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England August Bank Holiday rail major disruptions UPDATE

Bank Holidays in England are always an opportunity for major rail improvement projects to be done while the commuters are resting their tired old bodies - but it makes for great disruption for folk who want a day out to the seaside and tourists.

This August Bank Holiday is no exception, and there are some really very disruptive plans in place. So here you go.

As Network Rail says in its typical understated way:

As part of the national Railway Upgrade Plan major work is being
undertaken on some of the country’s largest infrastructure projects
this August and over the August bank holiday (26 – 28 August).

The following major engineering works will take place over the August
bank holiday:

As part of the Thameslink Programme, no trains will run
to or from London Charing Cross and London Cannon Street

Preparatory work for High Speed Two (HS2) takes place at London Euston, with no
trains running to or from the station on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 August

Crossrail work will continue, with no trains between London
Liverpool Street and Shenfield / Ingatestone / Billericay / Barking on
Sunday 27 and Monday 28 August

As part of the Wessex improvement
programme, some platforms at London Waterloo will be closed, resulting
in an amended South West Trains service from Saturday 5 to Sunday 28
August

Electrification work on the Great Western Mainline continues in
the Bristol Parkway area, affecting services between Wales and London
Paddington from Saturday 19 August to Sunday 17 September

So -

For London Euston and the lower part of the West Coast Main Line, there will be no service on Virgin trains south of Rugby or Milton Keynes, and local London Midland trains will not operate between Euston and Milton Keynes on both 26 and 27 August. Note that you won't be able to get to Watford Junction for Harry Potter by train during this time.

London Waterloo (used by many here to reach Hampton Court Palace and Portsmouth) will have service restrictions for most of the month of August - the 5th to the 28th.

London Bridge and Cannon Street (Thameslink goes through London Bridge, as do trains to Greenwich and some to inner Kent) will have service restrictions from 26th August through 2nd September.

Charing Cross and Waterloo East for Greenwich, Surrey and Kent, no rail services at all from 26 August to 2 September.

London Liverpool Street will have service disruptions from 26 to 28 August. For Cambridge use the services at London Kings Cross.

London Paddington which is used by all sorts of folks on this Forum to go all sorts of places, including the Heathrow Express, will have service restrictions all the way from the 19th of August through the first of September.

If you will be on the train during this time you are strongly advised to check and check again for any disruption. Use the official Network Rail webpage and search on your train operator. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/august

Note that if there are any more strikes on Southern, Merseyrail or Northern during this period I will update this thread as well.

Forewarned is forearmed, as I like to say.

Posted by
5466 posts

And before the Bank Holiday

Saturday 22 – Sunday 30 July 2017
Network Rail will be carrying out improvements between Banbury, Oxford and Didcot Parkway.

Oxford to Reading and London Paddington
Replacement buses will run between Oxford and Didcot Parkway.

If you are travelling between Oxford and London, you should use Chiltern Railways services to London Marylebone. All tickets will be valid, except those which are for travel on GWR trains only.

Oxford to Banbury
Replacement buses will run from Saturday 22 to Friday 28 July, and then again on Sunday 30 July. The line is open on Saturday 29 July. 

Chiltern Railways services between Banbury and London Marylebone will run from Monday 24 to Saturday 29 July.

Oxford to Worcester (Includes such popular destinations here such as Moreton-in-Marsh)
Trains will be shorter than normal, and there will be no First Class accommodation or café service. Shipton, Ascott-under-Wychwood, Finstock and Combe will be served by replacement buses

Crosscountry Trains

22-28 and 30 July: Rail replacement road transport will operate between Banbury – Oxford – Didcot Parkway.
29 July: Rail replacement road transport will operate between Oxford and Didcot Parkway.

Posted by
28247 posts

Thanks so much, Nigel. I'll be in England or possibly Wales during that period, so it's very helpful to know ahead of time that I need to be very careful about plans to move around.

Posted by
223 posts

Before anyone asks: trains running to Edinburgh on Virgin East Coast will be fine at this time - the only warning is that King's Cross may be busy due to people taking alternative routes, so if you're collecting your tickets at LKX maybe give yourself a little extra time.

Posted by
33997 posts

A reminder - the Waterloo closure starts today

Posted by
33997 posts

The Waterloo closure of 10 of the 24 available platforms which would have caused absolute chaos was met this morning by hordes of commuters staying away or re-doing their travel. Just what the advance publicity was hoping for, I think.

Posted by
16413 posts

Full page ad in the Standard yesterday with all the station closings through September.

Posted by
28247 posts

I've seen 4-color-process informational brochures in racks at rail stations in Dorset and Cornwall.

Posted by
33997 posts

According to the paper last night it was absolute mayhem at Waterloo yesterday, with people queued back to the Tube and main entrances closed. Please consider your travel plans carefully if taking trains in or around London for the rest of the month.

Posted by
631 posts

to be fair, queues back to the tube in the eveneing peak were not unknown before the work.

Reports said that the (limited) trains themselves were coping, it may be that people aren't finding them quickly enough and thus a backlog is created.....

Posted by
18 posts

We have a trip planned on Aug 28 leaving Paddington @ 8:22 to Windsor. It doesn't look like this will effect us but can I get confirmation on that by someone that isn't as confused as me LOL! Thanks!

Posted by
33997 posts

windsor from Paddington should be ok - from Waterloo would be seagull splat. But I wouldn't need a timed ticket for such a very short trip. Are there "Advance" tickets available for that short a trip?

Posted by
18 posts

Thanks Nigel! Yes, there are advanced tickets but we opted not to get them...more flexibility!

Posted by
5466 posts

There are no 'Advance' tickets with a capital 'A' from London to Windsor. You can of course buy 'Off-peak' or 'Anytime' tickets beforehand if you wish, although the only advantage is a seat reservation to Slough on some trains.

Posted by
33997 posts

UPDATE

To add to the woes at Waterloo for any passengers heading to the Southwest and Portsmouth (and the slower journey to Windsor Castle) there are now additional problems this weekend.

According to official sources,

Waterloo station improvement work - Until Monday, there is a further
severe reduction in South Western Railway service. Around 75% fewer
trains than usual will run today, Thursday and tomorrow, Friday.

How that translates into traveler speak is - if your journey involves Waterloo or anywhere on the South Western Railway network this weekend please reconsider your options.

Also - remember no trains in or out of Euston station on Saturday and Sunday, due to the HS2 boondoggle. The bus replacement services to Milton Keynes for onward services will be going from Stanmore Underground, not Euston Station and are expected to take upwards of 3 or 4 hours - and my money is on much longer than that.

If you are going to anywhere north like Liverpool, Chester, the Lake District, Birmingham, Glasgow or other parts in that same general direction please reconsider your options.

If you plan on taking the train to Watford Junction to the bus to Harry Potter, there won't be any trains of any type all weekend, so please reconsider your options.

Posted by
28247 posts

Nigel, I am ticketed from Chester to Coventry on Aug. 26, round-trip Coventry to Bletchley on Aug. 27, and Coventry to Oxford on Aug. 28. Am I in trouble?

Thanks for keeping us up to date.

Posted by
33997 posts

acraven,

Yes, to a degree you are.

Chester to Coventry on Aug. 26

There will be a way to do that on Saturday. It will be busy and crowded. Are you changing at Crewe and Nuneaton or some other route?

round-trip Coventry to Bletchley on Aug. 27

That will have a problem. No London Midland trains are going south of Milton Keynes on Sunday, as I outlined in my original post, and Bletchley is one station south (about 4 minutes on the train) from Milton Keynes. Are you going to Bletchley Park / National Museum of Computing? There will be an amended schedule between Coventry and Milton Keynes, probably changing at Northampton, on Sunday, and most Virgin trains will terminate at Rugby with a few terminating at Milton Keynes. The trains which do run will likely be quite busy, and because it is a Bank Holiday Sunday I would expect Bletchley Park to be quite busy too.

There will be a slow replacement bus service towards London but I wouldn't want to be involved in the scrum. Much as it pains me to say so, I'd either skip the visit or plan on taking a taxi between Milton Keynes and your destination in Bletchley. It is about 4 miles.

and Coventry to Oxford on Aug. 28

That should be OK, as good as anything ever is on a Bank Holiday Monday. The Cross Country service at xx:25 from platform 2, tends to suffer occasional delays anyway although my wife usually finds it a good service. The train will probably be crowded but should run OK.

Posted by
28247 posts

Thank you. I'll plan to take a taxi from M.K. to Bletchley Park unless I observe some sort of bus service.

For tomorrow's trip I have an advance-purchase ticket via Crewe.

I'll be going by the Chester station in a few minutes to get more tickets and will see whether any additional info is available.

I had hoped to spend the holiday weekend in one place, but geography did not cooperate, and Bletchley is a must. I don't want to use one of my London days for that trip unless I absolutely have to.

Thank you again.