Thousands of train journeys over Easter will be disrupted due to planned engineering work affecting services between two major cities. Engineering work means no intercity rail services between London Euston and Milton Keynes on the West Coast Main Line between Good Friday, April 3 and Wednesday, April 8.

Trains will then resume on Thursday, April 9, meaning passengers face six days without the usual services. The work is part of a new £400 million project to boost the reliability of the West Coast Main Line, Europe’s busiest railway line for passenger and freight trains. Jake Kelly, Network Rail’s regional director for the North West and Central region, said: “We know how important bank holidays are – particularly at Easter, when families and friends come together – and that’s why we work hard to keep as much of the network open as possible while carrying out these vital upgrades.

“However, bank holidays are also among the least busy times on the railway, and the four-day period at Easter gives us a valuable opportunity to complete projects that simply can’t be delivered during a normal weekend.

“This ensures we maximise the time our teams are out working on the tracks. “So passengers will see some changes and it’s a good idea for people to check before they travel.”

The upgrades will include a range of new repairs and infrastructure improvements across the entire route. In North-west London, a new track is set to be laid at Willesden, with repairs also scheduled at Harrow and Wealdstone station.

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Meanwhile, work will also be undertaken on a bridge in Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, with the bridge to be given extra protection to prevent future damage.

There will be no WCML services between Preston and Lancaster on Saturday, April 4, or on Easter Sunday. Meanwhile, Easter disruption is set to continue with other popular passenger lines affected over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Avanti West Coast will run services between Preston and Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle line. Meanwhile, Anglo-Scottish services will be diverted via Dumfries and Kilmarnock between Good Friday and Easter Monday.

At the same time, services between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction will be reduced, while there are scheduled to be no trains between Winchester and Southampton in Hampshire, or the route covering Herne Bay and Ramsgate in Kent.