Railway misery warning

Network Rail will be closing the West Coast main line on three separate occasions between London Euston and Watford in August to carry out significant upgrade work.

As a result passengers will need to use alternative routes to travel in and out of London.

The railway will be closed between Saturday, August 9 and Monday, August 11; Saturday, August 16 and Monday, August 18; and Saturday, August 23 and Monday, August 25.

A reduced service will run until 4pm on Monday, August 11 and Monday August 18 and the railway will be closed on Monday August 25, reopening on Tuesday August 26.

The closures will affect passengers from across the North West, parts of Scotland and the West Midlands and who plan to travel to London along the West Coast main line.

Jim Syddall, acting route managing director for Network Rail, said: “The section of track at Watford is one of the most intensively used, high-speed pieces of railway in Britain and has seen tremendous growth in traffic and passengers over the last five years.

“There is never a good time to close the railway and we apologise for the inconvenience caused but this work is essential to maintain reliable train services for the millions of passengers who travel on this route every year.”

Network Rail said journey times will be considerably longer and passengers are being advised to avoid travelling to and from London on the line.