Train operator CrossCountry is urging its passengers planning to check ahead before travelling this weekend.
The long-distance operator, which announced earlier this week that it is increasing and refurbishing its train fleet, is altering services to enable engineering work to take place.
CrossCountry is suspending and altering services in areas including Dorset, Hampshire, East Anglia and Scotland, and promises that making these alterations in advance will make journeys more reliable and mean fewer cancellations on the day.
Some journeys will take longer than usual, and on some routes, buses will replace trains.
CrossCountry hopes that by focusing on specific services over certain periods of the bank holiday weekend, it can ensure that passengers reach their destinations safely and smoothly.
Details of the disruption are as follows:
Sunday 31 March
- Buses replace trains between Peterborough and Cambridge North via March and Ely.
- No CrossCountry trains will run between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central. Buses replace trains between Edinburgh and Motherwell. Other operators will run train services between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central.
- Buses replace trains between Leeds and Sheffield via Wakefield Westgate.
- Buses replace trains between Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central and Bournemouth.
- The 09:01 and 10:01 Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly services will be retimed to depart a few minutes earlier than usual at 08:57 and 09:57 respectively.
Monday 1 April
- Buses replace trains between Ely and Cambridge / Stansted Airport.
- No CrossCountry trains will run between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central. Buses replace trains between Edinburgh and Motherwell. Other operators will run train services between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central.
Up-to-date information on these timetable changes is available here.
“This Easter we're dedicated to keeping last-minute cancellations to a minimum for customers around the country.
“We know that the Easter holidays are a popular time for leisure travel, and this year a range of factors mean there will be more changes than normal to CrossCountry services over the bank holiday weekend.
“As usual for this time of year, we're asking customers to check before they travel on the CrossCountry app or with National Rail Enquiries to make sure their journey is going ahead as planned.”
Richard Morris, CrossCountry's Service Delivery Director
I travelled on cross country from Stockport to reading foortunatel I was in first one of the only 4 carriages on this train I could not believe the amount of people that were crammed into the other 3 carriages. It was shameful not to say extremely dangerous. I am 80 years old and no way could I get to the toilet in the 3 hour 40 min journey. I have travelled on this service several times and it is always the same. This should not hapoen
I experienced the worst journey of my life on Cross Country yesterday. I was travelling from Flint to Reading, via Wolverhampton. I am 70 years old with rheumatoid arthritis. I was unable to get a seat on either train. The train from Wolverhampton to Reading was so squashed it was a serious health and safety concern. As I tried to board the train the electronic doors started to close on me., I screamed in fright and another passenger opened them for me. There was barely enough room to squeeze onto the train and for the first 20 minutes of the journey I was squashed up against the toilet doors. After some passengers disembarked from the train I was instructed by a railway official to move into the carriage aisle. After another couple of stops I was able to find a seat. I read the safety instructions on the wall explaining what to do in an emergency. None of the given advice was helpful as the carriage and exit areas were blocked. If the train had crashed we would all have perished. The aisle remained blocked throughout the journey with people sitting on luggage. I wasn’t able to access the toilet and as for buying any refreshments that was impossible too. The train was seriously and dangerously overcrowded. It had just four carriages (one of which was first class). Why only four, or realistically three on a predictably busy bank holiday Monday? It was just lucky that there were no emergencies or a train crash because if there had been, I wouldn’t be writing this sorry tale.