Chaos for train travellers as engineering works shut Northampton rail route to London Euston for four days over Easter weekend

Train passengers from Northampton face massive disruption to their Easter travel plans for a second year running as Network Rail shuts down miles of track for engineering work on lines to and from London Euston.

Operator London Northwestern Railway is urging its customers to travel either side the of four-day holiday weekend as services from the town will run only as far as Milton Keynes Central on Good Friday — and not at all on Saturday, Sunday and Easter Monday. Rail replacement buses will ferry passengers between Northampton and Milton Keynes on those three days and between MK and Bedford all weekend to use East Midlands Railway and Thameslink trains to St Pancras International with journey times of up to two hours, 40 minutes instead the usual around an hour.

Network Rail says track upgrade work on the route between Milton Keynes and Euston being carried out over the Easter weekend will mean more reliable journeys for passengers travelling in and out of the capital. Work will also continue to build the important link to the strategic rail-freight interchange at SEGRO Logistics Park next to junction 15 of the M1 at Northampton. Freight services are planned to begin operating there later this year.

Rob McIntosh, managing director for Network Rail's North West & Central region, said:  “There is never a good time to close parts of our railway, especially Euston station, and I am sorry for the disruption this will cause. However, the maintenance and improvement work we’re carrying out is vital to keeping the railway running safely and improving performance.

“We’re urging passengers to travel either side of the Easter break to avoid the worst of the disruption and to check before travelling with National Rail Enquiries for the latest travel advice.”

Connecting the rail-freight terminal to the West Coast Main Line will see thousands of tonnes of goods switch between rail and road, taking up to 300 lorries off the roads every day. When complete, the huge facility will have 5,000,000 square feet of warehouse space and employ up to 7,000 people.