Major rail upgrades to cause delays and closures in Early May 2021 Bank Holiday 

Network Rail have announced they will be carrying out a number of railway projects over the Early May Bank Holiday between Saturday 1st and Monday 3rd of May.

General maintenance and upgrades are essential to ensuring the UK's rail infrastructure is suitable for traffic, along with improvements to speed, time and comfort of each train.

The following areas will be affected at the upcoming May Bank Holiday:

1. Closure of London Euston Station – To carry out work to prepare the station for High Speed 2 (HS2)
2. West Coast Mainline between London and Milton Keynes – Rail replacement
3. Preston to Penrith – Track upgrades
4. Trafford, Manchester – Upgrades to signalling equipment

Delays, reduced or no services may be implemented over the Bank Holiday, with Network Rail urging anyone considering or needing to travel to either:

1. Check what replacement and services are running – which can be done at National Rail Enquiries' website.
2. Use alternative modes of transport
3. Travel before (Friday 30th of April) or after (Tuesday 4th of May)

Please note: Only Caledonian Sleeper services will operate out of London Euston over the Early May Bank Holiday.

Network Rail's West Coast South Route Director James Dean said: “There is never an ideal time to shut the railway and we have worked hard to minimise disruption across the spring and summer – including moving work over the Easter and Spring bank holidays.

“It is fantastic to see more passengers return to the railway and we want to make journeys as easy as possible for those travelling over bank holidays. We are carefully balancing that with the need to carry out essential railway improvements and maintenance to provide a safe and reliable railway for the future.

“The scale of work planned this May will mean changes for passengers, but we're working with train companies to minimise disruption to people as much as possible.”