Passengers travelling with London Midland are being urged to check details of their journeys this August Bank Holiday Weekend (Saturday August 29 - Monday August 31) as it may be affected by Network Rail’s latest £1 million programme of engineering improvements.
The work will renew around 200m of track near Wolverton, near Milton Keynes and replace points with modern, more durable equipment needing less maintenance, enabling services to be more reliable.
Passengers who have booked reservations on London Midland services disrupted by Network Rail's engineering over the Bank Holiday weekend are asked to contact London Midland's customer service team on 0121 634 2040 before they travel to check how their journey may be affected.
Normally advanced purchase tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded and reservations are not usually available on services affected by engineering works. We apologise for the problems with reservations and will be contacting the passengers affected to explain the situation and help them re-arrange their journey or provide a refund.
Meanwhile, other engineering work will mean the following changes to train services:
On Saturday, August 29
- London Midland services between Birmingham and Liverpoolwill start and terminate at Crewefrom 3pm. Buses will replace trains between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
- From 7.30am, services between London Euston and Northampton, via Milton Keynes, will only run between London Euston and Tring to a special timetable. This will mean a reduced service frequency of three trains an hour.
- Buses will replace trains between Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes Central and Northampton.
- For those travelling further north, Birmingham to Northampton services will terminate at Coventry and buses will replace trains between Coventry and Northampton.
On Sunday, August 30
- London Midland services between Birmingham and Liverpoolwill start and terminate at Crewe. Buses will replace trains between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
- Train services between London Euston and Northampton, via Milton Keynes, will only run between London Euston and Tring to a special timetable. This will be a reduced frequency of two trains an hour.
- Buses will replace trains between Hemel Hempstead and Northampton.
- Up to midday, Birminghamto Northampton services will terminate at Coventry, and buses will replace trains between Coventry and Northampton.
On Bank Holiday Monday, August 31
- London Midland services between Birmingham and Liverpoolwill start and terminate at Crewe, until 2pm. Buses will replace trains between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
- Until 1.30pm, train services between London Euston and Northampton via Milton Keynes Central, will run to a special timetable based on a Sunday service.
- After that time, train services between London Euston and Northampton will run to an increased frequency.
Andy Thomas, Operations and Safety Director of London Midland, said: “We’d like to thank our passengers for their patience during the changes to our services over the weekend even though the disruption is less than it has been for the last couple of years. It’s best to check before you travel, either on our website, through National Rail Enquiries on 0845 7 484950, or at the National Rail website, www.nationalrail.co.uk.”
Jo Kaye, Network Rail route director, said: “Fewer people travel at bank holidays, so it makes sense to carry out the work at a time that minimises disruption to passengers. The work we are doing at Wolverton and other locations across the rail network over this bank holiday will result in passengers enjoying even more reliable and comfortable journeys in the future.
“We are working with London Midland to ensure that any disruption to journeys is keep to a minimum."
Passengers are advised to check details of their journeys in advance before they travel as their journeys may be affected. They should contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50, www.nationalrail.co.uk, London Midland’s Customer Relations team on 0121 634 2040 or at www.londonmidland.com.
More details of the Bank Holiday engineering work will be available via Network Rail’s website, www.networkrail.co.uk.
