'Take week off' say rail firms

Services are due to resume on Monday

Train companies have advised commuters to take the rest of this week as holiday rather than face travel disruption on the country's busiest line.

The west coast main line between Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead closed over the bank holiday weekend and remains out of action until Sunday because of major engineering works.

Silverlink has laid on coaches to take passengers between Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead with three or four leaving every 15 minutes during peak times.

The company statement said: "While we are looking into the alternative arrangements, many commuters may prefer to arrange their holidays around this period to avoid what will inevitably be a difficult four days for commuting."

Engineers are replacing sections of track dating back to the 1960s, with normal services due to resume on Monday morning.

The journey from Milton Keynes and Euston Station in London will take more than two hours rather than the normal 30 minutes.

Journey times

There will also be no Virgin trains from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly, but there are direct Virgin services to Manchester from London St Pancras which are unaffected by the work.

The company also recommended that people planning to use the Euston to Manchester route take some time off work.

A spokesman for Virgin said: "I think people have heeded our advice to take a holiday.

"The week following a bank holiday is usually less busy anyway. Although there's never a good time to do engineering works, doing it this week does make sense."

He said travellers should add up to one hour to their journey time off-peak and two hours at peak times.

Engineering work is also continuing between Stockport and Manchester but Virgin said it was running a "revised service".

Promise

Work during the bank holiday weekend meant the closure of parts of the Great Western Main Line and the East and West Coast lines.

The line from London to Stansted Airport was also closed and services disrupted on the Midland Main Line.

Passengers are being promised all the disruption will eventually result in a better service, faster journeys between major cities, and fewer delays.