Many London Midland trains between Coventry and London will be replaced by buses over Easter weekend, as Network Rail works on improvements to the railway which will result in better services.
The work, part of an £8 billion upgrade which will allow faster and more frequent services to London on the West Coast Mainline for all rail services, means the railway around Rugby station will be closed over the Easter weekend (March 21-24).
Buses will replace London Midland trains between:
- Northampton and Coventry, on Good Friday (March 21)
- London Euston and Coventry (with a change at Northampton) from Easter Saturday to Easter Monday (March 22 - 24)
- Rugby / Nuneaton and Stafford on Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Tuesday (21, 24, and 25 March)
- Coventry and Nuneaton on Good Friday and Easter Monday (21 and 24 March).
Anyone travelling north of Northampton may have a quicker journey by using another train operator's service, such as Chiltern Railways. The bus timetable will be published on the London Midland website and available through online booking services.
In addition, because of unrelated improvement work by Network Rail, on Tuesday 25 March, London Midland will be running only a Saturday service between Northampton and Birmingham.
London Midland's operations director Andy Thomas said: "We are working closely with Network Rail and other organisations to keep disruption to a minimum - for instance by scheduling the closure for Easter weekend when we know fewer people travel - but we apologise for the inevitable inconvenience.
"Please allow more time for your journey, and check in advance with National Rail Enquiries whether your plans will be affected."
Passengers can find out more about London Midland services online or from National Rail Enquiries on 0845 7 48 49 50, at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.
The Rugby closure is one of a number of stages of the West Coast engineering project which will affect London Midland services in 2008. Ultimately the completion of this major work will mean that London Midland will be able to introduce new and extra train services, especially serving Liverpool and the north west and direct London services through the Trent Valley to Lichfield and Rugeley.
