Commuters are bracing themselves for major disruption on the railways - as trains between Birmingham and London Euston are CANCELLED on one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Train users are advised NOT to travel on Easter Sunday as engineering work means London Euston will effectively be shutdown, with no trains running in or out of the station.
Essential work is being carried out at Wembley, ahead of a large-scale replacement of the old, worn out junction later in the year.
Euston's Easter Sunday shutdown will affect rail services throughout the West Coast main line, including Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and Scotland.
Services on the Saturday (March 31) and Monday (April 2) will also be busier as fewer trains than normal will be running.
Commuters are advised Chiltern Trains will run a revised timetable over the whole weekend and services will be running between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone.
Rail bosses have warned train travel will be 'particularly difficult' over the Easter weekend, with engineering work also affecting commuters travelling between Birmingham and Bristol.
From Friday, March 30, until the early hours of Wednesday, April 4, engineers will carry out Network Rail's largest ever upgrade of signalling equipment at Bristol Temple Meads.
Around 500 engineers and testers will be working around the clock at the station, bringing new signalling equipment into service.
Trains will operate from Birmingham New Street to Bristol Parkway, with rail replacement buses then continuing until Bristol Temple Meads.
Peter Broadley, customer experience and commercial executive director for Virgin Trains, said: "We understand upgrade works on bank holidays can be frustrating, but we're working with Network Rail to keep people on the move throughout Easter.
"It's likely many of our services will be busier throughout the weekend and travel will be particularly difficult on Easter Sunday.
"If customers choose to travel, we strongly recommend they book tickets in advance, make a seat reservation and allow more time to get to their destination."
And Martin Frobisher, managing director of Network Rail's London North Western Route, said: "Our work this Easter is part of our joined-up industry plan - Britain's Railway Upgrade Plan.
"We are working together and HS2 Ltd is making use of this chance to prepare to build its new railway.
"We have agreed with our partners at Virgin Trains and London Northwestern Railway to do this work on Easter Sunday as it is typically a far less busy train travel day than usual.
"Doing this on Easter Sunday means as few of their customers as possible will be impacted. It's the least bad day for it."
