taking place over the Spring and Summer 2021

A programme of major upgrades take place on the railway between London Euston and Scotland over Spring and Summer 2021.

The work, part of Britain's Railway Upgrade Plan and HS2 Phase One, will make passengers' journeys more reliable and ease pressure on the West Coast main line by adding more railway capacity.

What's happening?

Two lines into Euston station will be taken out of service for two six-week periods - 2 April to 17 May and 17 July to 31 August - to enable the new HS2 terminus to be built. Weekend work will also take place between April and the end of August.

Most train services will continue running while this work takes place, but there will be some timetable and platform alterations.

Other essential rail upgrades are planned over the Easter, Early May, Spring and August bank holiday weekends, which in 2021 fall on:

• 2 - 5 April (Easter bank holiday)
• 4 April - 4 June (Scotland rail renewal work over 10 weekends)
• 1 - 3 May (early May bank holiday)
• 29 - 31 May (late May bank holiday)
• 28 - 30 August (Summer bank holiday)

These upgrades include:

• Major track renewals between Rugby - Birmingham, Crewe - Warrington, Preston - Lancaster and Carstairs - Carlisle
• Further work on the Bletchley flyover - part of the East - West Rail project

This means stations and trains between Euston and Scotland may be busier, services will change, journeys may take longer and in some instances, buses will replace trains.

Improving infrastructure along the West Coast main line and at Euston is vital to improving services and providing a safe, reliable railway. Euston is a major interchange station and the gateway to the UK's busiest mixed-use passenger and freight rail route. 

Why is this work happening over Spring/Summer 2021?

The rail industry has worked closely to combine the Euston work and other West Coast rail upgrades as much as possible to minimise disruption to passengers. By carrying out the work over longer periods of time, it will be completed more quickly. This means there will be less passenger disruption. This is one of the most complex infrastructure changes to take place at Euston and represents one of the biggest ever investments in the station.