Rail bank holiday chaos

Rail passengers are facing a bank holiday weekend of chaos as engineers go to work on major routes across the South-East.

Holiday makers and commuters planning trips to Wales and the west of England will be forced to find alternative routes or face delays and bus replacement services.

Railway bosses say it is vital the work is done as soon as possible. But road experts are predicting the disruption will cause gridlock on the roads in the affected areas.

Engineering works start at midnight on Friday and continue until early Tuesday.

Track renewal around Slough will mean that passengers travelling to Bath,
Bristol and Cardiff on First Great Western will have to leave from Waterloo rather than Paddington. Their journeys will take an extra hour.

Buses will replace train services from Liverpool Street to Stansted and there will be no trains running between Stansted and Harlow.

The West Coast main line will close between Hemel Hempstead and Milton
Keynes and between Stockport and Manchester.

On the East Coast main line travel will be suspended between Newark and Retford.

The AA’s Paul Watters said: “People will be angry and frustrated.” But a Strategic Rail Authority spokesman said: “We have looked at this closely to make sure the least disruption is caused.”